This is something I’ve been seeing for months and I’ve always wondered why it happens. I even have a data cap with Comcast and this looping so many times seems like it’s eating up my monthly data.
Right now, the Status -> Alerts page looks like this. . .
8:34pm Downloading metadata for Droopy S01 E16
8:34pm Downloading metadata for Droopy S01 E16
8:34pm Finished processing Droopy S01 E15
8:34pm Loading metadata for Droopy S01 E15
8:34pm Downloading metadata for Droopy S01 E15
8:34pm Downloading metadata for Droopy S01 E15
8:34pm Finished processing Droopy S01 E14
8:34pm Loading metadata for Droopy S01 E14
But this is something that I added to the Library days ago. Something that Plex already downloaded metadata for when it was added, yet it constantly downloads the metadata again. Granted, this doesn’t happen 24/7. But it happened yesterday, is happening right now, and will likely happen tomorrow as well.
Is this normal? I get that Plex maybe wants to keep meta data up to date and all, but I honestly don’t think that’s needed for 99% of the library. Is there a way to turn this off and only have metadata downloaded once, or is that just how Plex is?
No, it’s not normal unless your settings are configured to do so and you have activity in the library.
Settings - Server - Library
Check to see if it’s updating your metadata every night / every couple days when the butler runs.
Also uncheck “Automatically update”. This will stop PMS from pulling fresh metadata if the file’s date/time stamp is changed (if you’re downloading directly into your media directories)
@ChuckPa said:
No, it’s not normal unless your settings are configured to do so and you have activity in the library.
Settings - Server - Library
Check to see if it’s updating your metadata every night / every couple days when the butler runs.
Also uncheck “Automatically update”. This will stop PMS from pulling fresh metadata if the file’s date/time stamp is changed (if you’re downloading directly into your media directories)
I’ve attached a screenshot of what my settings are for Settings → Server → Library
Part of what I failed to differentiate (apology). Settings - Server - Scheduled Tasks. There’s no need to update your metadata periodically / every 3 days.
Part of what I failed to differentiate (apology). Settings - Server - Scheduled Tasks. There’s no need to update your metadata periodically / every 3 days.
This is what my Scheduled Tasks page looks like
I just turned off the “Refresh local metadata every three days”. Does everything else look good, or would it be better to tweak some of the other settings?
Do you use the DVR/EPG ? I ask because updating your Library also pulls updated EPG data from the internet.
If so, we need to do things differently.
Library:
Enable automatic detection
Enable partial scan
Change periodic to daily. In the US, this will get you the daily EPG data (it’s only accurate that far in advance).
Scheduled Tasks:
Disable “Refresh local metadata every 3 days” (no sense in getting the metadata again for what you already have in the DB. You can manually refresh anything which previously was partial)
Photo tagging is up to you. If you don’t want it, turn it off. It will otherwise look up each photo using online resources.
@ChuckPA said:
Do you use the DVR/EPG ? I ask because updating your Library also pulls updated EPG data from the internet.
If so, we need to do things differently.
Library:
Enable automatic detection
Enable partial scan
Change periodic to daily. In the US, this will get you the daily EPG data (it’s only accurate that far in advance).
Scheduled Tasks:
Disable “Refresh local metadata every 3 days” (no sense in getting the metadata again for what you already have in the DB. You can manually refresh anything which previously was partial)
Photo tagging is up to you. If you don’t want it, turn it off. It will otherwise look up each photo using online resources.
I’ve just made the changes you listed here.
Yes, I do use the DVR function and its EPG. I’ve seen this constant redownloading of the metadata happen on things I have DVR’d as well as things I have ripped from owned media (like the Droopy episodes I included in the start of this thread).
Thanks for the help. Let me know if there are any other changes I need to make
Still getting a bunch of downloading metadata messages different show now (as it usually mixes these things up).
