Plex does not pick up media metadata at all

[boran_blok]

Server Version#: 1.13.5.5291
Player Version#: 3.65.1

Hi, I am trying to add some nonstandard media files to a plex library.

The files are structured like this (the library only contains this show for testing)

.
└── Babymetal
    ├── Season 2012
    │   ├── Babymetal - 2012-10-06 - LEGEND 'I' at Shibuya O-EAST.mkv
    │   ├── Babymetal - 2012-10-06 - LEGEND 'I' at Shibuya O-EAST.nfo
    │   ├── Babymetal - 2012-12-11 - The Making Of Ijime Dame Zettai.mkv
    │   ├── Babymetal - 2012-12-11 - The Making Of Ijime Dame Zettai.nfo
    │   ├── Babymetal - 2012-12-20 - LEGEND 'D' SU-METAL聖誕祭 at Akasaka BLITZ.mkv
    │   └── Babymetal - 2012-12-20 - LEGEND 'D' SU-METAL聖誕祭 at Akasaka BLITZ.nfo
    └── tvshow.nfo

I modified the MKVs to have the correct title:
Movie name : LEGEND 'I' at Shibuya O-EAST

I created nfo’s to have xbmc metadata for the title:

<episodedetails>
  <title>LEGEND 'I' at Shibuya O-EAST</title>
</episodedetails>

I created a new library with just this one show as subfolder and selected the XBMCnfoTVImporter as metadata agent.

I can see that agent sees the metadata in the nfo:

INFO (__init__:34) - UPDATE: /tvtmp/Babymetal/Season 2012/Babymetal - 2012-12-20 - LEGEND 'D' SU-METAL聖誕祭 at Akasaka BLITZ.mkv
INFO (__init__:34) - Looking for episode NFO file /tvtmp/Babymetal/Season 2012/Babymetal - 2012-12-20 - LEGEND 'D' SU-METAL聖誕祭 at Akasaka BLITZ.nfo
INFO (__init__:34) - File exists...
INFO (__init__:34) - Removing empty XML tags from tvshows nfo...
INFO (__init__:34) - Looks like an XBMC NFO file (has <episodedetails>)
INFO (__init__:34) - EpNum: 3 NFOEpCount:1 Current EpNFOPos: 1
INFO (__init__:34) - Removing remaining empty XML Tags from episode nfo...
INFO (__init__:34) - No EpNum from NFO! Assuming: 3
INFO (__init__:34) - Reading aired tag...
INFO (__init__:34) - No aired tag found...
INFO (__init__:34) - Reading dateadded tag...
INFO (__init__:34) - No dateadded tag found...
INFO (__init__:34) - Cant read rating from episode nfo.
INFO (__init__:34) - Trying to read <durationinseconds> tag from episodes .nfo file...
INFO (__init__:34) - Fallback to <runtime> tag from episodes .nfo file...
INFO (__init__:34) - No Episode Duration in episodes .nfo file.
INFO (__init__:1045) - ---------------------
INFO (__init__:1046) - Episode (S2012E03) nfo Information
INFO (__init__:1047) - ---------------------
INFO (__init__:1048) - Title: LEGEND 'D' SU-METAL at Akasaka BLITZ
INFO (__init__:1050) - Content: None
INFO (__init__:1052) - Rating: None
INFO (__init__:1054) - Premiere: None
INFO (__init__:1056) - Summary:
INFO (__init__:1058) - Writers:
INFO (__init__:1061) - Directors:
INFO (__init__:1065) - Duration: -
INFO (__init__:1066) - ---------------------

But in the plex UI I see this:

I have tried a LOT of things to get the titles in these files. Adittionally if I set the titles manually within plex. Any change I make to the entire series (add/rename file) resets all metadata back to these dates.

Is there anything I can do to get plex recognizing the titles?

[OttoKerner]

Although this is actually a question for the author of the .nfo importer agents, I think I know what the issue is:
Your .nfo doesn’t contain the title of the episode. Or if it does, the .nfo importer is unable to read it.

Plex will not read the episode title from the file name. It has to come from one of the agents - in your case the .nfo importer agent.

[boran_blok]

@boran_blok

<episodedetails>
  <title>LEGEND 'I' at Shibuya O-EAST</title>
</episodedetails>

Which part of that nfo does not contain a title?

And as far as I can see in the logs (wont copy/paste them again, see my initial post) they are being picked up by the XBMCnfoTVImporter. See the 1045 to 1066 parts in the log.

[OttoKerner]

I realised, that my answer above is not correct.
There may be some circumstances which lead Plex to forget the episode title:
You don’t use episode numbers in your file names.
Instead you are using a ‘date’.
But when you import meta data fron the .nfo, there is no ‘aired’ date in it either.

Here is an experiment:
Either

• rename your files, so they are using the regular s01e01 season/episode notation
• add the date of the episode into the .nfo as the ‘Aired’ date

[boran_blok]

I replied too fast as well it seems. I will try your proposed suggestions and report back.

The reason I want to use aired dates instead of season/ep notation is that this is a collection I am building that will be built over time and not in order.

I might find something later on that aired/happened on 2012-11-30 for example, and then that should go in between the others. if I work with season/episode I’d have to renumber or accept stuff being out of order.

In any case, I am adding aired date info to the nfo’s and see if it helps.

[boran_blok]

Yep, adding an aired tag to the nfo like this:

<episodedetails>
  <title>LEGEND 'D' SU-METAL at Akasaka BLITZ</title>
  <aired>2012-12-20</aired>
</episodedetails>

worked perfectly.

This is how it looks now:

Now I might want to add more stuff to it as well, but the titles were the main one for me.
Thanks for the help!

[boran_blok]

I am coming back to this topic as I have discovered an issue with this approach.

I have some episodes that “aired” on the same day. (For example a DVD special that was released on the same day as a concert)

Somehow plex sees this as two versions of the same file despite having completely different title, duration, etc. The only thing that is the same is the aired date.

Example:

The files:

I do not see any way to split these files back into two as I can do with movies.

Is there any way I can explain to plex that these files are NOT the same episode at all?

[OttoKerner]

@boran_blok

Is there any way I can explain to plex that these files are NOT the same episode at all?

I’m afraid not.
Plex can either use episode numbers or the date to distinguish episodes. Here, you’d have to use a mixture. And I think this is simply not supported. If there was no episode aired the following day, move the second eps to the next day.

Or, as suggested above, switch to episode numbers instead.