[SOLVED] Episodes not recognised when SxEx is in [ ] brackets, possibly due to #13419

Plex Media Server NAS & Devices
1

Server Version#: 1.25.9.5673 on Synology DSM916+ 7.0.1.42218
Player Version#: 1.42.1.2926-415b0e14 on MacOS

Very strange behaviour just happened.

At least 2 of the many TV shows I have just disappeared. I was watching an episode from one of them, as soon as I finished the episode, it showed me an error (can’t remember but something like error fetching data), then the series disappeared.

I can still find the show’s logo when I search for it, but

  • It now only shows that it has Season 1, and just 1 episode.
  • Said episode is wrong. It claims to be S01E16, when it’s in fact S08E03. Presumably because the episode name has “16” in it, but this was never an issue.

I can still see all ~190 episodes when accessing my NAS, and open random ones successfully. It’s just that Plex no longer sees them at all.

Things I verified & tested:

  • Permissions are ok, same as all other series I have
  • Episodes exist in my NAS
  • Restarted Plex Server
  • Optimised DB
  • Removed the series from the share, confirmed it’s deleted from Plex debug logs, then added it again - didn’t help. I also optimised DB in between, and clicked Scan Library Files, and it didn’t discover them.

I can provide the full logs (and database if needed), please let me know where I can attach them, but a clip that shows the above is:

Plex Media Server.log:Apr 04, 2022 11:01:16.353 [0x7faf13653b38] DEBUG - There were 1 top-level paths for The Blacklist.
Plex Media Server.log:Apr 04, 2022 11:01:16.603 [0x7faf12140b38] DEBUG - [Transcode] MDE: The Blacklist - S1 E16 - Mako Tanida: selected media 0 / 146673
Plex Media Server.log:Apr 04, 2022 11:01:16.857 [0x7faf1326bb38] DEBUG - [Transcode] [Universal] Using local file path instead of URL: /volume1/Entertainment/TV/The Blacklist (2013)/The Blacklist [8x03] - 16 Ounces.mkv



Plex Media Server.log:Apr 04, 2022 11:06:05.157 [0x7faf156ddb38] DEBUG - There were 1 top-level paths for The Blacklist.
Plex Media Server.log:Apr 04, 2022 11:06:36.215 [0x7faf127f6b38] INFO - Library section 2 (TV Shows) will be updated because of a change in "/volume1/Entertainment/TV/The Blacklist (2013)"
Plex Media Server.log:Apr 04, 2022 11:06:48.190 [0x7faf156ddb38] DEBUG - Destroying metadata item 75538 (The Blacklist)
Plex Media Server.log:Apr 04, 2022 11:06:48.204 [0x7faf156ddb38] DEBUG - Deleting directory [The Blacklist (2013)] (1664)



