Simpsons - why do some series not populate fully?

Plex Media Server Metadata & Adding Files
1

I wonder if anyone can give me some idea why not all the Simpsons episodes I have get populated on Plex. Before anyone grills me for my naming convention, I doubt that anyone will pull fault with what I have used.

I have two NAS servers, one Terramaster and a QNAP. This is on the terrmaster. My pathway to TV episodes is Videos/Video Library/TV/The Simpsons/ [various Season folders]

This is the folder season schema
Simpsons, The (1989) S01E01-13 {imdb-tt0096697} Vol1 Disc1-3 #01-13 [DVD]
Simpsons, The (1990-1991) S02E01-22 {imdb-tt0096697} Vol2 Disc1-4 #14-35 [DVD]
Simpsons, The (1991-1992) S03E01-24 {imdb-tt0096697} Vol3 Disc1-4 #36-59 [DVD]

etc ā€¦

Using this methodology and using this as the style for all the episodes

Simpsons, The (1990) S01E01 {imdb-tt0096697} Vol1 Disc1 #01 [DVD] SIMPSONS_SEASON_1_DISC_1

or some are
Simpsons, The (1990) S01E01 {imdb-tt0096697} Vol1 Disc1 Tx#01 [DVD] SIMPSONS_SEASON_1_DISC_1
where Tx is the track number it has been taken from on the disc option for ripping. So Track 1 would be T1.

All the important data is front ended as per Plex lists in its help section on naming. The rest is for me so that I know what Volume, Disc, Overall Episode Number, Format and the Discā€™s name when inserted actually is.

Despite all this, Plex returns a varying amount of episodes as recognised.

Season 1 - 13 Episodes on Plex - 13 Files Present - 13 Epiosdes Listed on IMDB - Correct
Season 2 - 22 Episodes on Plex - 22 Files Present - 22 Episodes Listed on IMDB - Correct
Season 3 - 23 Episodes on Plex - 24 Files Present - 24 Episodes Listed on IMDB - Missing Episode (#18)
Season 4 - 22 Episodes Showing on Plex - 22 Files Present - 22 Episodes Listed on IMDB - Correct
Season 5 - 22 Episodes Showing on Plex - 22 Files Present - 22 Episodes Listed on IMDB - Correct
Season 6 - 2 Episodes Showing on Plex - 25 Files Present - 25 Episodes Listed on IMDB (1 & 13 Showing, 2-12 and 14-25 Missing)
Season 7 - 19 Episodes Showing on Plex - 25 Files Present - 25 Episodes Listed on IMDB (1-6 Missing)
Season 8 - 25 Episodes Showing on Plex - 25 Files Present - 25 Episodes Listed on IMDB - Correct
Season 9 - 25 Episodes Showing on Plex - 25 Files Present - 25 Episodes Listed on IMDB - Correct
Season 10 - 23 Episodes Showing on Plex - 23 Files Present - 23 Episodes Listed on IMDB - Correct
Season 11 - 22 Episodes Showing on Plex - 22 Files Present - 22 Episodes Listed on IMDB - Correct
Season 12 - 21 Episodes Showing on Plex - 21 Files Present - 21 Episodes Listed on IMDB - Correct
Season 13 - 22 Episodes Showing on Plex - 22 Files Present - 22 Episodes Listed on IMDB - Correct
Season 14 - 22 Episodes Showing on Plex - 22 Files Present - 22 Episodes Listed on IMDB - Correct
Season 15 - 22 Episodes Showing on Plex - 22 Files Present - 22 Episodes Listed on IMDB - Correct
Season 16 - 21 Episodes Showing on Plex - 21 Files Present - 21 Episodes Listed on IMDB - Correct
Season 17 - 22 Episodes Showing on Plex - 22 Files Present - 22 Episodes Listed on IMDB - Correct

Server Version#: Version 1.40.5.8854
Player Version#: Version 4.133.0
<If providing server logs please do NOT turn on verbose logging, only debug logging should be enabled>
Plex Media Server 180824.log (2.5 MB)
Plex Media Scanner Analysis.180824.log (90.3 KB)
Plex Media Scanner Analysis.1.180824.log (86.1 KB)
Plex Media Scanner Matcher(1).log (4.1 KB)
Plex Media Scanner Analysis.2.180824.log (78.6 KB)
Plex Media Scanner Matcher.1(1).log (3.8 KB)
Plex Media Scanner Analysis.3.180824.log (71.1 KB)
Plex Media Scanner Matcher.2(1).log (3.5 KB)
Plex Media Scanner Analysis.4.180824.log (63.6 KB)
Plex Media Scanner Analysis.5(1).log (63.6 KB)

2

Iā€™m your huckleberry.

