Server Version#: 1.32.5.7318
Player Version#: 4.115.2
Hi, I posted something similar to this last spring and got 0 responses. What I talk about below is still happening and is super annoying when I just want to move a file into a library and move on. I don’t understand why plex decides that 2 (or more files) that aren’t named even remotely the same get lumped together into one entry in plex using the Personal Media agent… ?
I’ve been using Plex for years. I actually have two separate servers:
One running on Synology that houses my moves and TV etc.
The other and the one that is giving me trouble runs on Windows 10. I’m in a couple of bands and I record gigs in their entirety so that band members can watch afterwards to see how we did.
Very often when adding a new file to a library for one of the bands, the agent will find the file in question AND some other random file and associate them both together. If I look at the info for the file, it lists two or three files that have absolutely nothing to do with each other. clicking play will play what’s in one of the other files and not the one that I want… even the banner/poster are incorrect.
All the libraries on this server are configured like this:
Scanner: Plex video files
Agent: Personal Media
Here’s a screenshot of the file I tried to add today. the squares in red are not supposed to be there. the file I actually added is highlighted in green:
The only way I’ve been able to correct this is by doing the steps below (which also doesn’t always work and I have to do it multiple times:
move the all of the files listed in the screenshot (in this case 3 files)
do a scan on the library which will remove them from plex.
Put the latest file (the one I was originally trying to add) back in the library and scan it again.
I gets added, but plex still seems to know about the other ones I moved out as well (see screenshot)… I click “delete files” on the ones that shouldn’t be there (because they aren’t).
At this point, it references the right file, but I have to manually edit the title and change the poster because it still shows the info and poster from one of the files I moved out.
So, I got that fixed, then I have to put the other two files back and hope they scan correctly.
Does anyone have ideas on what’s happening here? Is my library corrupted or something? How would I go about fixing this? Is there even a fix?
The actual cause of the issue may lie in the year folders you are using. Additional top folders are often causing Plex to collect several files under a common item.
Try adding these “year” folders individually to a new library. (Unless you already amassed 50 of them, which would make that tedious)
Thanks for your reply! I’ll try the merge/split option next time I upload something and it’s not recognized correctly… It doesn’t always do this… just most of the time.
As for the folder naming, that hadn’t even occurred to me…And yeah, there are ALOT of files there… 260 folders and 926 files apparently. That’s why I broke it up with 2015 and the folders under that, 2016, etc… By 2017 it was getting really difficult to browse to the latest stuff easily.
If it is the folder structure causing this, did we just discover a bug?
If not, how else can I get around this problem happening when I add files?
That’s what my proposal with the year folders was trying to do.
I am specifically talking about the “year” super folders. Not the folders within them. I don’t think you have already 260 single year folders. Or do you?
Hi, I just added a new file today. followed the “split apart” section. There is no “split apart” option, even though the info for the video shows 2 files in it. I used to see it like a year ago, but that’s been gone for awhile. so, I’m still in the same place I was before. the hair pulling method of removing and readding things.
I really don’t like the thought of getting rid of the 2020, 2021, 2023, etc folders as there are ALOT under all of those.
I still think this is a bug. I kinda get what you’re saying about the year folders, but here’s how I see it. this is not a movie or tv show that needs to be looked up in a database or something to be identified. It doesn’t need to scrutinize the filename to see what episode it is, or any of that. It’s personal media. to me, that means it shpuld just see the new file that’s there, in the folder it’s in and add it. period. I see no reason that it should even consider looking at matches… now, if I had something in another folder with the same exact name, I could see how that might confuse it… but that is impossible with my date based naming convention.
Is there some way that I can get this considered as a bug?
Hi, the MP3Tag thing looks interesting, will give that a look.
When you say “Point Plex to the year folders that way there is only 1 folder per video”, I’m not sure what you mean? can you show me an example of how they should be laid out? Right now mine is like this:
2022
|— 20230101 new years (and any videos related to that are in here… same for below)
|— 20230202 ground hog day
2023
|— 20230101 new years at this place
|— 20230317 st patricks day
etc…
When you say “consider using episodes with a dated format”, I’m not sure what you mean by that?
What I talk about below is still happening and is super annoying when I just want to move a file into a library and move on. I don’t understand why plex decides that 2 (or more files) that aren’t named even remotely the same get lumped together into one entry in plex using the Personal Media agent… ?
