TV Series in diferent folders not merging

[samplerico 0]

Hi, i'm a new Emby user, i come from more than 5 years of XBMC/Kodi flawless experience. I heard Emby was so fantastic for migrating to a centralised database, i am trying out and its giving me headaches. I will do other posts to be more specific about my several problems with Emby.

 

But to start off with something, i can't really understand why Emby doesn't have separate media listing like in Kodi: One that only shows the raw source files, so all the things Emby reads as video or music media in the library source folder. And another with the real actual correctly scraped collection of elements that Emby has correctly actually scraped from the source. In Emby you only have one listing and that is giving me lots of problems. For example not being able to instantly see how many and which elements are not being correctly scraped. But this is only the tip of the iceberg.

 

This is causing among other things, that TV Series that do not share the same source folder are shown like they were diferent series, and this in return gives the other problem that they don't get the pictures and metadata correctly. I CHECKED THE "MERGE SERIES IN ONE" BOX at the library scan source window but it doesn't work. Emby scraps the series and they even get the thumbnail and metadata for all the episodes (almost) but it misses the artwork and he shows them in diferent blank posters.

 

I don't wnat this to be a rant, but can someone explain to me why Emby has a so cool advertised Kodi add-on, but doesn't have any real compatibility? It changes all the already good, and working conventions that Kodi had for years. What Emby really only does is sync his database with the already good SQLite one from Kodi, but limiting the ability of Kodi to change anything, to update anything, and in returns Emby changes all the conventions that were already well working in Kodi, like separation of file system media source navigation and correctly scrapped collection, TV Episodes and Movies naming, Movie sets, smart playlists etc etc etc. If u have an add-on for an existing more than 10 years old open software with a very large commmunity, the user expecto you to adapt to the already software not the other way around. Emby expects a Kodi user with several years old database to rebuild everything form scratch with their mor enclosed and limited options.

 

If i knew in advance that the only thing Emby does is sync theyr own database with Kodi local one, and i would have to spent hours and hours rebuilding my database with a very slow scraper to only realize its not worth, i would never tried Emby. Its bad explained how all works, the Web UI is lacking lots of options to give you more control, some of them doesn't work correctly, and the community is not mature enough to give you proper solutions.

 

I'm sorry to be that negative, but i've spent serious hours before posting this here and i'm not geting any benefit from my previous Kodi setup, only a more closed, limited database, with less customisable options and lots of problems.

[mastrmind11 722]

I used Kodi for a long time w/ Emby server and did not experience any issues or lack of functionality.  Perhaps you can explain your setup with a little more detail, or break your post into multiple posts so we can help tackle the issues one at a time?

[samplerico 0]

I used Kodi for a long time w/ Emby server and did not experience any issues or lack of functionality.  Perhaps you can explain your setup with a little more detail, or break your post into multiple posts so we can help tackle the issues one at a time?

If u didn't experienced any problem coming from Kodi i guess one of the two: You had your database build already with Kodi+Emby setup. Or i you had all your shows in the same folder and you never used such things like, smart playlists, movie sets, your namings were perfectly matching Emby ones, you never used widgets in Kodi, you don't have splited media, adn you always have Emby scraping everything at the first glance. If those are not in your case i cannot see how you have not experienced any probems.

 

As i said i come from several years of using Kodi with a pretty big large database. Believe me, i am having lots of problems. You only have to look at all those "requests" threads all over Emby forums to see how wrong Kodi+Emby add-on philosophy is applied here.

 

I wil do diferent posts this si the first one, and i know its a bit ranty but i always thought critics are good for progress, specially when so much is wrong and so much is to be done. The problem i am explaining in this thread is TV series not merging into one. I have like four Game of Thrones folders in diferent HDD's over my network and Emby shows them as if they were diferent shows. I used the merge option in the library scan window but it is not working.

Edited January 10, 2018 by samplerico

[CBers 7451]

Q: You did wipe your Kodi database before syncing it with Emby?

