Newbie help

Plex Media Server Desktops & Laptops
1

Server Version#: 4.76.1
Player Version#: Android 9.0.6.31998

Hi,
I’m new to Plex. I’m finding it amazing and powerful, but I’m also overwhelmed. For now, I just need some direction on how to get my movies to name and organize correctly. I would also like to use subtitles, which I’m thus far unable to do. I’ve read some of the FAQs, but can’t seem to figure out some of the basics.
I’m running Plex on a i5 laptop and the server seems to be running fine. I’m accessing the server via the Android app and that seems to be working fine. I can view all my content from my Android phone. Specifically, I could use some help with the following:

  1. Even though I’ve tried to name my media files (i.e. *.avi and *.mp4) correctly, some are not showing up correctly. They do not have cover art or a proper name and instead of a cover it looks like a screenshot from within the movie.
  2. I cannot figure out how to properly configure the agents on the server. There’s no “save” button and I don’t even know what the best or proper settings are.
  3. I cannot get subtitles to work. My *mp4 files have embedded subtitles and are the only ones I care about and want to get working, at this point.
  4. I would like to know if I can (and if so, how) to change the cover art or use my own.
  5. I would like to figure out how to re-order how some titles are listed. For example, “Blade: Trinity” is not next to “Blade” and “Blade II” in my listing. It’s on the next line.
    I know this is a lot. Assistance with any one of these issue would be greatly appreciated.
    Thanks!
    TCF
2

Naming files for Plex has nothing to do with the extension by naming Plex means like this:
Movie Name (date).ext where ext is simply any extension that means media.
For TV shows it is a bit more complex:
*
TV Shows ← The TV library points here
_______ShowName (year)
____________Season 01
__________________ShowName (year) - s01e01 - Optional Name.ext
_________________ShowName (year) - s01e02 - Optional Name.ext
__________________and so on for the shows in season 01
____________Season 02 ← just like Season 01
____________Season 03 ← and so on for each season
____________Season 00 ← or “Specials”
__________________ShowName (year) - s00e01 - Optional name
__________________ShowName (year) - s00e02 - Optional name
__________________and so on for each special

Note 1: the eXX part of the specials must match EXACTLY what is found in TheTVDB

Note 2: The (year) may be omitted for shows that do not have more than one occurrence throughout the years.

There are many other structures and naming systems that work but this is the one I use and it just works.

For a mass rename I use FileBot with this format string {n.replaceTrailingBrackets()} - {s00e00.lower()} - {t}

3

Start here: Category : Your Media | Plex Support

4

I’ve also found that if you have a TV show that has an amazingly LONG name, it absolutely matters to have the folder named that. But the individual files can omit the show name and just start with S01E01 - whatever
You may need to do this on a windows machine if the combined file name path exceeds the maximun number of allowed charachters which I think on an NTFS drive is something like 256.

If you have an external subtitle file like an SRT file, just give it the exact same name as the media file with .en.srt at the end. PLEX will pick it up.

1 Like
5

ando tendo problemas com alguns filmes, não gosto de ficar clicando no (botão corresponder), acho que tenho que tentar fazer ele buscar os metadados automaticamente.

Obs, não sei se pode postar no idioma português do brasil

6

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Plex05.PNG1365×741 117 KB

Thank you everyone for your input and feedback. Let me back up a step and try to simplify and be more specific. 80% of my movies are displayed properly. However, some don’t and I cannot figure out why. As an example, I’ve included a screenshot of the first twelve movies that appear in my library. Here are some questions about those movies:

  1. Why does “3:10 to Yuma” appear twice, neither with the correct cover art and the first one does not appear to be the movie, itself?
  2. Why does the movie “Above the Law” and the 2 Airplane movies not have the correct cover art?
  3. Why does the movie “.45” with Mila Jovovich not appear her (or apparently anywhere in my movie list?
  4. How would I go about changing the cover art image that displays here for one or more of the movies that is currently displaying correctly?
    Thanks so much!
    TCF
7

The first item is a collection. https://support.plex.tv/articles/201273953-collections/
It was automatically created from embedded meta tags in your movie file. Remove the “Album” tag from your mp4 file.
You can use mp3tag to do this.

Verify that they are matched at all. https://support.plex.tv/articles/201018497-fix-match-match/
See if there is an embedded poster in the video file in landscape format. If so, remove it.
If the movie has been matched, edit the movie and select one of the other posters on offer. https://support.plex.tv/articles/201272763-edit-details/

Probably because your file and/or the folder has been named with a leading dot .
File names as this are considered “hidden” by Plex and are skipped altogether.
Workaround: name the file or the folder like this: 0.45 (2006) - {imdb-tt0259822}

8

Thank you OttoKerner! The light bulb just went off! I used TagScanner–the same program I use to edit *.MP3 file–and now I can see and edit all the movile files tags. I see where I can also add my own cover art here, too. I think this will solve 99% of my issues. Thanks again!

A couple more questions:

  1. How do you handle multiple versions of the same movie (e.g. alternate endings, etc.)?
  2. How to you do extras, bonus scenes, making of, etc.?

