Plex can't analyze certain files (Music and Movies) \ Server settings wont save \ Won't update when matching movie

Plex Media Server Desktops & Laptops
1

Server Version#: Version 1.14.1.5488
Player Version#: Version 3.81.1
Distro: Debian 9

First off, sorry for the long title. I am having a multitude of issues that I never really noticed until recently. This all started around the 7th of December when I went to add a couple movies and 1 looked like the default entry where it shows some generated pixelated movie cover and shows the movie name. As usual when this happens i go to analyze it (which usually gives me the match option if that doesn’t show up right away) and it says “There was a problem analyzing this item”. Since then there has been another movie that i can’t analyze, so I just recently updated to the newest version (as listed above) and I get the same thing. However, analyzing movies that have proper metadata I see that I simply can’t analyze anything.

On movies the 2 movies I mentioned above, I get the option to match. When I click match and click on the specific item I want to match it with, the window goes away but nothing happens.

While trying to troubleshoot this issue, I stumbled upon another issue. When I make any server setting changes, it says that the changes couldn’t be saved. If I click the button again it will say the settings were saved, but if i click out and back in, the server settings didn’t change.

I tried browsing through my logs, but I am not sure which I should be looking in and browsing through most of them. I don’t see anything that stands out.

I don’t change server settings often, so I am not sure when that stopped working. Everything was working fine (to my knowledge) in November and I don’t believe I changed anything on the server since.

Also I am on what appears to be the newest version, but It says there is an update that needs to be manually installed. I just recently purchased Plex Pass and I am not sure if that changes anything on the server.

I have plenty of space on the hard drive as well.

I can provide logs or screenshots. Just let me know what you need to see. Any help is greatly appreciated.

2

From what you’re describing, there is a permissions issue within the Plex metadata.
Rather than trying to find the offending files, it’s easier to just hit it with a big hammer.

sudo systemctl stop plexmediaserver
sudo chown -R plex:plex /var/lib/plexmediaserver
sudo find /var/lib/plexmediaserver -type d -exec chmod 755  {} \;
sudo find /var/lib/plexmediaserver -type f -exec chmod 644 {} \;
sudo systemctl start plexmediaserver

This:

  1. Stop PMS
  2. Set’s the ownership to plex:plex (the default)
  3. Sets the directories to 755 permissions (the default)
  4. Sets the files to 644 permissions (the default)
  5. Starts PMS
3

Thanks for the response!

I tried this and no dice…It sounded promising though. I thought it may be some funky permissions as well. I just forgot about individual file and folder permissions when I tried myself. Then when I was trying I didnt stop the server first which was another reason why i thought this may work.

EDIT: sorry i messed up the quote some how. Just thinking out loud here, If I wasn’t paying close attention could I have possibly installed the 32 bit over a 64 bit some how or vice versa and if I did, would that possibly cause these types of issues?

4

On Linux, the binary package is stored in a different area than your data.

The package installs in /usr/lib/plexmediaserver where all other packages usually go.
Your metadata is created in /var/lib/plexmediaserver/Library

By doing this, you can uninstall and reinstall the software at will without impacting your data.
You can upgrade, downgrade, change 32 -> 64 even without impact.

If you can create a DEBUG (not VERBOSE) log file set for me, I will look.
Recreate what it’s doing / not doing,
let it wait 20-30 second after it finishes to get everything in the log file
Settings - Server - Troubleshooting - Download Logs
Attach the ZIP file it gives you here and I will check it out.

5

Plex Media Server Logs_2018-12-20_22-58-47.zip (1.2 MB)

I tried analyzing some files and then tried matching metadata and also tried changing a server setting all within a minute or 2 of grabbing those logs. Hope this helps

6

I have some certains about how your media is named.
This wild of a reply, with such low hit percentages , shouldn’t be happening.

