Server Version#: 1.21.3.4015
Player Version#: 4.51.1
When refreshing the metadata for an episode a few hours after it AIRED, I am still left with “Episode 5” because when I first got the episode, there was no information for it and to get rid of the cache I’d have to either scan the whole TV show or do the “Plex Dance” (which is useless if I want to retain all the data like watch history, etc). The expected behavior would be to remove the cache for that specific episode and get the new metadata.
I’ve looked around and there have been a few topics on this specific issue but no one addresses it other than saying “Plex Dance”. A team member mentioned this: TV Show Titles do not update using Episode - Refresh Metadata, but they do if Refreshed at the Show level - #5 by ChuckPa so clearly this was a feature that people wanted but was never implemented in the defense of “properly curated media” but apparently didn’t have in mind the huge majority that automate pulling TV episodes as they air. Usually, TVDB only have the title or no information about the specific episode when they first air, but add that information a few hours later.
I’m hoping the Plex team considers implementing as ChuckPa said “Flush Known Metadata” and with that a schedule that clears the known metadata every few hours for a RECENTLY added episode if the title meets one of the requirements: titles being “TBA”, “Episode X”, or no summary. That should then refresh that specific episode and it’ll pull the new metadata from TVDB with the title, summary, poster, etc.
As much as I’d like something official from Plex, I don’t know if an unofficial solution exists that does what I expect Plex normally to do but if it does, please let me know.
Refresh the entire show.
I’ve never gotten ‘Refresh Metadata’ to work on a single episode.
No need to continue hammering on Refresh Metadata if WandaVision is still TBA on Plex’s TVDB Proxy. TVDB may show the episode name, but if Plex’s daily Proxy update hasn’t occurred, you’re wasting your time.
For the record - The Plex Dance doesn’t blow your watched status, but yes, it’s a PITA.
My Solution to WandaVision is to edit the episode name in as soon as I know it. Sometimes that’s before the Proxy update - sometimes after a Show Refresh. If anyone ever gets Refresh Metadata to work on a single episode let us know. I quit trying a few years ago.
Even a single episode refresh per 24 hours from the time it was first scanned is better than nothing. I’d just rather not have to manually refresh a whole show every time I want metadata for one episode.
Glad I found this thread … was getting annoyed myself.
For me it seems like it’s only specific shows like Wandavision or Last Week Tonight that it won’t pull the most recent info even a day later even with the “series refresh” - I too haven’t had luck with episode refresh. I usually end up waiting a few days to refresh or just wait for the scheduled task to fix it eventually.
I did notice The Rookie has the episode info but not the current episode image but The Rookie gets the show details ahead of time compared to Wandavision but that’s still pointing to delays.
Considering it happens to me no matter which agent I’m using (TMDB or TVDB), @JuiceWSA statement about the Plex Proxy makes sense for what I’m seeing but I’m not familiar with the details around that setup. Overall it’s a minor issue, just sometimes the episode images are less spoilery than the pulled image.
As far as I’m aware, there is no scheduled task that fixes any missing metadata. Though, when you pull a new episode of the same series, it forces a whole series refresh and fetches the metadata that way.
I coulda sworn it was one of the scheduled tasks for objects that were missing metadata. I knew it wouldn’t update on items that already had metadata but it could easily be the new episode refreshing it as you said and it just felt like part of the scheduled tasks. Thanks for the info.
I actually don’t think it does, for TV or movies, and music for sure. I think it refreshes some of the “local” metadata, such as posters, subtitles, etc, but not metadata from the online sources. The settings on scheduled tasks specifically says " Refresh local metadata every three days"
The best solution I found that involves only utilizing what Plex has to offer is Plex Media Scanner via Command Line, creating a cron job (Linux) that runs a day or two after a specific show has aired and refreshes the metadata for the whole show. This still leaves the awkward “TBA” with shows that have their episodes named as that on TVDB, so either way some kind of manual work has to be done unless I put the Local Metadata Agent higher than TVDB so that it uses the file name which is not a good trade off for any other shows.
I stubbornly waited for well over a week for one episode of WandaVision to update with either a refresh during the scheduled maintenance, or with several manual refreshes at the show level ever other day or so. Eventually, editing the title and summary manually was the only option.
Yep. The solution I posted above works but is not very efficient as the title, summary, and banner are all available within the same hour or a few hours after an episode has aired. So manual is still the current best way unless I find a solution with another program like Tautulli for example.
For now I’ll just remember to check on recently airing shows for updates occasionally (using season/series refresh) and hopefully this will get worked out sooner rather than later. I’d rather not wait for the new Plex TV Agent to fix it.
This is going to be a mild annoyance for the number of upcoming weekly Marvel and Star Trek releases. Makes the case even more for waiting until all episodes are released and THEN watching.
I don’t see any time difference Refreshing Metadata on SG-1, or Picard.
Takes about the same time over here… but when I refresh metadata at the show level - I don’t have to refresh metadata twice, when I do it at the episode level first - 'cause I quit doing it - and that’s a real time saver…lol
Even 48+hrs from when data posted on TheMovieDB and it still doesn’t update from Plex proxy for a refresh.
I have seen text updates show up before image updates so I’m guessing there are some restrictions around the API there but if Plex proxy is going to delay metadata for days and won’t automatically catch up later … somethings kinda broken there right?
I don’t remember having these metadata delays until recently - and I could have SWORN I used the episode refresh but I’m not confident about it (and it’s certainly not working currently).
Edit: Found an example show where the title was added Feb 6, while image and summary added on Feb 11th; refresh today (18th) pulled the title but not the summary or image.