TCF

9
10

Well, cleaning up my tags did not have the effect I thought it would. I got the movie “.45” to appear, but all the other issues from my screenshot remain. I ran “Scan Library Files” and “Refresh All Metadata.” Is there something more I should do? Getting a little frustrated.
All of my movies are now separated from my TV Shows. Naming the TV Shows now seems like an impossible project after the issues I have with my movies. Each movie has it’s own folder and sometimes a subfolder for bonus scenes, interviews, etc. They look something like this:
X:\Multimedia\Ripped Media\AVI-MP4 Rips\Movies & TV Shows\Movies\0123\0.45 (2006)\0.45.mp4. Is this a problem.
Thanks, everyone. I really appreciate your patience and help!
TCF

11

The automatically created collection won’t go away automatically. You need to explicitly delete it.

Please post the content of the guid="... XML property from the Plex media info XML of the affected movies.

Do also tell which files are inside of the subfolder for each movie. Are there any graphic files named like poster.*, cover.* etc.?

12

I created XML files for “310 to Yuma” and “Above the Law,” but I an unsure how to upload them since I cannot upload a *.xml file.
The only files in my Movies folders besides *.avi (my old format) and .mp4 (the new) are external subtitle files (.idx and *.sub) files for the movies in *.avi format. I never use the external subtitle files and could just as well delete them.

13

I am only interested in a tiny portion of the full XML. Could you simply copy that into here?
A XML file is just text after all.
Or zip the files before dragging them into the editor.

14

Won’t accept *.rar. Had to chop some off the end due to 40,000 character limit.

<Video ratingKey="8890" key="/library/metadata/8890" guid="plex://movie/5d77682e2ec6b5001f6bb048" studio="Lionsgate" type="movie" title="3:10 to Yuma" librarySectionTitle="Fritz-Movies" librarySectionID="2" librarySectionKey="/library/sections/2" contentRating="R" summary="In Arizona in the late 1800s, infamous outlaw Ben Wade and his vicious gang of thieves and murderers have plagued the Southern Railroad. When Wade is captured, Civil War veteran Dan Evans, struggling to survive on his drought-plagued ranch, volunteers to deliver him alive to the "3:10 to Yuma", a train that will take the killer to trial." audienceRating="7.7" viewOffset="72000" lastViewedAt="1650159041" year="2007" tagline="Time waits for one man." thumb="/library/metadata/8890/thumb/1650833040" art="/library/metadata/8890/art/1650833040" duration="7348299" originallyAvailableAt="2007-09-06" addedAt="1427556687" updatedAt="1650833040" audienceRatingImage="imdb://image.rating" chapterSource="media" hasPremiumPrimaryExtra="1">

<Media id="8021" duration="7348299" bitrate="1659" width="640" height="480" aspectRatio="1.33" audioChannels="6" audioCodec="aac" videoCodec="h264" videoResolution="480" container="mp4" videoFrameRate="24p" optimizedForStreaming="0" audioProfile="lc" has64bitOffsets="1" videoProfile="main">

<Part accessible="1" exists="1" id="20399" key="/library/parts/20399/1650768363/file.mp4" duration="7348299" file="X:\Multimedia\Ripped Media\AVI-MP4 Rips\Movies & TV Shows\Movies\0123\310 to Yuma (2007)\310 to Yuma (2007).mp4" size="1527042635" audioProfile="lc" container="mp4" deepAnalysisVersion="6" has64bitOffsets="1" hasThumbnail="1" indexes="sd" optimizedForStreaming="0" requiredBandwidths="1903,1709,1709,1709,1709,1709,1709,1709" videoProfile="main">

<Stream id="24971" streamType="1" default="1" codec="h264" index="0" bitrate="1209" bitDepth="8" chromaLocation="left" chromaSubsampling="4:2:0" codedHeight="480" codedWidth="640" colorPrimaries="smpte170m" colorRange="tv" colorSpace="smpte170m" colorTrc="bt709" frameRate="23.976" hasScalingMatrix="0" height="480" level="30" profile="main" refFrames="1" requiredBandwidths="1455,1349,1349,1349,1349,1349,1349,1349" streamIdentifier="1" width="640" displayTitle="480p (H.264)" extendedDisplayTitle="480p (H.264)"> </Stream>

<Stream id="24972" streamType="2" selected="1" default="1" codec="aac" index="1" channels="6" bitrate="448" language="English" languageTag="en" languageCode="eng" profile="lc" requiredBandwidths="448,448,448,448,448,448,448,448" samplingRate="48000" streamIdentifier="2" displayTitle="English (AAC 5.1)" extendedDisplayTitle="English (AAC 5.1)"> </Stream>

<Stream id="24973" streamType="3" default="1" codec="vobsub" index="2" bitrate="2" language="English" languageTag="en" languageCode="eng" requiredBandwidths="3,3,3,3,3,3,3,3" streamIdentifier="3" displayTitle="English (VOBSUB)" extendedDisplayTitle="English (VOBSUB)"> </Stream>

