Collections again...

[levander 97]

Any progress on making collection items path independent?

[Luke 42078]

How would that work for a home video?

[Chyron 256]

How would that work for a home video?

 

Two solutions to this come to mind for me:

 

a ) Collections in Emby have unique identifiers. The .nfo for a given media entry refers back to them, by which a media entry can retain what collection(s) it is in.

b ) Media entries in Emby have unique identifiers. The .nfo for a given collection refers back to them, by which a collection can retain what media is in it.

 

c ) Both.

d ) ???

e ) PROFIT!

 

An identifier for a given collection could perhaps be identical to or derived from its hash. Just a thought.

 

In this way, it would not matter if media was identified to an online metadata database.

Edited September 9, 2019 by chyron8472

[Luke 42078]

Sure, although that only works if an nfo file is present.

[Chyron 256]

Sure, although that only works if an nfo file is present.

 

*shrug* If you want metadata for media in general to persist when you move it---outside of having embedded tags---I thought having an nfo file present was the (ideal?) way to accomplish that.

 

 

@@levander says "in Plex collections were never affected by relocating media", but that's not actually true if you have to do a Plex Dance. In fact I've had Plex somehow disassociate media from their collections multiple times because reasons. And Plex doesn't directly support nfo files at all (with the exception of third-party XBMC nfo plugins that only import tags from nfos to Plex and can't export tags from Plex to nfos).

 

So I would think Emby using nfo files to persist associations with collections would be the most elegant solution, given nfos already do that for other things and is a feature Plex lacks.

Edited September 10, 2019 by chyron8472

[OurTV 0]

Why are developers so against using NFO files to the fullest. NFO files a set function for collections. There are many different tools to edit these files and give the user control of the meta. Server crash? No problem dude just rewrite the nfo from the software you use to edit it or from backup. Move a file? No problem dude we use the set feature in your nfo. BUT no we have to create a totally different way to store this shit that makes it difficult for everyone. 

 

example of a custom Comedy collection nfo

<set>
    <name>Stand Up Comedy</name>
    <overview>Stand-up comedy is a comic style in which a comedian performs in front of a live audience, usually speaking directly to them. The performer is commonly known as a comic, stand-up comic, comedian, comedienne, stand-up comedian, or simply a stand-up. Comedians give the illusion that they are dialoguing, but in actuality, they are monologuing a grouping of humorous stories, jokes and one-liners, typically called a shtick, routine, act, or set. Some stand-up comedians use props, music or magic tricks to enhance their acts. Stand-up comedy is stated to be the "freest form of comedy writing" that is regarded as a fictionalized "extension of" the person performing.</overview>
  </set>

 

Oh and look at this non-custom set can include a TMDB ID so you can search for artwork!

<set>
    <name>Friday the 13th Collection</name>
    <overview>Friday the 13th is an American horror slasher franchise created by Victor Miller and Sean Cunningham. Set largely around the fictional small town of Crystal Lake, New Jersey, it tells the story of serial murderer Jason Voorhees, and others who would kill on his behalf and in his name. Neglected and bullied as a young boy, Jason is believed to have drowned at Camp Crystal Lake while the counselors responsible for his well-being were off making love, but decades later he returns to the camp with bloody vengeance as his sole motivating factor.</overview>
    <tmdb>9735</tmdb>
  </set>

[Luke 42078]

On 7/23/2020 at 11:27 PM, OurTV said:

Why are developers so against using NFO files to the fullest. NFO files a set function for collections. There are many different tools to edit these files and give the user control of the meta. Server crash? No problem dude just rewrite the nfo from the software you use to edit it or from backup. Move a file? No problem dude we use the set feature in your nfo. BUT no we have to create a totally different way to store this shit that makes it difficult for everyone. 

 

example of a custom Comedy collection nfo

<set>
    <name>Stand Up Comedy</name>
    <overview>Stand-up comedy is a comic style in which a comedian performs in front of a live audience, usually speaking directly to them. The performer is commonly known as a comic, stand-up comic, comedian, comedienne, stand-up comedian, or simply a stand-up. Comedians give the illusion that they are dialoguing, but in actuality, they are monologuing a grouping of humorous stories, jokes and one-liners, typically called a shtick, routine, act, or set. Some stand-up comedians use props, music or magic tricks to enhance their acts. Stand-up comedy is stated to be the "freest form of comedy writing" that is regarded as a fictionalized "extension of" the person performing.</overview>
  </set>

 

Oh and look at this non-custom set can include a TMDB ID so you can search for artwork!

