Audio Display Problems

[RBKSC 1]

I hardy know where to begin describing my problem  I have been using EMBY premier for a couple of years both for TV and audio cd's and after some great help from the community forums I have been using EMBY with very few problems.  I have split my content to 2 QNAP servers with the video/TV/Movies on a 1685 Xeon processor Qnap NAS and the audio on a AMD Qnap NAS . I listen to just about every type of music imaginable and this has led to some interesting problems with naming conventions. Almost every genre of music I listen to has a large part made up of individual cd's and another part containing compilations. The cd part is (or was) pretty straightforward with my preference being a folder (example Pop Music) with a sub folder for Album Title with contains the individual tracks. Selecting the album in the EMBY interface would bring up a list if the tracks on the album with many options for playing the content. I use a Dune Media server which used Android TV subcomponent to run an EMBY client. I also use an Apple TV running an EMBY client on IOS and an Apple Ipad running a IOS client I recently updated my EMBY server on the NAS boxes  and the troubles began. I have set my default display option to album for most of my subcategories. All of my audio files have been run through a tagging editor with a consistent naming convention.  When I select Pop Music instead of getting a album list with the cover graphic I get the full list of of the individual tracks for all the albums in the collection each track with the album cover graphics 

 

It is interesting that if I change EMBY to folder view I get the Albums listed as I would expect in Album view but when I select an album and try to use a play all option nothing happens. It just sits there and does nothing.  OK I figure based on past experience I pressed the wrong button somehow and screwed things up.  Well ,I have more QNAP NAS boxs I can throw at this problem so I load a new copy of EMBY server and move some of my content folder to the new box and configure them.  Yup, you guessed it same problem. I will also note that on the original NAS with the problem some of my collection still play correctly while other have decided to join their brothers in problem land. I should also note that if I log into the NAS through windows I get some of the same problems as the other client with the exception that when I go to the folder view There is an option not available on the other clients to change to a list view. Also selecting play all will play the content. The album view is still screwed up using windows to log in to the NAS.

 

I have reloaded/retried a few times with no improvement.  I'm at a loss here and I have no idea what to try next. I an reasonably sure that the problem is with the server 4.5.3.1670 because all the clients have the problem. Tomorrow I may try to run EMBY on a Synology and see if that works. I have compared configuration and the different folder to see if I can find a difference but found nothing. Any help or ideas would be greatly appreciated. Does anyone know if a prior version of EMBY server is available as I would like to see if that works.

[Abobader 3464]

Hello RBKSC,

** This is an auto reply **

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

[Carlo 4561]

Hi, can we ask you to update to the latest server version 4.6+ which handles music slightly different than 4.5?

[RBKSC 1]

update

version 4.4.3.0 on the Synlogy I have works correctly with the same files

version 4.6.2.0 on the QNAP does not work correctly

 

Can I get a copy of 4.4.3.0 for the QNAP so I can get back to listening to my music (if this fixes the problem)

[Carlo 4561]

If you let us know what's not working correctly in 4.6 we can help you with.

[RBKSC 1]

Ok, I'm going to try to get some screen shots of the working and non-working examples of the same files and I a also going to write up a more detailed description of what I would like to see in the interface If you have changed anything which may be useful to me you can guide me to the correct configuration  This will take a little time and I should update you with this information later today.

 

Meanwhile can I get a copy of 4.4.3.0 for QNAP/AMD

[Carlo 4561]

That sounds great @RBKSC.

We appreciate it very much!

[RBKSC 1]

I managed to get some screen shots

EMBY 4.4.3.0 Base shows the Emby Screen which allows me to select the Time Life album I wish to play.

EMBY 4.4.3.0 Detail show the screen alter i select one of the albums

 

EMBY 4.6.2.0 Base shows the EMBY screen which allows me to select the Time Life Category

EMBY 4.6.2.0 Detail shows what I get instead of a list of albums as shown in EMBY 4.4.3.0 Base

 

I have taken the opportunity to include EMBY Layout.PDF which is a crude layout of how I would like to be able to categorize my music.  I don't expect this to happen and the real worth if it did would be to save screen clutter which is a noble goal but not necessary

I note I still have not received an answer if I  will be able to get 4.4.3.0 for AMD64 should you not be able to fix this problem

EMBY Layout.pdf

[Carlo 4561]

This doesn't look like an upgrade but a different setup.  Nothing wrong with that.
How is "Time Life" setup in the Library menu for 4.6?

