Why episode images in libraries keep using image capture over an available image but different in language?

[kira yamato 22]

Why episode images in libraries keep using image capture over an available image but different in language 

noted :that i tried choose nothing in prefer image language.

That’s really annoying. I like the posters in English, but there are no episode images in English. However, the images in other languages are still available. Why don’t they just use the images in other languages? Is there a way to fix this, or did I forget to do something?

 

 

[Luke 42681]

Hi there, what image fetchers do you have enabled on the library and in what order?

[kira yamato 22]

8 hours ago, Luke said:

Hi there, what image fetchers do you have enabled on the library and in what order?

When I unselect the “Image Capture” option, the episode image disappears and only the poster is displayed instead.

Edited May 22 by kira yamato

[Luke 42681]

Quote

the episode image disappears and only the poster is displayed instead.

hi, disappears from where? What poster is displayed?

[kira yamato 22]

33 minutes ago, Luke said:

hi, disappears from where? What poster is displayed?

If you unselect “Image Capture,” the main series poster will be displayed, similar to when no episode image is found.

[kira yamato 22]

On 5/22/2026 at 11:56 AM, Luke said:

hi, disappears from where? What poster is displayed?

any update?

[Luke 42681]

On 5/22/2026 at 1:31 AM, kira yamato said:

If you unselect “Image Capture,” the main series poster will be displayed, similar to when no episode image is found.

Displayed where though?

[kira yamato 22]

14 hours ago, Luke said:

Displayed where though?

 At the image of the episode.

[Luke 42681]

18 minutes ago, kira yamato said:

 At the image of the episode.

When you change the library option it does not change existing episodes. It will impact the behavior for new images that are downloaded and created after that.

[kira yamato 22]

7 hours ago, Luke said:

When you change the library option it does not change existing episodes. It will impact the behavior for new images that are downloaded and created after that.

Yes, I know that. I mean, after I change the library option, I also refresh all the metadata to replace the old setting.

[Luke 42681]

OK so it looks like everything that is happening is expected behavior. 

I think the answer is we need to have secondary languages, so then Chinese can be your second image language. Then the server can get that one when an English image isn't available.

[kira yamato 22]

11 hours ago, Luke said:

OK so it looks like everything that is happening is expected behavior. 

I think the answer is we need to have secondary languages, so then Chinese can be your second image language. Then the server can get that one when an English image isn't available.

That’s great! However, I’m curious why Emby doesn’t automatically select the episode image provided by the database, even if the image is labeled in a different language from the preferred language or if I’ve set the preferred language setting to none. Even in those cases, Emby doesn’t choose the image and instead uses the image capture that I’ve set as the last resource..

noted: whenever I change a setting, I also refresh the metadata.

[Luke 42681]

Because imagine getting a movie poster in a foreign language. Not everyone would like that.

[kira yamato 22]

18 minutes ago, Luke said:

Because imagine getting a movie poster in a foreign language. Not everyone would like that.

I understand that if this applies only to the poster, then most of the metadata has at least a poster in that language, but not much for episode images to choose from, resulting in fewer options to provide.

[GrimReaper 5035]

22 minutes ago, kira yamato said:

I understand that if this applies only to the poster, then most of the metadata has at least a poster in that language, but not much for episode images to choose from, resulting in fewer options to provide.

Why would you want landscape image as episode thumb? I'd hate to see any text on those thumbs, regardless of the language, they should be textless - just as Image Capture provides. 

Edited June 12 by GrimReaper

[kira yamato 22]

5 minutes ago, GrimReaper said:

Why would you want landscape image as episode thumb? I'd hate to see any text on those thumbs, regardless of the language, they should be textless - just as Image Capture provides. 

Most of the time, the episode image is text-less, but they label it as other language. I don’t understand why,. That’s why I’m asking for this.

[GrimReaper 5035]

4 minutes ago, kira yamato said:

Most of the time, the episode image is text-less, but they label it as other language. I don’t understand why,.

You can change that with the TMDB yourself and download it once provider's cache updates, usually the following day (sometimes even after few hours depends on the time of day). Personally, I don't think that episode thumbs should have any language other than None, as any text makes them a landscape-type image, which has a different purpose entirely. Meaning I'm against even preferred language for episode thumbs being implemented, let alone fallback one. 

[Luke 42681]

@kira yamatohas this helped?