Dr WHO classic naming fixed

Plex Media Server Desktops & Laptops
1

I have finally figured out how to name classic doctor who episodes to work with plex without having to track down the episode names
Step 1
Name the folder "Doctor Who (1963) this will keep it from interfering with your 2005 version of doctor who

Step 2
Download Bulk file rename utility.
http://www.bulkrenameutility.co.uk/Download.php

Step 3
You want to use the replace option replace whatever Part identifier has been set on your copy the episodes to " - pt#" You must have space before the hyphen and after and the # is replaced with the part. Use the rename utility.
In my case my episodes were named like Doctor who S01E01p1 I replaced p1 entries with " - pt1" p2 with “- pt2” all the way through 13.

The episodes will all stack together into one in plex so you will only see an entry for each episode not each part and you will notice that is it now over an hour long instead of 23 minutes.

Note. You can also use the rename utility to change naming conventions like Doctor.who.S01E02 to Doctor Who S01E02

Reference plex article on this.
https://support.plex.tv/hc/en-us/articles/200265006-Naming-Stacked-TV-Show-Episodes

Google Tags
How to Name Classic doctor who episodes for plex.
Doctor Who classic naming convention plex
Plex Classic Doctor who.

1 Like
2

Thanks!! Just what I was looking for!!
How did you named the pilot of season 1? (Unaired pilot, s01e00)

3

I’ve tried a thousand different ways to name this and I keep having an error where they don’t play in the correct order. eg. s01e01 starts are part 3 (which is last when alphabetically listed). s01e02 and s01e03, both play the last parts only. My directory structure looks like this:

G:\TV Shows\Doctor Who - The Complete Classic 26 Seasons Collection + Extras\Doctor Who - S01E02 (002) - The Daleks - Parts 1-7\Doctor Who - S01E02 (002) - The Daleks - The Dead Planet - pt1.avi

The Media Info shows all of the files there and in the correct order. Can anyone help??

4

https://support.plex.tv/hc/en-us/articles/200220687-Naming-Series-Season-Based-TV-Shows

http://thetvdb.com/?tab=series&id=76107&lid=7 - Doctor Who’s First Run Seasons will need (1963) due to an epic blunder by Plex. A blunder they’re refusing to do anything about.

Having said that, the ONLY way to get anything regarding reliability with TV Shows in Plex is to follow the guidelines for naming and structuring to the letter. There is no wiggle room. In order for shows to match with TVDB (Plex’s ONLY TV Show Database) they MUST be in a particular structure with particular file naming or it simply won’t work.

TVDB and Plex REQUIRE this:

A TV Show Library/

Doctor Who (1963)/

Season 01/

Doctor Who (1963) - S01E01 - An Unearthly Child (1).xxx

Doctor Who (1963) - S01E02 - The Cave of Skulls (2).xxx

Doctor Who (1963) - S01E03 - The Forest of Fear (3).xxx

Doctor Who (1963) - S01E04 - The Firemaker (4).xxx
and so on - exactly the way TVDB lists them - shown in the TVDB link above.

You don’t need the episode name in the file name, but you at least need this much of the name to match the guideline:

Doctor Who (1963) - S01E01.xxx <— perfectly valid file name for Season 1 Episode 1.

You also (so I’m told) don’t need (1963) In the file name, but my personal OCD won’t allow me to fix the Show Folder and not fix the file names. You WILL AT LEAST need (1963) in the Show Folder as shown above or it simply won’t work.

If you happen to have, or can create, single files consisting of a complete story arc, you’ll have to name them like this:

A TV Show Library/

Doctor Who (1963)/

Season 01/

Doctor Who (1963) - S01E01 - Whatever this Arc is Called [Parts 1-4].xxx

Doctor Who (1963) - S01E04 - The Daleks [Parts 1-7].xxx

Doctor Who (1963) - S01E12 - Whatever this Arc is Called [Parts 1-2].xxx
and so on

then hand edit in the details, if necessary.
Things that make your file name Non-Compliant must be put in [Brackets] so Plex will ignore that bit, or it won’t work.

You can also fiddle around with the method the first poster came up with, but as soon as you realize how badly Plex mishandles ‘Stacked TV Show Episodes’ you’ll probably abandon that ‘Work-Around’ entirely.

I already know this isn’t going to make die-hard Doctor Who fans very happy. TVDB isn’t concerned about your happiness and neither is Plex for that matter, but if you want these things to match and be populated with material that’s what you have to do.

If you just can’t deal with it, create a TV Show Library with Personal Media Shows as it’s main Agent (in Advanced Settings while creating the Library) and Plex won’t even try to match any of them. You can name and structure them how you want to and hand edit every single episode so it’s does exactly what you want it to.

