Lost Access to Externa; Subs on ONE of my NAS devices

Server Version#:1.23.3.4707
Player Version#:Multiple

Hello, I had a server crash and had to re-image to another PC, I re-mapped the relevant NAS shares and Plex sees all my content.

The problem is that I can’t use the downloaded, external .srt files (that worked perfectly before the crash) when watching TV shows on any device. The sub for Movies work just fine, and are stored on a different NAS.

I’ve verified the existence and format of the subs, refreshed metadata and re-scanned the library. Nothing, they don’t show up, and being that I live in Australia, the Plex provided subs never load.

I’d really love some insight and assistance.

Oh, has nothing to do with version. I update to the latest and the problem persisted. I had to downgrade as the latest version killed my remote streaming.

Cheers
D

Can you check the advanced configuration of your tv-show library to verify Use local assets is enabled?
> Manage Library > Edit...Advanced > Use local assets

Please show the file names of both the video file and the acompanying subtitle file.
Please do also show the folder structure within which those files are situated.

I was SO excited when I checked and found that “use local media assets was unchecked.” I checked it and re-scanned the library. I restarted my AppleTV (in this case) and… No go.

Interestingly, the Plex-provided (you know, “more”) subtitles now work perfectly and queue up quickly. Usually (always), they’d take forever only to give you one of those excrutiatingly annoying “Oops, something went wrong” messages.

For reason that should be fairly self-evident, I’ll keep the EXACT names out of this, but know that I understand the rules for folders, structure, and filenames. Regardless:

V:\TypeOfMedia\TheMediaInQuestion
V:\TypeOfMedia\TheMediaInQuestion\TheMediaInQuestion.mkv
V:\TypeOfMedia\TheMediaInQuestion\TheMediaInQuestion.srt

I appreciate the help.

This is only nearly correct for movies (release year is missing), but for tv shows it is absolutely wrong.
https://support.plex.tv/articles/naming-and-organizing-your-tv-show-files/

Sorry, let me ammend that and assure you that this is not the problem.

V:\TypeOfMedia\TheMediaInQuestion
V:\TypeOfMedia\TheMediaInQuestion\SeasonOfTheMediaInQuestion\TheMediaInQuestion.mkv
V:\TypeOfMedia\TheMediaInQuestion\SeasonOfTheMediaInQuestion\TheMediaInQuestion.srt

The difficulty with this kind of generalized file names is that one cannot detect subtle naming mistakes.

For instance the subtitle file must have the exact same file name (save the filename extension, of course) as the video file. It is not sufficient to use the title of the tv show.
It is also recommended to insert the language code of the subtitles right before the file name extension. Adding Local Subtitles to Your Media | Plex Support

And all of the above is only working if the Plex library has been pointed to the folder level of V:\TypeOfMedia and not even one single level above, nor below that.
Any additional, arbitrary folder levels are also not supported.

Mistakes aren’t normally made as I use filebot to fetch the subs and rename the files. It removes the human error side of the equation. Regardless, you were on the right track, at least. It turn out that Plex does not like the long file name format that some of these things are obtained in.

For instance, if the video file and sub file are both called Name_of_show_s01e01, Plex was okay with it. The title I was having problems with were more like: Name.of.the.show.s01e01.badassXQY76.media-providers.SLICExva.x.264. I’ve never had a problem with names like this before, and it seemed to cooincide with my server going down, but there it was.

I used filebot to rename the files in a more Plex-Friendly format, and they all came good.

I really appreciate the help.

Cheers
D

Tip: Plex will ignore anything within the first pair of square brackets. If you want to keep that technical info in there, tell Filebot to move it into square brackets, e.g.
Name of the show (year) - s01e01 - [badassXQY76.media-providers.SLICExva.x.264].ext
Don’t use periods/dots instead of spaces.

This topic was automatically closed 90 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.