</Part>

</Media>

<Video ratingKey="9256" key="/library/metadata/9256" guid="plex://movie/5d7768883ab0e7001f503bc0" studio="Syncopy" type="movie" title="The Dark Knight Rises" titleSort="Dark Knight Rises" librarySectionTitle="Fritz-Movies" librarySectionID="2" librarySectionKey="/library/sections/2" contentRating="PG-13" summary="Despite his tarnished reputation after the events of The Dark Knight (2008), in which he took the rap for Dent's crimes, Batman feels compelled to intervene to assist the city and its Police force, which is struggling to cope with Bane's plans to destroy the city." rating="8.7" audienceRating="9.0" year="2012" tagline="The Legend Ends" thumb="/library/metadata/9256/thumb/1650143098" art="/library/metadata/9256/art/1650143098" duration="9872554" originallyAvailableAt="2012-07-19" addedAt="1574296983" updatedAt="1650143098" audienceRatingImage="rottentomatoes://image.rating.upright" chapterSource="media" hasPremiumExtras="1" hasPremiumPrimaryExtra="1" ratingImage="rottentomatoes://image.rating.ripe">

<Media id="8387" duration="9872554" bitrate="1499" width="720" height="304" aspectRatio="2.35" audioChannels="6" audioCodec="aac" videoCodec="h264" videoResolution="sd" container="mp4" videoFrameRate="24p" optimizedForStreaming="0" audioProfile="lc" has64bitOffsets="1" videoProfile="main">

<Part id="20784" key="/library/parts/20784/1574296983/file.mp4" duration="9872554" file="X:\Multimedia\Ripped Media\AVI-MP4 Rips\Movies & TV Shows\Movies\D\Dark Knight Rises, The (2012)\The Dark Knight Rises (2012) (720x304).mp4" size="1854933345" audioProfile="lc" container="mp4" deepAnalysisVersion="6" has64bitOffsets="1" hasThumbnail="1" indexes="sd" optimizedForStreaming="0" requiredBandwidths="2108,1844,1537,1537,1537,1537,1537,1537" videoProfile="main">

<Stream id="25931" streamType="1" default="1" codec="h264" index="0" bitrate="1049" bitDepth="8" chromaLocation="left" chromaSubsampling="4:2:0" codedHeight="304" codedWidth="720" colorPrimaries="smpte170m" colorRange="tv" colorSpace="smpte170m" colorTrc="bt709" frameRate="23.976" hasScalingMatrix="0" height="304" level="30" profile="main" refFrames="1" requiredBandwidths="1659,1396,1212,1212,1212,1212,1212,1212" streamIdentifier="1" width="720" displayTitle="SD (H.264)" extendedDisplayTitle="SD (H.264)"> </Stream>

<Stream id="25932" streamType="2" selected="1" default="1" codec="aac" index="1" channels="6" bitrate="448" language="English" languageTag="en" languageCode="eng" profile="lc" requiredBandwidths="449,449,449,449,449,449,449,449" samplingRate="48000" streamIdentifier="2" displayTitle="English (AAC 5.1)" extendedDisplayTitle="English (AAC 5.1)"> </Stream>

<Stream id="25933" streamType="3" default="1" codec="vobsub" index="2" bitrate="2" language="English" languageTag="en" languageCode="eng" requiredBandwidths="4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4" streamIdentifier="3" displayTitle="English (VOBSUB)" extendedDisplayTitle="English (VOBSUB)"> </Stream>

</Part>

</Media>

TCF

15

Looks like that didn’t work.

16

There’s a difference between Zip and RAR formats.

All good! I’ve deleted lot of irrelevant stuff.

17

guid="plex://movie/5d77682e2ec6b5001f6bb048"
and
guid="plex://movie/5d7768883ab0e7001f503bc0"
tell us that these movies have been successfully “matched”.

Have you tried to “Refresh Metadata” of both these individual movies?

After doing so, “edit” the movies and see if there are other posters available for selection.

18

Thanks, OttoKerner. “3:10 to Yuma” and “Above the Law” now have the correct cover art, as do many of my other movies that were not displaying properly after editing the meta data. So the key is to wait about a week after making changes? Why does it take so long?

So some of my title are still not displaying properly and I think it’s because of how they are named, such as “Crow, The Collector’s Series,” Pumping Iron, 25th Anniversary Edition," etc. I kind of wanted to keep the edition in the title, but I’m guessing I have to remove this information to get the movies to display properly?
Oh, and I still have the extraneous “3:10 to Yuma” entry (attached).
Thanks again! I still have lots of questions, but I really appreciate how much you’ve helped me so far. I
Plex06
never would have figure out any of this on my own!
TCF

19

Plex ignores information in square brackets.

Try Pumping Iron (1977) [25th Anniversary Edition].ext

Also, Plex reads embedded metadata in mp4 files. Make sure the metadata is correct.

You can disable reading embedded metadata if desired. Edit the library, choose Advanced, uncheck the box for Prefer local metadata and save changes. Refresh the metadata for the movie or library to update existing item(s).

20

The entry with 1 movie is a collection.

You can delete it or tell Plex not to display them (Edit Library → Advanced → Collections = Disabled).