Plex Media Server.log:Apr 04, 2022 11:08:16.305 [0x7faf127f6b38] INFO - Library section 2 (TV Shows) will be updated because of a change in "/volume1/Entertainment/TV/The Blacklist (2013)"
Plex Media Server.log:Apr 04, 2022 11:08:16.305 [0x7faf127f6b38] DEBUG - [Notify] New directory: "/volume1/Entertainment/TV/The Blacklist (2013)", adding recursively.
Plex Media Server.log:Apr 04, 2022 11:08:16.305 [0x7faf127f6b38] DEBUG - [Notify] Now watching "/volume1/Entertainment/TV/The Blacklist (2013)"
Plex Media Server.log:Apr 04, 2022 11:08:21.442 [0x7faf13653b38] DEBUG - Scanner: Processing directory /volume1/Entertainment/TV/The Blacklist (2013) (parent: yes)
Plex Media Server.log:Apr 04, 2022 11:08:21.521 [0x7faf13229b38] DEBUG - Checking descendants of The Blacklist (2013)
Plex Media Server.log:Apr 04, 2022 11:08:21.816 [0x7faf13229b38] DEBUG - [MetadataAgent/tv.plex.agents.series] Found 1 provider matches for 'The Blacklist'.
Plex Media Server.log:Apr 04, 2022 11:08:21.816 [0x7faf13229b38] DEBUG - Scanner [Plex TV Series]: found cloud match for file '/volume1/Entertainment/TV/The Blacklist (2013)/The Blacklist [8x03] - 16 Ounces.mkv': 'The Blacklist'
Plex Media Server.log:Apr 04, 2022 11:08:21.816 [0x7faf13229b38] DEBUG - Looking for path match for [/volume1/Entertainment/TV/The Blacklist (2013)/The Blacklist [8x03] - 16 Ounces.mkv]
Plex Media Server.log:Apr 04, 2022 11:08:21.819 [0x7faf13229b38] DEBUG - Checking descendants of The Blacklist (2013)
Plex Media Server.log:Apr 04, 2022 11:08:21.820 [0x7faf13229b38] DEBUG - Creating show 'The Blacklist'
Plex Media Server.log:Apr 04, 2022 11:08:21.824 [0x7faf13229b38] DEBUG - Added new metadata item (The Blacklist) with ID 89145
Plex Media Server.log:Apr 04, 2022 11:08:21.827 [0x7faf13229b38] DEBUG - Creating season 1 for show 'The Blacklist'
Plex Media Server.log:Apr 04, 2022 11:08:22.714 [0x7faf12584b38] DEBUG - Extras: Checked extra 'The Blacklist' and found matched: 0 Media matched: 0
Plex Media Server.log:Apr 04, 2022 11:08:22.716 [0x7faf12584b38] DEBUG - Added new metadata item (The Blacklist) with ID 89148
Plex Media Server.log:Apr 04, 2022 11:08:22.717 [0x7faf12584b38] DEBUG - Updating metadata item (save) (The Blacklist) with ID 89148
Plex Media Server.log:Apr 04, 2022 11:08:22.727 [0x7faf12584b38] DEBUG - Loaded metadata for The Blacklist (ID 89145) in 20ms
Plex Media Server.log:Apr 04, 2022 11:08:22.727 [0x7faf12584b38] DEBUG - Doing expensive tags write for 'The Blacklist' because something changed.
Plex Media Server.log:Apr 04, 2022 11:08:22.730 [0x7faf12584b38] DEBUG - Doing expensive tags write for 'The Blacklist' because something changed.
Plex Media Server.log:Apr 04, 2022 11:08:22.737 [0x7faf12584b38] DEBUG - Doing expensive tags write for 'The Blacklist' because something changed.
Plex Media Server.log:Apr 04, 2022 11:08:22.740 [0x7faf12584b38] DEBUG - Doing expensive tags write for 'The Blacklist' because something changed.
Plex Media Server.log:Apr 04, 2022 11:08:22.748 [0x7faf12584b38] DEBUG - Doing expensive tags write for 'The Blacklist' because something changed.
Plex Media Server.log:Apr 04, 2022 11:08:22.753 [0x7faf12584b38] DEBUG - Doing expensive tags write for 'The Blacklist' because something changed.
Plex Media Server.log:Apr 04, 2022 11:08:22.754 [0x7faf12584b38] DEBUG - Doing expensive tags write for 'The Blacklist' because something changed.
Plex Media Server.log:Apr 04, 2022 11:08:22.757 [0x7faf12584b38] DEBUG - Doing expensive tags write for 'The Blacklist' because something changed.
Plex Media Server.log:Apr 04, 2022 11:08:22.759 [0x7faf12584b38] DEBUG - Doing expensive tags write for 'The Blacklist' because something changed.
Plex Media Server.log:Apr 04, 2022 11:08:22.760 [0x7faf12584b38] DEBUG - There was a change for metadata item 89145 (The Blacklist), saving.
Plex Media Server.log:Apr 04, 2022 11:08:22.760 [0x7faf12584b38] DEBUG - Updating metadata item (save) (The Blacklist) with ID 89145
Plex Media Server.log:Apr 04, 2022 11:08:27.878 [0x7faf13653b38] DEBUG - Updating directory 'The Blacklist (2013)' (ID 1760) to time 2022-04-04 10:40:19.
Plex Media Server.log:Apr 04, 2022 11:08:27.975 [0x7faf13653b38] DEBUG - Activity: registered new sub-activity 4a419c09-6919-4b5b-9af3-f2cdca12a78f - "The Blacklist S1" parent: a0b0ad13-5550-48c2-93ac-8fd8b11f2a89 overall progress: 0.0% (0/1)
Plex Media Server.log:Apr 04, 2022 11:08:27.984 [0x7faf12133b38] DEBUG - IntroDetector: Running intro detection for [89146] [The Blacklist] [1]
Plex Media Server.log:Apr 04, 2022 11:08:28.048 [0x7faf12133b38] DEBUG - [Universal] Using local file path instead of URL: /volume1/Entertainment/TV/The Blacklist (2013)/The Blacklist [8x03] - 16 Ounces.mkv
Plex Media Server.log:Apr 04, 2022 11:08:28.049 [0x7faf12133b38] DEBUG - [JobRunner] Job running: FFMPEG_EXTERNAL_LIBS='/var/packages/PlexMediaServer/shares/PlexMediaServer/AppData/Plex\ Media\ Server/Codecs/62cc2bc-4278-linux-x86_64/' X_PLEX_TOKEN='xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx' '/volume1/@appstore/PlexMediaServer/Plex Transcoder' '-codec:1' 'aac' '-analyzeduration' '20000000' '-probesize' '20000000' '-i' '/volume1/Entertainment/TV/The Blacklist (2013)/The Blacklist [8x03] - 16 Ounces.mkv' '-filter_complex' '[0:1] aresample=async=1:ocl='\''5.1'\'':rematrix_maxval=0.000000dB:osr=48000[0]' '-map' '[0]' '-metadata:s:0' 'language=eng' '-codec:0' 'flac' '-b:0' '4096k' '-f' 'flac' '-map_metadata' '-1' '-map_chapters' '-1' '-t' '1289.8444999999999' '/var/packages/PlexMediaServer/shares/PlexMediaServer/AppData/Plex Media Server/Cache/Transcode/Detection/e18e607a-2315-4757-a191-d06d2c617572' '-y' '-nostats' '-loglevel' 'quiet' '-loglevel_plex' 'error' '-progressurl' 'http://127.0.0.1:32400/video/:/transcode/session/e7c4e6fc-0047-4bcb-83bb-89de1c778981/8144f9e3-f460-4abc-a1de-af886332ad29/progress'

You can see 11:06 is when I removed the series, and 11:08 is when I added it back. But it won’t recognise anything other than that single episode.

