Multi-part movies

[crusher11 1101]

I have a movie split into two parts. Usually when this happens I'd just combine them, but part 1 is 4:3 and part 2 is 16:9 so that's not possible.

 

So I used the multi-part naming instead. But it doesn't work. When I open it I just get the metadata/chapters/etc for Part 1, with part two listed under "additional parts". Clicking on that doesn't open its page, it simply starts playback. If I play part 1, once it gets to the end it just stops.

 

Why can't I see all the chapters? Why doesn't part 2 start automatically after part 1 is finished?

[ebr 16185]

Multi-part items are almost never needed anymore.  You may have just found the one situation where maybe they are (although, you could re-format the 4:3 into a 16:9 frame and then merge).

 

Due to the fact that these are usually not needed, we don't have all the bells and whistles for the secondary parts.  Which app is not playing the second one?

[crusher11 1101]

Web.

 

It's from a compilation DVD of wrestling matches, which starts out old enough to be 4:3 and continues into 16:9 content. On DVD it's just two titles, and they play one after the other and it's all fine. You can also choose any match from either title from the match selection menu. But with the second part not playing back and the chapters associated with it unavailable, it's not really workable in emby.

[ebr 16185]

Okay, so all DVD content is in 16x9 format and just letterboxed if some other resolution.  So, if you do a straight rip of the 4:3 material without any cropping to the actual frame, then you should be able to merge the two.

 

Multiple files are needed so infrequently these days that it simply isn't worth the time to spend to enhance the features or handling of them in the system.

[crusher11 1101]

Okay, so all DVD content is in 16x9 format and just letterboxed if some other resolution.

That's not true at all.

[ebr 16185]

That's not true at all.

 

Really?  I thought the spec for DVD was a fixed frame...

[crusher11 1101]

You might be thinking of Blu-Ray. DVD supports both 4:3 and 16:9 (which is why it's been authored this way in the first place).

 

I tried it on my LG TV and it's even worse. Part two doesn't play there either but it's also not visible as an "additional part" on the film's page so it's completely inaccessible.

[Luke 42080]

Web.

 

It's just never gotten there. For the best possible experience i would suggest joining the files together.

[crusher11 1101]

That can't be done, because they're different aspect ratios.

[pwhodges 2012]

Which is why you need to make a postboxed version of the 4:3 parts, to get around this.  Assuming your screen is wide aspect ratio, you don't lose anything doing this.

[crusher11 1101]

They'd need to be pillarboxed, not letterboxed, and it would require re-encoding, which defeats the purpose of this entire exercise.

[Luke 42080]

Our media conversion feature could help you convert both versions to identical codecs, and then you could merge the result.

[crusher11 1101]

Which would require re-encoding. I don't want to re-encode. That's the entire point.

[Luke 42080]

I understand, just offering a suggestion.

[crusher11 1101]

It'd be fine if Emby actually supported multi-part movies.

 

Why does it claim to, if it clearly actually doesn't?

[ebr 16185]

Tried to explain that in post #2.  We have limited support that has been dying off over the years.  It simply isn't needed anymore for 99.9% of cases so it isn't developed or tested much anymore.

 

Another option would be to make them two separate items and then use a playlist or collection to group them together. You'd then get access to everything on both and also be able to play them together.

[pwhodges 2012]

They'd need to be pillarboxed, not letterboxed, and it would require re-encoding, which defeats the purpose of this entire exercise.

 

To me "postbox" (which I said) means the same as "pillarbox".  I'm sorry I didn't use the standard word, which eluded my brain for a moment.  I understand about reencoding, though; but not everyone feels the same about it.

[crusher11 1101]

I'm using collections for all my multi-disc sets. A film for disc one, another film for disc two, etc.

 

This one is two discs, so two entries. I discovered the aspect ratio thing and figured I might as well just make it three entries as disc one was half-and-half.

 

But now I've got one that goes from 4:3 to 16:9, but the pre-match screen for the 16:9 match is in the 4:3 section. Then back to 4:3 for the next pre-match screen, then 16:9 again for the actual match. That's four films for one disc, with one of those films being about ten seconds long.

 

At a stretch I could re-encode the pre-match screens, I guess, as they're a few seconds and meh, whatever, but if multi-part were actually supported (if the second part is literally inaccessible claiming support is laughable), it'd be an ideal solution to the situation.

 

 

"Postbox" isn't used anywhere as far as I know. "Letterbox" is black bars top and bottom, creating a letterbox-like slit for the image to be in. Pillarboxing is black bars left and right, like pillars.

Edited September 10, 2019 by crusher11

[pwhodges 2012]

For this Englishman, Postbox = Pillarbox in real life.  My aged brain selected the wrong option for this context, is all.