Read-Only Mode / Disable NFO Altering?

[jpm 0]

I'd like to use Emby as singular DB for my multiple Kodi instances so I don't have to update each device every time I add new content.

 

I have Emby up and running, and I'm running some tests with Kodi. I used MediaElch to scrape all my content prior to putting in share folders.  When I drop a fully scraped movie (art, actors, local trailer, subtitles, and moviename.nfo) into a test Emby share folder, it will show up in Kodi as intended, but it always alters my nfo file.  It adds and removes things.  My NFO's are setup how I want, and include all the information I want/need for Kodi.

 

Is there a way to set up to Emby to read/use my NFO's, and not alter/change them?  A read-only mode, or something like that? I've played around in the settings quite a bit, and no matter what I uncheck, my NFO's still get altered.  I don't know if I'm missing something or if this is not possible.

 

Thanks.

[Luke 42080]

Hi, if you uncheck nfo saving then they will only be altered if you use the metadata editor.

[jpm 0]

Hi, if you uncheck nfo saving then they will only be altered if you use the metadata editor.

 

Thanks, this seems to have worked so far.  I didn't realize the individual libraries had their own settings menus outside of the global settings menu.

[Luke 42080]

Hi, what global setting do you mean? There is no global option to control nfo saving.

[pwhodges 2012]

He had to discover that there are individual library settings to discover the nfo setting within them is what he means.

 

Paul

[jpm 0]

He had to discover that there are individual library settings to discover the nfo setting within them is what he means.

 

Paul

 

Yes, in Emby you have the Admin "Manage Emby Server" settings, but you also have the "right click on library name --> edit" under Library.  I didn't realize each individual library had a settings menu as well.

 

Last question in general, everything seems to be working otherwise.  My moviesets are being separated in to individual movies.  Within the nfo they have matching <set> tags and group properly in Kodi prior to the move to Emby.  From searching it looks like Emby also uses the <set> tags.

 

Is there a MovieSet toggle somewhere in the settings I can't find, or do you have to recreate sets even if your nfo already has the <set> info?

[Happy2Play 9782]

Look at the three dot menu within each library.  But Emby does not collapse boxset items based off the <set> tag.  The Auto Boxset plugin will read the <collectionnumber> tag to create a Collection/Boxset.

Edited March 11, 2020 by Happy2Play

[jpm 0]

I see how it works, but like you said, my <set> tags aren't recognized, so once I re-created a collection, then it grouped correctly in Kodi.  If I add the <collectionnumber> tag manually to all my files that require it, is that enough for Emby to group them, or would "AutoBoxSets" or manually creation of Collections still be required?

[Happy2Play 9782]

I see how it works, but like you said, my <set> tags aren't recognized, so once I re-created a collection, then it grouped correctly in Kodi.  If I add the <collectionnumber> tag manually to all my files that require it, is that enough for Emby to group them, or would "AutoBoxSets" or manually creation of Collections still be required?

The only way to get collection/boxset automatically is via the plugin and the plugin requires the collectionnumber received from TMDB.  Otherwise you have to make them manually.

[jpm 0]

The only way to get collection/boxset automatically is via the plugin and the plugin requires the collectionnumber received from TMDB.  Otherwise you have to make them manually.

 

Sounds good, thank you!

[jpm 0]

Not sure if I should start a new thread or not because this issue isn't related to the thread topic, but I ran into one final issue.

 

I've been running a test between Emby and 2 instances of Kodi prior to moving my entire collection over.  Since Happy2Play explained Collections, everything works as intended except one thing.

 

My Collections are reflected in Kodi properly during testing, however removing a Collection in Emby does not remove it from Kodi.

 

When I add a single movie to my Emby share folder, within 5 minutes it's in my Emby library on the web interface and in both Kodi's.  If I remove a movie from the Emby share folder, within 5 minutes it's removed from my Emby library in the web interface and both Kodi's.

 

Collections don't work like this.  If I remove a Collection from my Emby share folder, within 5 minutes the movies are removed from the Emby library, but the Collection is NOT removed from Kodi.  Any Collections stay in Kodi, even though they are no longer in the Emby library.  The Emby library is correct, but for Collections only, their removal isn't pushed to Kodi.

 

In Kodi, if I click on any movie in a removed Collection it'll say, "the file is no longer available, would you like to remove it from the library?"  If I say yes, it goes away, but I'm not sure why Collection removal doesn't seem to Sync like single movies.

 

Is this a known issue?

Thanks.

[Luke 42080]

How are you removing the collection?

[jpm 0]

How are you removing the collection?

 

I'm not doing anything in Emby itself, just removing the folder containing the collection of movies from the Emby share folder.

