So, I don’t know if anyone here bothers watching Documentaries, both TV or Films, but I do. Unfortuantely, Having them on my Plex Library if a total nightmare, as finding metadata for them is an almost impossible mission. If you add them as TV shows, then the TVDB is incomplete. If you add them as Movies, then IMDB is not good for actual TV Shows, especially multiepisodes (BBC loves those, i.e.)
I have over a Tera of them and just on the beginning to try and sort them I’m starting to loose hope in life. I rename them as the TVDB and as per Plex’s instructions and still, most don’t get recognised or they get mismatched and you have to edit item by item. When I was a kid and iTunes came out, I used to spend lots of my time on arranging my music library so it looked great and all, spending hours dowloading artwork, lyrics, all sorts… I was really passionate about my music. But you see, now I’m older and can’t be arsed, i’d rather waste my life somehow else, and that’s why I pay for Plex to do it for me. It does great with Movies and Series, but god, Documentaries, that’s a different animal!
So, any crazy people here who likes Documentaries has found a good way of doing this? Please, save my life!
My suggestion would be to setup a new section for them and label the group as a home video type, that way you will see them with their file names and then you can manually do a search for metadata on them to see if you can match.
Have you tried going directly to TVDB or TMDB (not IMDB) to see if either database has complete info on any of these documentaries? Plex, and any other app that depends on them, is totally at the mercy of the info in the databases. If the DBs don’t have it, Plex won’t have it.
If there is another database with more complete information, the only thing that could be done would be to create an agent for it, so Plex can draw from it.
@jmcgeejr said:
My suggestion would be to setup a new section for them and label the group as a home video type, that way you will see them with their file names and then you can manually do a search for metadata on them to see if you can match.
When you say “manually do a search for metadata”, what exactly do you mean and how?
Look for the documentaries on thetvdb or themoviedb and see if you can find them, if they are there then you can right click and do a match option and see if you can find it that way (maybe your naming is just a little off and it cant match it) if you cant find anything there then you can at least have them listed in plex with the file name, and if you choose you can name them with your own metadata.
Can you give examples of the documentaries you are having issues with? I have a LOT of them, and most are TV shows, and have little to no problems with finding them. Some I have to have as a movie, though, and those are the ones that are one-offs, and not listed as a TV show on thetvdb.
Most of the issues with getting them matched correctly, regardless of if they are a movie or a TV show is making sure they are named correctly. FileBot can help with the naming as well as figure out if it’s a movie or a TV show…
You were right guys. It’s all due to naming issues. Both for TV and Movie Documentaries, but mainly TV. The way TVDB sorts them out can be a little specific (as in year seasons, instead of numbered seasons, etc.), so you have to do a little “research” to find out how it does it so you can name them accordingly. I’ve also found the “fix incorrect match” option where you can do a search for the actual show without having to change the file name (in case you name your files in your own specific way), and works quite well in general. The only pain is that you have to go almost “one by one”, which is a bit of a pain, but hey ho. Still, I’ve learnt a lot about Plex’ design philosophy, which helps!
So i’ve learned my way around thank to your comments guys. Cheers chaps!!
Please please please consider ADDING “Documentaries” as a media type in addition to Film and TV. You see all of the problems that we have with them. Sometimes documentaries are a TV series, sometimes they are in a movie database, and sometimes they are simply not listed. Perhaps there is a Documentaries Database that can be scraped for information? Or at least have that category scrape BOTH Film and Movie databases.
Also, please consider adding an option that IF a entry is NOT FOUND in TV (or Movies) then ADD THE ENTRY ANYWAY - don’t just skip it as Plex does now in the TV and Movie categories. Then at least if we use Film or TV for our Documentaries group, they will still show up if there is no match found.
Something else you might consider is if the documentary you are trying to Plex add does not exist in the TVDB then if you add it yourself to the TVDB then Plex can pick it up from there. It is a bit of work obviously but the TVDB is a community driven database that only works if end users actually populate it.
Personally I figure if I have to add the odd show I am still well ahead and have given a bit back.
Please please please consider ADDING “Documentaries” as a media type in addition to Film and TV. You see all of the problems that we have with them. Sometimes documentaries are a TV series, sometimes they are in a movie database, and sometimes they are simply not listed. Perhaps there is a Documentaries Database that can be scraped for information? Or at least have that category scrape BOTH Film and Movie databases.
Also, please consider adding an option that IF a entry is NOT FOUND in TV (or Movies) then ADD THE ENTRY ANYWAY - don’t just skip it as Plex does now in the TV and Movie categories. Then at least if we use Film or TV for our Documentaries group, they will still show up if there is no match found.
SUGGESTION: Add a new **DOCUMENTARIES **category in addition to TV and Film that would (a) check TV database; (b) also check film database if not found in TV; and (c) include a home video entry if neither a TV or film match was found. Thank you.
Feature requests should be added in the Feature Request Voting forum, and they should not be rudely added to someone else’s thread, even if it is somewhat related.
Please please please consider ADDING “Documentaries” as a media type in addition to Film and TV. You see all of the problems that we have with them. Sometimes documentaries are a TV series, sometimes they are in a movie database, and sometimes they are simply not listed. Perhaps there is a Documentaries Database that can be scraped for information? Or at least have that category scrape BOTH Film and Movie databases.
Also, please consider adding an option that IF a entry is NOT FOUND in TV (or Movies) then ADD THE ENTRY ANYWAY - don’t just skip it as Plex does now in the TV and Movie categories. Then at least if we use Film or TV for our Documentaries group, they will still show up if there is no match found.
SUGGESTION: Add a new **DOCUMENTARIES **category in addition to TV and Film that would (a) check TV database; (b) also check film database if not found in TV; and (c) include a home video entry if neither a TV or film match was found. Thank you.
Feature requests should be added in the Feature Request Voting forum, and they should not be rudely added to someone else’s thread, even if it is somewhat related.
“Rudely” added to a thread on the very same subject? Really @beckfield? You have 34 dislikes… I would imagine you need to look in the mirror. The rest of us are here to help make Plex better. I was unaware of the Feature Request Voting Forum but will repost accordingly.
