My people database is very broken. How do I fix these entries?

[nmkaufman 50]

I noticed a few days ago that Robin Williams was missing from the cast of Good Will Hunting.

Instead it listed someone named "Terrence Mann."

I figured out that "Terrence Mann" is actually Robin Williams, so I used the 'identify' function to point Emby at Robin Williams, and refreshed metadata for the person.

Emby has now combined Terrence Mann and Robin Williams into one broken person, who's acted in both Good will Hunting and the Critters movies.

Refreshing metadata does not resolve the issue, and I'm not sure where to begin fixing these sorts of problems.

 

I would really love a function where I can explode the entire 'people' database and rebuild. I know these sorts of incongruencies are sprinkled throughout my library.

I can't remember where I saw it, but I watched something a few months ago that allegedly had JFK in the cast.

Edited June 10, 2025 by nmkaufman

[Happy2Play 9780]

No easy way since People are built via the provider metadata for media, in the end you will have to remove every item shown for a person to remove their linked data, do a full scan to clear the linked items from the db, and readd the items. 

Note if you write nfo files they would be messed up also as they should have this wrong information also.  

2 hours ago, nmkaufman said:

Refreshing metadata does not resolve the issue, and I'm not sure where to begin fixing these sorts of problems.

What external ids are shown for the Actor as they would appear all to point Robin Williams?  

But correcting the externalids and Refreshing may help some but think you will have to do everything above.

 

 

[nmkaufman 50]

3 minutes ago, Happy2Play said:

What external ids are shown for the Actor as they would appear all to point Robin Williams?  

It points to imdb nm0000245 and TMDB 2157; both Robin Williams.

What is the most likely explanation for how this happened? Did TMDB actually have the wrong actor listed for a movie, at some point?

I do save metadata locally, and rebuilding from scratch isn't something I'm likely to have time for any time soon. Especially if this could just happen, again.

[Happy2Play 9780]

1 minute ago, nmkaufman said:

It points to imdb nm0000245 and TMDB 2157; both Robin Williams.

What is the most likely explanation for how this happened? Did TMDB actually have the wrong actor listed for a movie, at some point?

I do save metadata locally, and rebuilding from scratch isn't something I'm likely to have time for any time soon. Especially if this could just happen, again.

Not entirely sure as I don't see the cross-linked data you are seeing.

Unless @Lukeor someone else has other ideas, only why I know of is purging said media from the database and readding.

Does the wrong info show up in your NFO files also?

[nmkaufman 50]

It does look like the nfo files erroneously point to Robin Williams (as Terrence Mann).

What's the easiest path forward? Delete all nfo files, then remove & re-add my movies library?

Critters 4 (1992).nfo

[Happy2Play 9780]

1 hour ago, nmkaufman said:

It does look like the nfo files erroneously point to Robin Williams (as Terrence Mann).

What's the easiest path forward? Delete all nfo files, then remove & re-add my movies library?

Critters 4 (1992).nfo 4.66 kB · 1 download

Unfortunately yes, remove library, preform full scan to clear the items from the database, ensure nfo files do not exist, readd library.  Basically since it affect the person in Movie and TV libraries you would have to do both.

Now if it is only this person then you would just need to remove that specific media shown on said person. 

You may have to manually delete the person from the /metadata/people/t/actor name folder.

[nmkaufman 50]

I'll likely wait until I have other maintenance items that need done, but eventually I will give this a go.