Media Server

Editing a library

• The editor has the apps' library settings: name, type, folders, private library, look up online, information language, prefer online information, detect media info while identifying, video frames when there is no poster, save info and artwork beside the media, recognition words, shelves, and Scan this library on this server. Folders are chosen from this CloudDrive2 with the web interface's folder picker.
• The listing speed (1 to 10 a second or no limit; 2 a second by default) and Scan again are the server's own settings and don't change your devices. The cover and caching files on a device are set in the apps only.
• Private libraries show only after the PIN is entered on the page. Once unlocked, they also show in the sidebar and on Home of the Media pages, in this browser only, until you click Lock; they lock by themselves about 10 minutes after the last CloudDrive page in this browser is closed. The PIN can also be set, changed or removed on this page, and set right there when a library is made private.
• The server scans one library at a time. Scan now reads that library's folders again at once.

Scan on the server

Scan on the server, under Scanning & storage, is off by default. When it is on, the server scans every library, and phones, tablets and TVs that keep their own libraries instead of connecting to the server wait for its results rather than scanning themselves. A library you later set to scan on a particular device keeps that device. The devices need Sync libraries across devices and Sync scanned data across devices turned on; see One device scans a library.

The server can also scan just some libraries: turn on Scan this library on this server in a library's editor, as Scan this library on this device works in the apps. The row says which device scans the library now; while Scan on the server is on, the switch stays on and can't be changed. Scan now always has the server scan the library at once.

Resume and watched

Minimum resume percentage (5% by default) and Maximum resume percentage (95% by default), under Libraries, are for Emby and Jellyfin players and the web player. A video stopped before the minimum keeps no place to resume from, and the place it had is removed; stopped after the maximum, it is marked watched. A watched video played again keeps its mark, and gets a place to resume from when stopped part way; seeking back to the start and closing clears the place. CloudDrive2 apps use the percentages in their own media library settings.

AI subtitles

The media server generates subtitles for library videos in the background, without playing them. It recognises the speech in a video, or reads the subtitles the video carries, translates them and saves the subtitle file beside the video for your devices and players to use. The server does not provide live subtitles during playback. The formats and options are the apps'; see AI subtitle translation.

• Turn it on under Media Server → AI subtitles and choose the speech recognition and translation services. Recognition can use a remote service or run on the server with Whisper. The standard 1.2.0-beta core packages include local Whisper, including ARM32 Linux and Android builds; download a model before first use. Legacy no-media builds do not provide this feature. The keys are kept on the server.
• Click Generate AI subtitles on a title's page, or select several titles in a library and add them. Videos added from a CloudDrive2 app connected to the server are made by the server too, with the server's own services and keys.
• Progress is under AI subtitles on the Tasks page: change the order, pause or cancel a video, and see how long each took. A film in several parts gets subtitles for every part.
• The ARM32 Linux and Android cores use optimized Whisper CPU operations. Linux automatically enables acceleration when the processor supports NEON and VFPv4, with a compatible implementation for older CPUs. This also works automatically in Docker, with no extra acceleration options; see AI subtitles in Docker.
• Run Test recognition first to see how long 25 seconds of audio takes, the speed relative to playback, the thread count and whether the CPU or GPU was used. A speed below 1× means generation takes longer than playback, but still works for background jobs. Speed depends on the processor, model, thread count and available resources; compare thread settings using the test before choosing one.

Identification

• TMDB: on by default on the server, with no API key of your own needed. The API address is api.tmdb.org by default, which can be reached from mainland China; api.themoviedb.org or your own proxy address can be chosen instead. The server fetches TMDB's pictures and hands them to your devices and players, so they never need to reach TMDB themselves.
• Titles to Confirm: titles the automatic match can't settle can be confirmed on the web interface's Titles to Confirm page or in the apps. Once you choose, the server fetches the title's information at once, and every device sees it.
• Identify…, Edit Metadata… and Detect media info: done and written by the server when used in a browser; identifying a title and detecting media info in a connected app are done by the server too.
• AI identification: off by default. Choose the service, the model, the API key, and the libraries the model reads (never a private library, nor one with lookup off). Model calls a day can be chosen from a list, typed as a number, or set to no limit; 1,000 by default. See AI identification.

Importing from Emby or Jellyfin

Under Libraries, click Import from Emby or Jellyfin… and sign in to your server. Its libraries whose folders are on this CloudDrive2's cloud storage become libraries here, read from that server: its titles, their text and pictures, what you played there, and its people. Nothing on that server is changed. See Import from Emby or Jellyfin.

Clear library data

Deletes the titles, details and pictures the server has read, then reads the libraries again. The libraries, identifications and watch progress are kept.

What players can do

• Browse the libraries the signed-in profile sees, private libraries excepted: films, shows with their seasons and episodes, collections, albums and artists, books, shelves, people, search and filters.
• Play the original files, with subtitle files beside them. The server never transcodes and doesn't cap bitrates.
• Keep progress, watched state and favorites per signed-in profile, to carry on in other players and devices.
• Skip intros and endings in Jellyfin players that support media segments, at the times set in the apps.

