Imdb ratings doesn't update even when I refresh meta data

Notflix123 · July 15, 2019, 8:58pm

Hi,

So I just discovered that movies doesn’t update ratings from Imdb. Don’t get me wrong, everything syncs perfectly and i find all my movies and get the right meta data to everything, it’s just the ratings that fail to update. Many new movies have high rating on plex but in on imdb they have 5,4 for example.

what can be wrong?

Server Version#: 1.16.2.1297
Player Version#: 3.106.3

tvebax · July 24, 2019, 6:43pm

Same issue here. Looks like imdb ratings no longer get updated on “refresh metadata” / “update library” / etc. They only get set when new media is added.

Tried:

“refresh metadata” on an individual movie
“refresh all metadata” on the entire library
deleting all cache directories within ~Library/Application\ Support/Plex\ Media\ Server/Plug-in\ Support/Caches/ + restarting Plex

Nothing works. Tried with a bunch of different movies (and tv shows). The rating doesn’t change. Regardless of the fact that the rating is vastly different from both imdb and themoviedb.

This is also true, if there was initially no rating fetched at all for the movie. It stays empty forever.

I am running latest version of Plex Media Server: 1.16.3.1402
I have these enabled:

Scan my library automatically
Run a partial scan when changes are detected
Scan my library periodically (daily)
And. in tasks:
Refresh metadata periodically

No other issues with metadata - only imdb ratings never ever updating. They only get set when new movies are added.

Not super great. A rating grabbed when there were maybe <1,000 ratings, is very different and near useless once 100,000 ratings have been made.

Notflix123 · July 24, 2019, 8:21pm

Yeah same here, all of it actually. Same settings and on the latest plex serve that freenas allow.

I wonder if imdb have changed something or plex has. I wonder how and who we could ask that could give some answers

tvebax · July 25, 2019, 10:05am

My strong guess would be that something changed on Plex end?

Because:
The ratings do get set on creating a new media item, which means the integration from Plex to imdb still works / imdb does reply.
They just never ever get updated after that. Which sounds like Plex never ever querying imdb again, no matter which setting you enable or which button you push.
It’s been that way for a few months now.

Could be that the imdb update has been removed to save cost on paid api calls. Or perhaps the ratings have actually come from TMDb all along and the update is just broken.

m7ke · August 5, 2019, 6:48pm

I’m also experiencing this issue. When adding a new movie to the library it grabs the current IMDB rating just fine, but if I try a “refresh metadata” on a single movies or library wide, the ratings won’t update.

tvebax · August 8, 2019, 10:39pm

…Wondering what it would take to get a Plex staff comment on this… While feeling slightly stupid that I am paying every month for a product with no way to raise a support issue :facepalm:

If anyone are aware of a competitor who offers remote streaming, imdb ratings, subtitles and 2 way communication with paying customers when things are broken, I would be thrilled to know.

tvebax · August 12, 2019, 8:17pm

Did some more testing to try find a workaround.
Plus verify that root cause is indeed broken metadata update and old data therefore stuck in Plex forever. Or something entirely else.

Conclusion
Seriously. Short of Plex caching sticky imdb information on their own servers with no expiry or refresh ever (which I would highly doubt), then I have no idea where the odd and inaccurate imdb ratings come from.

I can’t see how the imdb information would still be stored in my library after doing the below routine?
Or am I missing something? Should I have waited 24-48-something hours before adding the movie back in?
I also cannot imagine which service could be queried to return the erroneous imdb rating. Clearly it is neither imdb or omdb (see 1: )

Currently available workaround
Go through library regularly, manually look each media item up on imdb and fill out rating field in Plex by hand. (Time consuming, unsustainable).

Steps:

[0: Enabled debug + verbose log]

1: Grabbed a movie which has an imdb rating which is significantly off

Plex:
Imdb rating: 7.2

Imdb:
Imdb rating: 4.4

Omdb API:
imdb rating: 4.4
http://www.omdbapi.com/?apikey=[redacted]&i=tt3282076

2: Physically moved the file out of the Plex library folder.

3: Ran Optimize Database

4: Ran Clean bundles

5: Deleted all subfolders of Cache directory:
rm -Rf ~Library/Application\ Support/Plex\ Media\ Server/Plug-in\ Support/Caches/*

6: Restarted Plex

7: Added the movie back in

*8: Checked that other custom metadata is gone
I had added additional collection tags to this movie. These are no longer present, which could hint metadata was successfully deleted along with the media item.

Result:
The movie again/still has 7.2 in imdb rating in Plex ..

Read through the debug logs. While I can see the metadata getting requested, I can’t see any errors or other info of interest.