The biggest problem with your naming and organization is that of your season folders. Plex supports one schema there: Season XX. Where XX is 00 - whatever. No embellishments. I know the knee-jerk reaction here is ā€œitā€™s always workedā€ or ā€œit works with all my other seriesā€ or ā€œit works for almost everything,ā€ but, frankly, none of those arguments mean anything in this context. Youā€™re having issues. They need to be made right.

Another problem (though likely not contributing here) is that Plex does not use IMDB ids for TV series, only TVDB and TMDB. So, while you can include those, they wonā€™t bring anything meaningful to the identification (other than perhaps helping you?).

Another (potential) problem is all the additional ā€˜decorationā€™ you have on the names of your individual episodes. Plex generally only cares about the SxxEyy part of the episode names. But when there are other numbers in there it can sometimes interfere with the recognition of episodesā€™ seasons and numbers. It would be best to relegate all that extraneous information to a single pair of square brackets and Plex will ignore all of it.

Finally, what I suspect is happening is that Plex is identifying some episodes as duplicates due to one or more of the problems described above. To see if this is the case, head into the library which contains The Simpsons and view by Episodes (middle drop-down in the Library tab). Then, select the Duplicates filter and see what it shows.

image

[Edit]
I hope it was obvious as a consequence of the first point of my post, but once you correct your ā€œseasonā€ folder naming issues, episodes will need to be moved to the appropriate season folders.

1 Like
3

Quoted for truth!

No one likes to hear it, but it is how it is.

1 Like
4

I have already tried to do this with the season folder 6 and I still only get two episodes showing. I changed the season folder to Season 06 and changed some of the titles to just The Simpsons and the Season and Episode number but it still wasnt getting pulled up after a scan request. It wasnt adding other episodes. So i changed it all back eventually.

I am not short on content, I have got about 30TB of content that works well. It literally is just this one season of the simpsosn I have an issue with.

5

Did you perform the Plex Dance after making these changes, or just perform a scan? If these were previously seen as duplicates, just changing the name and scanning wonā€™t be sufficient (Plex remembers the file hashes and keeps them where they are). Youā€™ll need to make Plex ā€œforgetā€ the episodes by performing the aforementioned Plex Dance. Itā€™s best practice to do it after any renaming exercise anyway.

6

Iā€™ll also add that when you deviate away from plexā€™s recommended naming that things work until they donā€™t :slight_smile: There could be something unique with the season 6 episodes which is causing plex some problems. Can you let us know exactly how you named the season 6 file. Iā€™d image if you named it The Simpsons - S06E01-E25.ext then plex should be okay with it.

1 Like
7

I canā€™t recall now how many times Iā€™ve posted that exact phrase (or thought it, at least). I find myself trying to come up with unique ways to express the idea, but nothing communicates the idea like the original.

I find myself genuinely curious whether or not the Duplicates filter found any (duplicates).

2 Likes
8

My Pathway exactly is this
M:\Videos\Video Library\TV\The Simpsons\Season 06

Yes I have performed the plex dance. Many times. I have even done it again to legitimately say to you I have done it this time too. It hasn;t worked. Please appreciate, I have 30TB of content - ten hard drives over 2 nas devices. Equates to about 800 films and 80 tv shows all ripped from blu ray and dvd - so its not a light endeavour. Every single film and tv I have uploaded is fine. Its just the Simpsons I have an issue with.
Despite having said that I had already kept it short, I decided to do what you said, knowing that it hasnt help in the past and repeat the process.

I have named files S06E01-S06E05 in the following manner (number adjusting for each episode.
Simpsons, The (1994) S06E01 {tvdb-71663}

And I also have the remaining files from S06E06 ā€¦ to ā€¦ S06E25 just be their series and epuside number.

