Plex won't fetch some metadata for some episodes of a series

[cannonball1911]

Hello,

I have a Plex Server running on an Raspberry Pi4b (Server Version: 1.25.2.5319).

On some (anime) series, I have the problem, that it won’t fetch some of the metadata for some episodes (episode names, description, …).

As example I take the series “Agent Aika” here. The funny thing is, on season 1 and 2, it fetches the metadata without problems, on season 0 (specials) and season 3, it wont fetch anything…

Season 1 (Episode names and description here):

Season 3 (Just Episode 1, 2, …):

I did the full plex dance for that series (move, scan, empty trash, clean bundles, move back, scan) and the problem still persisted.

Some time ago, I upgraded the library to the new scanner but reversed it back to the “old” series scanner and TheTVDB agent after I have seen some false episode naming with the new scanner/agent on some anime series. And now I have that problem on some anime series, that it won’t fetch the “full” metadata anymore.

That’s how my stuff is named:
/mnt/seagate1/Anime Serien/Agent AIKa/Season 01/Agent AIKa - S01E01.mkv

After I moved the series, scanning the library and cleaning the trash and bundles, I activated debug logging and restarted the server. Then I moved the series back where it belonged and then I scanned the library again. After that, I updated the metadata for the series, but still no luck.

Here are the logs for that:
Plex Media Server Logs_2021-12-23_23-01-36.zip (3.2 MB)

I hope, someone does have an idea, what I can do to fix that problem. I didn’t found a solution for that after hours of searching/tinkering.

Thanks
Kai

[anon5074910]

If I had to guess your library and show is probably configured to use TMDB episode ordering (which is default on the new agent/scanner). On TMDB they have split this show into three …

https://www.themoviedb.org/tv/43249-agent-aika
https://www.themoviedb.org/tv/68417-aika-r-16-virgin-mission
https://www.themoviedb.org/tv/43631-aika-zero

… so you are only getting the first season metadata based on the show match.

If you are using TVDB naming then edit the TV show in plex, select the advanced tab and change the episode order to The TVDB (Aired) and the force refresh the show. That should fix it.

BTW… you can also change this on the library level if that is what you wish. Its under Settings → Manage → Libraries → (edit your TV library) → Advanced.

[cannonball1911]

Hi,

As I said, I did upgrade the library to the new scanner/agent but reversed it to the old one, after some episode name mismatching occurred.

At the moment, my library is using Plex Series Scanner and TheTVDB Agent:

and that how it’s set on the series:

So looks fine for me…

I don’t even have the TMDB Agent active for shows:

[anon5074910]

Okay so unfortunately that will no longer work.

Once you upgrade a library to the modern agent/scanner (Plex TV Series) you no longer can change back to any of the legacy ones. Its a one way move and attempting to adjust back, like you have you done will simply not work. The new code and old code are not compatible with each other.

You now have two options as I see it :

1. Switch your library back to use Plex TV Series and then adjust episode ordering like I outlined above to TheTVDB (Aired). I’m somewhat confident that the episode mismatch you experienced will be fixed when you set the correct episode ordering in the advanced settings of the library as per you media naming.
2. Create a brand new library using the old legacy scanner/agent and delete the existing one you have afterwards.

I personally would not advocate the second option but its up to you. One thing for sure is your existing library will no longer work correctly with your current settings.

[cannonball1911]

So I did some testing. I’ve moved a show, which had a mismatch, to a separate folder. Then I created a new library with the new scanner/agent and only that one show. I still have the mismatch.

Since I use german language on the library, it fetches german episode naming (if available). On TheTVDB, the one episode doesn’t have german episode name or a german description. So my expected behavior would be, that it won’t fetch anything at all and just say something like “Episode XX” and nothing else but it fetches metadata from an another episode that has nothing to do with it… That is what I don’t understand.

I don’t know where it get’s the episode name and description (new scanner and agent)

On the second library with the old scanner and agent, it won’t fetch anything (what I expected, since there is no german metadata for that episode)

[anon5074910]

I seem to remember TVDB api problems with specials and non english languages on some other threads but maybe a plex ninja or staff member could confirm.

[cannonball1911]

So, if I unterstand this correctly, there is a bug (only with the new scanner/agent?) with the TheTVDB api with non english language only on special seasons (season 0) and there is no fix at the moment?