Some observations:

  • The single episode above that’s recognised as S01E16 is in fact “S08E03 - 16 Ounces”. I’m presuming it thinks it’s episode 16 due to that being in the name, but it’ still strange.

  • Same thing with another series, Heroes, where all 5 seasons are gone except S01E24, which is actually “S03E16 - Building 26”.

  • The filename convention I use for all my shows and series is [SSxEE], for example [08x03], which should to be supported.

It still doesn’t explain why the whole series goes missing (instead of say being jumbled up) except 1 episode, or why this is only happening to a selected few series out of the many I have (instead of all of them).

The only changes I did was

  • Upraded to latest beta version above, around 2-3 days ago
  • Added 1 episode to the above series [09x14].

Could this be related to the following update (thanks tijuco)?

(Scanner) Improved parsing of certain episode filename formats (#13419)

Edit, narrowing down the issue:

  • Renamed an episode from [9x13] to [S09E13], and hit “Scan Library Files”. That didn’t help.
  • Renamed it to S09E13, without the [ ] brackets, and that did fix the issue - episode now is detected
  • Renamed another from [9x12] to 9x12, without the [ ] brackets, and that also fixed the issue.

It seems like Plex is having an issue detecting the episode when it’s in [ ] brackets

2

Try using [08x03]

3

Hi @dbirch,

Thanks. That didn’t work. But I do have progress below:

Edit, few more tests done:

  • Renamed an episode from [9x13] to [S09E13] , and hit “Scan Library Files”. That didn’t help.
  • Renamed it to S09E13 , without the [ ] brackets, and that did fix the issue - episode now is detected
  • Renamed another from [9x12] to 9x12, without the [ ] brackets, and that also fixed the issue.
  • Renamed [9x11] to [09x11] but that didn’t fix it.

It seems like Plex is having an issue detecting the episode when it’s in [ ] brackets

4

Plex Documentation → Your Media → Naming & Organizing Your TV Show Files

Not supported.

Plex requires sXXeYY format. For example, /Band of Brothers (2001)/Season 01/Band of Brothers (2001) - s01e01 - Currahee.mkv.

From the Naming & Organizing support article: “The most important bit in the file name is the appropriate season and episode number notation s02e17 which in this example means Season 2 Episode 17”

Also, lose the square brackets. Plex ignores info in square brackets.

After renaming, perform the Plex Dance to remove incorrect information from the Plex database.

1 Like
5

Thanks @FordGuy61,

Found the reference, Naming and Organizing Your TV Show Files | Plex Support

Good read, answers all questions.

I’ll change the names, but curious, has this recently changed? Because I’ve been using [08x16] for years now and it’s always worked (08x16 without brackets also still seems to work. ). Only since this last beta version I installed a few days ago did this problem emerge.

Is this related to the fix: (Scanner) Improved parsing of certain episode filename formats (#13419) ?

Ta.

6

Forgot to mention, there is also Match Hinting for TV Series. It might let you keep your desired naming, but it seems like a lot of work.

Square Brackets: I’ve never seen it formally documented, but I’ve always heard “Plex ignores things between square brackets.” I have seen it written by Plex employees in forum posts. Square brackets are commonly used to hold info such as codec, resolution, etc. ex: movie_name (year) [AVC.1080p.dts51].mkv. I’ve never tested placing them around other info such as name, episode number, etc.

Naming in general (personal opinion):
A lot of movie and show naming structures work (or used to work) by default, not by design.

It seems the new Plex movie and tv scanners/agents have recently become more strict about adhering to the recommended naming structure.

This has caused some naming/organization structures to no longer work.

There is still some variance allowed. However, certain things need to be followed, such as the sXXeYY format for TV shows.

And there are some movies/shows that are just hard to match. For example, movies like 9 can be hard to match (i.e. 9.mkv). That’s where using the imdb/tmdb/tvdb ids really helps. The ID overrides the folder/file name. It tells Plex exactly which movie/show to match against.

7

If I may augment here?

To add to FordGuy61,

  1. The new scanners are much more uniform than the old Python.
  2. The new scanner treats everything in [ ] as invisible. (Just like Movies)
  3. The proper episode format is:
Series Name -  SxxExx -  Optional Title [1080p, whatever you want here].ext

The key delimiter sets are:

(year)
{tvdb: nnnnnn} or {imdb: nnnnn}
[characters to ignore here]

1 Like
10

Thanks all,

I renamed all my files and so far so good! I’ll mark this as resolved.

1 Like
11

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