Episodes thumbnail creation

[sschimi 3]

Hey, after update to latest version 4.9.1.80 i'm experiencing some bad behaviour in creating thumbnails for new episodes.

I'm using the screen capture for extracting the thumbnails.

When scanning the library all new episodes (from one series) have all the same image, because ffmpeg is extracting at the same timestamp 00:10:00. This results in most episodes the same frame (intro).

When deleting and rescan the metadata, the extract is at random timestamp (as it was before on scanning new media).

Scanning library  (see the -ss timestamp for SingleImageExtractor)

2025-10-04 20:29:51.206 Info SingleImageExtractor: ProcessRun 'extract-image' Execute: C:\Programme Portable\emby\system\ffmpeg.exe -ss 00:00:10.000  -f matroska -threads 1 -i file:"F:\tv\Caillou (2024)\Caillou (2024) - S01E27 - Leo Zieht Um Teil 1.mkv" -an -sn -threads 0 -vf "thumbnail=24" -f image2 -b:v 100M "C:\Programme Portable\emby\programdata\cache\temp\06590e05-2448-4b65-8e61-6bcfb7c91aa9.jpg"
2025-10-04 20:29:51.499 Info SingleImageExtractor: ProcessRun 'extract-image' Process exited with code 1
2025-10-04 20:29:51.719 Info ProviderManager: Saving image to F:\tv\Caillou (2024)\Caillou (2024) - S01E27 - Leo Zieht Um Teil 1-thumb.jpg
2025-10-04 20:29:51.987 Info SingleImageExtractor: ProcessRun 'extract-image' Execute: C:\Programme Portable\emby\system\ffmpeg.exe -ss 00:00:10.000  -f matroska -threads 1 -i file:"F:\tv\Caillou (2024)\Caillou (2024) - S01E28 - Leo Zieht Um Teil 2.mkv" -an -sn -threads 0 -vf "thumbnail=24" -f image2 -b:v 100M "C:\Programme Portable\emby\programdata\cache\temp\cea33ed1-4fcd-45c5-a005-df007022343e.jpg"
2025-10-04 20:29:52.207 Info SingleImageExtractor: ProcessRun 'extract-image' Process exited with code 1
2025-10-04 20:29:52.500 Info ProviderManager: Saving image to F:\tv\Caillou (2024)\Caillou (2024) - S01E28 - Leo Zieht Um Teil 2-thumb.jpg
2025-10-04 20:29:52.891 Info SingleImageExtractor: ProcessRun 'extract-image' Execute: C:\Programme Portable\emby\system\ffmpeg.exe -ss 00:00:10.000  -f matroska -threads 1 -i file:"F:\tv\Caillou (2024)\Caillou (2024) - S01E29 - Wo Ist Rexi.mkv" -an -sn -threads 0 -vf "thumbnail=24" -f image2 -b:v 100M "C:\Programme Portable\emby\programdata\cache\temp\a7b94476-5779-46ed-bcbd-692b490da32e.jpg"
2025-10-04 20:29:53.110 Info SingleImageExtractor: ProcessRun 'extract-image' Process exited with code 1
2025-10-04 20:29:53.394 Info ProviderManager: Saving image to F:\tv\Caillou (2024)\Caillou (2024) - S01E29 - Wo Ist Rexi-thumb.jpg

 

Refreshing metadata with image overwrite (see the -ss timestamp for SingleImageExtractor)