I still only have 2 episodes showing no matter how many times I try to rescan.

Previously I followed this format.

Simpsons, The (1994) S06E01 {imdb-tt0096697} Vol6 Disc1 #104 [DVD] SIMPSONS_SEASON6_D1
Simpsons, The (1994) S06E02 {imdb-tt0096697} Vol6 Disc1 #105 [DVD] SIMPSONS_SEASON6_D1
Simpsons, The (1994) S06E03 {imdb-tt0096697} Vol6 Disc1 #106 [DVD] SIMPSONS_SEASON6_D1
Simpsons, The (1994) S06E04 {imdb-tt0096697} Vol6 Disc1 T5 #107 [DVD] SIMPSONS_SEASON6_D1
Simpsons, The (1994) S06E05 {imdb-tt0096697} Vol6 Disc1 T6 #108 [DVD] SIMPSONS_SEASON6_D1
Simpsons, The (1994) S06E06 {imdb-tt0096697} Vol6 Disc1 #109 [DVD] SIMPSONS_SEASON6_D1
Simpsons, The (1994) S06E07 {imdb-tt0096697} Vol6 Disc1 T8 #110 [DVD] SIMPSONS_SEASON6_D1
Simpsons, The (1994) S06E08 {imdb-tt0096697} Vol6 Disc2 T2 #111 [DVD] SIMPSONS_SEASON6_D2
Simpsons, The (1994) S06E09 {imdb-tt0096697} Vol6 Disc2 #111 T3 [DVD] SIMPSONS_SEASON6_D2
Simpsons, The (1994) S06E10 {imdb-tt0096697} Vol6 Disc2 T4 #112 [DVD] SIMPSONS_SEASON6_D2
Simpsons, The (1994) S06E11 {imdb-tt0096697} Vol6 Disc2 T5 #113 [DVD] SIMPSONS_SEASON6_D2
Simpsons, The (1994) SE06E05 {imdb-tt0096697} Vol6 Disc1 T11 #108 [DVD] SIMPSONS_SEASON6_D1
Simpsons, The (1995) S06E12 {imdb-tt0096697} Vol6 Disc2 T6 #114 [DVD] SIMPSONS_SEASON6_D2
Simpsons, The (1995) S06E13 {imdb-tt0096697} Vol6 Disc2 T7 #115 [DVD] SIMPSONS_SEASON6_D2
Simpsons, The (1995) S06E14 {imdb-tt0096697} Vol6 Disc2 T8 #110 [DVD] SIMPSONS_SEASON6_D2
Simpsons, The (1995) S06E15 {imdb-tt0096697} Vol6 Disc3 T2 #116 [DVD] SIMPSONS_SEASON6_D3
Simpsons, The (1995) S06E16 {imdb-tt0096697} Vol6 Disc3 T3 #117 [DVD] SIMPSONS_SEASON6_D3
Simpsons, The (1995) S06E17 {imdb-tt0096697} Vol6 Disc3 T4 #118 [DVD] SIMPSONS_SEASON6_D3
Simpsons, The (1995) S06E18 {imdb-tt0096697} Vol6 Disc3 T5 #119 [DVD] SIMPSONS_SEASON6_D3
Simpsons, The (1995) S06E19 {imdb-tt0096697} Vol6 Disc3 T6 #120 [DVD] SIMPSONS_SEASON6_D3
Simpsons, The (1995) S06E20 {imdb-tt0096697} Vol6 Disc3 T7 #121 [DVD] SIMPSONS_SEASON6_D3
Simpsons, The (1995) S06E21 {imdb-tt0096697} Vol6 Disc3 T8 #122 [DVD] SIMPSONS_SEASON6_D3
Simpsons, The (1995) S06E22 {imdb-tt0096697} Vol6 Disc4 #122 T2 [DVD] SIMPSONS_SEASON6_D4
Simpsons, The (1995) S06E23 {imdb-tt0096697} Vol6 Disc4 T3 #123 [DVD] SIMPSONS_SEASON6_D4
Simpsons, The (1995) S06E24 {imdb-tt0096697} Vol6 Disc4 T4 #124 [DVD] SIMPSONS_SEASON6_D4
Simpsons, The (1995) S06E25 {imdb-tt0096697} Vol6 Disc4 T5 #125 [DVD] SIMPSONS_SEASON6_D4
Simpsons, The (1995) SE6E20 {imdb-tt0096697} Vol6 Disc3 T14 #120 [DVD] SIMPSONS_SEASON6_D3
Simpsons, The (1995) SE6E21 {imdb-tt0096697} Vol6 Disc3 T15 #122 [DVD] SIMPSONS_SEASON6_D3

The point is, I still donā€™t have the shows from Season 6 populating. Every other season is fine (of which I have 17 in total).

