Path substitution not working as expected - Synology

January 2, 2018

I have a strange problem in the path substitution when using Emby for Kodi that I either don't have a full grasp of, or have encountered a bug.

I'm using a Synology system. For this example, we'll use my Anime library. Here's my folder setup...

- SMB and NFS both enabled

- native access enabled in Kodi

- "/volume1/Anime" is the direct path on the synology

- "nfs://192.168.1.101/volume1/Anime" is the optional shared network folder/path substitution setup in Emby Server Library

I was looking into disabling the NFS shares today on the server, but in this process, noticed that Emby for Kodi isn't actually using the path substitution. Where would it be getting it from? Below is the section in the Kodi log that has it using smb://rackstation/Anime as the path instead of the nfs share that I have set above. I realized that no matter what I change this to in Emby server, it will always use the smb path. To test, I changed the path to something invalid expecting the playback to return an error, but it continues to use the path below. Any help on this? I'm stumped...

22:56:52.050 T:10520 NOTICE: EMBY.player -> Played_information: {'smb://rackstation/Anime/Full Metal Panic!/Full Metal Panic! - S01E01 - The Guy I Kinda Like is a Sergeant.avi': {'paused': True, 'refresh_id': 'f10696613c9740f5d9f7870bbb8e2a56', 'AudioStreamIndex': 1, 'SubtitleStreamIndex': '', 'currentPosition': 1.937000036239624, 'item_id': 'b0761320ac9eafa6e4ee3de405a4f4cf', 'currentfile': 'smb://rackstation/Anime/Full Metal Panic!/Full Metal Panic! - S01E01 - The Guy I Kinda Like is a Sergeant.avi', 'runtime': 13692000256L, 'Type': 'Episode', 'playmethod': 'DirectPlay'}}

Edit: after I wrote this, I started thinking about the paths and where they're stored, and I'm now assuming that they're written to the local kodi database. When I installed kodi today, I had an smb path setup. I'm now resetting the database to see if that fixes my issue. I assume that it will.... Shouldn't the sync kodi/emby sync also include the media paths?

Edited January 2, 2018 by knewknow

January 2, 2018

Yes, a database reset will resolve this. When you use native playback mode, the paths are inserted into the database. When you change path substitution in the server, there is no server event therefore the add-on is unaware of this change. You need to either reset or repair the database (either would work).

If you were using add-on playback instead, the path is retrieved at the moment of playback. So there's nothing to be done to update paths. The changes are reflected instantly.

I hope this helps for future reference.

Edited January 2, 2018 by Angelblue05

January 2, 2018

Yes, a database reset will resolve this. When you use native playback mode, the paths are inserted into the database. When you change path substitution in the server, there is no server event therefore the add-on is unaware of this change. You need to either reset or repair the database (either would work).

If you were using add-on playback instead, the path is retrieved at the moment of playback. So there's nothing to be done to update paths. The changes are reflected instantly.

I hope this helps for future reference.

Thanks Angelblue,

Yea, I did a full refresh last night and saw that the path had changed. The reason that I'm tinkering with this in the first place is because my Nvidia Shield doesn't seem to refresh the paths of new episodes unless I restart the Kodi app (while asleep).

Scenario:

- kodi turns on screensaver

- nvidia shield goes to sleep

- wake up system and navigate to new TV episode. Episode won't play with error message that kodi can't find the file

- restart the kodi app and file plays as expected

I didn't dig into the log file yet to see what file kodi is trying to read, but I'll do that next. What's surprising is that Emby seems to be syncing since I can see the episode in the library view. As soon as I restart kodi, it finds the file immediately. I have the setting to sync after wake turned on in Emby.

Edit: Also, are there any downsides to using add-on playback? I assume this means that the server is transcoding the files while in native mode, kodi is doing the heavy lifting (this is my preference).

Edited January 2, 2018 by knewknow