Server Version#: 1.28.1.6104
Player Version#:
How do I stop the scanner from wrongly identifying a TV series?
The series is Looney Tunes, 411 episodes all correctly tagged. The only metadata source is thetvdb.
Every rescan the stupid thing changes the correct identity and throws out the metadata.
About to pull what hair I have left out…
Why can we not identify by the series identifier and metadata agent like other media servers?
Please specify “correctly”.
Exactly as listed on thetvdb. By year and episode as an example S1930E01.
What about the folder structure? It is equally important.
Please show an example of a full path name.
Please indicate at which folder level you did direct the Plex library.
Are these mp4/m4v files?
M:\Plex\TV\Looney Tunes is the file directory with the episodes.
Plex is pointed at M:\Plex\TV as the Library directory.
All 4500 other episodes in the same library have matched and added metadata with no problem.
All files are HEVC M4V files.
In order to match the Looney Tunes files and get meta data I have to go to Manage - libraries- edit libraries-advanced and force the agent to TVDB.
I have been using Plex for a long time and have never seen this before. I do usually have problems matching the series but once its matched - no problem. I had some issues after upgrading the “server” software to Ubuntu 22.04 LTS so since the data and OS are on separate drives, I simply rebuilt the system, reloaded Plex and logged in. Since everything was in the same place once Plex was logged in - everything rescanned and was fine.
So the reality is somthing in this version of the server appears to be thetvdb “blind” if you will and ignores thetvdb data.
This may create major misbehaviour in the future.
Which agent was it showing previously when you entered this setting dialog?
With the files being m4v, they could contain embedded meta tags.
You better tell Plex to not prioritize these, by
Disable “Prefer local metadata” in the properties of the library
(or, if your library still uses the old deprecated agents, drag the line “Local Media Assets” to the bottom of the agent list)
I strongly recommend you to add at least the year to the folder name.
M:\Plex\TV\Looney Tunes (1930)
Also, you better create subfolders for each season, e.g.
M:\Plex\TV\Looney Tunes (1930)\Season 1930
If your library already uses the new metadata agent, you can force a match by adding the TVDB ID of this show to the folder name
M:\Plex\TV\Looney Tunes (1930) - {tvdb-72514}
Every time I have had issues before Looney Tunes showed up as an option when I had to Fix Match.
In this instance it doesn’t show up. It’s almost like the scanner is thetvdb “blind” if you will.
I will try the changes you suggested though.
Thanks for your time and for your help @OttoKerner (Used to work in the printing industry and I love the name…)
“Fix Match” is performed in the properties of the show. Not in the properties of the library.
Don’t intermingle these, or you might get your library into a non-working state.
Looks like that has it fixed. Many thanks!!!
And I was using fix match for the Show not the library…
I would also ensure that you have set your library default to thetvdb order instead of relying on the default (which Plex uses tmdb for)
So even set with all those settings and pointers - there is no episode data. The show is correct. The dates are correct. But no episode names, no artwork nothing - unless I force Plex to use thetvdb.
I have never had this problem before ever in years of using Plex Could it be that there is a problem with the scanner and it is not seeing thetvdb at all? Or its set to prefer data from themoviedb (which is a giant mess imho)?
Thats what it seems to be doing. When not forced it is not loading any thetvdb data…which in this case is the only source of proper meta data I have found for this collection.
Which agent is set in the properties of the library?
Now? thetvdb. I would prefer to use Plex tv series but when I do all the meta for Looney Tunes disappears…
I’m not sure if this is your exact problem but you might find some helpful hints in that thread.
Apparently this not a new problem lol
“Plex TV Series” defaults to TheMovieDB for the episode ordering.
However, it appears that Looney Tunes is nowhere to be found on TheMovieDB.
I need to investigate what happened. Unfortunately I cannot currently even use the search on their forums…
Up to the point I rebuilt my os and reinstalled everything - there was no problem. It would always mis-match the series initially but once that was corrected there was no issue. All the metadata was scraped, artwork was scraped and there was no issue.
…if you read the thread everything IS named for thetvdb and always has been as that is the single reliable source for good meta.
That’s fine, I have no other issues using thetvdb meta for any of the rest of my shows as far as I know at this point. It seems to more likely be a Plex issue to me as once properly matched it has never had an issue fetching meta. Like previously stated - it seems to go “thetvdb blind” when in automatic mode.
Very strange as I also have Emby running which had no issues matching the series at all…
What didn’t come to mind was that thetvdb may be blocking Plex requests until they understood that the data breach was and what was affected…
That’s not how it works.
Set it back to default for the scanner last night and suddenly its fine…artwork, meta for episodes everything is there and it’s fine.
No other changes to the system.
Yeah!!! Figured it out!!
It’s Episode Ordering that is causing the problem. When set to Library Default its not picking up any data.
Set it to TVDB Aired and all is good, picks up all episodes.
I don’t know why, when it has never been an issue previously. Odd also is the fact the Aired Order is by season which is expressed as the year, which is how my files are named.
It’s why I spent many hours searching episode names and getting the correct season/episode for each file. Due to the number of DVD’s that contain various episodes DVD order is suspicious at best so despite it being a PITA the only way to get it correct is the long hard search and name by year and episode…