I have still got the issue. Nothing I do makes any improvement on Plex showing two episodes from Season 6.

In note to folder naming issues, each folder had its own season. That was not an issue. I mentioned the folder schema and listed how I labelled it for the first three.

I now currently have 1 file showing out of all the episodes for Season 06.
This is from the get info option.
/Volume1/Media/Videos/Video Library/TV/The Simpsons/Season 06/S06E20.mp4

Have you any other suggestion?

Duplicates doesnt list any shows in the Series 6 list.

9

Okay, full server logs please. The logs attached above do not include any scanning so they donā€™t help.

Also, two other things:

  1. using {tvdb-71663} should ONLY be used at the show directory level and not on the files themselves, for example /Animation/The Simpsons (1989) {tmdb-456}/Season 06/The Simpsons - S06E01 - Bart of Darkness.mp4 - Iā€™ve seen reports in the past of this causing problems
  2. using {imdb-tt0096697} will do nothing but confuse things, IMDB is never used for TV matching, its only used in movies

Anyhow, full set of server logs, ideally after a plex dance of the show Simpsons (not just S06, the whole show) may help shine some light.

10

If I may add?

  1. MP4 files can carry metadata ā€“ Including ā€œNameā€ and ā€œTitleā€.
  2. PMS will read these values.
  3. If you have ā€œJunkā€ in those fields, (perhaps where/how you created the file) then it is VERY likely to interfere with the match
  4. To help here, I filled out the partial ā€œThe Simpsonsā€ I have in the QA library (dummy files so the scanner can recognize them) . 35 seasons

Screenshot from 2024-08-19 18-45-09
Screenshot from 2024-08-19 18-45-09851Ɨ588 201 KB

To share a sample of what I have in the QA library, which was passed through a renamer to add the episode titles,

All of the series is found without forcing any matching.

[chuck@glockner The Simpsons.2036]$ ls -R
.:
Season 00/  Season 04/  Season 08/  Season 12/  Season 16/  Season 20/  Season 24/  Season 28/  Season 32/
Season 01/  Season 05/  Season 09/  Season 13/  Season 17/  Season 21/  Season 25/  Season 29/  Season 33/
Season 02/  Season 06/  Season 10/  Season 14/  Season 18/  Season 22/  Season 26/  Season 30/  Season 34/
Season 03/  Season 07/  Season 11/  Season 15/  Season 19/  Season 23/  Season 27/  Season 31/  Season 35/

