Older Version

Plex Media Server
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Is there somewhere I can download an older version of Plex? Maybe one that is 4 or 5 years old. You know. When Plex actually worked.

Thanks.

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There’s no official repository of old (outdated) versions.

Any specific issues you’re trying to fix/overcome (given you specifically joined the forum for this post)?

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I have a dedicated computer running PLEX. The only thing this computer runs is Windows 11 and PLEX. All of the issues I see are on my two TVs, two computers and even on my PLEX server.

I have a 48tb drive array for all of my media and I keep it very organized. For example, I have a folder for TV and in that folder are separate folders for each show and in that folder are separate folders for each season. I have also done the same for movies with a folder for “Action” then the different genera in their own folders, etc.

One example in TV is the show “Andromeda.” If I look at my hard drive there is a folder named Andromeda and in it are seasons 1–5. However, if I look at it in PLEX Andromeda only has one season, season 2. There is also a folder “Andromeda Strain” which has season 1, 3, 4 and 5. “Andromeda Strain” is a movie. The original made in 1971 and the remake in 2008. As far as I can tell there has never been a TV series called “Andromeda Strain.” Andromeda used to show up fine then one day, not so much.

Another example in TV is “Hawaii Five-0.” I have the 2010 series. That said, The cover art for the series, the cover art for each season, the description for each show and the cast are all form the 1968 show. The same thing happened with Magnum PI until one day I turned on my TV and Magnum PI had the modern cover art, descriptions, etc.

An example in MOVIES is “The Hunger Games.” If I look on my drive I have 4 movies. However if I look at it in PLEX only one shows up. If I navigate to “Play Version” I have the choice to play “3.8 Mbps, 1080p (H.264),” “10.6 Mbps, 1080p (H.264),” “9.1 Mbps, 1080p (H.264),” or “1 Mbps, 720p (H.264).” Each one of these choices correspond to one of the moves on my drive.

About 4 months ago I bought a new computer for my server. I reinstalled everything from scratch, but still have the same issues only with different TV shows and movies.

Please note…everything worked perfectly at one point in time. The issues and errors just happened on their own.

The last thing I’ll mention is if I look at my PLEX server two libraries (Misc and Cartoons) give me an error “We’re having trouble finding this page. It might have been deleted.” However they both work fine on both of my TVs and computers.

I worked as a software engineer for a little over 30 years and the best advice I ever got is fix the bugs BEFORE adding new features.

I hope this note helps. Thanks.

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There actually is: The Andromeda Strain - TheTVDB.com

But that aside, pretty much everything you’re describing is most likely caused by one (or a combination) of these:

  • not adhering to the recommended naming guides https://support.plex.tv/articles/categories/your-media/
  • pointing the Plex library to the wrong part of the folder structure (either too high or too low)
  • preferring the content of embedded meta tags in the library settings over file names, when those tags contain nonsense incorrect information

Not adhering to the naming guides might cause that. It can work for years, until it doesn’t.
On top of that many years ago, Plex was also able to use a certain Google API which enabled it to resolve the rather cryptic “pirate scene” file names to the actual media titles. This API has long been retired by Google for obvious reasons.

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Thank you for the info, but no. All of my files in all categories adhere to your naming guidelines. The libraries are all pointing to the proper folders and sub-folders.

Tuesday night I watched a movie. When I turned the TV on Wednesday my movie library was gone. Just gone. When I went to PLEX server it’s like it was never there. I added it again and it now shows up as “new,” but it works. This isn’t the first time this scenario has occurred.

I checked out everything you listed above and it should all work, but it doesn’t. The only thing that’s changed from the time PLEX worked until now is the PLEX version.

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Can you please provide exact filenames and directory paths for a couple episodes of both season 1 & 2 of Andromeda, along with a screenshot of your Edit Library => add folders section?

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There is a movie and TV show named “The Andromeda Strain” which is what your show is getting mismatched with (see below)

In the show folder you have to have the date at a bare minimum when you have multiple shows with the same names

You can take it one step further to guarantee a match by adding the tvdb or tmdb id for shows and an imdb or tmdb id for movies

TV Shows
Andromeda (2000) {tvdb-77544}
The Andromeda Strain (2008) {tvdb-81843} <-this one you don’t have I’m only giving it to you so you can see

A movie
The Andromeda Strain (1971) {imdb- tt0066769}

Hawaii Five-0 (2010) {tvdb-164541}
Hawaii Five-0 (1968) {tvdb-71223}

Rename your show folders and plex dance <-click

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Are you saying that you have pointed libraries to sub-folders and to their parent folders?
Please give an example of a folder structure for a tv show and please point out the folder level which has been added to the Plex library.

  • Do you happen to have several Windows user accounts on the server computer?
  • Are you using “Registry cleaner/optimizer” software on that computer? Or “Uninstaller” software?
  • Is this server computer part of a Microsoft Domain with “roaming user profiles”?
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