No, it’s the same file. I know for a fact it’s clean… See all our conversations so far and you may remember I did exactly that.
Then I created a brand new test server in which the collection is all right. It’s definitely not the file any longer, it’s a cached setting.
What I’m interested in now is if I can get rid of the collection without destroying my “real” server…
Edit: I guess the confusion came from me mentioning an upload. Forget I said that, let’s just say deleting the cache does not get rid of all the collections it formerly added from the embedded album tags.
However, starting a new server from scratch does. Hence effectively proving it’s not the file anymore, the file is clean.
It’s something Plex refuses to forget once added, and no amount of “Plex dancing” seems to do the trick.
Another edit: ok, performing the actual Plex dance on the file finally cleared it. However with hundreds of collections added and no way to determine which movies they were, it’ll probably be easier to just start from scratch!
@per_PLEX_ed said:
…no way to determine which movies they were,
If you click on their names, you see exactly what’s in them. So you see what movie they are connected with.
If they however have nothing in them, you can erase them.
The Collections view mode supports multi-selection, so erasing is quickly done.
##Multi-selection:
###Individual items:
Hold down the CTRL key and click on each poster you want to include in the selection
OR
use the selection circle which appears in the upper left corner if you hover your mouse over a poster
###Several consecutive items:
Hold down CTRL and click on the first item
then hold down Shift and click on the last item
I’m still hoping the Plex developers will somehow see the need to address this issue before it is released to the public… because having to use a 3rd party app to remove some obscure field in the media file, then having to perform either the Plex Dance or manually delete all these collections is probably more than many users would bargain for
So in summary, this is the problem as I see it:
Plex fills the Collection field with the information taken from the media file itself.
The field in the media file is “Album”, this can only be viewed and edited with a 3rd party program such as MP3TAG.
Dragging down Local Media Assets below The Movie Database in Agents does not solve the issue. This is inconsistent with the way other fields in Plex behave, such as the Title. Dragging Local Media Assets to the top fills the Title with the local title information, dragging it below The Movie Database uses the information from TMDB. Collections should work the same.
Even in the unlikely event that all the above is considered a feature and not a bug, there is still a “real” bug involved. Once added, it is impossible to get rid of this collection even if the local file is edited. The only exception is using the Plex Dance - or manually deleting the collection. However manually deleting the collection locks the field, which then rules out automatic updates from the correct source (TMDB)
Once this is released to the public, I foresee a huge amount of complaints of people seeing weird collections appear, seemingly from nowhere. This can easily be prevented if only the developers look into this a bit further.
Dragging down Local Media Assets below The Movie Database in Agents does not solve the issue. This is inconsistent with the way other fields in Plex behave,
It is consistent.
The first agent to supply a certain metadatum will ‘win’.
If you disable the collections from TheMoviedatabase, the LMA agent is the first which can supply ‘Collection’ metadata.
However manually deleting the collection locks the field,
Not when you delete the collection directly.
Remember: to delete a collection it is no longer necessary to edit all members of the collection and remove the collection ‘Tag’ from them.
Once this is released to the public, I foresee a huge amount of complaints of people seeing weird collections appear, seemingly from nowhere. This can easily be prevented if only the developers look into this a bit further.
Agreed. But it was indicated to me that devs are continuing to look at it.
However manually deleting the collection locks the field,
Not when you delete the collection directly.
Remember: to delete a collection it is no longer necessary to edit all members of the collection and remove the collection ‘Tag’ from them.
It is necessary to lock the field, Otto, because if it’s not locked, the non existing collection information is just added back with the next deep scan.
Once this is released to the public, I foresee a huge amount of complaints of people seeing weird collections appear, seemingly from nowhere. This can easily be prevented if only the developers look into this a bit further.
Agreed. But it was indicated to me that devs are continuing to look at it.
I hope so. I believe I’m seeing a bigger picture that I’m somehow unable to convey… I blame it on my poor communication skills
@per_PLEX_ed said:
It is necessary to lock the field, Otto, because if it’s not locked, the non existing collection information is just added back with the next deep scan.
Haha yes, that is part (a huge part) of the problem. If it had ended with me deleting the information from the local file and Plex consequently not insisting on adding the information back, this thread would have been three pages shorter
It would probably be better if the Plex team eliminates using the Album tag for Collections, but if that is not possible, and if I can’t eliminate local collections even after the file as been uploaded to Google, I can always reinstall the VPS from scratch when the time comes.
I have to disagree with this. I love the idea of using the Album tag to populate Collections. Many of us like to have all of our tags embedded into the files so that they don’t have to be edited in Plex. One of the big pluses of having embedded tags is that if you ever need to setup a new server, or wipe your current one, all of the information is already there and you don’t have to edit each entry manually.
It would probably be better if the Plex team eliminates using the Album tag for Collections, but if that is not possible, and if I can’t eliminate local collections even after the file as been uploaded to Google, I can always reinstall the VPS from scratch when the time comes.
I have to disagree with this. I love the idea of using the Album tag to populate Collections. Many of us like to have all of our tags embedded into the files so that they don’t have to be edited in Plex. One of the big pluses of having embedded tags is that if you ever need to setup a new server, or wipe your current one, all of the information is already there and you don’t have to edit each entry manually.
Well, the real bug lies in the fact that when you edit the file to remove the collection tag, Plex does not follow suit even after you refresh and re-analyze the file. When you remove the local tag, Plex should not insist on re-adding it no matter what you do. The only solution is the “Plex dance” procedure - which is not a solution at all as I am concerned.
The default collections just appear to be the label of the dvd or bd they came from, which is stupid… I have no idea where it would even get that label.
@Gungan said:
The default collections just appear to be the label of the dvd or bd they came from, which is stupid… I have no idea where it would even get that label.
This is explained in the help article and was mentioned above:
It comes either from TheMovieDatabase
or from embedded meta tags in your files.
@Gungan said:
The default collections just appear to be the label of the dvd or bd they came from, which is stupid… I have no idea where it would even get that label.
Anything I converted using DVDFab has that issue. In my opinion it is absolutely crazy that Plex uses an obscure field named “Album” to fill “Collections”. It’s even sillier because not even Windows can see this field by default, you need a program like MP3TAG to edit that information.
However I have been assured numerous times over that this is a feature, not a bug, so I just edited all my files and did the Plex dance, problem solved for me.