Setup:
Plex Media Server: 1.16.4.1469
OS: OSX 10.13.6
Nothing much happening on the machine itself. It’s an old mac mini which has been repurposed for one single job: running Plex.

tvebax · August 12, 2019, 9:00pm

Another example, Shaft never gets any imdb rating, no matter how many times I hit the “refresh metadata” button:

Plex:
Imdb rating: none

Imdb:
Imdb rating: 6.4

Omdb:
Imdb rating: 6.4
http://www.omdbapi.com/?apikey=[redacted]&i=tt4463894

amorpheus · August 13, 2019, 7:40am

This needs more attention, seeing ratings presented like that is one of my favorite things about organizing my media with Plex.

m7ke · August 20, 2019, 12:57am

I’m still experiencing this bug/issue with the latest server version: 1.16.5.1488.

@tvebax when you combed through your logs and saw that the metadata was getting requested, was it requesting it directly from IMDb?

x5nder · August 26, 2019, 11:30am

Same issue here, and it happens with every rating provider (I’m not using IMDb but Rotten Tomatoes). Seems like a bug that was introduced into Plex Media Server in the last month?

tvebax · September 1, 2019, 11:19am

@m7ke Enabling debug log didn’t make much (if any) difference here. Still just got the generic refreshing metadata log entries, nothing about specific parts of the metadata or indicators of where requests were going to.

NB: I don’t think Plex has ever requested imdb ratings from imdb itself. My guess is it gets them from omdb.

@x5nder My impression is imdb ratings has been broken around 6 months approximately.

Does anyone have a magic trick for how to get support from plex?

m7ke · September 24, 2019, 11:47pm

Just updated my server to the newest version: 1.17.0.1709 and this issue hasn’t been fixed. Would be nice to get a Plex Employee to chime in and let us know if this issue is on their radar at all.

DNewtz · September 25, 2019, 12:21am

Same issue as yourself buddy. Noticed it on last two movies. Mib international, spiderman FFH. No IMDb ratings being pulled at all.

tvebax · September 26, 2019, 6:57pm

Ok. Mystery solved.
No amount of “Plex dance” will fix this, it is not a local issue.

Same example as above:
Movie “Shaft (2019)” not getting imdb ratings. Found this line in com.plexapp.agents.imdb.log:
2019-09-26 18:26:23,144 (70000bc85000) : DEBUG (networking:166) - Requesting 'https://meta.plex.tv/m/4463894?lang=en&ratings=1&reviews=1&extras=1'
Almost wish I hadn’t found it..

Loaded in the browser the request returns this:

Plex (the company, not the locally installed app) store the ratings on their own servers.

When the ratings are wrong, it is because Plex does not update them.
When the ratings are empty, it is because Plex does not set them.

Nothing can be done on end user side. The agent gets it’s (near useless) ratings from Plex servers.

I am aware that Imdb ratings are not free. But that is not actually the point anymore. People have been debugging this for years, sending log files, screenshots, doing “Plex dance”, tried to help each other out, repeatedly asking for answers. See the below list for a taste.

Plex has not documented this online. No staff has given a clear reply to users about how this works in any ticket I can find.
I do not know how to interpret this in any other way than utter disrespect and lack of care for their paying customer base, these people’s time and investment in Plex’ product.

What the heck, Plex? Seriously? I expected more from you

The below are the tickets I found in the first 5 minutes. Then I stopped.
There are mountains of them.

rambron750 · September 26, 2019, 8:28pm

OMG. I want the hours I spent “troubleshooting” back.
Jeez Plex! How about less hours spent on crafting clever e-mails and more spent on making current products work correctly.

Thank you tvebax!

tvebax · September 27, 2019, 10:32am

@trumpy81 Yes. Exactly what folks are saying in this thread. Some ratings missing, some heavily outdated. Not all, but A LOT of them are either incorrect or absent.

Your Plex version is irrelevant, This can only be fixed by Plex, by updating the ratings on their meta.plex.tv server.

@rambron750 Exactly. I must have spent days on this the last 6 months…

tvebax · September 27, 2019, 10:43am

Edit:
Obviously this CAN be fixed. But only by Plex updating their meta.plex.tv server, as this is where the ratings come from. No need for endless debugging your setup guys!

Also, RottenTomatoes ratings share the same issue, in case anyone are considering changing to that, to solve the issue. So, not a workaround.

And, plugin / agent support is no longer. In case anyone considered something like the excellent OMDB plugin as a workaround:

certuna · September 27, 2019, 2:56pm

So I guess it’s up to someone to write a (Python, whatever) script that goes into the Plex sql db, takes the movie list, scrapes IMDB against it, and writes back the rating to the database.

tvebax · September 28, 2019, 3:40pm

That would be darn awesome!

Would be kinda cool if Plex either fixed or removed their feature though… Would save many many paying customers time debugging their setup, as folks tend to assume Plex works / stuff is their own fault.

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Imdb ratings doesn't update even when I refresh meta data

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