Can you post a screen shot?

[RBKSC 1]

I'm not sure what you mean by setup for time life in the library menu as there is no setting there relating to my problem. I am Including what I think you asked for as attachments

 

Just so i am sure you are looking at the right thing with the picture I sent

I will repeat that the first picture shows 4.6 music from which I select Time Life

The second screen show to result from entering Time Life in 4.6

The third screen shows what the 4.4 second screen looks like which should show in 4.6 but does not

The forth screen shows what I see when entering one of the albums displayed on the third screen

[Carlo 4561]

I'm a bit confused.  In your first set of pics you show a Library named "Time Life CD" but in 4.6 the library is called "Time Life".

In 4.4 it appears you enter a Library but in 4.6 you didn't click the Library but instead clicked one of the Albums in the "Latest Row".
If you want an Album view you would need to click on "Time Life" library listed right under "My Media".

[Luke 42078]

What folders did you add to those libraries?

[ebr 16184]

1 minute ago, Luke said:

What folders did you add to those libraries?

[Luke 42078]

Ok on any case I think the reason why you're seeing duplicate albums is that your tracks are tagged with different albumartist values.

Is this true?

[Carlo 4561]

When I read the op post to me it sounds like the issue was in 4.6 he isn't getting a library view full of albums but instead gets one album.

That to me really sounds like it's just a matter of clicking on the Library vs one of the albums in the Latest row on the home page.

[RBKSC 1]

59 minutes ago, Luke said:

Ok on any case I think the reason why you're seeing duplicate albums is that your tracks are tagged with different albumartist values.

Is this true?

They are ** NOT ** duplicates. They are showing the track names preface by Time Life which should not be in this view  You are correct  that there are also some album covers showing actual folders which will tale me a track list of what is on that albums but it changes and mangles the track names contained there. If I am the only one having the problem then something got hosed on the update to my system. 

I have deleted this version and reverted back to an older version and everything works fine. I am meticulous with the file name and tags.  Before a move and audio file to this server it is made file name consistent  with bulk file renamer.  It then gets its tags looked at and corrected if needed using Tag&Rename 3.5.19 (Sadly no longer maintained) which is probably the best designed program for this purpose I have ever run across by far.  Only when everything is checked and correct does it get moved to the NAS running EMBY.  This is not to say I couldn't make a mistake but highly unlikely. I spent 35 years in the IT field doing everything from networking, Oracle and SQLServer  Database management and programming in everything from DEC PDP, IBM, and PC assembler . I have thought Systems Analysis at the college level (part time). I say this because I certainly make mistakes but before I email you for support I check everything for consistency with systems I know are running. 

It is very hard to describe what shows on the screen which seem at times to be a mixture of different views.  Reverting to and older version is not a problem as I just want to listen to my music collection. EMBY serves me very well with this minor exception and there seems to be little purpose in wasting your or my time chasing what my be a unique  problem on my install.

 

Thank you for your prompt reply's to my request

[speechles 2055]

That Time Life likely isn't organized how they set it up. It has the "Perfectly organized into album folders" which likely isn't what they want. Perhaps they want it set to other. Then the album artist will become the Time Life. The albums will become each folder of the CD's within the "Time Life" folder. And the songs within each album will then show correctly? That is how this works for me. I use "various artist mode" (AKA Other or Unstructured) on my music and always keep an artist/albums/songs structure. Time Life is Various Artists with a fancy title.

When set to other it will still respect the artist->album->song style of storing music. Then various artist->title of album->sub albums->songs works too with other. Best of both worlds.

Edited June 9, 2021 by speechles

[Luke 42078]

46 minutes ago, RBKSC said:

They are ** NOT ** duplicates. They are showing the track names preface by Time Life which should not be in this view  You are correct  that there are also some album covers showing actual folders which will tale me a track list of what is on that albums but it changes and mangles the track names contained there. If I am the only one having the problem then something got hosed on the update to my system. 