./Season 00:
The Simpsons - S00E01 - Good Night.mkv
The Simpsons - S00E02 - Watching TV.mkv
The Simpsons - S00E03 - Jumping Bart.mkv
The Simpsons - S00E04 - Babysitting Maggie.mkv
The Simpsons - S00E05 - The Pacifier.mkv
The Simpsons - S00E06 - Burping Contest.mkv
The Simpsons - S00E07 - Dinner Time.mkv
The Simpsons - S00E08 - Making Faces.mkv
The Simpsons - S00E09 - The Funeral.mkv
The Simpsons - S00E10 - Maggie's Brain.mkv
The Simpsons - S00E11 - Football.mkv
The Simpsons - S00E12 - House of Cards.mkv
The Simpsons - S00E13 - Bart and Homer's Dinner.mkv
The Simpsons - S00E14 - Space Patrol.mkv
The Simpsons - S00E15 - Bart's Haircut.mkv
The Simpsons - S00E16 - World War III.mkv
The Simpsons - S00E17 - The Perfect Crime.mkv
The Simpsons - S00E18 - Scary Stories.mkv
The Simpsons - S00E19 - Grampa and the Kids.mkv
The Simpsons - S00E20 - Gone Fishin' (Sort of).mkv
The Simpsons - S00E21 - Skateboarding.mkv
The Simpsons - S00E22 - The Pagans.mkv
The Simpsons - S00E23 - Closeted.mkv
The Simpsons - S00E24 - The Aquarium.mkv
The Simpsons - S00E25 - Family Portrait.mkv
The Simpsons - S00E26 - Bart's Hiccups.mkv
The Simpsons - S00E27 - The Money Jar.mkv
The Simpsons - S00E28 - The Art Museum.mkv
The Simpsons - S00E29 - Zoo Story.mkv
The Simpsons - S00E30 - Shut Up, Simpsons.mkv
The Simpsons - S00E31 - Shell Game.mkv
The Simpsons - S00E32 - The Bart Simpson Show.mkv
The Simpsons - S00E33 - Punching Bag.mkv
The Simpsons - S00E34 - Simpsons Christmas.mkv
The Simpsons - S00E35 - The Krusty the Clown Show.mkv
The Simpsons - S00E36 - Bart the Hero.mkv
The Simpsons - S00E37 - Bart's Little Fantasy.mkv
The Simpsons - S00E38 - Scary Movie.mkv
The Simpsons - S00E39 - Home Hypnotism.mkv
The Simpsons - S00E40 - Shoplifting.mkv
The Simpsons - S00E41 - Echo Canyon.mkv
The Simpsons - S00E42 - Bathtime.mkv
The Simpsons - S00E43 - Bart's Nightmare.mkv
The Simpsons - S00E44 - Bart of the Jungle.mkv
The Simpsons - S00E45 - Family Therapy.mkv
The Simpsons - S00E46 - Maggie in Peril (Chapter One).mkv
The Simpsons - S00E47 - Maggie in Peril (The Thrilling Conclusion).mkv
The Simpsons - S00E48 - TV Simpsons.mkv
The Simpsons - S00E49 - Springfield's Most Wanted.mkv
The Simpsons - S00E50 - The Simpsons Movie.mkv
The Simpsons - S00E51 - The Wiggum Files.mkv
The Simpsons - S00E52 - Making Of.mkv
The Simpsons - S00E53 - The Simpsons' Christmas Message.mkv
The Simpsons - S00E54 - Inside the actors' studio.mkv
The Simpsons - S00E55 - The world according to the simpsons.mkv
The Simpsons - S00E56 - A Culture Show Special.mkv
The Simpsons - S00E57 - The Simpsons 20th Anniversary Special- in 3-D! On Ice!.mkv
The Simpsons - S00E58 - Access All Areas.mkv
The Simpsons - S00E59 - Mischief & Mayhem.mkv
The Simpsons - S00E60 - Celebrity Friends.mkv
The Simpsons - S00E61 - The Longest Daycare.mkv

./Season 01:
The Simpsons - S01E01 - Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire.mkv  The Simpsons - S01E08 - The Telltale Head.mkv
The Simpsons - S01E02 - Bart the Genius.mkv                    The Simpsons - S01E09 - Life on the Fast Lane.mkv
The Simpsons - S01E03 - Homer's Odyssey.mkv                    The Simpsons - S01E10 - Homer's Night Out.mkv
The Simpsons - S01E04 - There's No Disgrace Like Home.mkv      The Simpsons - S01E11 - The Crepes of Wrath.mkv
The Simpsons - S01E05 - Bart the General.mkv                   The Simpsons - S01E12 - Krusty Gets Busted.mkv
The Simpsons - S01E06 - Moaning Lisa.mkv                       The Simpsons - S01E13 - Some Enchanted Evening.mkv
The Simpsons - S01E07 - The Call of the Simpsons.mkv

