I tried asking this in the Mac section but got no luck at all. Here’s my problem: for the last several months, the “Recently Added” section started randomly showing TV shows that were not recently added to the server (a Synology NAS). At first I didn’t think too much about it and hoped that a new PMS update would get rid of it, but I’ve been through at least 2 updates since the problem started and it is still happening. Frustrated, I even tried uninstalling PMS from my Mac Mini, along with every trace of Plex I could find, then re-installing it and then re-adding my libraries. That worked for about 3 days, then just last night two more items showed up out of nowhere. This just happens with TV shows, never with movies.
I’m pulling my hair out here. I have no idea what else I could do.
My setup is a Mac Mini late 2014 connected to a Synology NAS running DSM 6.0 (upgraded from 5 in an attempt to solve the problem but no go). Is there any other information needed? Would logs even help in this situation?
HELP?!
Which version of Plex are you using? 0.9.16.4 is freshly released and, with the changes to Plex/Web, it’s very easy to turn all that off at the per-library level.
Sorry, I’m using 0.9.16.4. The “Recently Added” feature has been very useful to me, because it allows me to jump right to episodes of TV shows I’ve added to the server without browsing through my library, then going to the season, then going to the episode.
So I’d like to keep the feature itself on, I just want it to only display things that I’ve actually recently added to the server, not stuff that was added several years ago that for some reason Plex thinks was recently added (the most recent item showing up on my “Recently Added TV Shows” list is The Simpsons season 11 – added to the server over a year ago).
I need to conduct some experimenting on your behalf with my syno.
For those things you just added, which aren’t yet watched, does mass re-marking what’s already watched help?
I actually tried that, thinking maybe it was confusing “not watched” with “recently added.” No luck, as I marked all the TV shows as “watched” after I added the new library and shows still keep randomly popping up as recently added.
I’m thinking now that I must have missed a corrupted configuration file during the uninstall process. I am willing to reformat the Mac Mini and start from scratch (its whole function is to be a Plex server for the NAS) but I want to make sure that this isn’t something on the Synology side before I do that. I’d hate to re-index and re-sort and re-match everything all over again for nothing.
Thanks for that update. I will continue to check this out. If there’s an issue with DSM now, we’ll find it. DSM 6 does have some ‘discrepancies’ we’re seeing across the board.
Thank you so much. I really appreciate your help.
I found one on mine. It appears to be a 9.16.4 quirk with DSM but still nothing definitive.
I have captured all my log files and going through line by line.
If you can do the same with yours, that would be greatly appreciated. It has been seen but nobody has been able to see it occur in a log file.
The ‘recently added’ comes in when media is first entered. Once there, it is cleared. If media is upgraded (better quality) and ‘Update Library’ is then run, it will not mark it as ‘Recently Added’. If, however, removed, updated, and then added again, it will appear to be recently added.
Anything you can do to help replicate / reproducible would be great too.
I will grab those logs as soon as I get home. Sooner if there’s a way to do it remotely!
no… you must go underneath Plex and get into /volume1/Plex/Library/…
you can add the new plug-in package WebTools (written by dane22 and another) which will grab the log files for you while at the Synology desktop UI (your browser).
Ok I found the logs but I have no idea what I’m looking for.
The log files needed are:
Plex Media Scanner
Plex Media Server
(there should be multiple versions… grab all you can and zip them)
I have been conducting some tests and recreated your situation but am not certain HOW I did. It has been seen only a few times but nobody has been able to identify what the root cause is. It is known that when the media file is removed from the database and then returned (the next Library update action), it will be re-added. It will still retain the watched/unwatched status but also be listed as ‘recently added’ which is what you’re seeing.
Allow Plex Media Server tokens in logs
If, in your Settings -> Server -> General tab, the box " Allow Plex Media Server tokens in logs" is not checked, you may safely post them here as all private data (your server’s ID, etc) are masked. If not or you’re not comfortable posting them in this thread you may send them to me in a PM.
Here they are as I have not checked the “allow tokens” box. Looks like over the past 24 hours 3 new shows were added to “Recently Added” that were not new: Simpsons Season 11, Keeping Up With the Kardashians (don’t ask!), and Entourage Season 1.
Looking at The Simpsons shows your names don’t follow the Plex naming convention and that, for as robust as it is, will drive the scanner nuts. You’ve probably seen they sometimes work and sometimes don’t or do eventually show up just not instantaneously?
The bulk of the name is good, only the individual episodes are incomplete. The scanner expected to see
Name punctuation SxxExx punctuation optional-title.extension
For example: Simpsons/Season 11/07 Eight Misbehavin’.mp4
Should be: Simpsons/Season 11/Simpsons - S11E07 - Eight Misbehavin’.mp4
-or-
can be: Simpsons/Season 11/Simpsons.S11E07.Eight Misbehavin’
The fastest and easiest way to correct ALL of this and prevent it from happening again is to use a renamer, such as TheRenamer or FileBot. Both of them perform the lookup on the Internet (just as Plex will) and then construct a ‘valid’ name.
In Filebot (what I use)
if you use windows: the template I would use is: X:\TV\{n}\Season {s}\{n} - {s00e00} - {t}
in linux, this translates to: /whatever/tv/{n}/Season {s}/{n} - {s00e00} - {t}
{n} is the name, {s00e00} is the resolved SxxExx for the episode, and {t} is the Title.
As always, because such a tool is powerful and can totally scramble the filenames, I would work with a few as a test case to gain confidence (I did haha)
Oh yeah, the Simpsons was one of the oldest TV shows I uploaded to the server, before I knew anything about naming conventions. I’ll offload the seasons onto an external hard drive and rename them. Thanks for the Filebot tips!
It looks like Entourage names are missing a hyphen but the Kardashians looks like the Plex naming conventions were followed. Any idea on that one?
Yes. That’s why I suggest using a renaming tool.
To make certain your library is 100% stable, I do recommend running everything through the renamer 1 series at a time (don’t do a 100% rename without full backup of your media).
As you develop confidence the names are resolved, you can do bigger blocks.
Also, doing smaller blocks makes conflict resolution easier because you know what you just put in. Filebot shows you the before & after before doing the rename. You can reject and proposed changes by simply removing the names from the list (one at a time with the delete key and very easy).
All right, I’m in the process of copying everything over to a hard drive and will run it through Filebot. Hopefully this will take care of it!
I would make certain the ‘original’ and the ‘renamed’ directories are not the same as in
/orig/Simpsons/xxx
will be corrected-renamed and moved to
/rename/Simpsons/Season s/Simpsons - SssEee - title
This allows you to easily see if the desired results are what you (and Plex) want as well as make certain nothing remains in the ‘orig’ folders (which could be lost sometime later)
I’m a little over halfway through copying my 2.6 terabyte tv show library to an external drive. I’ll verify everything is renamed properly, then wipe out the library on the NAS and copy it back over. Once this is done I’ll keep a close eye to see if the problem crops up again.
Thank you so much for your help. If you’ve got a paypal address or donations page let me know so I can send some money your way.