I have deleted this version and reverted back to an older version and everything works fine. I am meticulous with the file name and tags.  Before a move and audio file to this server it is made file name consistent  with bulk file renamer.  It then gets its tags looked at and corrected if needed using Tag&Rename 3.5.19 (Sadly no longer maintained) which is probably the best designed program for this purpose I have ever run across by far.  Only when everything is checked and correct does it get moved to the NAS running EMBY.  This is not to say I couldn't make a mistake but highly unlikely. I spent 35 years in the IT field doing everything from networking, Oracle and SQLServer  Database management and programming in everything from DEC PDP, IBM, and PC assembler . I have thought Systems Analysis at the college level (part time). I say this because I certainly make mistakes but before I email you for support I check everything for consistency with systems I know are running. 

It is very hard to describe what shows on the screen which seem at times to be a mixture of different views.  Reverting to and older version is not a problem as I just want to listen to my music collection. EMBY serves me very well with this minor exception and there seems to be little purpose in wasting your or my time chasing what my be a unique  problem on my install.

 

Thank you for your prompt reply's to my request

Hi @RBKSC, in your second screenshots they are duplicates under the Albums tab, right? It's because each track is not tagged consistently with the same AlbumArtist value.

The old version handled this incorrectly by ignoring that fact, which may have masked the problem with your embedded audio tags. The new version relies solely on the embedded information within the files.

[RBKSC 1]

I have made several attempts since the last message to correct the problem at my end and have not had any success. I had asked in some of my previous messages on this topic about getting a prior version that works for me.  I did recover a install for server 4.5.4.0 for QNAP and have installed this and it works for me.  I would like to get access to Server 4.5.4.0 for Synology  as a backup I'm not sure what my backups contain and my backups are stored 240 miles (round trip) with no guarantee they will contain what I need.

 

If a more current version (before you fixed the tags) is available I would like that for QNAP and Synology. This should keep me going for a few years as far as the music is concerned. I am using the latest server version for my TV/Video but that is on a separate QNAP server so it would not interfere.

If you are not able or willing to give me access to the versions needed  I would appreciate a negative reply so I can move on.'

[Carlo 4561]

Have you looked for these on Github?
https://github.com/MediaBrowser/Emby.Releases/releases/tag/4.5.4.0

[Luke 42078]

@RBKSC, why not just tag your tracks with the correct album artist values? It's an easy fix and then you can just use the latest version.

Each track in an album needs to have the same albumartist value. The artist value of course can be different for each track.

[RBKSC 1]

Cayars

 

Thanks for the link this looks like exactly what I'm looking for. 

[RBKSC 1]

Luke

 

I believe I understand what you did and why.  This causes more problems then it solves for me. I have tracks numbering in the 100's of thousand and I simply cannot go back and try to "correct" the information  Right or wrong it works on ITunes and Plex. 

This problems led me to Roon Labs which appears to solve this problem and added many features I was hoping for. To do this they had to create their own database which includes information from the tags. It works very well on Windows, Ipad, Appletv but the client for Android will not install on my primary player. For now I will use Emby for TV and continue to use Emby for audio until I can find a way to migrate the audio

 

I appreciate the time you took to discuss the problem but it appears there is no easy way to fix the problem from my end. In hindsight I probably should have stayed with the generic "Various Artists" but in a large collection this gets very messy visually.

 

Thank you 

[Luke 42078]

@RBKSC do your files have incorrect album/albumartist tag values, or are they just blank?

[RBKSC 1]

When I tested it I erased all tags and began to add them one by one. The problem arises when the album artist field contains a value which is the same as the artist field for a compellation  In the past I would populate both fields with the same artist tag.  I understand the album artist field should contain Various artists for a completion  This was not the same in your prior releases  I also understand that the field should probably contain various artists.  Because I have such a large collection changing everything it not a viable option for me. 

It has been a little sore point with me that there are a number of tags such as composer, conductor and the like. I would like to be able to use these for selecting for sorting and listing but sadly they are not available in the clients.  I started to use my own naming convention to make up for some of this and although it helps it is not a perfect solution.

I searched for an alternative and stumbled across Roon which is mainly aimed to music. It also has a client problem for me as I can get a client on apple TV but not my current Dune player. I will switch over when I decide which new player I will purchase.  I don't use Emby for movies as the Dune player handles movies for me  Emby does a great job on my TV capture using an HD Homerun for TV captures.  This feature in Emby alone is worth the price for me.  In the meantime the older version of Emby works fine for my music so as long as I don't upgrade. 

I appreciate the time everyone spent trying to solve the problem but in the end the problem is on my end and I really can't reasonably fix that.