I started adding movies to Plex before someone pointed me to the file naming requirements… Hence, I have nearly 400 movies in a Plex library that do not have a year at the end of the file name. Occasionally Plex will not add a movie to the Library and sometimes adding a bogus year to the end of the file name allows the movie to be added.
My question is, should I rename all of the files that are in the Plex library and add (1800) to the end of the file name then do the Plex Dance to re-add the movies to the library in the interest of avoiding problems in the future?
if you add a year it should be the correct year. Adding an incorrect year is just asking for problems.
FileBot will rename your files and add correct years with little problem. I suggest doing it in small batches, 30 files or less, just so it is easier to catch the rare error.
Thanks Elijah. I am new to this so forgive any dumb questions. If I use FileBot I assume I must then do the Plex Dance to re-add all of the files. I also assume this means I will lose all of my collections. Are my assumptions correct?
I am think a better solution is to create a library of type Other Video which has no file naming requirements. I do not need the metadata from the Internet if getting it is going to cause the problems I am having with Plex refusing to add files to a Movie library. If I create a library of type Other Video is there a way to copy my collections from my existing movie library to the Other Video library? Thanks again for your help.
I’ve made numerous renames and I’ve never needed to do a Plex Dance afterward. Plex should re-crawl the files and update them accordingly when you do a manual scan. For movies that are already correctly named, it should simply leave them alone, except for adjusting the source filename that it plays.
BTW I also went through this: Realizing that adding the year helps Plex a lot. It was before software that automated the process. That was tiring the old fashioned way.
Perhaps the lack of accurate dates is the cause of my problems but I have encountered too many cases where Plex refuses to add a file to the library. I can always get it in eventually if I try renaming the file enough different ways but it is too much trouble and trying to find the files that did not get added to the library before I discovered that Plex does not reliably add files is too much trouble.
Even though it means having to recreate 17 collections, which I am not looking forward to, I am convinced that the sage solution is to use an Other Video library and avoid the file naming problem entirely. Yes, using FileBot might allow me to rename files in a way that Plex will accept but if I have to use FileBot on small numbers of files so I can manually detect its errors then it is better to not use it at all. I may be missing something but I do not see any advantage to using a Movie library just so Plex can get metadata from the Internet that I do not (think) I need or want. Thanks again for your help.
If you think manually editing every single movie is faster/more efficient than maybe editing/fix match on a few items FileBot can’t negotiate - more power to ya.
I once renamed/restructured my entire Plexiverse (8TB) with FileBot over a long weekend when family was visiting between dogs and burgers on the grill (and everything else you should be doing during family visits).
You may have to do more Fix Matching now than I had to then, but still… the sooner you get started the sooner it’s over.
Ultimately:
If your naming/structuring is so bad, Plex has failed to match most of it requiring you to Fix Match on virtually everything (or a large majority) - bite the bullet and start over AFTER you start passing everything through FileBot.
Sometimes a complete overhaul is more efficient than a major repair job.
Seriously, what am I losing by using a library of type Other Video instead of using a library of type Movie? I know (or think I know) what I gain from Other Video and that is the ability to name the files my way and have them ALL appear in the library. I really need to know if I am missing something before I turn this project into a bigger headache than it already is. Thanks.
Pros of an instant match:
FileBot goes to TVDB/TMDB/IMDB and gets the name they use, applies it to your files, naming and structuring them perfectly for an instant match (mostly). Put files in library, 10 seconds later it’s matched and fully populated with artwork, descriptions, actors, ratings, etc.
Cons of Other Videos Library:
Sure, everyone has one, for the rare occasion you find something odd and don’t have time to list it with the appropriate database or have no intention to… Hand editing artwork, descriptions, (actors, ratings - not editable? so… missing), etc… you look over and FileBot has done thousands of perfect matches before you get your first Other Video done.
You’re now paying for years of neglect, it’s not going to be without a bit of pain and suffering, but your life is about to change - for the better.
I won’t sugar coat my viewpoint here: After having media on hard drives for 20+ years and using Plex for 6+ years, this reaction is hard for me to imagine. File organization is its own reward, and then you get Plex to work as a bonus.
If you use Other Videos for your movie collection, you’re missing one of the best parts of using a product like Plex, the advanced metadata and collections… It just requires you to do the footwork of making sure your media is reasonably organized.
One more question to make sure I am headed the right way. I am converting 900+ DVDs for my Plex server and I am less than half done. I think I should finish the converting all of the DVDs then run the files through FileBot and see if Plex adds all the files to the Movie collection. If so, I’m done. Does that sound right?
I always rip first with MakeMKV to remove dreaded embedded metadata and to identify and ‘pre-name’ the feature and extra tracks I want to use. With MakeMKV you can assign each track a file name so for “Downton Abbey (2010) - S01E01 - Episode 1” I would give it a temporary file name of ‘downton s1e1’. FileBot can deal with it right before it goes to Handbrake.
The idea for using MakeMKV first? It’s way easier to remove that metadata with MakeMKV and impossible to do so in Handbrake. ALL DVDs and BluRays have embedded metadata/titles. If you don’t get rid of it before it goes to Plex and you make MP4/M4V files - ur screwed.
Also before it goes to Handbrake I prepare any subtitles I want to maintain and I prepare them in UTF-8 format that will Direct Play. Sometimes it’s quicker to just go to https://subscene.com/ and get one than to OCR an srt sub track from PGS/VOB (with Subtitle Edit), but make no mistake that is what I do.
I have ONE title in my Plexiverse with PGS subs - and a lot of them. Serenity (2005). That thing has 3 commentary tracks and if you’ve ever watched Firefly you know the OCR process is wrought with much pain and suffering as almost every line is going to require some Goram Hand Holding! (lol) I just play that one on something that can play PGS subs - or Plex can transcode that one. I surrender.
I pass through AC3 audio and convert all that high end audio I don’t need to AC3 audio I can use. I maintain commentary tracks on occasion as well.
Once through Handbrake a pass through Xmedia Recode to convert those ASS subs Handbrake makes (much to my dismay) back into “Subrip” (UTF-8.srt) and re-pack them along with normalized (to 89db for stereo, 84db for 5.1) audio tracks. The files have perfect names by this time and they are structured correctly before being added to the Plexiverse.
It is the rare occasion that I have to re-flag a forced sub track that gets lost in the shuffle. For that I use MKVToolNix for any last minute nose powdering, double checking for any metadata that fell through the cracks.
Once those files hit the Plexiverse, the next time I deal with them is when I watch them. The work is done, on to more new stuff that gets added to the pre-flight conveyor belt just like everything else.
Thanks again. I have saved your message for future reference even though I did not understand any of it. If I have to get that deep into the technology I may abandon the project. This is much more complicated than I expected and I don’t have the time or interest to invest.
That is true BUT, to be sure that matches actually happen correctly, you need to go into the agents and move “Local media assets” below everything else in every agent where you can move it or you can do as I do and turn that crap off completely and move it to the bottom as well.
