Extra step for "Match" to appear in three dot menu.

@HVKStudios said:
and to @NewPlaza 's point… these are items without a match so shouldn’t it appear in the three dot menu the first time if Plex knows it’s not a match? I’m ok with context aware menus but that would create extra queries to verify the match.

That’s what I’m saying… It’s not even there on unmatched items. PLEX just assumes all files are correct and matched

@NewPlaza said:
That’s what I’m saying… It’s not even there on unmatched items. PLEX just assumes all files are correct and matched

No need for the snark.
I have explained it already above. For performance reasons are not all database queries executed when building the list. If you need to ‘fix match’ or ‘match’, click on the poster and do it on the ‘Preplay screen.’

@OttoKerner said:

@NewPlaza said:
That’s what I’m saying… It’s not even there on unmatched items. PLEX just assumes all files are correct and matched

No need for the snark.
I have explained it already above. For performance reasons are not all database queries executed when building the list. If you need to ‘fix match’ or ‘match’, click on the poster and do it on the ‘Preplay screen.’

LOL! Actually I read it as the opposite of what I was trying the say but realized it wasn’t… but… if we are going there then you don’t need to query the database anymore then finding out where the cover art(poster) is coming from…

@NewPlaza said:
I do see what @OttoKerner is trying to say… Some options are not initially available. Because the way PLEX view anything is it’s always correct so some queries to the database are not needed initially. Why have “Fix Match” on a movie/show when all things equal, it’s correct.

What I don’t like is when it’s not actually matched and the options not there.

Agreed.

Furthermore this option WAS there until recently. I don’t know if it changed in the latest version of PMP or if it’s a server-side function (since that gets update far more often) but it used to be there from the start.

Most of my movies get recognized properly, but occasionally they don’t. It’s like it doesn’t ever detect/load metadata or when I look at the detail page for that movie it will appear as if it’s undetected, but the 3-dot option is to “Fix Match” when it isn’t ACTUALLY even matched yet. This happened with this moving just this morning:

The Hand (1981).m4v

I don’t see any issue with the naming and it never loaded any metadata until I hit “Fix Match” on the detail screen. There was no ordinary “Match” option like I would expect to see for a title that had not ACTUALLY been matched.

I’m not sure if it ‘moved’, but wouldn’t be surprised. It’s now on the Pre-Play screen for Movies and the Show Level Screen for TV Shows.

Fix Match indicates it was matched, but it might have had issues if you didn’t get everything you wanted or thought you should have gotten. Log Files will lead to the culprit I think.

Match indicates it was never matched.

Since the file is an M4V file you’d better move Local Media Assets to the bottom of ALL your Agent lists and then Plex Dance the whole thing.

Move Local Media Assets to the bottom of all Agent lists under All tabs in TV Shows and Movies here:
https://support.plex.tv/hc/en-us/articles/200241558-Agents

The Plex Dance®:

  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.

Still No Joy?

Log Files:
https://support.plex.tv/articles/200250417-plex-media-server-log-files/
Drag zip file to message window and drop it.

I just rather have the option always visible as “Match/FixMatch” and if you select it PMS will then query the database. As it is now, there are extra steps in the code to determine if blah, blah, blah. Let’s help a coder out, no need to add unnecessary checks.

@JuiceWSA said:
I’m not sure if it ‘moved’, but wouldn’t be surprised. It’s now on the Pre-Play screen for Movies and the Show Level Screen for TV Shows.

Fix Match indicates it was matched, but it might have had issues if you didn’t get everything you wanted or thought you should have gotten. Log Files will lead to the culprit I think.

Match indicates it was never matched.

Since the file is an M4V file you’d better move Local Media Assets to the bottom of ALL your Agent lists and then Plex Dance the whole thing.

Move Local Media Assets to the bottom of all Agent lists under All tabs in TV Shows and Movies here:
https://support.plex.tv/hc/en-us/articles/200241558-Agents

The Plex Dance®:

  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.

Still No Joy?

Log Files:
https://support.plex.tv/articles/200250417-plex-media-server-log-files/
Drag zip file to message window and drop it.

