Movie names are sometimes something I don't know from where

Plex Media Server
1

Server Version#: 1.32.8.7639

I noticed that some (very few in fact) movies will NOT grab the correct names when matching or updating meta-data. This is odd since more than 99% of them are correct. I see no rhyme nor reason for this behavior.

So a correct name (TITLE) would be something like:

The Sting
Planet of the Apes
Toy Story

But some movies, while the file names are correctly formatted as every file name, of the 4000 movie files named using FileBot, uses the same format, pull names from somewhere that I have no clue about (Could be the original file name from before FileBot changed it, now that I think about it.)

An example would be:
(These are from the TITLE and Sort Title fields under the General tab in edit file)

The Lion King 3D (1994) 1080pBrRip HSBS x264 - 1.3GB - YIFY
Grinch.2018.3D.HSBS.BluRay.x264-[YTS.AM]

The movies are NEVER added to Plex movie folders until after they are re-named. The Plex Agents settings are:
Plex Movie (Legacy)

  • Plex Movie (Legacy)
  • Local Media Assets (Movies)
  • Fanart.tv
  • CineMaterial
  • OpenSubtitles.org
    The Movie Database
  • The Movie Database
  • Local Media Assets (Movies)
  • Plex Movie (Legacy)
  • Fanart.tv

I just don’t get why some of these use this odd file name as the Movie name and sort value. And nothing I do will get it to change to what it should be (ex. The Lion King)

Thanks if anyone has any ideas on this


Greg

2

They key in most instances is the date in parenthesis

The Sting (1973)
Planet of the Apes (1968)
Toy Story (1995)

https://support.plex.tv/articles/naming-and-organizing-your-movie-media-files/

File info like this should be in square brackets [1080pBrRip HSBS x264 - 1.3GB - YIFY]

3

Here is the actual location and file name for the Lion king example.

  • M:\Movies HD 3D\The Lion King (1994) 3D\The Lion King [1994, G, 89 Min] [Matthew Broderick, Jonathan Taylor Thomas, James Earl Jones] [Family, Animation, Drama] [3D, 1080p, AAC@6ch].mp4

Only the folder has the parentheses. The file name doesn’t. And as I said, EVERY movie has the same structure. So all the correct ones are the same with date in parentheses only on the movie folder. NOT the file name.

I should have posted that info originally


4

I understand
And what everybody wants to know is why it works sometimes and not others

No idea. All I can tell you is, not using the expected naming format will give you inconsistent results

I can only tell you how to get it to work every time without fail

The Lion King (1994) ← Folder
The Lion King (1994) {imdb-tt0110357} {edition-3D}.mkv <–file

1 Like
5

Are you actually using the “Plex Movie (Legacy)” agent, or the modern Plex Movie agent? If you’re using the modern agent, make sure Manage Library > Edit > Advanced > ‘Prefer local metadata’ is unchecked (or if it’s enabled and you want to keep it enabled for whatever reason, verify that your files don’t have any embedded metadata that Plex may be pulling from).

1 Like
6

Never use several pairs of square brackets.
Plex will only ignore the contents between the first pair. All the other stuff that comes later can confuse the matching algorithm.

If you really want to keep that litany in your file names, you should change the renaming pattern in filebot to put out something like this:

The Lion King (1994) [G, 89 Min-Matthew Broderick, Jonathan Taylor Thomas, James Earl Jones-Family, Animation, Drama-3D, 1080p, AAC@6ch].mp4
7

I am using the new agent. Prefer local metadata is NOT checked.

Curious, what is the best app for checking a movies embeded metadata? I have one I have always used for MP3 files but it gags on mp4 and mkv which 99% of my files are.

Thanks!

8

mp3tag can do all, but you don’t need to care for mkv, as Plex doesn’t read anything from there, except some stream flags about languages etc.

9

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