How to correct Master List, TV Episode name

[BrianKitt]

If this has been asked, I apologize. I found a very similar solution (included at the bottom), but it has no solution.

I know Plex pulls Meta data (episode names) from TheTVDB.com
At least 2 series that I have, had episode names wrong on TVDB. So I logged on there, and corrected the information with the accurate names.

It’s been more than a month now, and Plex still shows the incorrect names. I’ve done numerous refreshes, hoping to clear this up, and it has not corrected it.

This implies to me, that Plex must have some kind of an interim buffer/cache area where it keeps this Meta data. How do I reset that? A month would seem more than long enough for Plex to sync back up to The TVDB.

The link below was similar to this, but posted no solution. In this one, it stated that ‘after some time’ it corrected itself.

How do I fix the matching of tv episodes with tvdb

I have Bakersfield, P.D. on Plex. It's able to get the titles, pictures, summaries of season 1, episodes 1 through 10. However, for episodes 11 through 17 it's not able to match up the information with tvdb.   The shows are named consistently. I even tried modifying the name of episode 11 slightly to see if it could figure it out but it didn't help: Bakersfield PD - S1E01 - The Pilot.mkv                    Bakersfield PD - S1E02 - The Imposter.mkv                 Bakersfield PD - S1E03 - Un…

[NewPlaza]

@BrianKitt

I’ve done numerous refreshes

How many episodes are we talking about? A few? I would take them out and do The Plex Dance.

[OttoKerner]

Cache clearing:
https://support.plex.tv/articles/202967376-clearing-plugin-channel-agent-http-caches/

[BrianKitt]

I have 2 seasons with incorrect names. I pulled them both out, did a ‘scan library files’, followed by an ‘empty trash’.
I then put them back, and left it sit overnight so it could go through the nightly processing. They are still incorrect.

Trying the cache clear now.

[BrianKitt]

I stopped plex

I deleted everything in the cache

I moved the seasons out of plex monitored folders

I started plex
I started a media scan on TV

I emptied trash
I then verified that the files were no longer in the database by querying ‘media_parts’.

I moved the seasons back in
I started a media scan on TV

Once again, the episode names are the old ones from BEFORE I made the change a month ago.

I realize it’s easy enough to fix the episode names in Plex, but to me, this is starting to look like some kind of a sync issue in Plex. I would like to see this issue corrected, so that my episode names reflect updates made to TheTVDB

If you want to look at the episodes:
TV show Ridiculousness (2011) (It’s an MTV clip show)
The episode names we are getting were the ones in there in 2018 and early 2019. I changed them in early February of 2019.
Someone had duplicate names in S11 which I cleaned up. In addition, one person accidentally put an S11 episode in the middle of S12 (making a duplicate episode). So I removed that duplicate episode, which is why it looks like everything shifted one episode after S12E20

‘S11E39 - Chanel and Sterling LXVII.m4v’ was incorrectly listed as ‘S11E39 - Chanel and Sterling LXXI.m4v’

‘S11E40 - Chanel and Sterling LXXI.m4v’ was incorrectly listed as ‘S11E40 - Chanel and Sterling LXXII.m4v’

‘S11E41 - Chanel and Sterling LXXII.m4v’ was incorrectly listed as ‘S11E41 - 2018-10-12.m4v’

‘S12E20 - Amanda Cerny.m4v’ was incorrectly listed as ‘S12E20 - Chanel and Sterling LXVII.m4v’

‘S12E21 - Shiggy.m4v’ was incorrectly listed as ‘S12E21 - Amanda Cerny.m4v’

‘S12E22 - Chanel and Sterling LXIV.m4v’ was incorrectly listed as ‘S12E22 - Shiggy.m4v’

‘S12E23 - Trevor Jackson.m4v’ was incorrectly listed as ‘S12E23 - Chanel and Sterling LXXIV.m4v’

‘S12E24 - Jimmy O Yang.m4v’ was incorrectly listed as ‘S12E24 - Trevor Jackson.m4v’

‘S12E25 - Chanel and Sterling LXXXII.m4v’ was incorrectly listed as ‘S12E25 - Jimmy O. Yang.m4v’

‘S12E26 - Victor Cruz.m4v’ was incorrectly listed as ‘S12E26 - Chanel and Sterling LXXXII.m4v’

‘S12E27 - Becky Lynch.m4v’ was incorrectly listed as ‘S12E27 - Victor Cruz.m4v’

‘S12E28 - Chanel and Sterling LXXXI.m4v’ was incorrectly listed as ‘S12E28 - Becky Lynch.m4v’

‘S12E29 - Florida Georgia Line.m4v’ was incorrectly listed as ‘S12E29 - Chanel and Sterling LXXXI.m4v’

‘S12E30 - Chanel and Sterling LXXXVII.m4v’ was incorrectly listed as ‘S12E30 - Florida Georgia Line.m4v’

‘S12E31 - Jay Rock.m4v’ was incorrectly listed as ‘S12E31 - Chanel and Sterling LXXXVII.m4v’