Dec 20, 2018 22:57:55.227 [0x7f0c693f6700] DEBUG -  67: Before I Go to Sleep ()
Dec 20, 2018 22:57:55.227 [0x7f0c693f6700] DEBUG -  66: Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again ()
Dec 20, 2018 22:57:55.227 [0x7f0c693f6700] DEBUG -  57: Just Go with It ()
Dec 20, 2018 22:57:55.227 [0x7f0c693f6700] DEBUG -  56: Jack Reacher: Never Go Back ()
Dec 20, 2018 22:57:55.227 [0x7f0c693f6700] DEBUG -  52: Never Let Me Go ()
Dec 20, 2018 22:57:55.227 [0x7f0c693f6700] DEBUG -  50: Before We Go ()
Dec 20, 2018 22:57:55.227 [0x7f0c693f6700] DEBUG -  49: Teen Titans Go! To the Movies ()
Dec 20, 2018 22:57:55.227 [0x7f0c693f6700] DEBUG -  45: Go ()
Dec 20, 2018 22:57:55.227 [0x7f0c693f6700] DEBUG -  36: All Dogs Go to Heaven ()
Dec 20, 2018 22:57:55.227 [0x7f0c693f6700] DEBUG -  34: Everything Must Go ()
Dec 20, 2018 22:57:55.228 [0x7f0c693f6700] DEBUG -  30: Happy-Go-Lucky ()
Dec 20, 2018 22:57:55.228 [0x7f0c693f6700] DEBUG -  27: Away We Go ()
Dec 20, 2018 22:57:55.228 [0x7f0c693f6700] DEBUG -  16: Just Before I Go ()
Dec 20, 2018 22:57:55.228 [0x7f0c693f6700] DEBUG -  15: Go Fast ()
Dec 20, 2018 22:57:55.228 [0x7f0c693f6700] DEBUG -  12: Rugrats Go Wild ()
Dec 20, 2018 22:57:55.228 [0x7f0c693f6700] DEBUG -   6: Go Goa Gone ()
Dec 20, 2018 22:57:55.228 [0x7f0c693f6700] DEBUG -   3: Go Figure ()
Dec 20, 2018 22:57:55.229 [0x7f0c733fe700] DEBUG - Completed: [192.168.1.136:57742] 200 GET /library/metadata/4644/matches?manual=1 (12 live) TLS GZIP 2001ms 1006 bytes (pipelined: 6)

Obviously the word “Go” is in the title. Can you show me the real file name as you have it?

I’m not seeing other errors. It appears to be your naming.

Can you show me how you have your movies and music naming structured?

7

I can give you some screenshots tomorrow, I am headed to bed now, but I will say that I just changed that file name after having issues today to my usual schema which is drive/Movies/MovieName/Moviename.ext so for that movie specifically its drive/Movies/Go/Go.mkv the movie is named Go from 1999 https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0139239/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1 which is probably why its grabbing anything with go in the title. Thats only when I can get it to let me match. If i restart the server I can only analyze it and thats when I get “failed to analyze this item.”

I didn’t really see any errors either which is why im totally confused. I’m thinking about just reinstalling maybe. Like i said this was all working fine last month and I’ve only added like 10-15 movies since then and maybe 30-40 songs ish.

8

You’re missing a vital piece of info. Your example showed it.

The format is "/top/level/directory/Name (Year)/Name (Year).ext

Without the year, to pin it down, it will try to find the best match based on partial information.
That’s why the variety of possible matches showing up in your logs but none being sufficient to match

Give that a shot.
Remember to “Plex Dance” the movie.

  1. Move out
  2. Scan files
  3. Empty Trash
  4. Clean Bundles
  5. Rename Directory and Movie
  6. Move back
  7. Scan files again if not set to auto-detect
9

Thanks a bunch for your help on this. I feel really dumb, but I found out the issue was with my browser and some type of plugin or extension that was on it. If i run it without any of those it works fine.

This makes sense why we didn’t find any issues in the logs. Sorry to waste your time, but thanks for trying to tackle this for me!

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