No luck. I did these steps PLUS I optimized the database. Still nothing. There are 5 titles not processing properly…:frowning:

Please see attached logs…

Of the 5 movies I added yesterday ONE of them had metadata this morning. The other 4 still just have random still frames from the movie…:frowning:

So, what’s going on here:

Apr 16, 2018 21:17:11.562 [13400] DEBUG -     * Scanning directory H:\Media\Movies\Netflix\The Hand (1981) (parent: yes)
Apr 16, 2018 21:17:11.562 [7028] DEBUG - HTTP requesting GET http://127.0.0.1:32400/:/metadata/updateProgressMessage?message=Scanning%20Keep%20Watching%20(2017)
Apr 16, 2018 21:17:11.564 [7028] DEBUG - HTTP 200 response from GET http://127.0.0.1:32400/:/metadata/updateProgressMessage?message=Scanning%20Keep%20Watching%20(2017)
Apr 16, 2018 21:17:11.575 [13400] DEBUG - Adding file for scanner: "H:\Media\Movies\Netflix\The Hand (1981)\The Hand (1981).m4v"
Apr 16, 2018 21:17:11.581 [13400] DEBUG - Skipping over directory 'The Hand (1981)', as nothing has changed; removing 1 media items from map.

Is this movie located in multiple places? I can’t determine if you ever removed it from the library for dancing as the report sez it’s being skipped over 'cause nothing changed.
Well, something’s gotta change. It has to be gone and the bundle deleted, then re-added after LMA has been moved so it can be rediscovered.

If you don’t follow those Plex Dance Steps exactly - you may as well not even dance - they won’t work.

I also see a mish-mash of compliant names/non-compliant names/and odd locations - I hope you don’t have a ‘Downloads’ Location’ added as a Plex Library <— 'cause that’s a recipe for certain disaster.

If any of these problem items are TV Shows you’re going to have to give up the names of them, so I can find them in your scanner logs. You’ll also need to cough up the names of the movies you’re having issues with.

You’ve got quite the mess and if it were me I’d start over with compliant names - put files in one library to start and if you need alternate ‘Versions’ for remote access (for instance), move those in later after you get what you got working.

Have you moved Local Media Assets to the bottom of ALL your Agent lists - under every tab - in Shows and Movies? If you don’t - you’ll NEVER be able to use an MP4/M4V file with any reliability. While you’re doing that make sure for ‘Movies’, Plex Movie is at the top of it’s listing - and The Movie Database is at the top of it’s listing - with LMA demoted to the bottom - everywhere. Do NOT disable LMA - simply drag it down the lists to the bottom of the active agents.

@JuiceWSA said:
So, what’s going on here:

Apr 16, 2018 21:17:11.562 [13400] DEBUG -     * Scanning directory H:\Media\Movies\Netflix\The Hand (1981) (parent: yes)
Apr 16, 2018 21:17:11.562 [7028] DEBUG - HTTP requesting GET http://127.0.0.1:32400/:/metadata/updateProgressMessage?message=Scanning%20Keep%20Watching%20(2017)
Apr 16, 2018 21:17:11.564 [7028] DEBUG - HTTP 200 response from GET http://127.0.0.1:32400/:/metadata/updateProgressMessage?message=Scanning%20Keep%20Watching%20(2017)
Apr 16, 2018 21:17:11.575 [13400] DEBUG - Adding file for scanner: "H:\Media\Movies\Netflix\The Hand (1981)\The Hand (1981).m4v"
Apr 16, 2018 21:17:11.581 [13400] DEBUG - Skipping over directory 'The Hand (1981)', as nothing has changed; removing 1 media items from map.

Is this movie located in multiple places? I can’t determine if you ever removed it from the library for dancing as the report sez it’s being skipped over 'cause nothing changed.
Well, something’s gotta change. It has to be gone and the bundle deleted, then re-added after LMA has been moved so it can be rediscovered.

No. This movie is not located in multiple places.

Also, that movie “The Hand” is NOT one of the ones that didn’t load metadata. That was actually the last one that actually worked as expected.

If you don’t follow those Plex Dance Steps exactly - you may as well not even dance - they won’t work.

I did follow those steps exactly…twice. I even added the one about DB optimization when the steps didn’t work the first time.

I also see a mish-mash of compliant names/non-compliant names/and odd locations - I hope you don’t have a ‘Downloads’ Location’ added as a Plex Library <— 'cause that’s a recipe for certain disaster.

