How to get The Flash into TV Library

General Discussions
1

Before any one answers that I need to name the files and folders “The Flash (2014),” I am talking about the Flash series from 1990.

As seen many times, people have had problems with the new series matching to the old because they did not use the title EXACTLY as listed at the TVDB. So logically and naturally, an episode named “The Flash - S01E01.mp4” matched to the old series, and if you really meant the new series, you re-named to “The Flash (2014) - S01E01.mp4”.

Following that logic, to get the series from 1990 into your library, and name them EXACTLY as the TVDB has them listed, one would think that “The Flash - S01E01.mp4” matches with the 1990 series. Maybe true before, but not any more. I tried for three weeks, thinking the TVDB had glitched, but each and every time, the older series was matched with the new series, creating duplicate versions throughout Season 1 of the 2014 series.

The final solution was to add the year “1990” to the folder and episode names. And that goes against everything that has been posted here before. Literally, everything.

I don’t think it’s a TVDB glitch. I think Plex has changed the way they gather the metadata. I asked about that here:


but didn’t get any bites from a Ninja or Plex employee.

So maybe someone will answer here - “How Come? What’s Changed? Plex bug or TVDB glitch?”

2

Adding the year has always been the solution. Look for the green-highlighted tip on this Help page.

3

@beckfield - thanks for the reply…

I think the key-word in that tip is “remake”

Tip!: For identically-named remakes, include the year series folder name, e.g. "Battlestar Galactica (2003)" or "Dr. Who (2005)".

And if you look at virtually any thread regarding Battlestar Galatica, Dr Who, or the Flash, the advice has been to add the year into the file name when you are dealing with the new version, exclude it when dealing with the older version. In other words, name it exactly as it is listed at the TVDB. That’s why so many people have mis-matches to the original version - they didn’t include the year in the new version or re-make.

The general consensus has usually been do NOT include year if the original, include year of it is the re-make, and above all, follow the naming at the TVDB. Nowhere do I recall advice to include the year in both versions, but that may be true. It just seems kinda suspicious that I couldn’t get “The Flash” to match the correct way, when others had the remake match the wrong way by not including the year.

4

@leelynds said:
@beckfield - thanks for the reply…

I think the key-word in that tip is “remake”

@beckfield hasn’t been following along apparently.

As you are no doubt already aware of @leelynds , no matter what you do (The Flash or The Flash (2014) ) will result in a match with The Flash (2014). I have, yet again just proven this by adding:

A TV Show Library/
…The Flash/
…Season 01/
…The Flash - S01E01.xxx

to the library and it instantly matched to The Flash (2014)… as you know. Now you know it some more. :slight_smile: This condition that in the past could have been cured by simply using the name exactly as it’s presented at TVDB now fails more and more and more - as you are also aware - so for complete redundancy of your awareness’s I’ll add the ONLY way to fix this currently is through a Fix Incorrect Match and time will only tell how long that’s going to work.

Maybe it’s time to call in @ChuckPa because it’s fairly apparent no one over there at P-HQ is paying attention.

5

Tip: The Flash (1990) Include the original air-date year in the parent directory and in episode file names.


Sorry I can’t be everywhere. I do my best but but have to sleep sometime :smiley:

6

Realizing there is an exception to every rule, and rules are meant to be broken, including the year was how I fixed the mismatch. However, it does go somewhat against what you said here:
https://forums.plex.tv/discussion/comment/1343983/#Comment_1343983

@ChuckPa said Named correctly, manual matching is not needed, as in:
tv/The Flash:
Season 01/

tv/The Flash (2014):
Season 01/ Season 02/ Season 03/

In the same post, you DID say,

If you have both, depending on the series popularity (which I cannot explain why), putting the year of the older series in its name, aids greatly with proper match automatically.

And all of that makes me wonder how in the world so many people had the new version mis-match with the older version when no year was included. For them, no year for the Flash automatically matched to the 1990 series in many, if not all cases, so why would no year now match to the 2014 series? I guess I don’t expect an answer, but the matching (or mis-matching) is certainly not consistent. :smiley:

7

Because something has changed.

We out here at the Help Desk have for an awful long time been telling folks to use the name EXACTLY as it is written at TVDB to get correct matches. Now we have to change - in some cases (up to use to figure it out I guess). We now totally disregard TVDB - in some cases and add years where no years were necessary when not listed as such before.

But this is completely normal. Bug pops up - wham! - new feature.

8

You’re correct: Post #1 shows it without 1990 in the title. Were that still true, we’d not be having the discussion nor would there need to be any answer.

That having been said, if I go by TheTVDB rules as we’re supposed to, it should work. Before answering here, I did a manual query via their web page. In both cases, ambiguous results.

I added ‘(1990)’ to the name and the ambiguity was removed.

So why the change? I did not completely understand the matching equation. The fault is mine.

Parsing ‘The Flash’ against “The Flash (2014)” yields a token match of 2 because the air-date year is not kept with the name. It’s stored elsewhere. That left 2 = 2 and it took it. It then goes and attaches it to the existing media item

Adding the year (1990) still walks through the same token match sequence. It has a 2==2 token match right up to the very end. Year matching 1990 != 2014 and boom new item. This is the well established rule we all know for movie remakes.