[samplerico 0]

Q: You did wipe your Kodi database before syncing it with Emby?

Not only i did wipe Kodi database but after that i unninstalled kodi and deleted every Kodi folder form the client. I reinstalled and rebuilt all my database (with previous local nfo's and pictures). But the problem is not in Kodi. The problem is in Emby itself. Emby shows me severals posters of the same TV series ( i have four game of thrones, 3 homelands, 2 breaking bads etc...). That obviously translates into Kodi showing me the same thing.

Edited January 10, 2018 by samplerico

[CBers 7451]

Hopefully @@Angelblue05, @ or @@xnappo will see this thread.

 

I'll move this thread to the Kodi forum.

[xnappo 1611]

@@CBers - huh?  This is clearly an Emby issue.  His data scan did not work correctly. @@samplerico - there is functionality to merge seasons, but I have not used it myself.

 

 

 

But the problem is not in Kodi. The problem is in Emby itself. Emby shows me severals posters of the same TV series ( i have four game of thrones, 3 homelands, 2 breaking bads etc...). That obviously translates into Kodi showing me the same thing. 

Edited January 10, 2018 by xnappo

[samplerico 0]

@@CBers - huh?  This is clearly an Emby issue.  His data scan did not work correctly. @@samplerico - there is functionality to merge seasons, but I have not used it myself.

Thanks for the answer. I used that option, is not working.

[CBers 7451]

@@CBers - huh? This is clearly an Emby issue.

Fair enough.

 

I'll move back to server forum then.

[Deathsquirrel 745]

The shows will only merge if the various seasons are correctly identified and recognized as the same show.  For example, if you have seasons of Knight Rider and the scanner identifies some as the show from the 80s and some as the version from the early 2000s they would not merge.

 

I suggest making sure your library is set to handle that content as TV and that your episode naming follows a recommended convention.  The ideal is \\Share\<Show Title>\<Season Number>\<Show Title> SxxExx <Episode Title>.mkv with everything matching the TVDB.  For example, \\MyServer\TV\Knight Rider\Season 01\Knight Rider S01E03 Deadly Maneuvers.mkv.

 

That's not the only supported one but it's been the most consistently reliable for me.

[samplerico 0]

The shows will only merge if the various seasons are correctly identified and recognized as the same show.  For example, if you have seasons of Knight Rider and the scanner identifies some as the show from the 80s and some as the version from the early 2000s they would not merge.

 

I suggest making sure your library is set to handle that content as TV and that your episode naming follows a recommended convention.  The ideal is \\Share\<Show Title>\<Season Number>\<Show Title> SxxExx <Episode Title>.mkv with everything matching the TVDB.  For example, \\MyServer\TV\Knight Rider\Season 01\Knight Rider S01E03 Deadly Maneuvers.mkv.

 

That's not the only supported one but it's been the most consistently reliable for me.

As i said, episodes are correctly detected and scraped, at least the ones i have looked. I still have diferent Blank posters for every folder containing that show. This whole Kodi+Emby thing is  a big mess, i wouldn't recoment at all for Kodi users with already big databases. Maybe , and only maybe to new users, and i still ahve to see good benefits from Emby for a local network user. I see i will have similar problems with my movie sets, my smart playlists, my need to have direct file path access, widgets, scraping, aditional Kodi addons etc etc etc. I'm going back to my Kodi UPnP setup. Its just not worth at all.

 

I can't understand how a new platform like Emby, that needs to grow a community and potential premium consumers has such a poor add-on for the most popular front end for movie librarys. If Emby wants something off of Kodi veteran users they should adapt their add-on to Kodi conventions and don't expect users to adapt to Emby with the hours and hours of work that requires to at the end have a less complete overral setup. Until that day come i have seen too much of this thing already.

 

Thanks posters who tried to help me.

[xnappo 1611]

Hmm - we would be willing to give our free time to help you solve the problem, but if you are giving up that easily, well then see ya...