I cannot figure this one out.
I have added custom images using the Web UI as Posters for some TV show episodes.
I am not using local media asset naming to do this.
I add the images via the Edit->Poster feature in the Web UI and either upload or point to local image(s) and then choose one.
They work fine.
BUT… after time, they are all gone.
i.e. I add 10 custom images using the Web UI to an episode’s Poster option. It applies and works great. But, a day or whenever, later, they are gone. They revert to whatever was there upon the initial creation of the object.
FWIW: I have been doing this daily as I clean up my collection:
- Delete Trash
- Remove Bundles
- Optimize DB
- Save the DB
I don’t check each episode after I do this, but I have been noticing the problem enough.
I have tried to recreate this issue using the above method on a show with a few episodes and it doesn’t occur when I do that, so I am really lost here.
This problem is not widespread… meaning… I have some items that have my custom Posters retain days or weeks later.
Its definitely not on all custom images.
I see this mainly on TV shows’ individual episodes. I am not sure if it is also a problem in movies since I don’t edit the posters there often.
If I add a custom image to the Poster, shouldn’t it be permanent, regardless if I delete trash and bundles?
Also, the other images I add (say I add 2 or 10 as possibilities) shouldn’t they all remain since the object is still active in the database?
Please help.
I’ve spent quite a bit of time making episode images and am upset that all that work is being wasted and I don’t know why.
Not sure what other details might be needed, but the main one is:
Ubuntu Linux: Version 1.6.1.3722
Thanks in advance.
J
Probably you did it this way because Plex hasn’t matched your tv show and thus hasn’t downloaded proper metadata for it on its own, right?
Which could mean, that the show is still in an ‘unmatched’ state.
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verify it is ‘unmatched’ by looking at the Plex XML info of an affected episode. Look what it says in the guid= element.
If it says localin there, the show is still unmatched. This means that Plex will try to match it on every library update (and also during the nightly server maintenance), which may lead to the reset of all manually input metadata. You need to either
name your tv show’s files and folders so Plex recognises the show and matches it
or use ‘Fix Match’ at the top show level and match it to ‘Personal Media Shows’
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I recommend you to use the ‘local media assets’ method. That way your custom posters will survive even a catastrophic failure of the library database.
1 Like
Otto,
I actually did this to improve some of the posters - well, at least in my eyes. In some episodes, I thought of a better thumb while watching the episode, so I changed them here and there. And always well after Plex has finished matching and doing its thing. My media is 100% Plex-ified as far as naming and structure. It never fails to match what I add in. 
As far as local media. I really don’t want to go that route. I like having clean directories and just let the Plex server handle all the extra clutter and stuff.
Its not a deal breaker that this happens on some. I just wish I could figure out what triggers it and why it isn’t all.
Thanks
J
If the show is actually matched perfectly, I’d verify that my media storage is 100% reliable.
If Plex server does a library update and media storage is not fast enough to e.g. spin up sleeping disk drives, Plex server may mark some media as ‘unavailable’.
That combined with this preference:
Settings - Server - Library - ‘Empty trash automatically after every scan’
will lead to removing these temporarily unavailable media from the library - and with them all customized metadata.
If you are using external media storage or even a NAS or (gulp!) cloud storage, you definitely want that preference to be OFF
Otto,
The storage idea and trash is interesting and I will track that the best I can.
Thanks for the tip.
My only concern is that all my media is on a mounted NAS samba share and it doesn’t happen to all or even a portion of them (the scan happens so fast that I would assume I would loose more than a few things… or maybe I just haven’t noticed).
For now, I am good with this and decided to save all my custom screenshots just in case I need to re-add them).
I will be on the lookout for the reason!
cheers and thanks!
J
@psybertech said:
I have added custom images using the Web UI as Posters for some TV show episodes.
I am not using local media asset naming to do this.
I add the images via the Edit->Poster feature in the Web UI and either upload or point to local image(s) and then choose one.
I do not use this method of customizing movies/series/seasons/episodes artwork so I don’t know much there…
But what I do know and use is adding a PNG where needed and never had a problem of Plex reverting back to some online version of the picture. Also I like the idea of a local PNG file so when I need to rebuild my library I won’t have to do any custom edits.
This happens on Photo and Other Videos libraries as well and extremely annoying!!! I set folders to use PNG’s and they just disappear for no reason.