<set>
    <name>Friday the 13th Collection</name>
    <overview>Friday the 13th is an American horror slasher franchise created by Victor Miller and Sean Cunningham. Set largely around the fictional small town of Crystal Lake, New Jersey, it tells the story of serial murderer Jason Voorhees, and others who would kill on his behalf and in his name. Neglected and bullied as a young boy, Jason is believed to have drowned at Camp Crystal Lake while the counselors responsible for his well-being were off making love, but decades later he returns to the camp with bloody vengeance as his sole motivating factor.</overview>
    <tmdb>9735</tmdb>
  </set>

We're not against it, it's just not something we've added support for yet.

[levander 97]

On 7/24/2020 at 5:27 AM, OurTV said:

Why are developers so against using NFO files to the fullest. NFO files a set function for collections. There are many different tools to edit these files and give the user control of the meta. Server crash? No problem dude just rewrite the nfo from the software you use to edit it or from backup. Move a file? No problem dude we use the set feature in your nfo. BUT no we have to create a totally different way to store this shit that makes it difficult for everyone. 

 

example of a custom Comedy collection nfo

<set>
    <name>Stand Up Comedy</name>
    <overview>Stand-up comedy is a comic style in which a comedian performs in front of a live audience, usually speaking directly to them. The performer is commonly known as a comic, stand-up comic, comedian, comedienne, stand-up comedian, or simply a stand-up. Comedians give the illusion that they are dialoguing, but in actuality, they are monologuing a grouping of humorous stories, jokes and one-liners, typically called a shtick, routine, act, or set. Some stand-up comedians use props, music or magic tricks to enhance their acts. Stand-up comedy is stated to be the "freest form of comedy writing" that is regarded as a fictionalized "extension of" the person performing.</overview>
  </set>

 

Oh and look at this non-custom set can include a TMDB ID so you can search for artwork!

<set>
    <name>Friday the 13th Collection</name>
    <overview>Friday the 13th is an American horror slasher franchise created by Victor Miller and Sean Cunningham. Set largely around the fictional small town of Crystal Lake, New Jersey, it tells the story of serial murderer Jason Voorhees, and others who would kill on his behalf and in his name. Neglected and bullied as a young boy, Jason is believed to have drowned at Camp Crystal Lake while the counselors responsible for his well-being were off making love, but decades later he returns to the camp with bloody vengeance as his sole motivating factor.</overview>
    <tmdb>9735</tmdb>
  </set>

This only works for collections sets where an item can belong to only one collection as far as i know... and that was not the idea of this topic request. But I agree that it would be best solution if nfo could be used for it!

[Chyron 256]

I agree.
I recently moved my media from two 3TB drives to one 10TB drive on my server. This screwed up my collections and my playlists. Although the collection and playlist metadata still existed in the back end, they were empty and so did not show up at all on the front end. When I added a "new" collection of the same name as the old one, the collection showed up twice. Deleting one of the duplicates would delete both.

It was very time consuming to fix.

Edited October 20, 2020 by Chyron

[Luke 42078]

On 7/23/2020 at 11:27 PM, OurTV said:

Why are developers so against using NFO files to the fullest. NFO files a set function for collections. There are many different tools to edit these files and give the user control of the meta. Server crash? No problem dude just rewrite the nfo from the software you use to edit it or from backup. Move a file? No problem dude we use the set feature in your nfo. BUT no we have to create a totally different way to store this shit that makes it difficult for everyone. 

 

example of a custom Comedy collection nfo

<set>
    <name>Stand Up Comedy</name>
    <overview>Stand-up comedy is a comic style in which a comedian performs in front of a live audience, usually speaking directly to them. The performer is commonly known as a comic, stand-up comic, comedian, comedienne, stand-up comedian, or simply a stand-up. Comedians give the illusion that they are dialoguing, but in actuality, they are monologuing a grouping of humorous stories, jokes and one-liners, typically called a shtick, routine, act, or set. Some stand-up comedians use props, music or magic tricks to enhance their acts. Stand-up comedy is stated to be the "freest form of comedy writing" that is regarded as a fictionalized "extension of" the person performing.</overview>
  </set>

 

Oh and look at this non-custom set can include a TMDB ID so you can search for artwork!

<set>
    <name>Friday the 13th Collection</name>
    <overview>Friday the 13th is an American horror slasher franchise created by Victor Miller and Sean Cunningham. Set largely around the fictional small town of Crystal Lake, New Jersey, it tells the story of serial murderer Jason Voorhees, and others who would kill on his behalf and in his name. Neglected and bullied as a young boy, Jason is believed to have drowned at Camp Crystal Lake while the counselors responsible for his well-being were off making love, but decades later he returns to the camp with bloody vengeance as his sole motivating factor.</overview>
    <tmdb>9735</tmdb>
  </set>

For Collections, this will be in Emby Server 4.6.