TV Show episode metadata - why aren't titles loaded?

General Discussions
1

I am adding a TV series to my server, using the standard naming convention Title/Season 1/Title - s01e99.mp4. The server seems able to locate the episode summary data, but the episode titles only load in a few cases. All other times I have to manually edit the titles. Any idea what I might be doing wrong?

2

Check your mp4 files for embedded ‘Title’ meta tags.
If necessary, remove them
or
insert the actual title of the episode and nothing more into them.

3

Thanks - as a newbie, it sound like the manuall edit via Plex option is just as easy - i.e. I have to edit something, so it might as well be Plex :slight_smile: Curiously, in some cases, the correct title appears during the scan, but then disappears during a subsequent scan. Hmmm

4

I doubt that will work, use a third party Tag Editor and remove the offending text or you can use a mkv container as Plex does not read it’s metadata. Simply by remixing with MKVToolNix a free cross platform software.

5

A text editor won’t work for editing metadata inside an mp4 file.
If you have Windows, you can use mp3tag for instance.

Editing the embedded meta tags in your files is the thorough method. Imagine you need to set tup a new Plex server or you lose your plex data base for some reason. All the editing work you’ve done inside Plex will be gone and you have to start over.

6

Although I appreciate these suggestions, they are really only sticking plaster solutions. My key point is, if Plex is able to retrieve the plot summary, cast list and date of transmission, why can’t it retrieve the episode name?

7

The default metadata agent settings in Plex do prefer embedded Title metadata.
The above steps were merely intended to diagnose, whether this was the cause here as well.

If these were the cause, you can do the following to make Plex prefer externally loaded metadata:
Go to

  • Settings - Server - Agents - Shows - TheTVDB

In there, grab the line ‘Local Media Assets’ with your mouse and drag it downwards, so it ends up being at the bottom of the stack of active agents.
Repeat the same under

  • Settings - Server - Agents - Shows - TheMovieDatabase
  • Settings - Server - Agents - Movies - Plex Movie
  • Settings - Server - Agents - Movies - TheMovieDatabase

Afterwards, Refresh Metadata at the top level of each affected show.

8

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