Server Version#: 1.40.5.8854
Like others, I upgraded to the latest and got the ‘please upgrade your library’ message. However on a number of TV shows, the new Plex Series agent just doesn’t cut it. Specifically getting incorrect season information and episode info as well. An example would be Columbo. The TVDB layout of this show is spot on, no issues. Switch to the Plex Series agent and Refresh Metadata and all of a sudden the Seasons and Episode titles are out of order and it even labels some episodes as Columbo Disc 1 Season 1 Episode 2 etc which is nowhere in the file name and of course completely wrong !
There are still a number of things that need correcting with this Plex Series agent before you make this a mandatory upgrade for users. Not seeing the benefit of this agent if it continues to screw up the library that works fine when choosing TVDB directly.
Hoping these issues will be fixed long ahead of mandating users to upgrade.
if you follow plex naming schemas you shouldn’t have an issue. However there are 2 gotcha’s that often come up.
embedded metadata in mp4 files
differences in the TVDB/tmdb ordering.
if you exclusively use tvdb you can set your libraries default order to that, you can also disable usage of embedded meta data too if that is questionable.
The new agent uses the episode ordering from TheMovieDB.org by default.
If your library is mainly suited to the episode orderings from TheTVDB.com, you should tell Plex that. It cannot know by itself.
Edit the library, go to the Advanced tab, set Episode Ordering to “The TVDB (Aired)”.
This selection can be overridden for each show, by editing the show itself, and again selecting the episode ordering on the Advanced tab.
You can pick any ordering from TheTVDB (yes, even those which were previously unavailable in the old agent), and the “Aired” ordering from TheMovieDB.
It’s recommended to Refresh Metadata after changing the episode ordering.
In other words: whereas you previously had to “Fix Match” to adapt a show to the other metadata website, you now simply edit the show.
Tip: if you have shows which are only listed on TheTVDB, you better use ID number hinting in the show folder name. This makes it unambiguously clear which show is meant.
That’s another thing that wasn’t available with the old agents.
The exact syntax is shown in https://support.plex.tv/articles/naming-and-organizing-your-tv-show-files/
I’ve been trying to implement the Library Metadata Upgrade via Plex Web for over an hour now, with no success whatsoever. There have been no changes to any of the agents and every time I try to change to just the old TV Show TVDB agent, I get “your changes can’t be saved” and the “Library Upgrade Required” appears again.
I click on it, it starts and goes through the motions of refreshing all show metadata and then the Agent just reverts back to “Plex Series”. Is there something I’m doing wrong? Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.
Yes, there does appear to be something happening- although I have no idea what it is.
A group of 3 error messages are repeating; the first pic is the overall log view, the other pics are the individual errors in the order they appear:
Tried this BUT still see Columbo Season 1 Disc 1 showing and have no idea where it’s getting that from. On the off chance that it was in embedded metadata, turned that off but still shows that after a metadata refresh. I am now having to go through each episode manually to correct. Not a good experience with this new Plex agent
In that case you need to perform the Plex Dance, if that does not resolve it please post the server logs. 99% sure its either a naming or embedded metadata issue.
One thing I discovered today is that the Plex Series Agent gets confused when you place TV series in subfolders. I setup the folder structure as follows:
TV Shows
|__A
|_TV Series Name
|Season 1
| Series Name - S01E01 - Episode Title
|__B
|_TV Series Name
|Season 1
| Series Name - S01E01 - Episode Title
|__C
|_TV Series Name
|Season 1
| Series Name - S01E01 - Episode Title
I’ve used this structure with Plex TVDB agent for years and it has always worked fine.
Anyway, under the folder C, I had the series Curse of Oak Island and it was appearing correctly in Plex. I decided to add Criminal Minds to the folder C as well. However, it didn’t appear in Plex. Instead, it was getting merged as additional episodes and versions of Curse of Oak Island episodes. I then tried it with two TV series that started with the letter T in the T folder and noticed the same thing happening. I double checked the names of all the folders and episodes and if there was any metadata that could confuse Plex as to the TV series detected. I found nothing.
I even went so far as deleting the TV Library and recreating it all from scratch. The Plex Series Agent kept merging the different series together as one. By accident, I moved the Criminal Minds folder directly under the TV Shows folder, so the folder structure looked like
TV Shows
|_TV Series Name
|Season 1
| Series Name - S01E01 - Episode Title
(Notice no C folder) and it worked! Plex picked up on it right away. I removed the A-Z subfolders under the TV Shows folder and everything is working fine now.
I think what was happening was Plex detected the first series under the C folder, which appeared correctly in Plex Web, but then saw any other series in the C folder as part of that first series as well, even if the series were completely different.
Check your folder structure in case there are extra levels that are confusing things.
If you mean you added the TV Shows folder only to the library set up, that is not following our naming standard and has never been supported and probably never will be. You need to add each alpha folders (A, B C, etc) to the library setup separately if you are going to organize them that way.
Well, I’m not sure what to say, guys. You know the application far better than I ever will. I’m cool with using the folder structure you recommend. I was just saying in my post that the folder structure that I was using worked for me for years up until a few days ago. Whether it was by accident or not, who knows. I just wanted to pass along what I found in case someone else had a similar issue. Peace.
I was trying to restructure my folders. I use Windows, but media is on NAS storage. Two years ago I moved to files to was copy the series to NAS in Folders:
TV Shows1\series Name (YYYY)\Seasons\Series Name S01E01…
TV Shows2
etc,
I tried creating one folder TV Shows and moving the folders into it, but it totally removed the series and merged the shows in many odd ways under one title.
Luckily I was able to move back and did not lose my watch history.
That sounds as if you have added the wrong folder level to your Plex library.
You must follow the folder hierarchy which has been quoted and linked to above.
With TV shows this is super important, much more so than with movies.