./Season 02:
The Simpsons - S02E01 - Bart Gets an F.mkv
The Simpsons - S02E02 - Simpson and Delilah.mkv
The Simpsons - S02E03 - Treehouse of Horror.mkv
The Simpsons - S02E04 - Two Cars in Every Garage and Three Eyes on Every Fish.mkv
The Simpsons - S02E05 - Dancin' Homer.mkv
The Simpsons - S02E06 - Dead Putting Society.mkv
The Simpsons - S02E07 - Bart vs. Thanksgiving.mkv
The Simpsons - S02E08 - Bart the Daredevil.mkv
The Simpsons - S02E09 - Itchy & Scratchy & Marge.mkv
The Simpsons - S02E10 - Bart Gets Hit by a Car.mkv
The Simpsons - S02E11 - One Fish, Two Fish, Blowfish, Blue Fish.mkv
The Simpsons - S02E12 - The Way We Was.mkv
The Simpsons - S02E13 - Homer vs. Lisa and the Eighth Commandment.mkv
The Simpsons - S02E14 - Principal Charming.mkv
The Simpsons - S02E15 - Oh Brother, Where Art Thou!.mkv
The Simpsons - S02E16 - Bart's Dog Gets an F.mkv
The Simpsons - S02E17 - Old Money.mkv
The Simpsons - S02E18 - Brush With Greatness.mkv
The Simpsons - S02E19 - Lisa's Substitute.mkv
The Simpsons - S02E20 - The War of the Simpsons.mkv
The Simpsons - S02E21 - Three Men and a Comic Book.mkv
The Simpsons - S02E22 - Blood Feud.mkv

./Season 03:
The Simpsons - S03E01 - Stark Raving Dad.mkv               The Simpsons - S03E13 - Radio Bart.mkv
The Simpsons - S03E02 - Mr. Lisa Goes to Washington.mkv    The Simpsons - S03E14 - Lisa the Greek.mkv
The Simpsons - S03E03 - When Flanders Failed.mkv           The Simpsons - S03E15 - Homer Alone.mkv
The Simpsons - S03E04 - Bart the Murderer.mkv              The Simpsons - S03E16 - Bart the Lover.mkv
The Simpsons - S03E05 - Homer Defined.mkv                  The Simpsons - S03E17 - Homer at the Bat.mkv
The Simpsons - S03E06 - Like Father Like Clown.mkv         The Simpsons - S03E18 - Separate Vocations.mkv
The Simpsons - S03E07 - Treehouse of Horror II.mkv         The Simpsons - S03E19 - Dog of Death.mkv
The Simpsons - S03E08 - Lisa's Pony.mkv                    The Simpsons - S03E20 - Colonel Homer.mkv
The Simpsons - S03E09 - Saturdays of Thunder.mkv           The Simpsons - S03E21 - Black Widower.mkv
The Simpsons - S03E10 - Flaming Moe's.mkv                  The Simpsons - S03E22 - The Otto Show.mkv
The Simpsons - S03E11 - Burns Verkaufen der Kraftwerk.mkv  The Simpsons - S03E23 - Bart's Friend Falls in Love.mkv
The Simpsons - S03E12 - I Married Marge.mkv                The Simpsons - S03E24 - Brother, Can You Spare Two Dimes!.mkv

./Season 04:
The Simpsons - S04E01 - Kamp Krusty.mkv                  The Simpsons - S04E12 - Marge vs. the Monorail.mkv
The Simpsons - S04E02 - A Streetcar Named Marge.mkv      The Simpsons - S04E13 - Selma's Choice.mkv
The Simpsons - S04E03 - Homer the Heretic.mkv            The Simpsons - S04E14 - Brother From the Same Planet.mkv
The Simpsons - S04E04 - Lisa the Beauty Queen.mkv        The Simpsons - S04E15 - I Love Lisa.mkv
The Simpsons - S04E05 - Treehouse of Horror III.mkv      The Simpsons - S04E16 - Duffless.mkv
The Simpsons - S04E06 - Itchy & Scratchy- The Movie.mkv  The Simpsons - S04E17 - Last Exit to Springfield.mkv
The Simpsons - S04E07 - Marge Gets a Job.mkv             The Simpsons - S04E18 - So It's Come to This- A Simpsons Clip Show.mkv
The Simpsons - S04E08 - The New Kid on the Block.mkv     The Simpsons - S04E19 - The Front.mkv
The Simpsons - S04E09 - Mr. Plow.mkv                     The Simpsons - S04E20 - Whacking Day.mkv
The Simpsons - S04E10 - Lisa's First Word.mkv            The Simpsons - S04E21 - Marge in Chains.mkv
The Simpsons - S04E11 - Homer's Triple Bypass.mkv        The Simpsons - S04E22 - Krusty Gets Kancelled.mkv

