Newly Imported Movies Have Directors/Writers With Blank Roles when First Imported

[denzoid 59]

Server Version: 4.9.5.0

Issue:

Newly imported movies consistently display directors and writers at the beginning of the Cast & Crew section. At first I assumed this was a sorting issue, but after investigating it appears to be related to missing crew role assignments during the initial import.

Symptoms:

• Newly added movies show writers and directors before the actors in the movie details page.
• In Edit Metadata, directors and writers appear at the top of the People list.
• In Edit Metadata, those directors and writers have no role shown beneath their names (blank role).
• Actors are imported correctly and always show their character names.
• The movie details page still identifies those people as Writer or Director, but Edit Metadata does not.

What fixes it:

Running:

Refresh Metadata → Replace All Metadata

Immediately fixes the problem.

After the refresh:

• Actors appear first.
• Directors and writers move to the bottom of the People list.
• Directors now show "Director" beneath their names in the metadata editor.
• Writers now show "Writer" beneath their names in the metadata editor.

What I checked:

• NFO metadata reader is enabled and is the only metadata reader.
• Metadata downloaders are TheMovieDb and OMDb.
• Movies have valid TMDb and IMDb IDs.
• "Automatically refresh metadata from the internet after initial import" is set to Never.
• The issue is not limited to a single title.

NFO Investigation:

I inspected several generated NFO files, and they appear correct.

The NFO structure appears normal, and actors are listed before directors/writers.

Additional Observation:

If I rename/remove the NFO and run "Replace All Metadata", Emby recreates the NFO and the movie is imported correctly afterward.

Question:

Is there a known issue in 4.9.5.0 where the initial movie import process fails to assign Writer/Director person types correctly, while "Replace All Metadata" rebuilds them correctly?

Edited June 11 by denzoid

[Luke 42597]

HI there, can you please provide a specific example?

How to Report a Problem

Thanks !

 

[CBers 7615]

Similar thread here. 

 

 

[Maximus Naxsus 20]

I have noticed the same since a few weeks I think; version 4.8.11.0 here..
It seemed to resolve itself. I have not checked it as thoroughly as the OP denzoid, thank you!
In the early days of Emby it used add many actors, writers etc. Now I ussually see no more than about 10. I assumed the issue mentioned here was a further degredation of functionality. My mistake 

Edited June 11 by Maximus Naxsus
typooos

[denzoid 59]

3 hours ago, Luke said:

HI there, can you please provide a specific example?

How to Report a Problem

Thanks !

 

Thanks for the reply, I believe the only thing I left out was a log file, which I've attached. I've also attached an image and highlighted the specific example showing no role listed under the director's name in the metadata editor.  Please let me know if there's anything else.Thanks

embyserver.txt

Edited June 11 by denzoid

[denzoid 59]

2 hours ago, CBers said:

Similar thread here. 

 

 

Thanks for the reply but to me these seems unrelated.

[Luke 42597]

I think you may have nfo files generated by other software, just based on these errors in the server log:

2026-06-11 02:21:03.350 Info LibraryMonitor: No Time to Die (2021) (/mnt/4K/No Time to Die (2021)) will be refreshed.
2026-06-11 02:21:03.351 Error App: Error reading existng nfo /mnt/4K/Mission - Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One (2023)/Mission Impossible Dead Reckoning Part One (2023) - [Bluray-2160p][DV HDR10][EAC3 7.1][x265]-hallowed.nfo
	*** Error Report ***
	Version: 4.9.5.0
	Command line: /system/EmbyServer.dll -programdata /config -ffdetect /bin/ffdetect -ffmpeg /bin/ffmpeg -ffprobe /bin/ffprobe -restartexitcode 3
	Operating system: Linux version 6.12.54-Unraid (root@Develop) (gcc (GCC) 15.2.0, GNU ld version 2.45-slack151) #1 SMP PREEMPT_DYNAMIC Tue Oct 21 15:58:46 PDT 2025
	OS/Process: x64/x64
	Framework: .NET 8.0.25
	Runtime: system/System.Private.CoreLib.dll
	Processor count: 6
	Data path: /config
	Application path: /system
	System.Xml.XmlException: System.Xml.XmlException: Data at the root level is invalid. Line 281, position 1.

This would explain why you see one thing initially, and then a different result after refreshing metadata.

[denzoid 59]

16 hours ago, Luke said:

I think you may have nfo files generated by other software, just based on these errors in the server log:

2026-06-11 02:21:03.350 Info LibraryMonitor: No Time to Die (2021) (/mnt/4K/No Time to Die (2021)) will be refreshed.
2026-06-11 02:21:03.351 Error App: Error reading existng nfo /mnt/4K/Mission - Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One (2023)/Mission Impossible Dead Reckoning Part One (2023) - [Bluray-2160p][DV HDR10][EAC3 7.1][x265]-hallowed.nfo
	*** Error Report ***
	Version: 4.9.5.0
	Command line: /system/EmbyServer.dll -programdata /config -ffdetect /bin/ffdetect -ffmpeg /bin/ffmpeg -ffprobe /bin/ffprobe -restartexitcode 3
	Operating system: Linux version 6.12.54-Unraid (root@Develop) (gcc (GCC) 15.2.0, GNU ld version 2.45-slack151) #1 SMP PREEMPT_DYNAMIC Tue Oct 21 15:58:46 PDT 2025
	OS/Process: x64/x64
	Framework: .NET 8.0.25
	Runtime: system/System.Private.CoreLib.dll
	Processor count: 6
	Data path: /config
	Application path: /system
	System.Xml.XmlException: System.Xml.XmlException: Data at the root level is invalid. Line 281, position 1.

This would explain why you see one thing initially, and then a different result after refreshing metadata.

Luke, thanks for the reply, but I do not have any other software generating nfo files. I use Sabnzbd and Radarr but have no scripts or any post-processing enabled. Emby is running on my Unraid NAS. As a test i shutdown all other containers manually copied a new movie from my windows machine and Emby added it with the writer and director showing first. Again the writer and director had no role in the metadata editor. Any ideas? 

[GrimReaper 5019]

4 minutes ago, denzoid said:

I use Sabnzbd and Radarr but have no scripts or any post-processing enabled.

You don't need any, Radarr will write NFOs itself if configured so. Do you have anything enabled under Radarr Settings>Metadata?