2025-10-04 20:42:54.067 Info App: Refresh metadata requested on 222734
2025-10-04 20:42:54.067 Info ItemRefreshService-0HNG31ECB3S36:0000000A: http/1.1 Response 204 to 192.168.0.1. Time: 2ms. POST http://192.168.0.1:8096/emby/Items/222734/Refresh?Recursive=true&ImageRefreshMode=FullRefresh&MetadataRefreshMode=FullRefresh&ReplaceAllImages=false&ReplaceThumbnailImages=true&ReplaceAllMetadata=true&X-Emby-Client=Emby Web&X-Emby-Device-Name=Chrome Windows&X-Emby-Device-Id=d29c733f-e41f-4af8-b3b6-8766bfdff56d&X-Emby-Client-Version=4.9.1.80&X-Emby-Token=x_secret5_x&X-Emby-Language=de. 
2025-10-04 20:42:54.126 Info ProviderManager: RefreshItem Start: 222734 Episode F:\tv\Caillou (2024)\Caillou (2024) - S01E27 - Leo Zieht Um Teil 1.mkv
2025-10-04 20:42:54.127 Info MediaProbeManager: ProcessRun 'ffprobe' Execute: C:\Programme Portable\emby\system\ffprobe.exe -i file:"F:\tv\Caillou (2024)\Caillou (2024) - S01E27 - Leo Zieht Um Teil 1.mkv" -threads 0 -v info -print_format json -show_streams -show_chapters -show_format -show_data
2025-10-04 20:42:54.185 Info MediaProbeManager: ProcessRun 'ffprobe' Process exited with code 0
2025-10-04 20:42:54.188 Info HttpClient: GET https://api4.thetvdb.com/v4/episodes/11369612/extended?meta=translations
2025-10-04 20:42:54.423 Info HttpClient: Http response 200 from https://api4.thetvdb.com/v4/episodes/11369612/extended?meta=translations after 234ms
2025-10-04 20:42:54.427 Info SingleImageExtractor: ProcessRun 'extract-image' Execute: C:\Programme Portable\emby\system\ffmpeg.exe -ss 00:01:03.304  -f matroska -threads 1 -i file:"F:\tv\Caillou (2024)\Caillou (2024) - S01E27 - Leo Zieht Um Teil 1.mkv" -an -sn -threads 0 -vf "thumbnail=24" -f image2 -b:v 100M "C:\Programme Portable\emby\programdata\cache\temp\0f74b1d3-0e6b-4702-affa-ae2cbb15019b.jpg"
2025-10-04 20:42:54.725 Info SingleImageExtractor: ProcessRun 'extract-image' Process exited with code 1
2025-10-04 20:42:54.938 Info ProviderManager: Saving image to F:\tv\Caillou (2024)\Caillou (2024) - S01E27 - Leo Zieht Um Teil 1-thumb.jpg
2025-10-04 20:42:54.946 Info ProviderManager: RefreshItem Complete: 222734 Episode F:\tv\Caillou (2024)\Caillou (2024) - S01E27 - Leo Zieht Um Teil 1.mkv
2025-10-04 20:44:30.312 Info App: Refresh metadata requested on 222735
2025-10-04 20:44:30.312 Info ItemRefreshService-0HNG31ECB3S35:00000029: http/1.1 Response 204 to 192.168.0.1. Time: 12ms. POST http://192.168.0.1:8096/emby/Items/222735/Refresh?Recursive=true&ImageRefreshMode=FullRefresh&MetadataRefreshMode=FullRefresh&ReplaceAllImages=false&ReplaceThumbnailImages=true&ReplaceAllMetadata=true&X-Emby-Client=Emby Web&X-Emby-Device-Name=Chrome Windows&X-Emby-Device-Id=d29c733f-e41f-4af8-b3b6-8766bfdff56d&X-Emby-Client-Version=4.9.1.80&X-Emby-Token=x_secret5_x&X-Emby-Language=de. 
2025-10-04 20:44:30.360 Info ProviderManager: RefreshItem Start: 222736 Episode F:\tv\Caillou (2024)\Caillou (2024) - S01E29 - Wo Ist Rexi.mkv