Things to know

• Clients that rely on the server to transcode (some official TV apps, for example) can't play the formats they don't support.
• To protect cloud links, the server relays files from every cloud provider to third-party players and never gives them provider-direct URLs. Away from home, turn on Relay video for clients outside the home network. See How titles play.
• From outside, Infuse and other players refuse a self-signed certificate: use a certificate for your own domain or a reverse proxy. See Away from home.
• On your home network, a player's sign-in page lists who can sign in: the owner once a media password is set, and the profiles with a player password.

Pages

• Home: the featured carousel, the libraries, Continue Watching, Next Up, Continue Listening, Continue Reading, and the newest of each library.
• A library: posters, thumbnails, banners or a list; picture size; sorting; filters (play state, favorites, resolution, HDR, sound, video codec, file format, audio and subtitle languages, genres, tags, studios, status, rating, years; see Filters); folders; shelves and collections; selecting several; Go to Page. A music library browses by albums, artists and folders, a book library by books, authors, series and folders.
• A title: Play or Resume, the trailer, watched, favorite; the version, video, audio and subtitle; seasons and episodes; the cast; collection and links; media info. Identify…, Edit Metadata… (posters, backdrops, logos and actors' photos included), Detect media info, Generate AI subtitles, Go to Library (opens the library at this title) and Show in Files (opens the folder that holds the file, with the file selected and scrolled into view; a show and an album folder open their own folder).
• Live updates: titles a scan finds, identifications, pictures fetched later, favorites and watched marks appear on the open page without a reload.
• Search, Favorites and History, and pages for people, albums, artists, books, authors and series. A search from a library's page looks in that library first, with a switch to all libraries; History also lists the albums of songs played to the end. A person's page has Identify and Edit…, and an actor's titles sort and filter as a library's do.
• Music plays in a full player with the cover, lyrics, the queue, format badges and MusicBrainz credits; closed, it becomes a mini player at the bottom that carries on as you browse. Books open in the web interface's reader (EPUB, MOBI, AZW3, CBZ, CBR), PDF and text in the browser; the reading place is shared with the apps.

The player

Films and music on the Media pages play in the core service's web player. The web player is a feature of its own: videos, music, disc images and CUE sheets in the file manager open in it too, with no media server needed. For what it plays, what it needs from the browser and the computer, and how it compares with the apps' player, see the web player.

Played from a library, progress and watched marks sync with the server, so your other devices and the CloudDrive2 App see them; a show's intro and ending can be skipped, and the next episode plays when one ends.

Parental control

The media interface can have a parental control code, kept in this browser. While it's locked, the code is asked for before Files, the file manager, Tasks, Settings, Identify, Edit Metadata and the media settings; Show in Files is hidden, and only titles within the highest rating show. It locks when the page is hidden and after the auto-lock time. See Parental control.

The browser's settings

Settings on the Media page are kept in this browser only: titles on a page (50 to 1,000, or all as you scroll), the picture size in grids and lists, and the quality badges on posters. A library's settings button opens that library's editor on the Media Server page.

A profile's settings

• Name, colour or picture: the picture can be a JPEG or PNG of up to 2 MB.
• Libraries: the libraries it sees, or All libraries (those added later too).
• Private libraries open with the PIN: without it, the profile can't open private libraries.
• Highest rating: no limit, G, PG, PG-13 or R, and whether to Show titles without a rating. When a device's own parental control sets a rating too, the stricter one applies.
• Code: 4 digits, optional, asked for before a device picks the profile. After 5 wrong tries, wait 5 minutes.
• Player password: optional, at least 6 characters. Emby and Jellyfin players sign in with the profile's name and this password.

Which profile a device uses

• Under Paired devices, set each device to the owner, a profile, or Ask who is watching. A new pairing code can also be made for a profile, which the device paired with it then uses.
• A device set to ask shows "Who's watching?" when it opens the libraries and shows nothing until one is picked; it asks again after the server restarts.
• Quick Connect chooses which profile the player signs in as.

Progress and favorites

A profile's progress, watched state and favorites are kept on the server, apart from the owner's, and never go into the owner's Sync progress. Removing a profile removes its progress, favorites and picture, and the devices that used it ask again.

• Devices and players reach the libraries only: what a paired device or a signed-in player is given reads the libraries and nothing else. It opens no files, no WebDAV and no download links, and can't manage the core service.
• The media password isn't the administrator password: the media password and player passwords are only for players. Only the core service's administrator can open the Media Server page.
• The PIN is checked on the server: the private libraries' PIN is never sent to other devices, and wrong tries lock that device for a while.
• Pairing: a pairing code works once, and 5 wrong codes in a row cancel every unused code. Removing a device also stops the links it was given.

The Sync folder holds the server's addresses and pairing details, which your devices use to pair by themselves. Anyone who can open that cloud storage can read them too. To revoke them, click Change the pairing key under Paired devices and remove any device you don't recognise.