MP4 TV Show Files Displays Incorrect Episode Thumbnails

Plex Media Server Desktops & Laptops
1

Server Version#: 1.26.0.5715

(If this has already been addressed, please provide link, as I have not been able to locate this particular problem)

Hello,

I have been focusing on having all of my media files as MKV, but there are some that will be in MP4 for the time being. Yesterday I loaded two TV shows that are in this format, and after Plex finished scanning the episodes for intros, I wanted to start one of the seasons.

I noticed that the thumbnail artwork (apologies if incorrect terminology) for the episodes was showing the artwork that was tagged to the MP4 files themselves, which is to say, every episode was showing the same thumbnail (which is basically the middle section of the Seasonxx.jpg artwork in that directory, as each episode was tagged with that artwork).

I know that for MKV episodes, if you have no other art other than Seasonxx.jpg, Plex will display a thumbnail captured from the episode itself., and if you have artwork for each episode in that directory, Plex will show that artwork instead of the episode thumbnail artwork.

I made no changes to my directory structure nor how I tag my files. My MP4 files were tagged the same way as my MKV files and my directory structure is the same as my MKV files – the only difference is that the files are MP4.

Sample structure:

TV Shows
|
|-> Show Name
|
|—>Season 01
|
|----->Show Name - S01E01 - Episode Title.mp4
|----->Show Name - S01E01 - Episode Title.srt
|----->Show Name - S01E02 - Episode Title.mp4
|----->Show Name - S01E02 - Episode Title.srt
|
|
|
|----->Show Name - S01E10 - Episode Title.mp4
|----->Show Name - S01E10 - Episode Title.srt
|----->Season01.jpg

Removing the Season01.jpg artwork and refreshing the metadata changed nothing. Doing the Plex Dance and refreshing metadata afterward also changed nothing. And as mentioned, I don’t have this issue with MKV files in a similar directory structure.

I was wondering if anyone else is experiencing this or, again, if it has already been reported.

2

Either

  • Disable “Use local assets” and/or “Prefer local metadata” in the properties of this library
  • remove the embedded artwork from the files’ metadata
3

Thank you for the quick ninja-like response.

I had “Use local assets” checked and “Prefer local metadata” unchecked.

When I unchecked “Use local assets” and refreshed the metadata, the thumbnails for the episodes changed to the episode screenshots - but then the Season artwork for the show changed to something other than Seasonxx.jpg, which is what I had in the season directory. Also the show artwork changed to something other than the show.jpg art I had in the directory.

I then checked “Prefer local metadata” (both settings now the opposite of what I had originally) and refreshed, and the Seasonxx.jpg artwork and show.jpg artwork came back, but so did the original problem for the episodes.

Sure, I could make both settings unchecked and then individually change the season (and show) artwork, but that seems to be a time-consuming task.

Again, I don’t have this issue with MKV files, just MP4. Thought it might be a bug.

I guess for now I’ll just strip the embedded artwork for the MP4 files as it seems to be the path of least resistance.

4

The reason is that Plex can read embedded meta tags/artwork from mp4, but not from mkv.

5

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