Plex Library Display Names

Plex Media Server Metadata & Adding Files
1

Regarding the name of the movie that is displayed in the Plex library. It seems that with some of the movies I add to the library, Plex displays the original file name and other times it changes the displayed name to something else (from the metadata I assume). I find that the metadata names can be very cryptic and I can’t tell what’s what. With the file names, I can control it so that it’s short enough to display all I need to identify it.

Is there a way to tell the Media Server to always use the file name?

Thanks for your help.

2

Can you give an example of a movie you’re having an issue with?

3

Thanks for your Help! As an example…

I bought the Series Manhattan Season 1 - DVD format. Typically my process is to rip it using MKV and then resize the file using Hand Brake. When I resize the file I give it a new name like “Manhattan 110” When the Plex Server gets it, it sets the display name to something like “ Manhattan: Season 1 Disc 1 Ep00” . ( I don’t remember exactly.) So now when I see it in the Plex Player library there are several files that all display " Manhattan: Seas” and I can’t tell what’s what.

The Plex Media server uses my filename sometimes to display and other times it uses what I assume is the Metadata name. I hope I’m being clear.

4

This looks like your file has embedded metadata (e.g. „Manhattan: Season 1 Disc 1 Ep00“). This usually only happens for mp4/m4v files. From what I remember Plex ignores embedded metadata in MKV files.

For best results try to

If you don’t want to clean the files you should be able to manually match your show (for tv shows this is only available on the show level, nor for seasons or episodes)
https://support.plex.tv/articles/201018497-fix-match-match/

5

Thanks for your help.

Do you know if the M4V format is handled any differently than the MP4?

6

It’s handled the same. Technically mp4 and m4v containers are the same. M4V is based on mp4 with minor extensions.

7

You can use Subler (https://subler.org/) to check and remove embedded metadata from both mp4 and m4v.

8

Thanks for all the help! Would it be a good idea to add an option to the app to always display the File Name? Just a thought…

9

You can see the file name(s) associated with a movie record in the edit (info tab) or show info dialogs. The file name itself will not be displayed right in the list — e.g. because there can be multiple files (versions) of the same movie with different names.

10

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