Playlist not showing after new PC install

Hello,

I've used Serviio for a few years now. I recently got a new PC and installed Serviio on it. However, none of my playlists show up at all. I've deleted some, remade them (m3u files) and still nothing. Turned the Playlists on and off, restarted the service etc, still nothing.

Same TV(s) and other viewing devices as before, only thing that's new is the PC.

Any help/ideas would be appreciated please.

Thanks in advance,

Schmaulie

(Edit: should have mentioned that it's video playlists)

[atc98092]

My first suggestion is to make certain the folder that contains your playlist files is within one of the Shared Library folder locations you've set up in the Serviio console. They don't have to be in the same folder that your media is in. I place all my playlist files in a single folder within my Shared Folders structure, and they will play a file within any other folder.

If that's not the issue, then check the Serviio log for any indications the files can't be seen/read by Serviio.

I am making an assumption you are using Windows. What version are you running? There are some issues with Windows 11, but those reports delt with Serviio not even being visible.

Hi, sorry for the late reply, and thank you for yours.

To be honest, the .m3u files are in the folder the related files are in, not their own dedicated folder. However, before the move to the new PC, there was no issue with them being there, Serviio saw and played them just fine.

I'm not sure how to check the log in Serviio, I can see a full log in UMS (my backup server), but I don't know how to get to it on Serviio.

Any help on how to find the log and what I'm looking for, specifically, would be very much appreciated.

And yes, Windows 11. But so was my old PC (though it may have been 10? Can't remember now, sorry).

Also, Serviio recently updated to 2.4, still no joy with the playlists though

Thanks in advance,

Schmaulie.

[atc98092]

On Windows, your log will be located in the C:\Program Files\Serviio\logs folder. The file is named Serviio.log. Once the log reaches a certain size it renames that file as a backup and starts a new one. You can ignore the derby.log file, as it only references database functions.

Hello again Dan,

Thank you again for your message.

With your help, I found the log(s) and had a look through for any references to '.m3u' or 'Playlist'.

It seems to log that it has found the file(s), for example:
2024-06-11T19:27:53,616 INFO [PlaylistFileIndexer] Added playlist 'The Avengers (Release Order).m3u' (title: The Avengers (Release Order)) to Library

Also, lots of references to when I removed a playlist (I was going to re-do them).

Having just restarted the PC, I can see at the bottom of the log, i.e. most recently:
2024-07-23T19:51:23,429 INFO [PlaylistMaintainerWorker] Started looking for playlist changes

Yet, when I go to the console and select Video>Playlists>Display Category, it still shows an empty folder, even after restarting Serviio/the PC.

FWIW, the 'derby.log' shows:
os.name=Windows 10
os.arch=x86
os.version=10.0

That won't be an issue, right? I'm on Windows 11, not 10?

It's infuriating, I might just have to give up on this

Thank you for all your help thus far, much appreciated.

Schmaulie.

[atc98092]

OK, now we know the playlist is seen by Serviio. My next suggestion is the path to the media might not be in a format that Serviio can work with. There are multiple ways for an M3U playlist to format the path to the media. Here's a snippet from one of mine:

  Code:

F:\Video3\Animal House (1978).mkv
#EXTINF:5526, -  - Beetlejuice (1988)
F:\Video3\Beetlejuice (1988).mkv
#EXTINF:6252, -  - BIG
..\Big (1988).mkv
#EXTINF:5881, -  - CADDYSHACK CE
G:\Media\Movies\Caddyshack (1980).mkv
#EXTINF:5810, -  - CLUE
..\Clue (1985).mkv
#EXTINF:5809, -  - CROSSING DELANCEY
F:\Video3\Crossing Delancey (1988).mkv

Notice that some have a full path, while others have "..\" in front of the file name. That means those files are located one folder below the folder the playlist file is located in. But it's still a complete path to the video file. If your playlist doesn't have an accurate enough path to the file, Serviio won't show that file in the playlist. If every file in the playlist is the same way, then Serviio won't even show the playlist itself. I have a suspicion that is the problem you are having. You need the complete path to the media file in each line.

I use a Windows program called Playlist Creator 3.6.2 (going from memory here). It hasn't been updated in ages, but it works great so really doesn't need anything. It has an option to specify the way the path is included in the playlist. I highly recommend it, and just as an aside I save my files in PLS format, not M3U. It's a lot cleaner looking in the file, and I honestly have no idea if there's any value of one format over the other.

I really doubt that line in the Derby log means anything as far as its functionality goes. No idea why it says Win 10 instead of 11, but the fact Serviio is working means Derby doesn't really care.

Good evening Dan, thank you again for your reply.

You have been incredible helpful (and have great taste in movies).

