Server Version#:
Player Version#: 1.35.1.2632-c6783c78
I am so done with Plex at this point. Just updated yesterday and my entire Music video library is destroyed. No files in the collections, video names replaced with truncated versions, i.e. “Peter Gabriel - 01 Father, Son” now just shows as “Father, Son” so I have a huge list of files with no idea who they’re by. I’ve spent literally hundreds of hours curating this library into playlists and collections and it’s all been wiped out overnight.
Time to move on to something better and more reliable.
Do you not have backups activated cuz then you can retrieve your database from a previous state and delete the one that’s messed up. Everyone has their preference of container and method but personally I use .mp4 or .m4v containers because the metadata can stay enclosed in the files regardless of what the files name was given. Also the metadata stays intact when Plex does a metadata refresh accidentally. I can just revert or delete the library and start fresh and the metadata just snaps back into place. I apply Artist or Band name through the Actor field. I’ve used iTunes in the past to edit multiple videos at once but iTunes had a bug that wouldn’t always save the metadata consistently. There would usually be one or two videos every so often that didn’t get the info saved and it would be a PITA, but still more reliable than the file naming. You can also preemptively apply at least one Collection to each video so most of your collections stay intact when unexpected metadata refreshes happen. I forgot off hand which tag field it goes to.
Wasn’t aware you could back them up, but I assume that even if I restored an old one, the new version would just mess it up again.
I take your point about the metadata, but it was mainly the lost collections and playlists.
Thanks for the reply
Great tip. I haven’t tried using NFO files because this was just recent that Plex now has the ability to read them, but I was working on my music video library years ago and then revamped the metadata a couple years ago. It won’t hurt to try this out as well.
Use the same Collection name across the Music Library AND your Music Video library and all references of media should appear together. Not done automatically however the usage of multiple selection tool can be used to select whatever specific albums or artists can be associated and it’s more fine tuned had to your needs than say letting Plex recommend ones that you don’t want put together.
In my music library, some of the music videos are added as “extra” under the artists. It’s rather inconsistent, I have more music videos, but they don’t associate with the artist, only a handful.
As a side note to music videos, I have DizqueTV running as a virtual tuner to basically shuffle the music videos and stream for Plex. It’s like having MTV when they used to play music videos.
Oh hey, I had issues with it when it was forked from the original project and I put that project on the back burner. I would get huge buffering delays for no reason and abrupt crashes so I’m glad to see its working for those who kept with it. And I agree, nothing beats having your very own personal MTV running. If you check out YT there’s a slew of uploads of old cuts of MTV footage, about an hour long. It’s nice to check out what the original MTV was like every now and again. I’ll have to find time to try DizqueTV again.
So I decided to give it one more chance. I fixed the entire library (took me about 4 hours of solid work). I’ve just opened Plex today about a week later and it’s all destroyed again. All my curated collections are empty. Plex, if you’re listening (though I doubt it) this is unacceptable. You need to provide a way to lock a library.
