Dear QNAP community, dear @SteveKo. I would like to describe my problems with the QNAP Multimedia Console here. For me, it is terrible how QNAP manages the metadata files for media files! In each of the media directories, a folder called “.@\__thumb” is created, where the thumbnails of the media are stored. Every time one of these thumbnails is changed, QTS generates a notify signal. However, this notify is also needed by Plex—when one of the media files changes, Plex records this change in its own metadata file, which is certainly necessary. Unfortunately, Plex also reacts to changes caused by File Station and Multimedia Console (indexing) in the “.@\__thumb” folder and adds these (useless for Plex) metadata files to its own metadata storage!
A solution from QNAP’s side would actually be quite simple:
Leave the media files alone! Create databases outside the “Multimedia” media folder for your metadata.
There is always the recommendation on this topic not to store media files for Plex in the “Multimedia” folder. But what am I supposed to do, for example, if I need the QNAP DLNA server in addition to Plex and want to use QNAP apps like QuMagie, etc.? I can’t possibly manage duplicate media!
So, dear @SteveKo, please feel free to forward my post to your development department!
Hi @Qtip, thank you for the detailed description. You mention that the thumbnail/metadata changes generated by Multimedia Console trigger unnecessary re-scans or additional metadata in Plex.
Regarding the points you raised, I can add the following:
In the combination of Multimedia Console 2.8.0 with QuTS hero from h5.3.0 onwards, the “Multimedia” folder/share is generally no longer created automatically by default.
The database of Multimedia Console is not located in the “Multimedia” folder.
Additionally, multimedia apps like QuMagie can freely choose their content sources (i.e., folders other than “Multimedia”). This means the apps can generally function normally even without the “Multimedia” folder.
We tried to reproduce the behavior you described but were unable to do so. To help us narrow this down: Could you please share a few more details and ideally some screenshots?
So, first of all: I am using QTS 5.2.8.3350. Not QuTS!
To demonstrate my problem, I reinstalled Media Console and Media Streaming add-on on my TS-464.
My media files are located in the shared folder “Media”. For testing purposes, I created the folder “Media/Test-Videos”. In the “Multimedia” folder, I created the folder “Videos”. Each of these folders contains 4 video files. Then I added these folders in “Multimedia Streaming Add-on –> Content Management”:
and then scan the directories with File Station, files are created in the “.@__thumb” folders. EVERY WRITE ACCESS TO ONE OF THESE FILES TRIGGERSPLEX!!!:
As you can see, the folder “.@__thumb” is created everywhere there are media files.
If QNAP were to create these folders outside of media folders, a Notify for the media folders could be generated only when a media file is changed or added.