2025-10-04 20:44:30.361 Info MediaProbeManager: ProcessRun 'ffprobe' Execute: C:\Programme Portable\emby\system\ffprobe.exe -i file:"F:\tv\Caillou (2024)\Caillou (2024) - S01E29 - Wo Ist Rexi.mkv" -threads 0 -v info -print_format json -show_streams -show_chapters -show_format -show_data
2025-10-04 20:44:30.414 Info MediaProbeManager: ProcessRun 'ffprobe' Process exited with code 0
2025-10-04 20:44:30.417 Info HttpClient: GET https://api4.thetvdb.com/v4/episodes/11369614/extended?meta=translations
2025-10-04 20:44:30.597 Info HttpClient: Http response 200 from https://api4.thetvdb.com/v4/episodes/11369614/extended?meta=translations after 180ms
2025-10-04 20:44:30.598 Info SingleImageExtractor: ProcessRun 'extract-image' Execute: C:\Programme Portable\emby\system\ffmpeg.exe -ss 00:01:03.304  -f matroska -threads 1 -i file:"F:\tv\Caillou (2024)\Caillou (2024) - S01E29 - Wo Ist Rexi.mkv" -an -sn -threads 0 -vf "thumbnail=24" -f image2 -b:v 100M "C:\Programme Portable\emby\programdata\cache\temp\940e485a-5a03-49c5-a932-dd9623766a86.jpg"
2025-10-04 20:44:30.882 Info SingleImageExtractor: ProcessRun 'extract-image' Process exited with code 1
2025-10-04 20:44:31.110 Info ProviderManager: Saving image to F:\tv\Caillou (2024)\Caillou (2024) - S01E29 - Wo Ist Rexi-thumb.jpg
2025-10-04 20:44:31.117 Info ProviderManager: RefreshItem Complete: 222736 Episode F:\tv\Caillou (2024)\Caillou (2024) - S01E29 - Wo Ist Rexi.mkv
2025-10-04 20:44:31.174 Info ProviderManager: RefreshItem Start: 222737 Episode F:\tv\Caillou (2024)\Caillou (2024) - S01E31 - Der Famose Grosse Schatz.mkv
2025-10-04 20:44:31.175 Info MediaProbeManager: ProcessRun 'ffprobe' Execute: C:\Programme Portable\emby\system\ffprobe.exe -i file:"F:\tv\Caillou (2024)\Caillou (2024) - S01E31 - Der Famose Grosse Schatz.mkv" -threads 0 -v info -print_format json -show_streams -show_chapters -show_format -show_data
2025-10-04 20:44:31.217 Info MediaProbeManager: ProcessRun 'ffprobe' Process exited with code 0
2025-10-04 20:44:31.219 Info HttpClient: GET https://api4.thetvdb.com/v4/episodes/11369616/extended?meta=translations
2025-10-04 20:44:31.383 Info HttpClient: Http response 200 from https://api4.thetvdb.com/v4/episodes/11369616/extended?meta=translations after 164ms
2025-10-04 20:44:31.384 Info SingleImageExtractor: ProcessRun 'extract-image' Execute: C:\Programme Portable\emby\system\ffmpeg.exe -ss 00:01:03.323  -f matroska -threads 1 -i file:"F:\tv\Caillou (2024)\Caillou (2024) - S01E31 - Der Famose Grosse Schatz.mkv" -an -sn -threads 0 -vf "thumbnail=24" -f image2 -b:v 100M "C:\Programme Portable\emby\programdata\cache\temp\74df5f2b-837f-4dfa-8228-2f4153e3d150.jpg"
2025-10-04 20:44:31.667 Info SingleImageExtractor: ProcessRun 'extract-image' Process exited with code 1
2025-10-04 20:44:31.901 Info ProviderManager: Saving image to F:\tv\Caillou (2024)\Caillou (2024) - S01E31 - Der Famose Grosse Schatz-thumb.jpg
2025-10-04 20:44:31.906 Info ProviderManager: RefreshItem Complete: 222737 Episode F:\tv\Caillou (2024)\Caillou (2024) - S01E31 - Der Famose Grosse Schatz.mkv
