PLEX doesn't recognize my TV series. Why?

Server Version#: 1.23.5.4841-549599676

Hi. I have a directory with a couple of TV / Animation series, but PLEX only recognize some of them… 4 of 8:

I would like to know why happens this, and how can I make PLEX to match my animation series.

This is the content of ‘Macross II’ dir:

Macross II.IMDB.url
Macross II.Poster.jpg
Macross II.Thumbs.jpg
Season #1

This is the content of ‘Macross II\Season #1’ dir:

Macross II [Ending].mkv
Macross II [Opening].mkv
Macross II [OVA] 1.mkv
Macross II [OVA] 2.mkv
Macross II [OVA] 3.mkv
Macross II [OVA] 4.mkv
Macross II [OVA] 5.mkv
Macross II [OVA] 6.mkv

This is the content of ‘Resident Evil꞉ Infinite Darkness’ dir:

Resident Evil꞉ Infinite Darkness.IMDB.url
Resident Evil꞉ Infinite Darkness.PLEX.nfo
Resident Evil꞉ Infinite Darkness.Poster.jpg
Resident Evil꞉ Infinite Darkness.Thumbs.jpg
Season #1

NOTE: the .nfo file contains the IMDB title Id.

This is the content of ‘Resident Evil꞉ Infinite Darkness\Season #1’ dir:

Resident Evil꞉ Infinite Darkness [S1] 1.mkv
Resident Evil꞉ Infinite Darkness [S1] 2.mkv
Resident Evil꞉ Infinite Darkness [S1] 3.mkv
Resident Evil꞉ Infinite Darkness [S1] 4.mkv

Note that I tried moving the 4 chapters outside “Season #1” folder to put them together with the .nfo file, all in the same single folder, but PLEX still doesn’t recognize it.

Also note that with the recognized TV series I’m using the same naming pattern like with Resident Evil serie, for example with ‘Hyper Police’:

Hyper Police\Season #1
             Hyper Police [S1] 01.mp4
             Hyper Police [S1] 02.mp4
             Hyper Police [S1] 03.mp4
             etc...

And PLEX recognizes fine that TV serie. So…?.

If I try to enter any “Season #1” folder of the non-recognized TV series (eg. ‘…\Macross II\Season #1’) using PLEX , it says the folder is empty:

1 Like

Plex DocumentationNaming & Organizing Your MediaNaming and Organizing Your TV Show Files

  • Follow Plex naming and organization.
  • Use the show name and episode order as listed on thetvdb.com (Macross II).
  • Plex Dance the entire show after renaming/reorganizing.
/TV Shows <-- TV Library points here.  Folder name does not matter.
.../Macross II  <-- Each show in its own folder
....../Season 01 <-- "Season" in English.  Two digits for season number
........./Macross II - s01e01.ext <-- ext = mkv/mp4/etc.

Screenshot (727)

2 Likes

To support FordGuy61’s directions, I can say from experience that getting anime to match up can be tricky. I had to fiddle with Macross content too!

In your library setup, you’ve picked a source for matching and sometimes it helps to line up your files with the sources (either TMDB or TVDB etc) when setting up the file naming.

Many folks like using Filebot to help with this process: https://www.filebot.net

1 Like

After some trial-and-error I found what was happening. And it is absurd.

The thing is that it seems PLEX expects a enumeration starting with ZERO, for example this will be recognized fine:

Macross II [OVA] 01.mkv
Macross II [OVA] 02.mkv

This will not:

Macross II [OVA] 1.mkv
Macross II [OVA] 2.mkv

…just because the numbering lacks of a zero, these files will not appear in my PLEX.

If I add a zero to the numbering of the episodes of all my non-recognized series (like in the example I gave above), they become recognized / added to my PLEX. That says it all.

From my humble opinion, could developers please consider this as a design inconsistency?. Because series or seasons with less than 10 episodes shouldn’t have a numbering padded with zeros like 01.mkv, 02.mkv, 03.mkv, etc… I think plex should match also numbering without zero padding, like 1.mkv, 2.mkv, 3.mkv and so on.

Thanks for read.

1 Like

In order to account for season and episode numbering it helps to follow the structure Plex states as their format. This format is followed by most media centers.

What you’re running into is a problem specific with anime in that they often use absolute numbering vs season numbering.

3 Likes

Read the documentation.

Plex expects a season folder and file name with sXXeYY.

Other naming structures will work until they don’t.

2 Likes

Yeah… I cheat with anime sometime and skip the season renaming part but I know if it breaks it’s on me. :slight_smile:

Usually can only get away with that for season one.

Edit for @CSG1986 : If you have SxEx it can manage S1E1.mkv vs S01E01.mkv so it’s not so much the 01 vs 1 issue but the matching algorithm having to parse the numbers and having 01 vs 1 tells it that it’s 1 and not 10 (sorta thing).

1 Like

Thanks guys for your answer and for trying to help me. As I said I managed to solve it just adding a “0” (zero) to the episode number in my filenames, but forcing me to do that becomes a new problem for me, and I would like that maybe devs could take into account this request…

So, in summary, I discovered that files from TV Shows with this naming pattern will not be added into PLEX:

Episode 1.mkv
Episode 2.mkv
Episode 3.mkv

…because the absolute episode number doesn’t start with zero.

