For movies metadata like coverart and subtitles are 9 out of 10 times added automatically but for tv it’s generally a mess. I have an external drive set up with:
E:\Download (if using torrents)
E:\Film (all finished files)
E:\Tv (adding files manually from Film and renaming them after PLex recomendations)
with a connected film and tv library set up in PLex.
I tried setting up the Tv library in PLex to add files from the Film folder in addition to TV folder as I’ve read that plex is able to separate these files and organize in the right view but in reality this “robust” file handling is anything but. For each tv series I now have to to pull out my laptop from my stereo bench and set up folder structure and rename after PLex’ recommendations with and <season 1> as sub folder, and copy/paste to Tv folder. If I don’t (with adding Film folder to TV) the tv series will not be visible at all, it will be visible as a movie and/or it will lack meatdata. Is it really necessary to manually set this up each time? It sort of takes away some of the purpose of a media center…It shouldn’t be that difficult for PLex to this in the background either as there are quite distinct differentiators (like number of files, length of files) between a movie and a tv series even if the naming conventions vary.
Pleas advise if I can improve my settings or setup to open up for a little more automation in file handling and presentation.
No, you still have to have three folders. One download, one movie, one TV. The script senses what is what and copies (if you want to keep seeding for instance) the file into the correct folder structure and file name (automatically, when its complete). One should never point plex to a download folder or such, since scanning incomplete files is not recommended. And mixing tv and movie is big no-no as you’ve already seen.
If you combine above with a rss feed and regexp matching, you will have a fully automatic setup.
@Peter_W I have three folders, Download where active files are stored, e.g torrents, Movie where the finished files are moved and TV where I manually copy tv shows from the Movie folder. You are saying I don’t even have to point the Tv library to the Movie folder where the files are but that the script will “sense” the different folders and know where to put the files? How can it even do copying when the file is active in the torrent client and locked from being moved? _
@jbac13 I looked up Sick Beard and it looks very interesting. I mostly read about it in connection with Usenet, would it also work with a torrent client?
Not sure about torrents. I know that with sick beard you add a show and point to the directory you want it. You do use a usenet server and Sabnzbd to download. I never manually download an episode. Everything is automatic and the quality and amazing and you can set this to 720 or 1080 it’s the way forward
@Ollie78 said: I have three folders, Download where active files are stored, e.g torrents, Movie where the finished files are moved and TV where I manually copy tv shows from the Movie folder. You are saying I don’t even have to point the Tv library to the Movie folder where the files are but that the script will “sense” the different folders and know where to put the files? How can it even do copying when the file is active in the torrent client and locked from being moved? _
OK. I’ll try again, sorry for my bad attempt att explaining this. Your torrent client downloads a certain (legal) file to a catalog. When it has completed its download it kicks of Filebot. Filebot is a renaming tool. It, simplified, does when fired off a few things. First it unrars if need be, then it checks the file online against tvdb or moviedb (it “senses” what it should be for type). It then incorporate that filename as per how Plex wants it and copies it from your download catalog to either TV or movies, depending on what type of file it is.
So, your files will never go from Download to Movies to TV. It will always go Download - Movies OR TV. That’s the beauty of Filebot and how extremely flexible it is. You can even get it to poke Plex and make it start a manual scan if need be for the new files. Basically, you don’t have to do much else besides adding your torrent file to your client (and even that can be automated).
@jbac13 I must ask that you send such explicit details about providers etc via PM or other means to the OP. We are on the very fringe of what Plex as such accepts on these forums. So, no talking about where one can get certain stuff - please.
@Peter_W
I have tried the script but afaict it does nothing. have even set up folders similar to the guide with incomplete, downloads,movies and tv shows. added the download folder to the Ut script. plex library now points to movie and tv folder which now only get updated by manually moving files from download folder as the script should handle that. but nothing happens. Im using external drive but can’t see how that shouldt be supported…
Noah, the author of Filebot, will surely be able to help you if you ask on his forum. I have it working but it isn’t on Windows and I’m not using that client. Your setup sounds right though. I would personally try and do the the cmd test-run to make sure that both your installation of filebot and the code works. Try perhaps to repair Filebot.
Thanks. I’ll not bother you with this much longer but one final (rookie) question: Since this code is run withiun Ut I don’t have to actually install anything? But to run it in cmd console with the script on the filebot.net page I guess I need to do a manual install …? When I run it now in cmd I get message that Windosa can’t find Filebot
Yes, sorry for not pointing that fact out. You’ll need the actual Filebot program installed. Regardless if you use it automatically or not it is a great piece of software as one doesn’t have to rename files manually.
