@tpresz said:
No. Not a lot of steps. But still VERY frustrating…
Here is the Encyclopedia on Media Preparation for use in Plex:
https://support.plex.tv/hc/en-us/categories/200028098
It is rather extensive and informative.
My Dad always said: ‘If at first you don’t succeed, try following the instructions’.
I recall that used to annoy me, but now realize that was wisdom that was well beyond my punk-a$$ years at the time…
I miss him.
If you look at the collective hours of people trying to resolve this, not to mention, the frustrated people who are just living with it. It’s just NOT something we should need to deal with.
In order to have a peaceful and productive co-existence with Plex there are a few ground rules to obey. It’s not really that complicated… so long as you know what those rules are.
How about a check box that says “Use Filename For Library Title”…?
That’s not how it works. Your file name must match the file name used by Plex and it’s Agents to match your file with the online databases. Your name may make sense to you, but it’s Greek to Plex.
From my post above:
How 'bout moving Local Media Assets out of the top slot in all your Agent Lists? This will tell Plex to STOP giving top priority to embedded metadata (which could be bogus and preventing a match):
https://support.plex.tv/hc/en-us/articles/200241558-Agents
BTW…
Under scheduled tasks, my “remove old bundles every week” box is checked.
Excellent. Not a bad idea at all. Might want to also Optimize Database automatically as well, but neither of those settings have any bearing on the problem at hand.
Is there a way to remove them now? If this is part of the problem, how do I know when the old bundles were removed?
From my post above:
Clean Bundles: -------> https://support.plex.tv/hc/en-us/articles/200392106-Library-Actions <---- along with empty trash and update libraries.
The Plex Dance has specific steps to perform in order. If you leave out steps or do other steps it’s not The Plex Dance… may be River Dance or Hamster Dance, but neither of those two Dances will produce the desired effect which is ‘Resetting a Bogus Bundle’ that contains info Plex can’t use to match your item(s). In fact, the bundle contains info that is ‘preventing’ a match… so we ‘re-boot’ the bundle by doing The Plex Dance… more accurately we Delete the Bundle, correct the file names and structure and build a brand new bundle with all the right stuff in it.
No… unfortunately there is no way to see what Plex is doing with your bundles. Often requested, often ignored. I always look at the drive light… when it goes dark I assume the bundles are clean and then I empty the trash. This shouldn’t take very long… under a minute I would say.
I had some Exercise DVD’s that I converted to MKV files so that Plex would read them. I thought it would be more convenient since I access them regularly. They are the "Insanity " series. I named all the created files according to the DVD name. Most turned out ok. I have one in particular that comes up in the library as “The Haunting”… Really? I can’t get rid of it. I basically MADE this file. There should be nothing to look for (metadata), no?
Files that you want to isolate from the process of matching with databases - because there is nothing listed in any database… like Home Movies, for instance, should go into a Home Movie Library. Plex doesn’t inspect Home Movies. They just appear as is… no bells, no whistles, no ribbons or pretty bows… just files. You can be ‘creative’ with your file names so you can find what you’re looking for.
The beauty of FileBot is that it will ‘Pre-Match’ your files with the appropriate online database. It then ‘Re-Names’ your files with those ‘Pre-Matched’ database items. All the guesswork is removed from the procedure. The file has already been matched and renamed before you add it to a library. The other beauty of FileBot is it all happens in seconds. The hand (pushing the FileBot button) is quicker than the eye. Link in my signature.