2025-10-04 20:44:31.933 Info SessionsService-0HNG31ECB3S35:0000002E: http/1.1 POST http://192.168.0.1:8096/emby/Sessions/Capabilities/Full?X-Emby-Client=Emby Web&X-Emby-Device-Name=Chrome Windows&X-Emby-Device-Id=d29c733f-e41f-4af8-b3b6-8766bfdff56d&X-Emby-Client-Version=4.9.1.80&X-Emby-Token=x_secret5_x&X-Emby-Language=de&reqformat=json. Source Ip: 192.168.0.1, UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/141.0.0.0 Safari/537.36
2025-10-04 20:44:31.934 Info SessionsService-0HNG31ECB3S35:0000002E: http/1.1 Response 204 to 192.168.0.1. Time: 1ms. POST http://192.168.0.1:8096/emby/Sessions/Capabilities/Full?X-Emby-Client=Emby Web&X-Emby-Device-Name=Chrome Windows&X-Emby-Device-Id=d29c733f-e41f-4af8-b3b6-8766bfdff56d&X-Emby-Client-Version=4.9.1.80&X-Emby-Token=x_secret5_x&X-Emby-Language=de&reqformat=json. 
2025-10-04 20:44:31.966 Info ProviderManager: RefreshItem Start: 222735 Episode F:\tv\Caillou (2024)\Caillou (2024) - S01E28 - Leo Zieht Um Teil 2.mkv
2025-10-04 20:44:31.968 Info MediaProbeManager: ProcessRun 'ffprobe' Execute: C:\Programme Portable\emby\system\ffprobe.exe -i file:"F:\tv\Caillou (2024)\Caillou (2024) - S01E28 - Leo Zieht Um Teil 2.mkv" -threads 0 -v info -print_format json -show_streams -show_chapters -show_format -show_data
2025-10-04 20:44:32.066 Info MediaProbeManager: ProcessRun 'ffprobe' Process exited with code 0
2025-10-04 20:44:32.100 Info HttpClient: GET https://api4.thetvdb.com/v4/episodes/11369613/extended?meta=translations
2025-10-04 20:44:32.267 Info HttpClient: Http response 200 from https://api4.thetvdb.com/v4/episodes/11369613/extended?meta=translations after 167ms
2025-10-04 20:44:32.271 Info SingleImageExtractor: ProcessRun 'extract-image' Execute: C:\Programme Portable\emby\system\ffmpeg.exe -ss 00:01:03.323  -f matroska -threads 1 -i file:"F:\tv\Caillou (2024)\Caillou (2024) - S01E28 - Leo Zieht Um Teil 2.mkv" -an -sn -threads 0 -vf "thumbnail=24" -f image2 -b:v 100M "C:\Programme Portable\emby\programdata\cache\temp\47ab72e9-3fe4-46b4-8951-87b066a71906.jpg"
2025-10-04 20:44:32.786 Info SingleImageExtractor: ProcessRun 'extract-image' Process exited with code 1
2025-10-04 20:44:32.815 Info ProviderManager: Saving image to F:\tv\Caillou (2024)\Caillou (2024) - S01E28 - Leo Zieht Um Teil 2-thumb.jpg
2025-10-04 20:44:32.830 Info ProviderManager: RefreshItem Complete: 222735 Episode F:\tv\Caillou (2024)\Caillou (2024) - S01E28 - Leo Zieht Um Teil 2.mkv

 

the 10s timestamp is problematic as its most in the same intro and results in the same frame for all episodes.
1m03s is mostly a unique keyframe

Edited October 4, 2025 by sschimi

[Luke 42077]

Hi @sschimican you please attach the complete emby server log file? Thanks !

[sschimi 3]

sure, see the library scan at 2025-10-14 20:04:19.354

embyserver.txt

[Luke 42077]

hi @sschimiyes I can reproduce this. We are looking into it. Thanks.