Server not fetching TVDB metadata for specific shows

[Big-Admin]

Hi! I’m using the latest version of PMS ( 1.18.8.2527) on my PC and for the past ten or so days I’ve had this new interesting problem that has been bugging me.

Some TV shows that I add to my media server are finding their metadata quickly as normal. However, a few specific shows have been “not found” through search/match/fix match function. I scoured through their files (as I normally use Filebot religiously) to see if this was the issue, but its the same naming scheme that the other working shows are using exactly. In addition to this, a few shows that I have been back-filling with missing seasons will not load their metadata either.

Ive tried:

• The Plex Dance
• Reinstalling PMS
• Rebooting
• Removing/re-adding content

This is from my server log when I try to manually find the content:

2020-03-20 19:13:58,015 (1fa0) : DEBUG (networking:138) - Fetching ‘https://tvdb2.plex.tv/series/153021?lang=en’ from the HTTP cache
2020-03-20 19:13:58,039 (1fa0) : WARNING (data:179) - Error decoding with simplejson, using demjson instead (this will cause a performance hit) - Expecting value: line 1 column 1 (char 0)
2020-03-20 19:13:58,053 (1fa0) : DEBUG (networking:143) - Requesting ‘https://meta.plex.tv/tv/names/en/6a/6ac9bf43972dc838e52c86288c24c360bc3b7448.xml’
2020-03-20 19:13:58,253 (1fa0) : DEBUG (networking:143) - Requesting ‘https://meta.plex.tv/tv/names/en/5e/5eb965dd8c804a3a2833ac61fe1d1f6b1960735a.xml’
2020-03-20 19:13:58,407 (1fa0) : DEBUG (networking:138) - Fetching ‘https://tvdb2.plex.tv/series/153021?lang=en’ from the HTTP cache
2020-03-20 19:13:58,433 (1fa0) : WARNING (data:179) - Error decoding with simplejson, using demjson instead (this will cause a performance hit) - Expecting value: line 1 column 1 (char 0)
2020-03-20 19:13:58,434 (1fa0) : INFO (logkit:16) - Skipping match with id 153021: failed TVDB lookup.
2020-03-20 19:13:58,434 (1fa0) : INFO (logkit:16) - Searching for exact match with: The+Walking+Dead (lang: en)
2020-03-20 19:13:58,434 (1fa0) : DEBUG (networking:143) - Requesting ‘https://tvdb2.plex.t/search/series?name=The+Walking+Dead’
2020-03-20 19:14:05,086 (1fa0) : DEBUG (runtime:88) - Sending packed state data (607 bytes)
2020-03-20 19:14:05,086 (1fa0) : DEBUG (runtime:924) - Response: [200] str, 320 bytes

I hope these two problems are related and can be fixed…
Any help is appreciated, thank you!

[JuiceWSA]

1. how are your files named and structured - show us from the root out to the episode.

2. are your files MKV / MP4 / M4V?

snippets of logs are less than useless. They never show what you think they show.
Prepare to gather some ‘DEBUG’ logs - NOT VERBOSE if asked, but we’re not there yet.

[Big-Admin]

1. My file structure goes as follows: Survivor → Season 01 → Survivor - S07E01 - Beg, Barter, Steal.mp4

I’ve followed this structure since I started my server about a year ago and haven’t had an issue like this one so far. I scrubbed all my files in the very beginning and renamed them all with filebot too.

2. Its a mix of .mp4s and .mkvs. Shows will either be all one or the other.

Thank you

[JuiceWSA]

Try this:

Video File Naming

With LMA in priority, Embedded Titles within MP4/M4V files are preferred - even over a perfect file name. Local Media Assets should - AT ALL TIMES - remain enabled (unless specifically instructed to turn it off). Local Media Assets should be ‘Demoted’, to the bottom of the stack of active agents under ALL tabs in Shows and Movies, but should NOT be disabled. Local Media Assets is needed for many things - it doesn’t need to be given Tip-Top-Priority (as Plex has so hatefully placed it as it’s …

Refresh metadata, or:

The Plex Dance ™

The purpose of this is to remove all cached metadata and xml data for an item that Plex usually keeps. This helps when you want to “start from scratch” for particular item move all files for the media item out of the directory your Library is looking at, so Plex will not “see” it anymore scan the library library (to detect changes) empty trash clean bundles (in menu next to server name, when accessed under ‘More’) double check naming schema and move files back scan the library Support articl…

Your file names look fine - if internal metadata in an MP4 file is the issue - the LMA Hack will fix that.