I have downloaded Playlist Creator for Windows and will give it a try, with the option to specify the path in the playlist. I will also try saving as .plu, which seems to the be the default.

I will definitely get back to you if this works

Thanks again,

Schmaulie.

[atc98092]

The default is PLS, and I like that format better than M3U because it is much cleaner text in the file. Much easier to edit without using Playlist Creator if it's something quick I want to change. For example, I replaced a hard drive and moved all my media from the old drive to the new one. Using Notepad++ it was much simpler to just use the replace function to change the drive letter than recreating all of my playlists (I have 50 of them!)

That tiny snippet from one of my M3U files is nothing compared to most of my other playlists. Yeah, our movie selection is rather broad, although it's mostly much older content. That said, I did just record Revenge of the Nerds with my network tuner, so now it's time to edit out the commercials. That's one I probably really should buy, because it's probably going to be edited to pieces for broadcast TV.

Good evening again Dan, thank you for your suggestion of using Playlist Creator.

I managed to create a bunch of .pls files! Yay!

However, only one of the playlists is showing. Not entirely sure why

I agree with the use of pls files, much easier to edit. I've opened them in Notepad and I can't really see any major differences in the file naming conventions between the two, e.g.:

Playlist 1: David Attenborough.pls:

[playlist]
File1=1979 - Life on Earth\Life on Earth - Episode 01 - The Infinite Variety [HD 720p].mkv
Title1= - -
Length1=3257
File2=1979 - Life on Earth\Life on Earth - Episode 02 - Building Bodies [HD 720p].mkv
Title2= - -
Length2=3225
File3=1979 - Life on Earth\Life on Earth - Episode 03 - The First Forests [HD 720p].mkv
Title3= - -
Length3=3200

It continues for a while like this, then ends with:

File243=Others\2022 - BBC Dinosaurs - The Final Day [HD 720p].mp4
Title243=Dinosaurs: The Final Day with David Attenborough - - Dinosaurs: The Final Day with David Attenborough
Length243=5250
NumberOfEntries=243
Version=2

This playlist works fine and play on all my devices.

However, this one: Brian Cox.pls:

[playlist]
File1=01. BBC Wonders of the Solar System\BBC Wonders of the Solar System - Episode 1 - Empire of the Sun [HD 720p].mkv
Title1= - -
Length1=3502
File2=01. BBC Wonders of the Solar System\BBC Wonders of the Solar System - Episode 2 - Order out of Chaos [HD 720p].mkv
Title2= - -
Length2=3516
File3=01. BBC Wonders of the Solar System\BBC Wonders of the Solar System - Episode 3 - The Thin Blue Line [HD 720p].mkv
Title3= - -
Length3=3539

and ends with:

File39=10. Others\2017 - BBC Brian Cox - The 21st Century Race For Space [HD 1080p].mkv
Title39= - -
Length39=3537
File40=10. Others\2022 - BBC Brian Cox - Seven Days on Mars [HD 1080p].mkv
Title40= - -
Length40=5335
NumberOfEntries=40
Version=2

...doesn't show at all in Serviio. Odd.

I've tried saving them both in the same folder, in their respective parent folders, and in a new folder called 'Playlists'. Sadly only the David Attenborough one ever shows in Serviio.

I tried messing with the settings for Playlist Creator and saving again and again to no avail. I can't seem to replicate my success with the David Attenborough one.

Good luck with the Revenge of the Nerds recording! It sounds laborious, (and yes, chopped for TV ad breaks ). I think I have a 1080p x265 copy of that somewhere on one of the HDDs...

Thanks again for all your help,

Schmaulie.

[atc98092]

Could you give me some examples of the full path to the media, and where Serviio is mapping your shared folders to? For example, I have multiple hard drives with media scattered across them, so I have numerous shared library locations in Serviio. I have Serviio mapped like this: F:\test videos, F:\TV2, I:\media, E:\Movie1 and so on. For an actual path to a file, it might look like this: I:\Media\Movies_8\Mel Brooks\Blazing Saddles (1974).m2ts.

What I'm wondering is if you might have a naming issue in your file paths that is messing with Serviio locating the media as listed in the playlist. There's three ways to save a playlist file entry: Relative, Absolute, and Absolute without the drive letter. Most of mine are a combination of relative and absolute, but I find the most reliable method is absolute. Here's an example of one that has both (only the first file is relative, all the rest are absolute), and it doesn't quite match up to the file paths that are in yours. You might try changing Playlist Creator settings to use Absolute and see if that clears up the missing ones.

