Locking certain metadata in NFO before scan?

[rexerm 36]

I've got a personal database that contains titles, directors, writers, release dates, etc. for my entire collection (it's helped me keep track of things for decades).  In preparing to move from Plex to Emby, my thought was that I could generate small NFO files from my Db with all of my data like this:

<episodedetails>
  <title>Pilot</title>
  <director>Peter Chung</director>
  <writer>Peter Chung</writer>
  <year>1991</year>
  <imdbid>tt0834473</imdbid>
  <episode>1</episode>
  <season>1</season>
  <aired>1991-06-02</aired>
</episodedetails>

And then scan that folder and have Emby fill in the rest from TVDb. However, it looks like Emby will rewrite over fields already present (for example: TVDb has the wrong release date for this episode and it writes over my correct one).  Is there a way to pre-lock these fields?  I realize this is a weird edge case...

Sort of related: is there a way to get "Writer: " to display under the title of a movie or episode like "Director: " does?

[Abobader 3470]

Hello rexerm,

Please wait for someone from staff support or our members to reply to you.

It's recommended to provide more info, as it explain in this thread:

Thank you.

Emby Team

[rexerm 36]

Okay, one method that almost works:

Create the NFO, add in <lockdata>true</lockdata> to it, scan the show. Then unlock it and Refresh Metadata, but chose "search for missing metadata" and that will leave my original info alone.  Unfortunately, this blocks it from grabbing any actors at all.

If I do this all without adding a director or writer to my original NFO file, only then will the re-scan grab the actors properly.

Also: the metadata scan never seems to pull a writer on its own for either movies or shows. Is there a way to fix that?

Edited February 18, 2021 by rexerm

[pünktchen 1409]

1 hour ago, rexerm said:

Also: the metadata scan never seems to pull a writer on its own for either movies or shows. Is there a way to fix that?

It's disabled for online scrapers because many users don't want to see the empty image cards with meaningless names underneath for writers.

Btw. although Emby still reads your <writer> tag from the nfo, it should be <credits>.

[rexerm 36]

9 minutes ago, pünktchen said:

It's disabled for online scrapers because many users don't want to see the empty image cards with meaningless names underneath for writers.

Btw. although Emby still reads your <writer> tag from the nfo, it should be <credits>.

Is there a way to re-enable writer-scraping?  Is there a way to having them listed first in the 'Cast & Crew' section instead of way at the end of the list? Is there a way to tag them as "Writer" instead of "Person" in there?

I'm not alone in wanting to click on writer's name to see what else I have by the person, right?  Especially after watching a good Twilight Zone or similar show where the writer is far more important than the director...

[Happy2Play 9783]

4 minutes ago, rexerm said:

 Is there a way to tag them as "Writer" instead of "Person" in there?

This is a client issue and resolved in 4.6.0.26 for the web client.

[pünktchen 1409]

8 minutes ago, rexerm said:

Is there a way to re-enable writer-scraping?

No at this time.

8 minutes ago, rexerm said:

Is there a way to having them listed first in the 'Cast & Crew' section instead of way at the end of the list?

No. And Emby would earn a shitstorm if it does it by default.

9 minutes ago, rexerm said:

I'm not alone in wanting to click on writer's name to see what else I have by the person, right?

You are for sure not alone, but don't have many friends.

[rexerm 36]

19 minutes ago, Happy2Play said:

This is a client issue and resolved in 4.6.0.26 for the web client.

Ah, great!  Can I ask how that Riverdale ep in your screenshot is displaying the writer first?  Or, is that normal if you just have writers and guest stars with no regulars listed? I have not test-scanned too many TV shows yet.

[rexerm 36]

22 minutes ago, pünktchen said:

No at this time.

No. And Emby would earn a shitstorm if it does it by default.

You are for sure not alone, but don't have many friends.

I'm digging into the world of stand-alone metadata scrapers, which looks like it'll help. I don't know if you have any experience with those - is Ember the way to go, or is there something better I have missed in that area?

Hah, I guess I'll take the small weirdness regarding writers versus the 1500 annoyances I've built up with Plex. Fair trade.

[pünktchen 1409]

7 minutes ago, rexerm said:

Or, is that normal if you just have writers and guest stars with no regulars listed?

Exactly this, but there's already a request to change this: https://emby.media/community/index.php?/topic/95024-writers-listed-above-tv-guest-stars/&tab=comments#comment-986670

[Happy2Play 9783]

Just now, rexerm said:

Ah, great!  Can I ask how that Riverdale ep in your screenshot is displaying the writer first?  Or, is that normal if you just have writers and guest stars with no regulars listed? I have not test-scanned too many TV shows yet.