But files from TV Shows with this naming will be added into PLEX:

Episode 01.mkv
Episode 02.mkv
Episode 03.mkv

…because the absolute episode number starts with zero.

I still say, from my humble opinion, this may be considered a design inconsistency.

I think PLEX should take into account the scenario where filenames from TV shows have a numbering that doesn’t start with zero. Since it seems from my experiments that PLEX only takes into account episode numbers that are padded with zero and ignore “normal numbers”, I’ll say that is a inconsistency.

Precisely I do not add a zero to the numbering of episodes in series of less than 10 chapters, because it is inconsistent and it does not make sense to start the enumeration with a zero, if there are less than 10 chapters.

In series with 10 or more chapters yes I add zero to the episode number. But what I say is that PLEX should take into account both scenarios, absolute episode numbers that are padded or not padded with zero, in any of both numberings the files should be parsed properly.

Thanks for read

There are lots of folks with lots of preferences for files - I for one don’t like leaving out the 0 before single digit because it makes the filenames not line up.

What you’re running into is what has evolved\developed across media center software (and TV ripping groups) over many years. Anime fansubbers never really followed that format until recently and even then not so much and it doesn’t really work with OVAs either.

So, in order for a machine - software like Plex - to be able to scan TV Show files and match them to TV Show references online there need to be some parameters. One of those parameters that is common with TV shows is Season and Episode. TV Shows have seasons and episodes. It’s a structure.

So, the Plex agent scans your files and sees Macross II 1.mkv … is that Season 1 or Episode 1? It’s expecting the Season and Episode structure of S1E1 which is standard practice and common across TV show rippers and the sources for matching the files … and it’s missing from your file. It’s not that you didn’t include 0 on the number, it’s that you didn’t include a Season.

Plex file scanners also “know” 1 is more often used for seasons than 01 is so it thinks 1 is a season reference but if it has a 01 it “guesses” it’s an episode because that’s more common for episodes. If it can’t tell if it’s season vs episode it won’t guess.

What you’re running into is a problem specific to anime in that anime uses absolute numbering for episodes. That doesn’t mean 1 vs 01 but the fact that they number episodes 1-200 (like Naruto) instead of Season1-10 with 20 episodes per season. That’s what absolute numbering means in this context (not 1 vs 01). Older anime rips in particular - and especially things like OVAs like you have there - make it even trickier and just requires some additional management on your part to line up with the more common standards for TV naming. Newer anime releases definitely follow this structure better but some people still prefer things the same as you do as well - it just doesn’t work as well in a media center that needs to match the files to a media source like TMDB or TVDB.

So, when I grab fansubs I have to rename the files to include S01E01 (or S1E1) otherwise Plex can’t know that it’s matching the file to the right thing on TMDB.

All media center software works this way and was developed over years and years of managing this situation. Software for matching filenames to TV shows just can’t be arbitrary if you want it to match up reliably and you’re hitting a bit of the arbitrary stuff where it kinda works but doesn’t work well unless you follow the structure of SxxExx.

You can either do this per file or depending on your operating system you can have renamer apps help. OS X has a built in way to automatically rename files quickly. There’s a bunch of free tools that will do it on Windows. Filebot, the app I linked above, does a VERY nice job of renaming and formatting for you so that it will definitely match and work with Plex’s file structure requirements. Lots of folks like that one.

Edit: Here’s some of my own examples of ones that work but aren’t always in the ‘right way’. The thing is, I know they aren’t the right way so if they don’t work I have to NOT be lazy and rename the files. :slight_smile:

Macross:

/Macross (1982)
.../Season 01
....../Macross_01.mkv
....../Macross_02.mkv

That is NOT correct naming … but it works. It wouldn’t work without me putting it in that Season folder or adding the year (too many other “Macross” matches).

My Hero Academia:

/My Hero Academia
.../My Hero Academia S5E09 (97).mkv
.../My Hero Academia S5E10 (98).mkv

That is also not the right structure but it works as long as I have the SXXEXX in the name - and I use the (98) to keep track of the absolute episode number.

One Punch Man:

/One Punch Man
.../One Punch Man Season 1
....../One Punch Man 01.mkv
....../One Punch Man 02v2.mkv
.../One Punch Man S2
....../One Punch Man S02E01.mkv
....../One Punch Man S02E02.mkv

That all works that way but it ain’t right. I got lucky. Lazy wins this time.

Megalobox:

/Megalobox
.../Season 2
....../Megalobox 2 - S2E01.mkv
....../Megalobox 2 - S2E02.mkv

If it weren’t for that 2 in the name of the file I could have gotten away without the S2E part but the scanner wouldn’t know what that first 2 meant so… had to do S2E01 and put it in a season folder.

Renaming files is a pain in the butt sometimes but there are lots of tools out there to help automate it - most are free. So don’t stress it too much and sometimes personal preferences have to take a back seat to functionality.

3 Likes

This topic was automatically closed 90 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.