‘S12E32 - Chanel and Sterling XCII.m4v’ was incorrectly listed as ‘S12E32 - Jay Rock.m4v’

‘S12E33 - Chanel and Sterling LXXXVI.m4v’ was incorrectly listed as ‘S12E33 - Chanel and Sterling XCII.m4v’

‘S12E34 - Daniel Cormier.m4v’ was incorrectly listed as ‘S12E34 - Chanel and Sterling LXXXVI.m4v’

‘S12E35 - Chanel and Sterling LXXXIII.m4v’ was incorrectly listed as ‘S12E35 - Daniel Cormier.m4v’

‘S12E36 - Chanel and Sterling LXXXIV.m4v’ was incorrectly listed as ‘S12E36 - Chanel and Sterling LXXXIII.m4v’

‘S12E37 - Rich the Kid.m4v’ was incorrectly listed as ‘S12E37 - Chanel and Sterling LXXXIV.m4v’

‘S12E38 - Chanel and Sterling LXXXVIII.m4v’ was incorrectly listed as ‘S12E38 - Rich the Kid.m4v’

‘S12E39 - Chanel and Sterling LXXXIX.m4v’ was incorrectly listed as ‘S12E39 - Chanel and Sterling LXXXVIII.m4v’

‘S12E40 - Chanel and Sterling XC.m4v’ was incorrectly listed as ‘S12E40 - Chanel and Sterling LXXXIX.m4v’

‘S12E41 - Chanel and Sterling XCI.m4v’ was incorrectly listed as ‘S12E41 - Chanel and Sterling XC.m4v’

‘S12E42 - Chanel and Sterling LXXXV.m4v’ was incorrectly listed as ‘S12E42 - Chanel and Sterling XCI.m4v’

[BrianKitt]

One other ‘for example’.
Hogan’s Heroes, in TVDB, they are right (they were before I ever loaded the series). I’ve had it loaded for more than a year.
TVDB has ‘S01E01 - The Informer.m4v’, but Plex shows ‘S01E01 - HH Disk 1.m4v’

TVDB has ‘S01E02 - Hold That Tiger.m4v’, but Plex shows ‘S01E02 - HH Disk 1.m4v’

TVDB has ‘S01E03 - Kommandant of the Year.m4v’, but Plex shows ‘S01E03 - HH Disk 1.m4v’

TVDB has ‘S01E04 - The Late Inspector General.m4v’, but Plex shows ‘S01E04 - HH Disk 1.m4v’

TVDB has ‘S01E05 - The Flight of the Valkyrie.m4v’, but Plex shows ‘S01E05 - HH Disk 1.m4v’

TVDB has ‘S01E06 - The Prisoner’s Prisoner.m4v’, but Plex shows ‘S01E06 - HH Disk 1.m4v’

[OttoKerner]

The incorrect episode titles are stored in your files.
Your first example used MKV, so I didn’t mention the possibility of ‘embedded metadata’.
But Plex can read embedded meta tags from m4v and mp4 files and will even use those preferably over data from the online sources.

Do this:
Go to

• Settings - Server - Agents - Shows - TheTVDB

In there, grab the line ‘Local Media Assets’ with your mouse and drag it downwards, so it ends up being at the bottom of the stack of active agents.
Repeat the same under

• Settings - Server - Agents - Shows - TheMovieDatabase
• Settings - Server - Agents - Movies - Plex Movie
• Settings - Server - Agents - Movies - TheMovieDatabase

Afterwards, ‘Refresh Matadata’ of the affected series.

[BrianKitt]

Maybe I misunderstood, but I use the subtitle plugin, so that I can optionally turn on subtitles. Doesn’t ‘local media assets’ have to be first in order for that to work? I was sure that’s what the instructions said.

At any rate. I know exactly what you are talking about with the meta data on video files, but I have a tool that lets me edit the meta data, so that I can delete it when that happens. I’ve checked 4 or 5 of these, none of them have a single line of meta data in them that I am able to see with this tool, and it shows at least a couple of dozen points of meta data. is there a specific item of meta data that this is stored in?

[OttoKerner]

@BrianKitt

I use the subtitle plugin, so that I can optionally turn on subtitles. Doesn’t ‘local media assets’ have to be first in order for that to work?

No. That’s not true. Since none of the other agents in that list is going to deliver a subtitle, the LMA agent will do it, no matter at which position it is sitting.

The title is stored in the ‘Title’ meta tag. Nothing special.

[NewPlaza]

Please double check those files.
Take a look here

Overwrite Correct TV Episode Names?

You can not “overwrite” the title using the filename. You can however use embedded metadata to overwrite the title. On Windows, you can right-click the file, select properties, goto details tab, then type in what you want for the title field. [metadata] It will only work with MP4/M4V files and you have to have LMA enabled. You will have to refresh metadata after you add the MP4 title information.

Look to see if any garbage metadata exists.

[BrianKitt]

Yea, I’m 100% sure, everyone of those fields is blank.

[NewPlaza]

Okay. Now try to refresh the series.
https://support.plex.tv/articles/200289306-scanning-vs-refreshing-a-library/

[BrianKitt]

Still no luck, and I did a full meta refresh, and no updates.