I’m not sure specifically what paths you are looking at that are not compliant. This is a server that has been running great for a long time…maybe 2 years or so. This problem is only recent. I have multiple folders in my libraries, but they are dedicated media folders that in the case of the movie library looks like this:

H:\Media\Movies\Sub-type\Movie-Title

I do not have a downloads location in my library.

If any of these problem items are TV Shows you’re going to have to give up the names of them, so I can find them in your scanner logs. You’ll also need to cough up the names of the movies you’re having issues with.

No TV Shows that I’m having issues with that I have noticed. So far just movies. An example of one that didn’t load properly is “Keep Watching”. However, when you mentioned the mp4 format it made me wonder if repackaging it in Handbrake would make it work. Within 10 seconds of the MKV file hitting the directory it found it and loaded the metadata as expected. Oddly, then it had TWO titles combined as it then magically recognized the mp4 file that was already in there.

Something else weird. A couple of the titles that didn’t match, I just went into the detail page and tried to “fix match”. When I did it with default settings it found the right movie but wouldn’t load metadata. However, when I did the same thing but entered the movie year manually (because it didn’t appear) then clicked search, what seemed like the same result came um, except when I selected it this time, it magically loaded the metadata.

SMH…

You’ve got quite the mess and if it were me I’d start over with compliant names - put files in one library to start and if you need alternate ‘Versions’ for remote access (for instance), move those in later after you get what you got working.

I don’t understand this at all. Perhaps once you tell me what is non-compliant I’ll understand, but like I said, I have media folders set up like the documentation as far as I can tell. For example in my “Movies” library I have two folders that look like this:

F:\Movies\Movies
&
H:\Media\Movies\Subtype

I have multiple folders in some libraries, but I don’t know what is not compliant…at least not from the standpoint of agents recognizing my media. It has worked great for a couple years, including mp4/m4v files that I make in Handbrake regularly. No issues… Yesterday it stopped recognizing new movies I added. Nothing else changed on my side that was active on my part. I just added new titles as I always do.

Something else I noticed: as I reported this morning 1/5 titles had metadata populate overnight with no further action on my part. I added a new movie today (Spawn (1997)) and it immediately populated on its own within 20 seconds. It is an MP4 file.

Another one I added yesterday that didn’t populate before, magically showed up this afternoon: “Save The Tiger”. That’s also an MP4.

I have no idea…

Have you moved Local Media Assets to the bottom of ALL your Agent lists - under every tab - in Shows and Movies? If you don’t - you’ll NEVER be able to use an MP4/M4V file with any reliability. While you’re doing that make sure for ‘Movies’, Plex Movie is at the top of it’s listing - and The Movie Database is at the top of it’s listing - with LMA demoted to the bottom - everywhere. Do NOT disable LMA - simply drag it down the lists to the bottom of the active agents.

Yes, as a I said in a prior comment. I went into every agent and moved LMA to the bottom. In a couple cases it did not stick there though when I would leave that tab and go back. It is still currently not at the top of any agent list and it IS at the bottom of every agent list EXCEPT for Plex Movie. I can’t even enable any other agent than Plex Movie under that tab. If I do they all get cleared when I leave the tab and go back.

LMA, when moved, should stay at the bottom of the “active” agents. It shouldn’t magically move itself back to the top, but it may fall in line under the lowest agent…and that’s fine.

Movies are forgiving of wild ass folder structures.

If Plex Dancing doesn’t slap some sense back into an item you need more advanced help than I can offer.

People often say it takes all day to get a match. At my house if it doesn’t happen in 30 seconds it’s not gonna happen.

All of my material is compliant and gets matched instantly. I also have smaller libraries and more of them. I guess if you have one giant library with non compliant stuff in it more time is needed trying to renegotiate poorly named items before new items are dealt with. A theory at least. Maybe not a sound one. I just don’t know.

@JuiceWSA said:
LMA, when moved, should stay at the bottom of the “active” agents. It shouldn’t magically move itself back to the top, but it may fall in line under the lowest agent…and that’s fine.

Movies are forgiving of wild ass folder structures.

If Plex Dancing doesn’t slap some sense back into an item you need more advanced help than I can offer.

People often say it takes all day to get a match. At my house if it doesn’t happen in 30 seconds it’s not gonna happen.

All of my material is compliant and gets matched instantly. I also have smaller libraries and more of them. I guess if you have one giant library with non compliant stuff in it more time is needed trying to renegotiate poorly named items before new items are dealt with. A theory at least. Maybe not a sound one. I just don’t know.

