library metadata providers vs Identify by ID# feature, present and future

[CharleyVarrick 283]

I've always wondered about Emby's different providers list when I compare library metadata providers with Identify by ID# feature.

feature name	location	MovieDb	Open Movie Db	TVDB	IMDB	Zap2it	FanArt	Screen Grabber
metadata downloaders	Movie Library	yes	yes
Image Fetchers	Movie Library	yes	yes				yes	yes
Series metadata downloaders	TV library	yes	yes	yes
Season metadata downloaders	TV library	yes		yes
Episode metadata downloaders	TV library	yes	yes
Series Image Fetchers	TV library	yes	yes	yes			yes
Season Image Fetchers	TV library	yes		yes			yes
Episode Image Fetchers	TV library	yes	yes	yes				yes
Identify by ID#	tv show	yes		yes	yes	yes
Identify by ID#	movie	yes			yes

 

IMDB's (seemingly limited) role within Emby

1) How does Emby manages to identify a movie or tv show by IMDB ID#, when IMDB is not offered in any library as provider or fetcher ?

2) Do I guess correctly that Emby will ask the main stooges (MovieDb/Open Movie Db/TVDB)  "do you recognize this IMDB ID#" ?

3) Do I also guess EMBY does not query IMDB directly at all ?

Zap2it's role

4) Similarly, how can Emby use Zap2it ID# when they're neither a md provider or image fetcher ?

 

TVMaze ?

The notable absence of TVMaze, as md provider, image fetcher, and Id by ID# is puzzling.

5) They being well established in the top 3 TV universe, their total absence on Emby raise the question: why?

 

With the plan of TVDB's to turn into a premium ($$) service, I hope Emby will not rely exclusively on TMdb for TV data;

While they're batting close to 1.000 regarding movies, they're just "doing OK" on the TV side of thing, imho.

 

6) Are there any plans to add new providers, fetchers and identifyer by ID# in the near future?

 

7) Are there any existing plugins to grab more metadata in more places than Emby's defaults ?

8  ) Regarding question #7, do any names come up more often than others? 

Thanks in advance 

Edited March 1, 2021 by jlr19

[Happy2Play 9783]

3 hours ago, jlr19 said:

1) How does Emby manages to identify a movie or tv show by IMDB ID#, when IMDB is not offered in any library as provider or fetcher ?

Well the IMDB id is queryable via TMDB and OMDB.

3 hours ago, jlr19 said:

2) Do I guess correctly that Emby will ask the main stooges (MovieDb/Open Movie Db/TVDB)  "do you recognize this IMDB ID#" ?

You can actually see the queries in your log, but yes.

3 hours ago, jlr19 said:

3) Do I also guess EMBY does not query IMDB directly at all ?

Correct as they want a fortune for their data.  Like $150,000 a year.

AWS Marketplace: IMDb Movie/TV/OTT Data (amazon.com)

3 hours ago, jlr19 said:

4) Similarly, how can Emby use Zap2it ID# when they're neither a md provider or image fetcher ?

Pretty sure it comes from TVDB metadata.

Spoiler

    <Series>
        <id>95441</id>
        <Actors>|Chris O&#39;Donnell|LL Cool J|Daniela Ruah|Eric Christian Olsen|Linda Hunt|Medalion Rahimi|Barrett Foa|Renée Felice Smith|Caleb Castille|Bar Paly|Peter Cambor|Adam Jamal Craig|Miguel Ferrer|Nia Long|Andrea Bordeaux|Vyto Ruginis|</Actors>
        <Airs_DayOfWeek>Sunday</Airs_DayOfWeek>
        <Airs_Time>9:00 PM</Airs_Time>
        <ContentRating>TV-14</ContentRating>
        <FirstAired>2009-09-22</FirstAired>
        <Genre>|Action|Adventure|Crime|Drama|</Genre>
        <IMDB_ID>tt1378167</IMDB_ID>
        <Language>en</Language>
        <Network>CBS</Network>
        <NetworkID>57</NetworkID>
        <Overview>NCIS: Los Angeles is a drama about the high stakes world of undercover surveillance at the Office of Special Projects (OSP), a division of NCIS that is charged with apprehending dangerous and elusive criminals that pose a threat to the nation&#39;s security, specifically Naval and Marine assets and personnel.</Overview>
        <Rating>8.3</Rating>
        <RatingCount>4661</RatingCount>
        <Runtime>45</Runtime>
        <SeriesID>76607</SeriesID>
        <SeriesName>NCIS: Los Angeles</SeriesName>
        <Status>Continuing</Status>
        <added>2009-05-22 03:02:16</added>
        <addedBy/>
        <banner>graphical/95441-g4.jpg</banner>
        <fanart>fanart/original/95441-21.jpg</fanart>
        <lastupdated>1614477028</lastupdated>
        <poster>posters/95441-2.jpg</poster>
        <zap2it_id>EP01158361</zap2it_id>
    </Series>

