Failed matching for TV programs have multiple seasons

Plex Media Server
1

Server Version#: 1.32.3.7192
Player Version#: 4.108.0

Filename: Black.Mirror.S06E01.2023.Netflix.WEB-DL.1080p.x264.DDP.mkv

Expected behaviours: Plex Media Server should recognise this file as Episode 01 of Season 06 of Black Mirror.
Actual behaviours: The Plex Media Server cannot recognise this item. When I perform manual matching, it returns irrelative results when searching “Black Mirror” with the published year of season 6 “2023”. But, it can return the correct result by searching “Black Mirror” with the publishing year of the first season “2021”.

2

Do you have other episodes of Black Mirror? And in the expected structure?

TV/
  Black Mirror (2011)/
    Season 06/
      Black.Mirror.S06E01.2023.Netflix.WEB-DL.1080p.x264.DDP.mkv

In the context of TV shows, the year almost exclusively refer to the year the show started, not the year of the season, which is probably part of the problem. That will be compounded if the episode’s top-level folder also doesn’t have the year of the show.

3

Thanks for your response.

The folder structure is described below:

TV/
    Black.Mirror.S06.2023.Netflix.WEB-DL.1080p.x264.DDP/
        Black.Mirror.S06E01.2023.Netflix.WEB-DL.1080p.x264.DDP-HDCTV.mkv
        Black.Mirror.S06E02.2023.Netflix.WEB-DL.1080p.x264.DDP-HDCTV.mkv
        Black.Mirror.S06E03.2023.Netflix.WEB-DL.1080p.x264.DDP-HDCTV.mkv
        ...

In my private tracker, all torrents of TV programs are using the exact publishing year of that season in filenames, not the first season of the IP. I would prefer this to be a design issue of Plex Agent.

4

You might have better luck if you move the season folder into a top-level show folder, as that would bring it closer to the expected structure. Plex’s stance has always been, “if you don’t follow our guidelines we might do the right thing, but there are no guarantees.” Since your convention doesn’t follow what Plex expects, it’s unlikely that they’ll adjust the scanner/agent to properly detect the organization you’re using.

2 Likes
5

You need to follow the naming guide, as @DTR said

Ref: https://support.plex.tv/articles/naming-and-organizing-your-tv-show-files/

So in your case:

  • TV
    • Black Mirror (2011) {tmdb-42009}
      • Season 06
        • Black.Mirror.S06E01.2023.Netflix.WEB-DL.1080p.x264.DDP-HDCTV.mkv
1 Like
6

If you can’t change how those files come named, consider a renaming program

archive.tinymediamanager.org/v3.1.17/

TV show format

Show Name: ${showTitle} (${showYear}) {tvdb-${showTvdb}}
Season: Season ${seasonNr2}
Episode Name: ${showTitle} (${showYear}) s${seasonNr2}e${episodeNr2} ${episode.title}

That format will name the show folder with the date
Create a season folder
And put all the renamed episodes in the season folder in one click

1 Like
7

Thanks for your kind assistance! @JaysPlex @DTR @dane22

1 Like
8

Just to clarify here, Plex would expect a year value in a TV episode filename to be the year of the show itself, not the season or the episode.

This is why you had matching issues as it wouldn’t be able to find this show for the year given.

As the solution mentions, just follow our guidelines for naming TV shows and you won’t have problems.

2 Likes
9

Thanks for your clarification!

10

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