I did read about uniformity / consistency but until this ‘in hand’ instance of yours, and now my own, I had missed it.

Here, for reference, with no manual matches, no changes to Agent stacking or any other options whatsoever, this is how I now have it.

IMHO, it makes a lot more sense. Disambiguate both sides of the equation. Again… Sorry guys, I missed the basic math while deep in the rocket equations. :smiley:

/syno/tv/The Flash (1990)
sh-4.3$ ls -laR
.:
total 12
drwxr-xr-x  3 chuck users 4096 Oct 22 21:39 .
drwxr-xr-x 92 chuck users 4096 Jan 14 14:50 ..
drwxr-xr-x  2 chuck users 4096 Jan 14 15:05 'Season 01'

'./Season 01':
total 8162100
drwxr-xr-x 2 chuck users      4096 Jan 14 15:05 .
drwxr-xr-x 3 chuck users      4096 Oct 22 21:39 ..
-rw-r--r-- 1 chuck users 726778925 Dec  2 03:49 'The Flash (1990).S01E01.Pilot.avi'
-rw-r--r-- 1 chuck users 363342357 Dec  2 03:48 'The Flash (1990).S01E02.Out of Control.avi'
-rw-r--r-- 1 chuck users 363336911 Dec  2 03:51 'The Flash (1990).S01E03.Watching the Detectives.avi'
-rw-r--r-- 1 chuck users 363323438 Dec  2 03:52 'The Flash (1990).S01E04.Honor Among Thieves.avi'
-rw-r--r-- 1 chuck users 363394390 Dec  2 03:49 'The Flash (1990).S01E05.Double Vision.avi'
-rw-r--r-- 1 chuck users 363394666 Dec  2 03:48 'The Flash (1990).S01E06.Sins of the Father.avi'
-rw-r--r-- 1 chuck users 363304497 Dec  2 03:50 'The Flash (1990).S01E07.Child'\''s Play.avi'
-rw-r--r-- 1 chuck users 363402841 Dec  2 03:51 'The Flash (1990).S01E08.Shroud of Death.avi'
-rw-r--r-- 1 chuck users 363926237 Dec  2 03:50 'The Flash (1990).S01E09.Ghost in the Machine.avi'
-rw-r--r-- 1 chuck users 363344270 Dec  2 03:48 'The Flash (1990).S01E10.Sight Unseen.avi'
-rw-r--r-- 1 chuck users 363386911 Dec  2 03:50 'The Flash (1990).S01E11.Beat the Clock.avi'
-rw-r--r-- 1 chuck users 363376537 Dec  2 03:52 'The Flash (1990).S01E12.The Trickster.avi'
-rw-r--r-- 1 chuck users 363317147 Dec  2 03:50 'The Flash (1990).S01E13.Tina, Is That You.avi'
-rw-r--r-- 1 chuck users 363355624 Dec  2 03:52 'The Flash (1990).S01E14.Be My Baby.avi'
-rw-r--r-- 1 chuck users 363390208 Dec  2 03:50 'The Flash (1990).S01E15.Fast Forward.avi'
-rw-r--r-- 1 chuck users 363341392 Dec  2 03:51 'The Flash (1990).S01E16.Deadly Nightshade.avi'
-rw-r--r-- 1 chuck users 363344587 Dec  2 03:51 'The Flash (1990).S01E17.Captain Cold.avi'
-rw-r--r-- 1 chuck users 363319578 Dec  2 03:49 'The Flash (1990).S01E18.Twin Streaks.avi'
-rw-r--r-- 1 chuck users 363404590 Dec  2 03:51 'The Flash (1990).S01E19.Done with Mirrors.avi'
-rw-r--r-- 1 chuck users 363352330 Dec  2 03:51 'The Flash (1990).S01E20.Good Night, Central City.avi'
-rw-r--r-- 1 chuck users 363371833 Dec  2 03:49 'The Flash (1990).S01E21.Alpha.avi'
-rw-r--r-- 1 chuck users 363352579 Dec  2 03:49 'The Flash (1990).S01E22.The Trial of the Trickster.avi'
sh-4.3$
9

@JuiceWSA said:
Because something has changed.

We out here at the Help Desk …

Help Desk?

10

I’m not closing in on 300 answers by sitting out here twiddling my thumbs… I just have to make sure I investigate the ‘new and improved’ circumstances before I offer up answers that are no longer valid.

:slight_smile:

11

That wasn’t my question but ok I guess. :confused:

https://forums.plex.tv/discussion/62832/plex-media-server/p7 and p8 both show there were changes made to the Scanner which is central to this thread.

I do know those changes, which were very focused on date issues, corrected a ton of issues with FireFly (as I’m sure you’re aware having ‘300 answers’).

12

I can probably write a pseudo-code walk through of how it does the matching (which is NOT easy and NOT 1000% foolproof) but it will take me some time… approx an hour to give you a good 'general walkthrough.

