Plex Server randomly doesn't find media

Plex Media Server NAS & Devices
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Server Version: 1.23.3.4692 - the server is installed on a Synology DS420+ with DSM 6.2.4-25556 (latest).

My Plex Server doesn’t find/list certain media files, whatever I do - very annoying!

I have already checked the permissions and rights, both on user, file and folder level, everything seems alright. Same goes for the naming of my files.

I am using iTunes for my media administration, especially for music.
iTunes is set to automatically manage the folder structure.

Whenever I add new media files to my library I do a manual rescan of the respective Plex library and the new songs or movies appear within seconds, thus all fine.

The “plex” user has read access to all relevant shares on my NAS, where the respective media files are stored.

Here’s a concrete example:

/NAS share/…/Movies/Rambo/01 Rambo.m4v
/NAS share/…/Movies/Rambo II - Der Auftrag/01 Rambo II - Der Auftrag.m4v
/NAS share/…/Movies/Rambo III/01 Rambo III.m4v

The first two are “seen”, the third one not, for whatever reason.
All permissions are identical (folders set to 775 and fiiles set to 664), none of the fiiles is any different than the other, they are not corrupt and do play without problems.

I am pulling my hair out and and already searched a number of forums on this matter.
Any concrete hint is much appreciated!

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You must use the proper names for your movies:

As example – if these are correct names

Rambo (1982)/Rambo (1982).m4v
Rambo First Blood Part II (1985)/Rambo First Blood Part II (1985).m4v
Rambo III (1998)/Rambo III (1998).m4v

1 Like
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Follow Plex naming requirements. Lose the “01” in the file name. Add the year.

/Movies/Rambo III (1988)/Rambo III (1988).m4v

From my server:
…/iTunes Media/Movies/Rambo III (1988)/Rambo III (1988) (1080p HD).m4v

Plex movie library is pointed at .../iTunes Media/Movies. No problem finding and identifying movies.

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Some additional notes…

Plex cannot play DRM encoded media, so don’t bother trying to add movies purchased/downloaded via iTunes, Google Play Store, etc.

If you are using the new Plex Movies scanner/agent, you can add the IMDB ID to the movie name to assist with matching. It looks ugly in iTunes, but it definitely helps Plex match movies.

Example:
…/iTunes Media/Movies/Mad Max 2 (1981) {imdb-tt0082694}/Mad Max 2 (1981) {imdb-tt0082694} (1.m4v

Partial iTunes Movie Info screenshot:

Screenshot (669)
Screenshot (669)798×236 22.2 KB

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… and when you do ^that^ - do this:

image
image810×600 60.1 KB

Hard to tell what’s in those M4V files that Plex will prefer over your perfect file names - when you get some perfect file names, but disable that PITA and your life will less stressful.

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Mind, I would avoid m4v files due to hidden Metadata. Yet Naming is paramount Chuck :upside_down_face:

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Many thanks to everyone for your tips!

So far I have never had any issues and all the other movies are perfectly showing in my library, there’s just a few exceptions like the one mentioned.

To me it appears odd that Plex “sees” all the others and not this one (plus a few more).
Something’s wrong with the scanner in my view.

However, I am not really willing to touch tags twice and iTunes is perfectly fine for that.

I would suggest that the Plex Movie Scanner is made a bit more robust to also accept other naming conventions.

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@SE56

I am using the OP’s naming to answer the question.

Do you really think I’m as crazy as Juice? :rofl:

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It’s not crazy - it’s Murphy’s Law:

There won’t be any embedded metadata in an M4V file - unless ‘Prefer Local Metadata’ is enabled - at my house.

It’s like Spooky Quantum stuff in that there is only embedded metadata if I don’t look to see if there is… so I leave Prefer Local Metadata off… then I don’t have to look…lol

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Just jerking your chain, looks like it’s working. Lol :grimacing:

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96 TB volume failure.

Apologies for my Fun Meter being wrapped backwards.

1 Like
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