./Season 05:
The Simpsons - S05E01 - Homer's Barbershop Quartet.mkv
The Simpsons - S05E02 - Cape Feare.mkv
The Simpsons - S05E03 - Homer Goes to College.mkv
The Simpsons - S05E04 - Rosebud.mkv
The Simpsons - S05E05 - Treehouse of Horror IV.mkv
The Simpsons - S05E06 - Marge on the Lam.mkv
The Simpsons - S05E07 - Bart's Inner Child.mkv
The Simpsons - S05E08 - Boy-Scoutz 'N the Hood.mkv
The Simpsons - S05E09 - The Last Temptation of Homer.mkv
The Simpsons - S05E10 - $pringfield (Or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Legalized Gambling).mkv
The Simpsons - S05E11 - Homer the Vigilante.mkv
The Simpsons - S05E12 - Bart Gets Famous.mkv
The Simpsons - S05E13 - Homer and Apu.mkv
The Simpsons - S05E14 - Lisa vs. Malibu Stacy.mkv
The Simpsons - S05E15 - Deep Space Homer.mkv
The Simpsons - S05E16 - Homer Loves Flanders.mkv
The Simpsons - S05E17 - Bart Gets an Elephant.mkv
The Simpsons - S05E18 - Burns' Heir.mkv
The Simpsons - S05E19 - Sweet Seymour Skinner's Baadasssss Song.mkv
The Simpsons - S05E20 - The Boy Who Knew Too Much.mkv
The Simpsons - S05E21 - Lady Bouvier's Lover.mkv
The Simpsons - S05E22 - Secrets of a Successful Marriage.mkv

./Season 06:
The Simpsons - S06E01 - Bart of Darkness.mkv              The Simpsons - S06E14 - Bart's Comet.mkv
The Simpsons - S06E02 - Lisa's Rival.mkv                  The Simpsons - S06E15 - Homie the Clown.mkv
The Simpsons - S06E03 - Another Simpsons Clip Show.mkv    The Simpsons - S06E16 - Bart vs. Australia.mkv
The Simpsons - S06E04 - Itchy & Scratchy Land.mkv         The Simpsons - S06E17 - Homer vs. Patty and Selma.mkv
The Simpsons - S06E05 - Sideshow Bob Roberts.mkv          The Simpsons - S06E18 - A Star Is Burns.mkv
The Simpsons - S06E06 - Treehouse of Horror V.mkv         The Simpsons - S06E19 - Lisa's Wedding.mkv
The Simpsons - S06E07 - Bart's Girlfriend.mkv             The Simpsons - S06E20 - Two Dozen and One Greyhounds.mkv
The Simpsons - S06E08 - Lisa on Ice.mkv                   The Simpsons - S06E21 - The PTA Disbands.mkv
The Simpsons - S06E09 - Homer Badman.mkv                  The Simpsons - S06E22 - Round Springfield.mkv
The Simpsons - S06E10 - Grampa vs. Sexual Inadequacy.mkv  The Simpsons - S06E23 - The Springfield Connection.mkv
The Simpsons - S06E11 - Fear of Flying.mkv                The Simpsons - S06E24 - Lemon of Troy.mkv
The Simpsons - S06E12 - Homer the Great.mkv               The Simpsons - S06E25 - Who Shot Mr. Burns! (1).mkv
The Simpsons - S06E13 - And Maggie Makes Three.mkv

Referencing getting metadata for the aforementioned Season 6, just as with all,

Screenshot from 2024-08-19 19-10-38
Screenshot from 2024-08-19 19-10-381318Ɨ867 79.6 KB

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In reviewing this:

Simpsons, The (1995) SE6E21 {imdb-tt0096697} Vol6 Disc3 T15 #122 [DVD] SIMPSONS_SEASON6_D3

  1. The show is named The Simpsons, not Simpsons, The.
    I know what youā€™re trying to do but Linux is going to fight you every step of the way. Name the media correctly and then use the search in the graphical file manager (Nautilus) ā€¦ You type ā€œsimpā€ and there it is.