  Code:

[playlist]
File1=..\Operation Petticoat (1959).mkv
Title1= -  - OPERATION_PETTICOAT
Length1=7224
File2=F:\Video3\Experiment in Terror (1962).mkv
Title2= -  - Experiment in Terror
Length2=7404
File3=G:\Media\Movies\The Pink Panther (1963).mkv
Title3= -  - THE PINK PANTHER LBX
Length3=6944
File4=G:\Media\Movies\A Shot in the Dark (1964).mkv
Title4= -  - A_SHOT_IN_THE_DARK
Length4=6140
File5=..\The Great Race (1965).mkv
Title5= -  - THE GREAT RACE
Length5=9598
File6=I:\Media\Movies_8\Recorded TV\The Tamarind Seed (1974).ts
Title6= -  -
Length6=7444
File7=I:\Media\Movies_8\Recorded TV\The Return of the Pink Panther (1975).ts
Title7= -  -
Length7=6750
File8=I:\Media\Movies_8\Recorded TV\The Pink Panther Strikes Again (1976).ts
Title8= -  -
Length8=6186
File9=G:\Media\Movies\Revenge of the Pink Panther (1978).mkv
Title9= -  - REVENGE_OF_THE_PINK_PANTHER
Length9=5938
File10=I:\Media\Movies_8\Recorded TV\Curse of the Pink Panther (1983).mp4
Title10= -  -
Length10=4816
NumberOfEntries=10
Version=2

Hi Dan,

I have my D: Drive split into Documentaries, Movies, and TV Programmes folders.

Subsequently, each folder them has multiple folders within it.

For example, D:\Documentaries\David Attenborough\1979 - Life on Earth. This folder then has all the files for that series, e.g., D:\Documentaries\David Attenborough\1979 - Life on Earth\Life on Earth - Episode 01 - The Infinite Variety [HD 720p].mkv

I've then done that with all the other folders, e.g., D:\Documentaries\Brian Cox\01. BBC Wonders of the Solar System, in which the fist file is: D:\Documentaries\Brian Cox\01. BBC Wonders of the Solar System\BBC Wonders of the Solar System - Episode 1 - Empire of the Sun [HD 720p].mkv

I wondered if the "." in the folder name might be messing things up, but a lot of the other ones don't have "." in the folder name.

Another example is: D:\Movies\Action\Marvel\The Avengers (Chronological Order)\01 - Captain America - The First Avenger [HD 1080p].mkv. The playlist location for this is: D:\Movies\Action\Marvel\The Avengers (Release Order).pls

I have Serviio mapped as I always had:

  Code:

D:\Documentaries
D:\Movies   
D:\TV Programmes
E:\Old Movies
E:\Old TV Programmes

Please let me know if you need any more info. I used DirList to map the whole drive - is there a way of attaching the file to a post?

I will check if the 'absolute' setting is on Playlist Creator and delete all the other playlists, then remake them. Thank you for the advice.


Thanks in advance,

Schmaulie

[atc98092]

I had to take a look at some of my folder names. I have folders with a hyphen, comma, apostrophe, and periods. So I don't think there's a problem with punctuation in a folder name. About the only thing I see that you have that I don't is a number in front of the title (01 - Captain America). I have that same file named "Captain America - The First Avenger (2011).mp4". In a playlist, there's no need to have that number in front, unless you have a player that doesn't recognize the order of the files in the playlist. Unfortunately, Kodi is my primary player on my Android based devices, and it ignores the order I place the files in. But I can select within Kodi to display them either by date released or alphabetical, so I have at least partial control.

All of my playlists are stored in a single folder on one of my Serviio library locations. It doesn't matter where the files are actually located, as long as a Serviio shared library is mapped to that folder or one below it in the tree. The playlists don't even need to be on the same hard drive as the content, as long as Serviio has it as a library location.

Serviio is more picky about file names for TV shows, rather than movies. But that's mostly to gather the correct online metadata for display. If you've never reviewed the suggestions, you can see them here: https://www.serviio.org/index.php?optio ... icle&id=12

One thing you can check. Even if a file isn't appearing in a playlist, you can check to see if Serviio is recognizing it as a playable file by looking under the Folders presentation, instead of under Movies, Titles or Series. As long as it's recognized as playable media, it will appear in the Folders view.

Hello again Dan, and thank you for your suggestions.

Apologies again for the late reply, I've had a few family emergencies to deal with recently that meant time away from home.

A quick update from me: while I was away, my daughter inadvertently shut the PC/server down. Upon rebooting, lo and behold, everything showed up!

So, thank you again for your suggestions of using Playlist Creator, it seems to have done the trick!

I'll let you know if there are any more issues, but it sorted for now.

Kind regards,

Schmaulie.

[atc98092]

No problem. Family is the most important thing to take care of. Everything else is way down the list of importance.