I would have to find @pünktchenpost on it but each type is grouped in order. 

https://emby.media/community/index.php?/topic/95024-writers-listed-above-tv-guest-stars/&do=findComment&comment=986659

Well technically episodes have say Directors, Writers and guest stars.  Actors/Cast to me belong to Series or Season not every episode.

I still use xml metadata so I will have defects in some areas.

Spoiler

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<Item>
    <ID>5</ID>
    <EpisodeID>8020120</EpisodeID>
    <EpisodeNumber>5</EpisodeNumber>
    <SeasonNumber>5</SeasonNumber>
    <seasonid></seasonid>
    <seriesid>311954</seriesid>
    <Added>2/18/2021 1:36:02 PM</Added>
    <FirstAired>2021-02-17</FirstAired>
    <DVD_chapter></DVD_chapter>
    <DVD_discid></DVD_discid>
    <DVD_episodenumber></DVD_episodenumber>
    <DVD_season></DVD_season>
    <Director>Steven A. Adelson</Director>
    <GuestStars>Chris Mason</GuestStars>
    <IMDB_ID>tt13267234</IMDB_ID>
    <Language>en</Language>
    <ProductionCode>T13.22705</ProductionCode>
    <Rating>0</Rating>
    <Writer>Michael Grassi</Writer>
    <absolute_number>81</absolute_number>
    <airsafter_season></airsafter_season>
    <airsbefore_episode></airsbefore_episode>
    <airsbefore_season></airsbefore_season>
    <Combined_episodenumber></Combined_episodenumber>
    <Combined_season></Combined_season>
    <EpisodeName>Chapter Eighty-One: The Homecoming</EpisodeName>
    <Overview>Toni, Alice, Archie and Kevin fight to keep Riverdale High’s doors open after learning that its budget had been cut by Hiram Lodge. Veronica gets creative when she discovers Chad is having her followed. Jughead starts a new job after debt collectors show up in Riverdale.</Overview>
    <filename>/601c51b7adb50.jpg</filename>
    <VideoAspect>16:9</VideoAspect>
    <VideoBitrate>2027000</VideoBitrate>
    <VideoCodec>H.264</VideoCodec>
    <VideoCodecType>H.264</VideoCodecType>
    <VideoCodecRaw>AVC</VideoCodecRaw>
    <VideoFileSize>759904993</VideoFileSize>
    <VideoHeight>720</VideoHeight>
    <VideoLength>42</VideoLength>
    <VideoLengthSeconds>2516</VideoLengthSeconds>
    <VideoQuality>Great (720p HD)</VideoQuality>
    <VideoWidth>1280</VideoWidth>
    <AudioBitrate>384000</AudioBitrate>
    <AudioChannels>5.1</AudioChannels>
    <AudioCodec>AC3</AudioCodec>
    <AudioCodecRaw>AC-3</AudioCodecRaw>
    <AudioFrequency>48000</AudioFrequency>
    <AspectRatio>1.78:1</AspectRatio>
    <MediaInfo>
        <Video>
            <Codec>H.264</Codec>
            <FFCodec>H.264</FFCodec>
            <BitRate>2027000</BitRate>
            <Height>720</Height>
            <Width>1280</Width>
            <FrameRate>23.976</FrameRate>
            <Duration>42</Duration>
            <DurationSeconds>2516</DurationSeconds>
            <ScanType>Progressive</ScanType>
        </Video>
        <Audio>
            <Codec>AC3</Codec>
            <FFCodec>AC3</FFCodec>
            <Channels>6</Channels>
            <BitRate>384000</BitRate>
            <Language>eng</Language>
        </Audio>
    </MediaInfo>
    <VideoHasSubtitles>False</VideoHasSubtitles>
    <Type></Type>
</Item>

But yes there are some things Emby does not capture by default.

[pünktchen 1409]

10 minutes ago, rexerm said:

 is Ember the way to go

I find TinyMediaManager superior to Ember.

[rexerm 36]

4 minutes ago, pünktchen said:

Exactly this, but there's already a request to change this: https://emby.media/community/index.php?/topic/95024-writers-listed-above-tv-guest-stars/&tab=comments#comment-986670

Doh!  Well, maybe in the future there will be an option to customize Cast & Crew job order?

Will have to checkout TMM. Thanks!

[Happy2Play 9783]

Here is Emby showing Director, Writer, and Guest Star assuming metadata is present.