  2. According to IMDB and TheTVDB, the series started in 1989, making 1995 wrong.

    Screenshot from 2024-08-20 00-40-55
    Screenshot from 2024-08-20 00-40-55831Ɨ501 63 KB

  3. SE6E21 is not the season/episode specifier. Use S6E21 (one letter)

  4. ADD punctuation to separate Name - SxxEyy - Optional title here.ext

  5. Donā€™t over-control it. Itā€™ll fail to match if you get it wrong.

  6. Any information for you, but not pertinent to the match, goes in [stuff here] brackets.

  7. Perfect naming , which can be handled in a shell script, would be as below.
    From the above:

 Simpsons, The (1995) SE6E21 {imdb-tt0096697} Vol6 Disc3 T15 #122 [DVD] SIMPSONS_SEASON6_D3

Becomes, Keeping the disk info you want,

The Simpsons - S6E21 - [Vol6 Disc3 T15 #122 [DVD] SIMPSONS_SEASON6_D3].ext

Iā€™ll help you write a script to fix this naming if you wish.

EDIT:

I wrote the base script. Itā€™s easily tweakable

[chuck@lizum bin.2034]$ cat user-script 
#!/bin/bash

Name="Simpsons, The (1994) S06E01 {imdb-tt0096697} Vol6 Disc1 #104 [DVD] SIMPSONS_SEASON6_D1.mkv"
Ext="${Name##*.}"

echo $Name | \
  sed -e "s/\.$Ext$/\]\.$Ext/" | \
  sed -e "s/^Simpsons, The (1994)/The Simpsons -/" | \
  sed -e "s/\[DVD\]/DVD/" | \
  sed -e "s/{imdb-tt0096697} /- [/"


[chuck@lizum bin.2035]$ ./user-script 
The Simpsons - S06E01 - [Vol6 Disc1 #104 DVD SIMPSONS_SEASON6_D1].mkv
[chuck@lizum bin.2036]$

Notice the ā€œNameā€ it started with and what it outputted.

2 Likes
12

Chuckpa, what a great insight and tremendous help. I really appreciate that a lot. A lot of things you have said make a lot of sense. Infact, it was that which lead me to scrutinise that the files themselves may lie at the heart of the problem rather than trying to get Plex to do what I want.

Specifically, I have assumed that the plex scanner would only consider the title or filename. And I have also not scrutinised the actual files themselves. Clearly wrong.

And I have used the year of showing rather than the year of origin. I am aware that originating year of the programme takes presidence in this case.

As it happens, I have used the SxxExx format. There was some files where I added an E to this if I wanted Plex to ignore it. I have mistakingly copied and pasted that.

Originally I had used handbrake to encode into mp4. I undertsand now that handbrake converts video but I originally preferred its layout and initially I was of the belief that was what people were using as I had read that in forums.

More recently, literally in the last few weeks, I have been using MakeMKV.

So I did take a look at MP4 files. According to ID-Tag, the only populated fields are Comment and the Filename.

I did have a digital copy of the original disc images as I do with every physical media I have ripped so far. And re-ripped the video content into the folder using MakeMKV. I now have the episodes appearing in Series 6 and that is making me immensely happy.

Thank you Chuckpa, hugely grateful for your insight, offer of help and suggestions - not purely because it has resolved my issue but for the extra effort you were willing to do for another guy moaning that nothing is working as it should. I also think that there are others who may look at this thread in the future and might feel reassured that this will help them too. Cant thank you enough.

** PS, and I totally get you with the syntax. Youā€™re absolutely right.

13

@Detritusuk

To delineate:

  1. MKV files are evaluated by filename only

  2. MP4 files are evaluated by: filename first then embedded metadata IF any exists. If none exists, the filename is used.

  3. The Plex scanner is primarily driven by the filename extension.
    If the name is MKV, MP4, AVI, MPEGTS, FLAC, ALAC, MP3, JPG, JPEG, etc (Anything which is media Plex can ingest) then it will attempt to scan it per the rules of that library type.

  4. I find MKV files work better. Remux from MKV to MP4 by PMS is a trivial task. MakeMKV and MKVtoolnix allow me to ensure I only have what I want without forcing it through handbrake (re-encode again and lose quality). ā€“ I like all those bits :slight_smile:

  5. If you want things ignored, there is a .plexignore file where you write a regex list and itā€™ll ignore anything which matches. This is the preferred method.

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