I am having more and more sequels get hidden when they upload because Plex believes they are the same content as the previous movie. So, for example, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 is there… and when I upload Vol 3, instead of it showing up as its own content, it simply becomes a 2nd version of Vol 2 (i.e. when I select “Get Info”, both MP4 files appear with the Vol 2 Title/DVD art). Or maybe the same movie in a different year (e.g. Parent Trap from the 60s is uploaded, Then when I upload Parent Trap from the 90s, it is hidden behind the video title for the Parent Trap from the 60s).
The end result is the subsequent movies that I upload cannot be played because, while I can see them under “Get Info”. I cannot get it to edit the attributes so that they are both unique.
So, how do I change the metadata of the files WITHIN PLEX so that it sees them as unique. I can and do already alter the metadata of the file itself on the server (e.g. Parent Trap - 1960 and Parent Trap - 1998)… but it ignores those unique items in their metadata and hides the subsequent ones anyway.
Yes, I have both already looked at that and played with options to no avail. For instance, Guardians of the Galaxy 3 was named the same on upload but about 10 months apart. I altered the name and metadata in a dozen different ways and it still hid it behind GotG 2 every time… Likewise, if I removed GotG 2 and let my system reindex, then I could put in GotG3 first and then it would hide GotG2 behind it… regardless of how I altered the naming or metadata directly on the MP4 file… BUT, 10 months later, exact same naming, and they both show up fine. The naming didnt change but the database identifying what it is was updated many times… but I dont know how they do their database updates or if one is better than another or if one is better for some genres and another is better for other genres, etc… This is for engines like CineMaterial, IMDB/The Movie Database/Plex Movie (legacy), Local Media Assets, etc…
So I have been looking at the Settings Cog for those and trying to figure out if one should be prioritized over another based on what is being missed in their scan/identification.
I suggest reading this article to make sure you understand Plex’s recommended naming convention (and also some additional tags that can be added to the file to ensure proper matching):
Finally, for movies you already have scanned in, I would refer to this article to learn how to split them apart (though they can get merged again on subsequent metadata refreshes, so following the above articles would be good). https://support.plex.tv/articles/201018248-merge-or-split-items/
