Automatic version grouping for movies

[rjrudman 0]

On 3/9/2025 at 6:36 PM, Luke said:

Automatically merging movies by Movie Db Id will be a built-in feature in the upcoming Emby Server 4.9 release. Thanks.

@LukeThis does not appear to be working. 

I have tested two different approaches:
- Two separate libraries (Movies and Remux Movies). This used to work with the plugin, it no longer does. It does not work with the new built-in functionality either.

- A single library (just 'Movies', with both folders of movies included, and user access granted on a folder level). After scanning + refreshing meta data, I still just see duplicate movies, with no indication that grouping will be done. Left it until the library progress bar finished, still no grouping was done.

In both cases I have made sure 'Detect multi-version items based on both files and metadata' has been selected. I have also tried just selecting only based on metadata. No luck. I have confirmed that both versions of the movie have correctly set (and have the same) external IDs.

Is there something I'm missing and need to configure to get this to work?

[GrimReaper 4739]

10 minutes ago, rjrudman said:

This does not appear to be working

It works for number of users, so it is likely something your particular setup-specific. 

11 minutes ago, rjrudman said:

- Two separate libraries (Movies and Remux Movies). This used to work with the plugin, it no longer does. It does not work with the new built-in functionality either.

Built-in functionality is per-library feature, so it won't work across libraries by default. 

As for plugins, maybe/probably they have not been updated for 4.9 stable branch, post in relevant plugin topic for plugin Dev to possibly offer some insight. 

13 minutes ago, rjrudman said:

- A single library (just 'Movies', with both folders of movies included, and user access granted on a folder level). After scanning + refreshing meta data, I still just see duplicate movies, with no indication that grouping will be done. Left it until the library progress bar finished, still no grouping was done.

Specific example would be required. 

How to Report a Problem

 

[Luke 42077]

@rjrudman

HI there, can you please provide a specific example?

How to Report a Problem

Thanks !

 

[rjrudman 0]

Quote

As for plugins, maybe/probably they have not been updated for 4.9 stable branch, post in relevant plugin topic for plugin Dev to possibly offer some insight. 

@GrimReaper Yep, I believe the plugin is out dated - this was originally posted on a thread for the plugin but was moved to a new topic. However, if it's now built-in to Emby, I'd rather get it working natively than through a plugin

Quote

Specific example would be required.

Luke privately messaged me, and I've responded to him there, but just posting here as well.

 

I've just re-added the remux movies into the movies library and let it scan + refresh metadata. The same problem still exists.

Here's the 'latest movies' view, showing duplicate 'Casino':

 

Regular movie item:

Remux item (note the chapter frames are different):

Regular metadata:

Remux metadata:

The 'Movie' library is configured to read from the folder 'media/Movies' as well as 'media/Movies-Remux'. It is configured to detect multi-versions based on both files and metadata

Please let me know if there's any other details I can provide

embyserver.txt

Edited November 11, 2025 by rjrudman

[Neminem 1518]

Hmm did you do a library scan after updating settings?

[crusher11 1101]

Pretty sure that if you manually group/ungroup versions, the new feature will not touch them.

[Luke 42077]

12 hours ago, crusher11 said:

Pretty sure that if you manually group/ungroup versions, the new feature will not touch them.

This is true, although we don't know that he did that.

However, anything the plugin touched in the past is handled the same way as manual override, and therefore those items will have to be managed manually going forward.

We should add some visibility into the UI to indicate whether the merging was done automatically or manually, however we don't currently have that.

[Luke 42077]

@rjrudmanif this is what is happening with your casino movies, then what I would suggest is moving all Casino movies out of your library, running a scan to get them cleaned out of the database, and then adding them back. Please let us know if this helps. Thanks.

 

[rjrudman 0]

Quote

Hmm did you do a library scan after updating settings?

Yep, multiple times @Neminem

 

@LukeFor this movie, I have not done any manual groupings (though I have for a few other movies that had the same issue, when attempting to fix this), but it would have been grouped by the plugin. Out of curiosity, though, shouldn't the movie be stuck in a group, rather than ungrouped, if it's using the same mechanism as the manual grouping?

I've just removed and re-added both movie versions to the library, and re-scanned. No luck, it's still not grouping them correctly:
 

Not sure if it's relevant or helps, but this also happens for every movie with a remux + original, so it's not just this one item that's stuck.

 

Is it possible that having two libraries pointing to the same folder could be causing an issue? I have this setup:

Movies (reads from /media/Movies AND /media/movies-remux)

RemuxMovies (reads from /media/movies-remux).

 

I previously did not have Movies read from /media/movies-remux when using the plugin, but added it while testing (and Grim Reaper mentioned this only works on a per-library basis anyway).

