Server Version#:FreeNAS-11.3-U3.2
Player Version#:Version: 1.19.4.2935
HI,
Hope someone can help.
I have set up plex within Freenas and have got it working fine and sharing movies. I am able to browse to the share and add without issue when creating a library within plex. Plex is then scanning these from FreeNAS and they are fully playable.
The issue I have however is that Plex will not do the same for TV shows. I have set up the SMB share exactly the same with the same permissions, I am able to create a library within plex and browse to the share and add it. Thats as far as plex will go however, It tells me there is no media within the share and there is. As the media within the share are TV shows and each show has multiple series associated I have used a simple folder structure to organise…
TV SHOW
Season Folder
Numbered episodes.
This is the same structure for all files within the folder. This file structure worked previously when running plex as an application within windows 10 however as I am migrating to a dedicated FreeNAS server now I wanted this to work directly as a service from the server itself.
As I say this is working perfectly with movies, the only difference I can see between the two shares on the server is that my movies share has all the files stored within at the root of the share itself and not in sub folders.
I cannot do this however with TV shows as there are in some instances ten seasons per show and ten episodes per season. I have to use a folder structure to manage and maintain the library as I update it.
Could this be the reason though as to why plex wont see the TV shows, because they are using a folder structure and not all just in the root of the share itself?
Here is a screenshot of the create/add Library views, movies area sorted by year and stored in the root of the share. As I mention above, TV shows are stored in a folder system which comprises of TV SHOW then a subfolder for SEASON then within each season folder are the media files.
** This format worked flawlessly using Plex from windows10 and would like to work using Plex service from a jail within FreeNAS.
and lastly here is the message I get when attempting to browse either Kids TV shows or TV shows.
*Both operate from a separate SMB share and mountpoint
Im not sure why the actual file names would have any impact, Can you explain what it is your hoping to see?
As I mention they all show fine using plex as an application under windows ten and I am in the process of moving everything to a Freenas server and setting up plex as a service that runs directly from the NAS.
all the files are .mp4 or .mov format and are named without any strange characters, for example episode1.mp4
the formatting you refer to in the link is not practical for the tv shows with several years worth of seasons and wouldn’t work for me…
/TV Shows
television content
I have them named in the following format ( Which works perfectly fine outside of this particular instance of Plex )
/SHARE
/TV SHOW NAME
/SEASON
/Episode.mp4
The actual filenames will have an enormous impact.
If your file names don’t follow the naming structure shown in my first link above, your chances of getting a successful recognition are patchy at best.
Seeing the actual file names would confirm or deny my suspicion in an instant.
Fair enough, not sure how the file name would cause it to work on one instance from windows 10 and not another though as a service on the NAS?
Here is an example of how TV media is stored, see the highlighted file structure and also see the folder listing of the file names. They are all .MP4 …
I wonder what the episodes from season 2 do in the folder of season 1?
Noted, and I actually corrected it for these specific files after posting this picture as they are duplicates from another folder titled Season 2.
Its interesting you mention about local media assets, I just checked and although it was “ticked” when you select the other sub boxes for IMDB etc as you state above, not all boxes were ticked. This was the same for all of the libraries I have set up on Plex. I ticked everything. saved and prompted plex to scan all directories for updates and low and behold that got it populating the TV sections and updating. Tested and can play both locally and externally now.
I have been trying to sort this for 2 days, so thankyou very much for the suggestion I wouldnt have expanded the local media assets section to check it all had a tick in every box if you had not mentioned.
Its strange why they were not all selected by default when I ticked the box though, but im not to bothered at this point, im just glad its working!
Screenshot below for where to go in case anyone else has this issue with PLEX running a from FreeNAS instance.
