Possible to browse two libraries as if they are one?

[Gilgamesh_48 1240]

This is a bit of a strange question and I believe it is a very rare situation but I would like to browse two different libraries as if they were one. The reason is that i have a very few TV shows that cannot get good metadata from any of the regular providers but TV Maze works fine for them BUT TV Maze does not get usable data for many of the others so I cannot have one library use either the regular providers or TV Maze as with either I get poor metadata. 

To give an example when "Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer" is in a library that uses regular providers most of the metadata is in German and while I speak pretty good German reading it is a skill i never mastered. But TV Maze gets the data correctly. But I cannot use TV Maze for everything because it gives several shows their titles in various languages but not in English. So no provider seems to get everything right. However I can have the majority of shows in my regular library and the few that have incorrect metadata from the regular providers work great in the library where TV Maze is the #1 provider. That works great and my Next up legacy row is correct and uses both libraries. 

That works very well but it makes browsing to find a show to add to my future watching harder than it should be.  

If it is not possible to browse two libraries as if they are one then it will not be a huge problem but it will be inconvenient. Fortunately I do not have many shows that need TV Maze so that library is currently very small (four shows currently) so I can remember easily what  is in it but it may grow and that would make browsing harder. 

That is the question presented as well as I can. 

Alternatively is it possible to have one or two shows use different providers than the rest of the library? I have TV Maze available as an alternate in my main library but #1 in my alternate library. It seems that the #1 provider is used 100% of the time unless the show is not found there.

I understand that my usage is not standard but it works for me and I like it except for this one little problem. I would try to have this fixed in the providers but, so far, I have had no response to my queries and I don't seem to have the patience to deal with providers' idiosyncrasies. I just want to browse as I am comfortable and see the correct metadata for all my shows. 

Thanks for any ideas. 

[GrimReaper 4740]

Not sure whether you're making a FR or just asking? I'll assume latter, since you posted under General/Windows. 

47 minutes ago, Gilgamesh_48 said:

I would like to browse two different libraries as if they were one.

Currently not feasible per-se. 

However, few workarounds might give you the desired result:

1. Tag all the shows both in your main and in your alternate libraries with the same tag; once you search for that tag, you'll have all the shows listed like you were browsing single library (you could use Bulky to bulk-tag all of your shows practically in one go) 

2. Although not officially supported, you actually can have same folders being part of multiple libraries, as long as those libraries are of same content type and folders are of at-least same level (no nested folders from one library in another library) and you're particular about library settings/options and configuring which library/libraries will actually be obtaining metadata and you save NFOs/artwork with media (it's actually quite similar to having two server instances using same media folders, it just needs proper setup/a bit of tinkering); unified library (with library paths being folders from both your libraries) would give you desired results virtually: browsing/playing content from two libraries within single library; I have something similar set up for junior. 

47 minutes ago, Gilgamesh_48 said:

Alternatively is it possible to have one or two shows use different providers than the rest of the library?

Currently not feasible. 

Closest you can get is to change preferred meta-providers order (in your example, for your main library you'd move TVMaze on top), import/identify desired item, lock the item afterwards to prevent any changes, revert TVDB on top of preferred providers until need for TVMaze rose again, repeat process. 

Edited May 28, 2025 by GrimReaper

[Gilgamesh_48 1240]

17 minutes ago, GrimReaper said:

Not sure whether you're making a FR or just asking? I'll assume latter, since you posted under General/Windows. 

Currently not feasible per-se. 

However, few workarounds might give you the desired result:

1. Tag all the shows both in your main and in your alternate libraries with the same tag; once you search for that tag, you'll have all the shows listed like you were browsing single library

2. Although not officially supported, you actually can have same folders being part of multiple libraries, as long as those libraries are of same content type and folders are of at-least same level (no nested folders from one library in another library) and you're particular about library settings/options and configuring which library/libraries will actually be obtaining metadata (it's actually quite similar to having two server instances using same media folders, it just needs proper setup); unified library (with library paths being folders from both your libraries) would give you desired results virtually: browsing/playing content from two libraries; I have something similar setup for junior. 

Currently not feasible. 

Closest you can get is to change preferred meta-providers order (in your example, for your main library you'd move TVMaze on top), import/identify desired item, lock the item afterwards to prevent any changes, revert TVDB on top of preferred providers until need for TVMaze rose again, repeat process. 

Thanks. I thought about the solutions you presented but they have weaknesses and I am not, currently, going to change but I do wonder if I can, since my metadata is stored with my media, simply lock the metadata and move the entire show to my regular library. Or will I have to go through the gyrations you presented to actually get my metadata corrected as locking will not be preserved through the move. 
Either way is fine but I do not really have the desire or ability to perform what you suggested at this time. When my health gets better maybe i will do as you suggest.

Again Thanks. BTW: I would mark your post as the solution but i will wait a day or two in case someone else chimes in with a different idea. But i really don't expect that so yours will most probably be the solution.  

Edited May 28, 2025 by Gilgamesh_48

[GrimReaper 4740]

5 minutes ago, Gilgamesh_48 said:

I do wonder if I can, since my metadata is stored with my media, simply lock the metadata and move the entire show to my regular library

Sure you can, it should be preserved as local metadata is prioritized on import (though that's how it should behave in theory, you know how these things go, it might as well stumble upon some hurdle); you can always test it on a single show. 

Edited May 28, 2025 by GrimReaper

[Gilgamesh_48 1240]

19 minutes ago, GrimReaper said:

Sure you can, it should be preserved as local metadata is prioritized on import (though that's how it should behave in theory, you know how these things go, it might as well stumble upon some hurdle); you can always test it on a single show. 

Even a single show is cumbersome as it takes time to lock all the metadata of the show itself and all the episodes. (I wish it could be done for an entire show all at once.)
I "think" (Something i try to avoid) that I will wait a bit before doing that even for one show. But I do have spurts where I feel a LOT better than I do right now and I may spend the time to lock all the metadata of one show and proceed from there. 

Thanks.