Edited November 12, 2025 by rjrudman

[Luke 42077]

Quote

Is it possible that having two libraries pointing to the same folder could be causing an issue?

Yes bingo.

[rjrudman 0]

@LukeIs that intended behaviour? Because above it was mentioned that grouping is only supported per-library. Just to be clear - I removed the movies from the disk, refreshed both libraries, and added the movies back.

It's nice having the Remux library separate when browsing to find something to watch. The plugin handled this correctly - once it broke the main issue I was having was that the 'continue watching' entries would be duplicated (it'd show the same movie half watched twice; once in the 'Movies' library and once in the 'Remux' library).

What would be the recommended setup here?

Edited November 12, 2025 by rjrudman

[Luke 42077]

8 hours ago, rjrudman said:

@LukeIs that intended behaviour? Because above it was mentioned that grouping is only supported per-library. Just to be clear - I removed the movies from the disk, refreshed both libraries, and added the movies back.

It's nice having the Remux library separate when browsing to find something to watch. The plugin handled this correctly - once it broke the main issue I was having was that the 'continue watching' entries would be duplicated (it'd show the same movie half watched twice; once in the 'Movies' library and once in the 'Remux' library).

What would be the recommended setup here?

When a folder appears in multiple libraries, it is still only scanned once and you might as well consider it random as to which library options will be used.

 So the grouping could be happening based on one library or the other. 
 

solutions are to either not put them in multiple libraries, or merge them manually.

[Mahinepua 81]

Hi Luke, just tacking onto this thread there is a small bug with the grouping where if you unmerge movies then delete one or more leaving only one copy the cover still shows the multiple version icon.

Replacing metadata fixing the issue.

 

[Luke 42077]

1 hour ago, Mahinepua said:

Hi Luke, just tacking onto this thread there is a small bug with the grouping where if you unmerge movies then delete one or more leaving only one copy the cover still shows the multiple version icon.

Replacing metadata fixing the issue.

 

Hi, Emby doesn’t have a multi version icon.

[Mahinepua 81]

Really? whats the small icon on the top right of the cover when there is multiple versions?

 

[Luke 42077]

Maybe from a plugin you installed. That is not a built in icon.

[Mahinepua 81]

I havent installed any plugins other than coverart.

Does this add it?

[Luke 42077]

Just now, Mahinepua said:

I havent installed any plugins other than coverart.

Does this add it?

Probably yes.

[Mahinepua 81]

Ok so the coverart plugin will need updating to fix the bug.

 

[rjrudman 0]

Quote

 

When a folder appears in multiple libraries, it is still only scanned once and you might as well consider it random as to which library options will be used.

 So the grouping could be happening based on one library or the other. 
 

solutions are to either not put them in multiple libraries, or merge them manually.

 

Thanks for the explanation @Luke - that makes sense.

I originally did not have them in multiple libraries, I had all my regular movies in 'Movies', and all my Remuxes under 'Remux'. They read from completely separate folders.

However, if I start watching a remux movie and stop mid way, the 'continue watching' screen will show two half watched movies - one linking to the 'Movies' library, and one linking to the 'Remux' library - even though I only ever watched the remux version.

I think it may be a bug (or at least surprising behaviour) that the 'continue watching' is tied to an external id, rather than an internal one. The 'continue watching' prompt, in my opinion, should continue watching the same *file*. Any chance this could be looked at? 

 

Edited November 12, 2025 by rjrudman

[Mahinepua 81]

That makes sense to me also, it should be the file and not every movie with the same ID.

[Luke 42077]

Continue watching is tied to external ids, at least that’s how it’s always been. The benefit is that if you move a movie file you’ll be able to retain watch data.

[rjrudman 0]

@Luke Could it be tied to both. Pick the library version, then fall back to the external ID?

It's especially problematic on the TV app as you see two duplicate tiles, and when 'clicking' on either - you cannot tell (as far as I know) which library item/version it's actually referring to. In any case, some sort of de-duplicating logic on the front end would probably be nice regardless of how the continue watching is tracked

[Luke 42077]

1 hour ago, rjrudman said:

@Luke Could it be tied to both. Pick the library version, then fall back to the external ID?

It's especially problematic on the TV app as you see two duplicate tiles, and when 'clicking' on either - you cannot tell (as far as I know) which library item/version it's actually referring to. In any case, some sort of de-duplicating logic on the front end would probably be nice regardless of how the continue watching is tracked

The tying to external ID is probably not as necessary as it was years ago when we first started out, however this is at the data storage level and therefore is much harder to change. So there’s a lot to think through.