[NewPlaza]

Can you post the XML of an episode.
https://support.plex.tv/articles/201998867-investigate-media-information-and-formats/

[BrianKitt]

<Video ratingKey=“84438” key="/library/metadata/84438" parentRatingKey=“84416” grandparentRatingKey=“59864” guid=“com.plexapp.agents.thetvdb://250793/12/22?lang=en” librarySectionTitle=“TV Series” librarySectionID=“3” librarySectionKey="/library/sections/3"type=“episode” title=“Shiggy” grandparentKey="/library/metadata/59864" parentKey="/library/metadata/84416" grandparentTitle=“Ridiculousness” parentTitle=“Season 12” contentRating=“TV-14” summary=“Rob, Chanel and Steelo welcome comedian Shiggy to bust some dangerous dance moves in “Getting Shiggy With It,” get way too “Deep in Their Feelings” and prove the key to confidence.” index=“22” parentIndex=“12” viewCount=“2” lastViewedAt=“1548562042” year=“2018” thumb="/library/metadata/84438/thumb/1551888116"art="/library/metadata/59864/art/1551888119" grandparentThumb="/library/metadata/59864/thumb/1551888119" grandparentArt="/library/metadata/59864/art/1551888119" grandparentTheme="/library/metadata/59864/theme/1551888119" duration="1230000"originallyAvailableAt=“2018-12-21” addedAt=“1551887402” updatedAt=“1551888116”>

<Media videoResolution=“720” id=“132948” duration=“1230000” bitrate=“1385” width=“1264” height=“720” aspectRatio=“1.78” audioChannels=“2” audioCodec=“aac” videoCodec=“h264” container=“mp4” videoFrameRate=“NTSC” optimizedForStreaming=“1” audioProfile="lc"has64bitOffsets=“0” videoProfile=“main”>

<Part accessible=“1” exists=“1” id=“183445” key="/library/parts/183445/1545015336/file.m4v" duration=“1230000” file=“D:\TV Series Standard Active 1\Ridiculousness (2011)\Season 12\S12E22 - Chanel and Sterling LXIV.m4v” size=“212883715” audioProfile="lc"container=“mp4” has64bitOffsets=“0” indexes=“sd” optimizedForStreaming=“1” videoProfile=“main”>

<Stream id=“373760” streamType=“1” default=“1” codec=“h264” index=“0” bitrate=“1217” bitDepth=“8” chromaLocation=“left” chromaSubsampling=“4:2:0” colorPrimaries=“bt709” colorRange=“tv” colorSpace=“bt709” colorTrc=“bt709” frameRate="30.000"hasScalingMatrix=“0” height=“720” level=“31” profile=“main” refFrames=“4” streamIdentifier=“1” width=“1264” displayTitle=“720p (H.264)”/>

[NewPlaza]

@BrianKitt

S12E22 - Chanel and Sterling LXIV.m4v”

The filename title would suggest that episode is s11e37.
https://www.thetvdb.com/series/ridiculousness/episodes/6856151
Plex ignores the title of the filename and only looks at sXXeXX.

So, with that said, your file S12E22 would be Shiggy.
More evidence of this is plex has title=“Shiggy”
https://www.thetvdb.com/series/ridiculousness/episodes/6939565

Again, plex completely ignores the title of the filename. You cannot use the title to try and make a match. It must be from the sXXeXX number nomenclature.

[NewPlaza]

That does suck. If you are convinced the episode order is correct and have reliable sources(a MUST) then ask the MODs on thetvdb to LOCK the series.

[OttoKerner]

Make sure that your order is the one which got used when the series was aired for the first time on TV.
This is the policy they have on TheTVDB.
Even if this first airing was using the wrong order (see ‘Firefly’).

[BrianKitt]

This show is produced by MTV, so I consider them the ‘authority’ on episode naming.

In January of 2019, as of S12E20, I noticed that Plex named all episodes S12E20 and later, with the wrong name. I did the research, found out how they were named wrong, and why.

The person who originally put in the episodes on TVDB, put S11E39 in both S11 and S12E20. They did this, because Amazon put this particular episode in BOTH S22 and S23 (Yea, somehow Amazon shows 23 seasons, when MTV only had 12 at the time, and yet, people think Amazon is the authority for episode numbering??). So it was the exact same episode in 2 seasons, they even used the same screen capture for both!! All you have to do is go to Amazon, MTV and compare to TVDB, and look at S11E39 and S12E20. You can see I am correct.

In February, I PM’d the guy that made the mistake, I explained how he got mixed up, and then I fixed it. I then also put a post on the public forum as to ‘why’.

Sadly, on 2/22/19, someone named them back to the wrong names. When I noticed that my names were still wrong on Plex, I apologize, but I just never though to check if someone undid all of my work. So now this becomes a battle between me and the other guys that don’t seem to think MTV is the authority for episode names.

[OttoKerner]

You don’t need to argue with me. I cannot do anything about it, nor anyone else at Plex.
Open a forum thread over at TheTVDB forums and present your case there.