 

Folder structure like this:

Movies (Emby Test)

--> Movie 1

--> Movie 2

--> Movie 3

--> Movie Collection 1

-----> Movie 1

-----> Movie 2

-----> Movie 3

--> Movie Collection 2

-----> Movie 1

-----> Movie 2

--> Movie 4

--> Movie 5

 

Simply dropping the "Movie Collection 1" folder into "Movies (Emby Test)" folder and everything works. Removing "Movie Collection 1" from the "Movies (Emby Test)" folder results in the Collection being removed from Emby, but remaining in Kodi.  Individual movies are removed from Kodi when removing them from the "Movies (Emby Test)" folder, only Collections aren't removed.

[Luke 42080]

Ok those are not really collections, those are just folders. The only supported form of collections is by creating or removing them using the emby web interface.

[jpm 0]

Ok those are not really collections, those are just folders. The only supported form of collections is by creating or removing them using the emby web interface.

 

Well, I was just describing my folder structure, but all my movies are already fully scraped with an nfos already.  After Happy2Play explained Collections, I added the <collectionnumber> tag with the correct number from TMDB to each nfo of my two test Collections, and installed the AutoBoxSets plugin.

 

As a result, dropping my two test Collection folders into my Emby shared folder results in everything being displayed correctly in my Emby library (movies added, Collection created, movies grouped).  This also is reflected in Kodi perfectly.

 

When removing the test Collection folders from my Emby shared folder, my Emby library reflects correctly, the movies and Collection are removed, but Kodi still displays the movies/Collection.

 

When I remove individual movies from my share folder, they are removed from my Emby library and Kodi.  When removing Collections, for whatever reason, the removal of a Collection is being reflected in Emby but isn't being reflected in Kodi.

Edited March 12, 2020 by jpm

[Happy2Play 9782]

Collections can be a issue. 

 

You will run into issues like this with Collection because they are built in "\Emby-Server\programdata\data\collections".  These virtual collection/boxsets have a collection.xml and that xml will not remove items unless done via Emby UI.

 

But a Kodi Dev may have to comment.

 

But I am a little lost on if you remove a Collection though, What are you removing?  Since metadata would regenerate the collection.

[Luke 42080]

As far as both Emby and Kodi are concerned though, your "Movie Collection 2" is not actually a collection, it's just a folder. The collection can be deleted using the emby web interface, although if the movies are gone you won't be able to see it anymore.

[jpm 0]

Yea, I agree Happy2Play, Emby works exactly as intended in terms of its interaction with Kodi except for Collections, they are tricky.

 

My intended use for Emby was to be able to add movies to the share folder (that are already fully scraped with nfo and art) and then they'd be automatically be added to all Kodi's without having to manually update each instance. For single movies, everything works perfectly ... no interaction with Emby is required from me, and all Kodi's show the movie additions.  Same goes for when I remove a movie from the share folder, the movie is removed from Emby and each instance of Kodi automatically.

 

Collections do not work this way.  Luke, I understand my folder structure doesn't automatically make a Collection, I was just illustrating my folder structure.  I now understand how Collections work in Emby, but something about Collections breaks the link with Kodi.  I'll try and explain what I've learned in my testing.

 

I added my John Wick Collection to my Emby share folder.  The individual movies show up in Emby and Kodi, but they don't group as a Collection in either.  I then create the Collection manually in Emby, they then group in Emby and Kodi (this part works well, and I've also done tests with the AutoBoxSets plugin and <collectionnumber> tag and that works well too).

 

Then I moved my John Wick Collection out of my share folder and deleted the Collection from Emby.  This results correctly in Emby, the Collection is gone, and the individual movies no longer show in my Library, however in Kodi the movies are no longer grouped as a set (so the deletion of the Collection worked), but the individual movies still show up ungrouped, and do not go away unless I click on each and get the message, "the file is no longer available, would you like to remove it from the library?"  If I click Yes on each, they are removed.

 

That's issue one ... issue two doesn't allow you to re-add those movies to Kodi.  After moving files that were part of a Collection out of my Library and deleting the Collection, if I re-add those movies to Emby share folder, they will re-add to Emby, but will not re-add to Kodi.  I don't know why but if any movie grouped into a Collection is removed then re-added will show up normally in Emby, but will not reflect in Kodi.  I've tried this with 3 different collections, it was the same for all 3.

 

Now, these are just tests prior to putting all my movies in the Emby share, to make sure it worked as intended.  In normal use I will not be moving Collections out frequently, but it will happen and it's the only thing that doesn't work properly with Kodi.  Not sure where the issue lies, but since everything seems to reflect fine in Emby, I assume it's either Kodi or the Emby Plugin that has trouble relaying movies that were previous removed being re-added, or when movies that were part of a Collection are removed.

 

TLDR:

1) Movies that were part of a Collection still show as individual movies in Kodi after being removed from Emby.

2) Movies that were part of Collection but removed from Emby do not show up in Kodi again after being re-added to Emby.

[Luke 42080]

Ok yes I think the sync process needs a little improvement there in regards to responding to collection changes. For now you'd have to just do a manual sync.

 

Have you checked out the EmbyCon add-on instead? It doesn't require any syncing. Just sign in, browse and play.