Not entirely sure where the Trakt id/link comes from.

3 hours ago, jlr19 said:

TVMaze ?

The notable absence of TVMaze, as md provider, image fetcher, and Id by ID# is puzzling.

5) They being well established in the top 3 TV universe, their total absence on Emby raise the question: why?

We had one before but the 3rd party dev abandon it.  There are topics out there.

 

3 hours ago, jlr19 said:

While they're batting close to 1.000 regarding movies, they're just "doing OK" on the TV side of thing, imho.

As a Community site, just means more users need to do their part for Free data.  But I can see TMDB getting hammered as services move away from TVDB.  Trakt already has.

3 hours ago, jlr19 said:

6) Are there any plans to add new providers, fetchers and identifyer by ID# in the near future?

Only so much one dev can do, but we can hope.

3 hours ago, jlr19 said:

7) Are there any existing plugins to grab more metadata in more places than Emby's defaults ?

None that any 3rd party devs had made available.  But at the same time Emby will honor all sites TOS, so any plugin that does not honor that will not be in the Emby Catalog.

 

Edited March 1, 2021 by Happy2Play

[CharleyVarrick 283]

Thanks  Happy, good info as usual, and I love that you did the extra footwork to quote the question + answer each.

Its "Easy2play"

 

[CharleyVarrick 283]

I contribute here and there on tmdb.org, but exclusively on the movie side,

if I can do it, it means its child's play. I can't say the same holds true when looking at their tv shows setup.

As for tvdb, the learning curve to get going over there is beyond the scope of my abilities and patience.

 

[Happy2Play 9783]

Fyi looks like TVMAZE is subscription also.

https://www.tvmaze.com/premium

[Luke 42085]

1 hour ago, Happy2Play said:

Fyi looks like TVMAZE is subscription also.

https://www.tvmaze.com/premium

That's interesting. Last I checked they only had English metadata. They will need to support more than that to be a competitive option.

[Carlo 4561]

I haven't looked at them in a while either.  $3/month for the entry subscription is rough for what you get.

[rbjtech 5284]

I see Emby's direct competitor is setting up their own metadata service ...

With all the turmoil around 'free' providers - it does seem to be the safest option ...

[CharleyVarrick 283]

2 hours ago, cayars said:

I haven't looked at them in a while either.  $3/month for the entry subscription is rough for what you get.

Agreed.

I use a nice free app to rename my tv episode called RenameMyTVSeries. Last stable depends solely on tvdb api, so as you'd expect, there were some issues in the last year, and uncertainty for the near future. The last few beta releases addresses that by offering TheMovieDB and TVMaze as additional providers*. There are no $/month involved, at least until now. Stable offers a single settings page, while beta offers 3 !

*

 

Edited March 5, 2021 by CharleyVarrick

[CharleyVarrick 283]

2 hours ago, rbjtech said:

I see Emby's direct competitor is setting up their own metadata service ...

With all the turmoil around 'free' providers - it does seem to be the safest option ...

Wow, that seems to me like an insurmountable task, we all have varied opinion on tvdb, but we all agree they have quite a head start, having been at it for so long, their db must weigh a ton.

Edited March 5, 2021 by CharleyVarrick

[Carlo 4561]

I doubt they are building it themselves but purchasing the data as needed for movies that aren't already in the database.

[RanmaCanada 500]

On 05/03/2021 at 15:18, cayars said:

I doubt they are building it themselves but purchasing the data as needed for movies that aren't already in the database.

It's what they do.  They use their cash to get what they want, and don't give their users what they actually want, like fixes to certain clients that have been broken for years.