Alternately you can create an ‘Other Videos’ Library and do the same thing. This library type is really hard to deal with when TV Show Type Structures are employed, will take a good bit of fiddling and it remains to be seen if you’ll ever come away with anything close to what you’re looking for.

PITA? You Betcha! (when you get about 200 episodes into this job - you’ll realize just how big a PITA it is, I’ll wager)
Unfortunately those are your options.

1 Like
5

Thank you very much for the info. I thought I had a working structure because most of the later seasons work without issue (as far as order and playing all parts, getting them to actually play on the Roku is a different issue altogether). I will update if I have anymore issues or find any other solution

6

@JuiceWSA despite adopting this naming structure, Plex does put the classic shows in the Doctor Who 2005 section.

Any suggestion?

osqznfm5fgft.png966×152 26.9 KB

7

Renaming/restructuring is best performed OUTSIDE the library and you’ll probably need to write a new bundle for the show(s) so The Plex Dance¼ was invented:

The Plex DanceÂź:

  1. remove show/movie from library
  2. rescan library files
  3. empty trash
  4. clean bundles
    https://support.plex.tv/hc/en-us/articles/200392106-Library-Actions <— scan library files, empty trash, clean bundles
  5. bring names and structures into compliance/Move LMA/etc
  6. replace corrected show/movie into library
  7. rescan library files

All Steps. In Order. No Shortcuts.

It’s hard to say how many bundles are now bogus - you may have to Plex Dance both shows entirely. Using the naming above for both shows - 1963 and 2005 - if they’re added to the library named perfectly with no existing bundle-buggery, they should work.

FileBot (link in my signature) can handle that naming and structuring for you automatically or manually in seconds.

What FileBot can’t do is remove possible embedded metadata in the Title Field of MP4/M4V files. Plex will read this info and prefer it over a perfect file name/structure, but you can combat that situation by moving Local Media Assets to the bottom of every agent list you can find. All tabs in TV Show and Movies here:
https://support.plex.tv/hc/en-us/articles/200241558-Agents
Just drag LMA to the bottom of the list and drop it. If you do have embedded metadata this will cure the issue, if you don’t it won’t matter. LMA will do what it has to from the bottom. If you happen to have any MP4/M4V files in these shows (or ever plan to use any, at any point) this paragraph is particularly important.

1 Like
8

That did it, thank you.

9

My first post on this board so please be gentle
 ;).
As a user above stated I also have all 26 seasons + extras.
(Lots of the reconstructed episodes etc.)
So I have Been trying to figure how to get PLEX to serve them up for ROKU/TV for over a year.
This was the best tip I found:

Since I already had all the parts of each episode separated in to their own folder.
ie

E:\Doctor Who - The Complete Classic 26 Seasons Collection + Extras\S01E01(001) An Unearthly Child Parts 1-4\Doctor Who - S01E01 (001) - An Unearthly Child (1) - An Unearthly Child

E:\Doctor Who - The Complete Classic 26 Seasons Collection + Extras\S01E01(001) An Unearthly Child Parts 1-4\Doctor Who - S01E01 (001) - An Unearthly Child (2) - The Cave of Skulls

I simply:

  1. Created a new “other videos Library” Named it Doctor Who 1963 and told PLEX where to look for my files (E:\Doctor Who - The Complete Classic 26 Seasons Collection + Extras)
  2. Then when displaying the library in chrome, or on ROKU I chose “Folder” view (Drop Down arrow by movies at the top left.) instead of movie view.
  3. Then I go to List view(drop down arrow on the top right.) instead of Grid view.

This combination gives me what I feel is the neatest most intuitive system for finding, and watching The Doctor’s. Story in it’s entirety. (well mostly.)
And After all Doesn’t the Doctor deserve his/her own library?

I’d also like to note that this required 0 renaming of hundreds of episode parts, + movies, and commentaries, etc

Which to me is a huge plus since I really just wanted to watch the show with ROKU, and not have to fiddle with Bulk Rename Utility for a couple of weeks to do it.
I mean it’s a cool tool no doubt, and I’m glad I now have it, but who has the time
 Well unless

you got a TARDIS? :wink:

10

Yea, that works a LOT better than just naming your files so they’ll instantly match and self-populate at TVDB.

Can’t imagine what the rest of us were thinking


11

How do you handle things like the “Specials” when it comes to Doctor Who? Normally they are an episode 00 for a season. TVDB shows the specials in their own directory
 so if we put them in to the normal season directory, then Plex does not discover.

Did you just put the specials into their own? Or have you found a work around for the naming convention?

12

I named my specials as per TVDB so they will match and get the air date, so they’ll be injected into On Deck where needed.

If you have unlisted specials you’ll have to edit rhat info.