Plex not matching random TV Shows

Plex Media Server
1

Server Version#: Version 1.21.1.3876
Player Version#: N/A

I have multiple shows that Plex is unable to identify. For the sake of this topic, I’ll pick one…Kung Fu (1972). I cannot get a successful match.

My file naming convention is as follows:
Kung Fu (1972) S01E01 - King Of The Mountain.mkv
etc.

When attempting a Fix Match, the only show that Plex seems to find is something called Kung Fu Killer.

I attempted a Fix Match a few minutes ago and then downloaded the logs. In scanning the logs, I found the following:

Requesting ‘https://tvdb2.plex.tv/search/series?name=Kung+Fu+(1972)’
2021-01-11 08:30:16,336 (f80) : ERROR (networking:196) - Error opening URL ‘https://tvdb2.plex.tv/search/series?name=Kung+Fu+(1972)’
2021-01-11 08:30:16,338 (f80) : INFO (logkit:16) - HTTPError 404:
2021-01-11 08:30:16,338 (f80) : INFO (logkit:16) - There was a problem attempting an exact TVDB match in Kung+Fu+%281972%29

(Sorry…I don’t know where the BOLD tag came from.)

Any help would be appreciated. This is affecting about 2 dozen shows. I don’t see a way to upload my logs here…please let me know if there’s a way to do that.

I HAVE done the Plex dance.

2

Have you tried naming the show as it’s listed on TheTVDb.com? -> Kung Fu (without (1972))
https://www.thetvdb.com/series/kung-fu

3

Yes…I’ve tried it with the year, without the year, with a space between seasons/episodes, without the episode title…every possible naming convention that I’ve seen in the forums.

Here’s something strange…I recently added a new NAS to my setup and moved a handful of existing shows from one NAS to another. The ones that I moved no longer matched in Plex. Between that issue and the mismatch for the new Kung Fu series, I was stumped.

Yesterday I disconnected my NAS devices that contained TV Shows from my dedicated Plex server, removed the library (TV Shows) from my Plex configuration, ran cleanup on the bundles and database, and rebooted the Plex server. In the meantime, I also performed a mass-move of media files to the new NAS which has a lot more capacity than my old one. Once the file move was complete, I reattached the NAS devices on my Plex server and re-created the TV Shows library. Plex was able to match every show, even in their new location, except for the ones that weren’t matching earlier.

4

Search with TheTVDB show ID instead of the title, 73069 for Kung Fu. See this example from another thread.

Also, changing the agent to The Movie Database in the search window may help when performing a Fix Match.

I ran a quick test on my system. Plex initially matched Kung Fu to Kung Fu Killer. I performed a Fix Match using TheTVDB ID. Plex found the match, downloaded correct cover art, episode titles, etc.

Plex occasionally has problems matching some TV shows, especially those with reboots, spinoffs, or a name similar to other shows. There is a new TV scanner/agent under development that will hopefully improve such situations.

5

That log snippet doesn’t immediately look like a bad match, but an API connectivity error or metadata cache issue.

Error opening URL, HTTPError 404, etc.

That looks very similar to this - see @OttoKerner’s questions and suggestions in this thread.

6

On my server it looks like a problem with hosts at plex.tv (If I’m reading the logs correctly…).

There is a workaround, searching with the ID, and the new agent on the way. However, if anybody wants to dig into the details…

PMS 1.21.1.3876 on Synology DS918+

From com.plexapp.agents.thetvdb.log, PMS matching using the file name “Kung Fu” returns “Kung Fu Killer” with a score of 81. Performing a Fix Match with “73069” returns “Kung Fu” with scores of 71 and 51.

There are errors communicating with specific URLs at meta.plex.tv, but other URLs to the same host are OK. No issues with tvdb2.plex.tv.

Clearing .../Plug-in Support/Caches made no difference.

Here’s how I tested:

  1. Remove show from server, scan library, empty trash, clean bundles, optimize database.
  2. Shutdown PMS
  3. Clear agent caches.
  4. Restart PMS
  5. Add show to Plex. Plex matches it to Kung Fu Killer.
  6. Fix Match with TheTVDB ID. Plex matches with the 1972 show, pulling correct metadata.

Naming:

..../Test - TV/Kung Fu/Season 01/Kung Fu s01e01.mkv
..../Test - TV/Kung Fu/Season 01/Kung Fu s01e02.mkv
..../Test - TV/Kung Fu/Season 01/Kung Fu s01e03.mkv

Agent log:
com.plexapp.agents.thetvdb.log (48.3 KB)

7

I recently built myself a new server and moved over all my content, choosing to re-index it all again after I sorted things out. I too have experienced this issue, basically it seems like plex only returns the 1st search result from TVDB. Therefore if your show is 2nd in the list it wont auto match, even if the naming is correct. I fixed mine using the tvdb number from a web search, then pasting that number in my title box, blanking any year that was there and selecting tvdb from the dropdown. The correct match appears in the list every time and everything is fine afterwards. Just annoying. On a brighter note the new movie matching system is brilliant. It found 95% of my movies all fine leaving me only a handfull to fix. :slight_smile:

8

I am coming to the same conclusion.

I just fired up a PMS on my laptop and as an example added a dummy file as 1 episode of Game of Thrones

and the only match that comes up is the Parody

(I know there is another thread about GoT specifically)

Seeing errors related to meta.plex.tv in the com.plexapp.agents.thetvdb.log

running a search on the tvdb2.plex.tv does bring back the series as one of the results but that does not seem to make it into the matching window.

9

Thanks to everyone for this workaround! I’ll use it for now and hope that the auto-match issues gets worked out by our friends at Plex.

I included just a bit of the logs, but from what I can see in my other log records, the issue looks like a communication issue on the plex.tv side.

(Not a Plex expert, but I did sleep at a Holiday Inn Express last night.)

10

Ok so it’s not just me having issues matching shows on Plex. Movies match fine but shows either don’t match or they match the incorrect one. I thought it may have been my library so I created a new one but it’s only matched approximately 10% of what I have. Well, I guess I’ll wait for this to get fixed.

11

There’s another couple of threads talking about this lately. Game of Thrones, Top Gear and Better Call Saul all detecting the wrong shows. I assume there are others.

12

Same issue here. 2 weeks ago could not get it fixed then all of a sudden, all the latest additions get matched.

Now today, same issue again, last few days of added content not getting matched (neither manually, nor automatically). Waiting on a server side update from Plex team.

1 Like
13

TheTVDB made API changes resulting in matching issues with Plex Media Server. Performing a Fix Match with the show ID is a workaround.

The new TV show agent, currently in beta, is supposed to fix such matching problems.

Additional details:

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