Files Will not show in PLEX

[AlienProber]

I’ve been updating my movie library and some movies just will not add back. I moved all the movies to the desktop that weren’t being picked up by PLEX, then I emptied the trash on the movie library, the server itself and cleared bundles. I then attempted to add those files back one by one with some working and others not being picked up at all even after a library scan. The mounts for the various media are :

/mnt/Movie Series/
/mnt/Movies/
/mnt/Music/
/mnt/Music Videos/
/mnt/Television/

Now the TV series did perfectly except for one series I had to force to use the correct name and having to manually add about 20% of the posters. Under my previous install I had no issues with these files at all. I would rather not use personal media if possible cause I get no information on the movie that way.

Plex Media Server 1.19.5.3112

[ChuckPa]

DEBUG log file ZIP please ?

It will show that PMS was trying to do.

In most cases like this, the problem is permissions. Linux is very strict. Just because you can see & play them doesn’t mean user plex can see them.

[AlienProber]

Here You go

Plex Media Server Logs_2020-08-08_16-40-58.zip (5.8 MB)

[ChuckPa]

I looked through your logs and can’t see where PMS was trying to add them.

That said, I’m going to ask the basics and then ask you to repeat the “Plex Dance” for one of them so we can see what’s happening then capture (download) the logs again.

1. You have directory permissions as 755
2. File permissions as 644
3. Not automounted in /media anywhere.

If all the above is YES.

1. Please move one title out
2. Scan Files
3. Empty Trash
4. Clean Bundles
5. Optimize the database
6. Move the movie back
7. Scan file again if it doesn’t autodetect it after about 1 minute.
8. When it’s completely idle, Download the log zip one more time.
9. Attach the zip.

Please share the filename and structure, exactly as you have it, so I know what to look for in the logs.

[AlienProber]

I use Ownership To Active User under The Root Actions menu in Dolphin. as to 3 as stated /mnt/drve-partition name.

EDIT:

Auto-detect didn’t work. Manually scanned and it’s back and matched.

/mnt/Movies/5th Passenger (2018).avi

Plex Media Server Logs_2020-08-08_18-10-14.zip (5.7 MB)

[ChuckPa]

Point of order:

1. AVI files are always problematic as heck. Too much embedded , and often wrong, metadata

2. You might have the year incorrect: Search Results: 5th Passenger (2017) - IMDb

There is an error. IMDB reports 2017 and TMDB reports 2018. I will invesitigate further. The naming 5th Passenger (2017).mkv did work instantly.

[AlienProber]

OMFG are you for real? Having it auto-picked up or having to manually scan to get it seen isn’t the issue that we are trying to correct. The issue was and is that certain files no matter what is done are not picked up by PLEX. As for the year for “5th Passenger” if I have 2018 it was 2018. Here is a list of movies that do not want to show up in PLEX. EVERY lat one of these added just fine in my previous Manjaro install.

‘Airplane vs Volcano (2014).mp4’
‘Cube 2 Hypercube (2002).mkv’
‘End of the World - Nothing Can Stop It (2013).avi’
‘Hybrid (2007).avi’
‘Magic (1978).avi’
‘Oceans Rising (2017).mp4’
‘Perfect (2019).mp4’
‘Prank (2013).avi’
‘Sweat (2002).avi’
‘Terminal (2018).avi’
‘The Blue Lagoon (1980).mp4’
‘The Dark (2018).avi’
‘The Dark Tower (2017).mp4’
‘The Gracefield Incident (2017).mp4’
‘The Happening (2008).avi’
‘The Margin (1976).avi’
‘The Ward (2010).avi’
‘The Woman in Black (2012).mp4’

[JuiceWSA]

There is no IMDB Agent. What IMDB lists means exactly squat - when TMDB is where Plex goes to look for the file.

If the (YEAR) fields match TMDB - it’s embedded metadata in MP4 files throwing off a match and in that case the LMA Hack is required:

Video File Naming

With LMA in priority, Embedded Titles within MP4/M4V files are preferred - even over a perfect file name. Local Media Assets should - AT ALL TIMES - remain enabled (unless specifically instructed to turn it off). Local Media Assets should be ‘Demoted’, to the bottom of the stack of active agents under ALL tabs in Shows and Movies, but should NOT be disabled. Local Media Assets is needed for many things - it doesn’t need to be given Tip-Top-Priority (as Plex has so hatefully placed it as it’s …

Followed closely by a Plex Dance if necessary:

The Plex Dance ™

The purpose of this is to remove all cached metadata and xml data for an item that Plex usually keeps. This helps when you want to “start from scratch” for particular item move all files for the media item out of the directory your Library is looking at, so Plex will not “see” it anymore scan the library library (to detect changes) empty trash clean bundles (in menu next to server name, when accessed under ‘More’) double check naming schema and move files back scan the library Support articl…

ALL STEPS - IN ORDER - or it won’t work.

Not sure about Chuck, but yes - I’m for real…lol

[AlienProber]

Can you assume that one means TMDB and misposted please. On a side note as far as I’m concerned PLEX should ONLY be looking at the file name NOT the metadata, cause the metadata for SOOOOOOO many files are messed up and to be honest when I do a search I don’t enter metadata to find what I want. I honestly didn’t mean to be short with Chuck but the fact that 5th Passenger added back without any issue when I did the manual scan isn’t the issue, nor surprising since it was already one PLEX didn’t have a problem with. The issue is why the particular movies will not even show up in PLEX at all. right now I just went back through both PLEX and my movies folder and they mach, except for the handful of movies I put in a separate folder so I could compare PLEX and my movies folder together. As for the naming of 5th Passenger I have 2018 on it not 2017, and it’s not just TMDB that reports it as 2018. If it helps any this hiccup happened right after the server came backup, before that it was fixing the mismatched just fine. Right now I’m going to try adding each one back one by one to see if I can get them to show and match properly. I finally got Becoming 2020 and A.I. Rising 2018 to actually populate and properly match in PLEX. I’ll report back what my results are. Thanks for the input and suggestions.

[JuiceWSA]

@AlienProber

On a side note as far as I’m concerned PLEX should ONLY be looking at the file name NOT the metadata

You and 1.9 million Plex Users - unfortunately… better do the LMA Hack. After that Plex will do what Users find a sane approach to bogus embedded metadata in MP4/M4V files. <—not preferring it over a file name <— a good file name, we hope.

I suggest you Plex Dance all files that are misbehaving - after the LMA Hack - and after you check TMDB to see if you have the names right.

If every AVI file on planet earth exploded - it would be hilarious and not effect me in the slightest. I also won’t feel bad if one never plays or behaves for you, but I am under the impression the ONLY files Plex can read metadata in is an MP4/M4V.

More investigation is warranted, but really I don’t care either way. I did the LMA Hack and removed all the metadata and have nothing, but MKV files for the last few years, so I’m not worried. We have anti-metadata security many layers deep and between FileBot and myself - we’re so close to 100% accuracy Bill Shatner called me to do a segment on “The UnXPlained” …lol

FileBot