Think of the process this way:

  1. Parse the name as given.
  2. Depending on file type, extract metadata from the file if applicable.
  3. Query the PMS DB and either TheTVDB or IMDB/PlexMovie as appropriate
  4. Presume missing elements (like a year) aren’t to be considerd
  5. Does the item, ignoring any missing information, already exist in the DB? Does it make reasonable sense to attach to existing?
  6. If not, pick one of the choices returned from the online query.

That’s what got adjusted along the way and it makes the most empirical sense.

As soon as we add additional qualifiers, we disambiguate the previously ambiguous scenario.

Something changed… Plex had to adapt. This is the result.

13

With TheTVDB, you must always take into account the ‘language’ setting of your tv show library.
The show titles differ on TheTVDB between languages.

In such cases always do either an advanced search and make sure to select the proper language in the search mask

or

search the tv show and then replace the language id in the URL and reload the page.
i.e.
The Flash (1990) in english http://thetvdb.com/index.php?tab=series&id=78650&lid=7
The Flash (1990) in french http://thetvdb.com/index.php?tab=series&id=78650&lid=17
The Flash (1990) in german http://thetvdb.com/index.php?tab=series&id=78650&lid=14

As you can see, the show’s title is always different, depending on the chosen language.

14

Before we give an example of a correct name and structure we have to test a file to make sure it’s going to work. The ‘old ways’ no longer apply.

I get it.

The naming issues among users will increase as will ‘Fix Incorrect Match’. This is now ‘by design’ - Plex’s or TVDB’s - no one is exactly claiming responsibility for this bombing. If anyone thinks naming issues are not high on the list of user complaints in Plex - just have a read down through the messages.

15

So… reading between the lines posted here, and recalling other threads, particularly recent ones regarding Firefly episode ordering and several threads in the DVR Beta test section, air date has become a more significant factor than previously for TV shows.

Although no one has specifically stated what is becoming obvious, from this point forward we should probably include the year in all TV shows as an “additional qualifier” to ensure proper matching. I think we can also safely assume that this new criteria - “Plex had to adapt” @ChuckPa stated - is related to the DVR implementation. I don’t have the beta, but apparently all (most?) TV shows are added to libraries with the year enclosed in brackets.

I’m not opposed to change, that’s part of life. I do agree with @JuiceWSA though, I think we’re heading towards troubles for a lot of existing Plex users if they

  1. Update\refresh an existing library
  2. Do a fresh install of Plex with libraries pointed to directories/files previously named correctly
  3. Do some basic research and try to add TV shows with re-makes using tiles from the TVDB and NOT include the year from the original series as suggested religiously for a very long time
  4. Use filebot to rename files according to the current Plex standards
  5. Follow the guidelines.

In this case, change might not be a good thing. Instead of making Plex work with the way that the DVR needs to (more attention to air date,) I think that the DVR should have been made to work with Plex. Of course, that statement is based on my belief that this new adaption is because of the DVR. :smiley:

16

@leelynds said:
I think we can also safely assume that this new criteria - “Plex had to adapt” @ChuckPa stated - is related to the DVR implementation. I don’t have the beta, but apparently all (most?) TV shows are added to libraries with the year enclosed in brackets.

I think all we can assume at this point is that whatever Plex cooks up it’ll take the community to find a viable work-around.

As far as (YEAR) already being in the metadata - we’re oh and 3 and the batter takes a seat. Yes, the year is usually included, but it’s the year it aired AND it’s the year it aired where ever it’s currently being aired. Season 5 of Death in Paradise ‘Premiered’ locally at the date included in the EPG below (as well as the other items), but the real ‘Premier’ was last year. EPGs are created by network lackies, they aren’t making the big bucks, the don’t read TVDB and they also don’t give a fat rat’s ___.

If Plex is going to change the entire Plexiverse just to make Plex DVR work - we’re in trouble. We can’t get users to change a file name from:

da.flash.epi.something.seas.whatnot.get.all.your.releases.from.goat.breeder.group.mkv
to the Plex standard naming and Plex really expects the user base to add (YEAR) to everything?

Fat Chance.

17

@ChuckPa – just a big “Thanks” to you for your assistance and persistence on getting to the bottom of things. We may not like the final result, but we can always say you addressed the issue. I see from the thread “Episode 10 not showing up” that you may be getting a handle on the problem and have the devs looking at it.

I have seen a couple of other threads where there have been mis-matches when they year was or wasn’t included using the Plex naming structure, and if I can find them again where do you want them listed? In the “hi-jacked” (your words) episode 10 thread or someplace else?

18

I offer this thread as a Research focus point for the dev team to ultimately view through.
I have offered a basic template to go by which can evolve as we go.

19

@ChuckPa said:
I offer this thread as a Research focus point for the dev team to ultimately view through.
I have offered a basic template to go by which can evolve as we go.

https://forums.plex.tv/discussion/254362/tv-series-name-matching-research

That is a good idea. Bringing use case scenarios from actual users into this research could be very beneficial. Brilliant!

I will document any issues I find there.

Thanks

20

I use the names “Flash, The (1990)” & “Flash, The (2014)” and have no issues.