Various Artists Albums Do Not Display Properly (1 Viewer)

[GweiloJake]

I am quite new to MediaPortal, so I apologise in advance if I have neglected to apply setup protocols properly. I recently scanned my album collection. Multiple albums (specifically those with more than one artist or VA) do not yield a single album, but rather display an album for each artist therein (please refer to the attached screenshot). I have attempted several display options and library settings.

I have attempted to re-scan the albums (all MP3 format). I checked the tags (useID3 TagScanner. These albums display properly in Kodi and WMP).

I am running on a new HP LOF1QUQ with Intel Core i3-417OT 3.2GHz and 8 GB RAM. 64-bit OS w. Touch Support running on Windows 10 Home Edition.

Thank you for your kind assistance. Jake

 

[ajs]

I have attempted several display options and library settings.

For Various Artists, tag - Album Artist set to Various Artists, Artist set to Artist and ...

 

[XMaM]

As ajs said, in MP the album is "composed" according the value settled in the tag Album Artist (and the Album Tittle), so all the tracks belonging to the same album must be tagged with the same Album Artists. Otherwise, MP interprets that you have two different albums with the same title.
Other players rely in the Album Title, so in those players, the album is showed as you expect.

You can fill the Album Artist tag with any value, but always the same for the same Album. You can use Various Artists (e.g. an album with not related artists) or the name of the principal artist in an album with one, two or three tracks performed by other artists (like collaborations).
Then, in the Artist tag, you can put the name of the artist who actually performs the song.

It's better fill both tags in all tracks ( I have seen many tracks tagged only with the Album Artist tag with the name of the artist that performs the song or only the Artist tag with Album Artist blank). And, of course, the name of the album must be the same...

And if the same album have two or more disk, you must fill the tag Disk x of y (e.g. Disk 1 of 2, or Disk 1/2, or whatever that your editor use, in the first disk, Disk 2/2 in the second disk, and so on...). I usually fill this tag even with a single disk, with Disk 1/1.

 

[GweiloJake]

Thanks for the replies! Yes...part of the problem was that the "Album Artist" tags cannot be left empty when the album is composed of various artists, even if the "part of a compilation" box is ticked and applied to all the files in the album.

I also found another odd item that adversely affects proper displaying of the artwork of names. ANY use of brackets "[" or "]" in either the file name or even the corresponding artist name and yes, even the jpeg files name associated with MP3 file will result in either redundant or blank displays. Truly strange. I had to rename several band and album names, and remove brackets from the names of associated image files used for album art.

Any explanations or means of avoiding this problem?

Thanks, again!

Jake R.

 

[ajs]

I also found another odd item that adversely affects proper displaying of the artwork of names. ANY use of brackets "[" or "]" in either the file name or even the corresponding artist name and yes, even the jpeg files name associated with MP3 file will result in either redundant or blank displays. Truly strange. I had to rename several band and album names, and remove brackets from the names of associated image files used for album art.

Conduct a full scan of the database, let the log with debug information. Give a couple of examples, and @hwahrmann looks like he'll have time. Or maybe even one encounter any ideas.

 

[GweiloJake]

Thanks for the assistance! I've attached the log files. I had methodically processed all of my MP3 files to ensure that the "Album Artists" and "Compilation" settings conformed. I had then renamed some of the items where brackets are in the file name. As expected, those files with brackets did not yield images or proper album displays. As an example, a music file with the obnoxious title "Other Sounds Vol. 2 Mix By DJ ]R.-A-.R[" will not display properly.

Also, some folders still display by each title rather than a album. I checked "show artist info" resulting in "searching" followed by "no album found!" Very odd....

I truly appreciate any suggestions.

 

[ajs]

As an example, a music file with the obnoxious title "Other Sounds Vol. 2 Mix By DJ ]R.-A-.R[" will not display properly.

Also, some folders still display by each title rather than a album.

No errors in the log file. Files with brackets also not in a log file. What is displayed and how it is not clear. Maybe more like that you will be able to describe your problem? With examples. Errors in the log file. Screenshots, etc.