2:18pm Finished processing America’s War on Drugs
2:18pm Downloading metadata for America’s War on Drugs
2:18pm Scanning the “TV Shows” section
2:18pm Scanning Family Matters (1989)/Season 08
2:18pm Scanning the “DVR” section
2:18pm Finished processing America’s War on Drugs
2:18pm Downloading metadata for America’s War on Drugs
2:17pm Scanning the “TV Shows” section
2:17pm Scanning Silicon Valley/Season 04
2:17pm Scanning the “DVR” section
2:17pm Finished processing America’s War on Drugs
2:17pm Downloading metadata for America’s War on Drugs
2:17pm Scanning the “TV Shows” section
2:17pm Scanning Stitchers/Season 03
2:17pm Scanning the “DVR” section
2:17pm Finished processing America’s War on Drugs
2:17pm Downloading metadata for America’s War on Drugs
These are things that haven’t had anything new in them (other than the family matters folder) in hours/days. I recorded new Stitchers/silicon valley episodes last night, but it downloaded the metadata for it when it was first added to the library. America’s war on drugs mini series ended at the middle of last week
And it just keeps scanning and downloading, over and over and over. . .this is 10 minutes later
2:28pm Library scan complete: Extra information may still be downloading from the Internet
2:28pm Finished processing America’s War on Drugs
2:28pm Downloading metadata for America’s War on Drugs
2:28pm Scanning the “TV Shows” section
2:28pm Scanning Family Matters (1989)/Season 08
2:27pm Scanning the “DVR” section
2:27pm Finished processing America’s War on Drugs
2:27pm Downloading metadata for America’s War on Drugs
2:27pm Scanning the “TV Shows” section
2:27pm Scanning Silicon Valley/Season 04
2:27pm Scanning the “DVR” section
2:27pm Finished processing America’s War on Drugs
2:27pm Downloading metadata for America’s War on Drugs
2:27pm Scanning the “TV Shows” section
2:27pm Scanning Stitchers/Season 03
2:27pm Scanning the “DVR” section
2:27pm Finished processing America’s War on Drugs
2:27pm Downloading metadata for America’s War on Drugs
From this latest, it looks like you have content in “America’s War on Drugs” which didn’t match. Usually indicates a file naming issue or an embedded metadata tag (title or name) which is causing the non-match). PMS will attempt to rematch it with each scan.
Have you considered a tool such as FileBot or TheRenamer to verify the names are clean?
@ChuckPa Hrmm, the War on Drugs show was recorded directly from Plex’s DVR feature. But like all of my other stuff, the metadata was already downloaded when it was added, and it’s correct.
There’s an image of episode 3 in Plex that shows the metadata and all.
The show is in the folder America’s War on Drugs (2017) → Season 01 - with the following names. . .
Which again, were all done from Plex’s DVR feature. So it should be correct considering it was recorded with Plex and it was named by Plex and it has always had the metadata shown when I view the episodes. (unless I’m missing something here)?
Go into that Library and hit ‘Update Library’ for it alone (no sense in extra stuff)
Update the Library again
Gather the Log files but hold the IP for now
Update the library again
If it still gets that metadata, gather the second log as well
Upload both
I will get someone who knows this more than I do to analyzer deeper
I did 1 through 4, but I’m not sure what you mean by #5. You said go into that library, so I assume you mean the TV Shows library. I went in there, but am unable to find a ‘update library’ button anywhere
that says to look for a circular arrow icon, but that simply isn’t there
Step #5. - We can update All libraries or update a specific library. I’m only looking to update the specific library. No sense in risking unnecessary data cap usage if not absolutely required. This was my intent.
@ChuckPA said:
Step #5. - We can update All libraries or update a specific library. I’m only looking to update the specific library. No sense in risking unnecessary data cap usage if not absolutely required. This was my intent.
I’m pretty sure I followed all of those steps exactly, and it’s still happening. Looping on the War on Drugs miniseries again. But it should be pointed out that the issue hasn’t been isolated with just this show. Like earlier int he thread, it was happening to the Droopy show. I have seen it happen to the Family Matters shows.
So it’s effecting both DVR’d stuff, as well as personally ripped content. Like, I imagine it will be stuck on this War on Drugs miniseries, but then move on to something else in a few days. I wish I could find a common thread among them, but I just don’t seem to be able to.
Here are the log files as you requested.
Thanks for helping me try and troubleshoot it. I hope the team is able to find out what is going on. For what it’s worth, I’m using Plex on unRAID thanks to LinuxServerIO’s docker
@ChuckPa said:
No, it’s not normal unless your settings are configured to do so and you have activity in the library.
Settings - Server - Library
Check to see if it’s updating your metadata every night / every couple days when the butler runs.
Also uncheck “Automatically update”. This will stop PMS from pulling fresh metadata if the file’s date/time stamp is changed (if you’re downloading directly into your media directories)
I’ve attached a screenshot of what my settings are for Settings → Server → Library
Is there anything there that should be changed?
I would disable empty trash automatically after every scan
Bad stuff can happen when that option is enabled.
Part of what I failed to differentiate (apology). Settings - Server - Scheduled Tasks. There’s no need to update your metadata periodically / every 3 days.
If you add a new local subtitle or cover art file, the local media agent will pick this up and insert it into the Library. This usually happens on-the-fly if the Server has detected a change in the directory time. However, it adds a second or two when choosing an item in your Library before it appears, so doing it at night ensures things are speedy during the day.
This setting does not download new metadata for your content
Refresh metadata periodically
Over the course of the month, the server will refresh the metadata for musical artists in your library. This will help ensure that your artists have good tour date information (if you’ve enabled that feature) and that Plex Pass users of Premium music libraries will automatically get new lyrics from LyricFind.
Note: This metadata refreshing currently only occurs for music libraries.
Should this still fail to match, confirm for me whether you’re using MP4 or MKV files? If MP4 files, it’s extremely likely you have embedded metadata (name information) which is confusing PMS. PMS reads name information from MP4 but not MKV.
different show now (as it usually mixes these things up).