This forum is as advanced as it gets…:wink:

I wish I actually understood it. I have “improved” my library structure over time. I started with WinMCE and MyMovies. The stuff I have added since Plex has been Plex compliant, but from the minute I hooked up my existing folders it just worked. Why this started all of a sudden I have no idea…

Thanks for the help!

Well, the thing about non compliance in general is that it may work, may work for a while and then stop working.

My libraries were a mess in the begining and stuff generally worked, then started misbehaving. I had a HDD meltdown about that time, requiring a complete rebuild of the Plexiverse and decided to go full compliant mode. Filebot changed my life, man.

Since then everything works as expected, instantly, without a moment’s problem. I’m definitely a believer in full compliance.

What’s Filebot?

A pair of links are in my signature, but simply put:

Filebot is ‘The Easy Button’ for Plex Compliant Naming and Structuring and that’s the reason many people consider it the #1 Plex Companion Tool - above all others…

I certainly do.
I fixed my entire Plexiverse in one afternoon - and still had time to mow the lawn.

Nothing sees my libraries before it first sees FileBot.

BTW:
I just noticed this:


and can’t help thinking they’re somehow related.

Maybe not, but I’m the guy with zero errors in my log files - and perhaps coincidentally - am 100% compliant in my media preparation.

@JuiceWSA said:
A pair of links are in my signature, but simply put:

Filebot is ‘The Easy Button’ for Plex Compliant Naming and Structuring and that’s the reason many people consider it the #1 Plex Companion Tool - above all others…

I certainly do.
I fixed my entire Plexiverse in one afternoon - and still had time to mow the lawn.

Nothing sees my libraries before it first sees FileBot.

Looks cool! I will check it out! Do you somehow automate it?

When you say you fixed it one afternoon, do you mean it fixed it for you?

BTW:
I just noticed this:
https://forums.plex.tv/discussion/301783/server-keeps-crashing
and can’t help thinking they’re somehow related.

Maybe not, but I’m the guy with zero errors in my log files - and perhaps coincidentally - am 100% compliant in my media preparation.

Anything is possible. I don’t think my library is non-compliant or terribly non-compliant and like I said it worked for a couple years without real issue that I recall. The December issues I had occurred right after a massive folder change when I added new drives so I wouldn’t be surprised if it choked. They appear to have fixed whatever issue was happening. Could something about my library have contributed? Sure.

My concern about making wholesale changes to my folder structure to make it 110% compliant is that if it did miss something and I moved 500 titles at once for example, how would I even know?

@KaraokeAmerica said:
When you say you fixed it one afternoon, do you mean it fixed it for you?

FileBot can rename tens of thousands of files in a few seconds given the right conditions
On a hypothetical note, you have a series that had thousands of episodes per season. FileBot would be able to process and rename that in no time.

Filebot has an ‘undo’ protocol, in case it messed up.

Yea, Filebot can become ‘confused’ - depending on how badly the files are named currently.
If they’re close - that’s usually good enough for Filebot to extrapolate a correct conclusion, but if there’s a chance it’s gonna miss, it usually gives you a few options/alternates to narrow it down.

Entire TV Shows are dealt with in seconds including all seasons packed within.
Large blocks of Movies can be done at once, but you might have to make those aforementioned choices if Filebot gets confused. Still quicker than doing it by hand - no matter what happens.

If you’re going to set off on this adventure, I’d start from scratch with a brand new Movie Library - Maybe a couple - Maybe more than a couple. You know, break 'em down a little. Then do them in manageable blocks that won’t take weeks to be rediscovered and indexed.

The beauty of Filebot is it will go to the required database, get the name they use, and name your stuff what they named it - taking all the guesswork out of the process. When you drop it in a library - it’s been ‘pre-matched’, so what happens next happens quickly - the first time - no muss… no fuss.

If you’re starting over (highly recommended at this point) you want to remove your current Library - empty trash and clean bundles - so you’re starting with a fresh slate. That’s what I’d do anyway. In for a penny - in for a pound. Go big or stay home…

B)

This is my house - and might be considered ‘Extreme’, but one thing is certain… when I drop a new file in and refresh that (smaller) library it happens at light speed - 'cause it’s not dealing with 40 thousand titles - it’s only dealing with, at most, a few hundred.