Home Videos library ignores Date Added from local NFO

[TDriver 53]

Title:
Home Videos library ignores “Date Added” from local NFO

Hello Emby team,

I would like to report an issue that appears to be related to how Emby handles local NFO metadata, especially the “Date Added” field, in a library of the type Home Videos / Home Videos & Photos.

Environment

• Emby Server version: 4.9.3.0

• Library type: Home Videos / Home Videos & Photos

• Operating system / storage: Linux-based NAS (Ugreen DXP8800Plus, Emby Docker Container), media paths mounted in Emby under /mnt/Emby/YT/...

• Example affected path:
  /mnt/Emby/YT/gamestar/videos

What I am trying to achieve

I maintain a large YouTube archive with several thousand videos.
For each video, I create local NFO files myself and want Emby to use those files as the authoritative metadata source.

The main fields I want Emby to read from the NFO are:

• Title

• Sort title

• Plot / overview

• Premiere date / year

• Date Added

Current result

Emby does appear to read at least part of the NFO correctly.
For example, the following fields are correct:

• Title

• Plot / overview

• Premiere date / year

However, “Date Added” is still wrong.
Instead of using the value from the local NFO, Emby appears to keep the import or database timestamp.

So the issue is not that the NFO is completely ignored.
The issue is that Emby seems to apply only certain fields from the NFO, while “Date Added” is still not handled correctly.

What I have already tested

• I created local NFO files for the videos myself.
  I used a PowerShell script that creates or updates a matching .nfo file for each media file.

• I verified that the generated local NFO files are correct.
  Before the Emby scan, the NFO files contain the expected values for title, plot, premiere date, year, and dateadded.

• I explicitly set the relevant date fields in the NFO.
  The generated NFO includes, among other things:

  <dateadded>YYYY-MM-DD HH:mm:ss</dateadded>

  <premiered>YYYY-MM-DD</premiered>

  <aired>YYYY-MM-DD</aired>

  <year>YYYY</year>

• I also set lock fields.
  The NFO contains:

  <lockdata>true</lockdata>

  <lockedfields>DateAdded|Overview|Title|SortName|PremiereDate|ProductionYear</lockedfields>

• I disabled NFO writing in Emby.
  In the library settings:

  Metadata reader: NFO enabled

  Metadata saver: NFO disabled

• I performed a normal library scan, not just a metadata refresh.
  I first let the NFO generation complete fully, and only then started a library scan.

• I also tested with real-time monitoring disabled.
  At first, I suspected that Emby might be reacting too early to file system changes. I therefore also tested with real-time monitoring disabled. This did not solve the issue.

• I first tested with a smaller subset.
  Specifically, I tested only a single channel folder, for example GameStar, before looking at the full library. The result was the same.

• I checked the Emby logs.
  The logs show that Emby scans the library and processes the path. However, there is no obvious error explaining why the “Date Added” field from the NFO is not being applied.

Observed behavior in detail

After my script has finished:

• the media file exists

• the local NFO exists

• the NFO contains the correct metadata

• Emby scans the library

• in Emby, title, plot, premiere date, and year are correct

• but “Date Added” still shows an incorrect value, apparently based on the import time rather than the NFO value

This behavior is reproducible.

Why I believe the issue is in Emby

If the NFO were not being read at all, title and plot would also be wrong.
However, those fields are correct. That means Emby is reading the NFO in general.

The issue therefore seems to be specifically that “Date Added” is either:

• ignored for this library type,

• overwritten internally after import,

• or not applied from the NFO as expected in this scenario, even though other fields are processed correctly.

Additional note

This library contains many thousands of videos.
As a workaround, I could completely remove the media from the library and re-import everything, or physically move the files away and copy them back. However, that creates unnecessary load and should not be required if local NFO metadata is properly supported.

Question

Could you please confirm whether the “Date Added” field from local NFO files is generally supported in a Home Videos / Home Videos & Photos library?

If yes, is this a bug?

If no, is there a recommended way to make Emby use a local NFO date as the effective “Date Added” value?

Thank you.