I am having an issue with TV shows that open with a dual episode. For example DS9 opens with the Episode ‘Emissary’, which is a single file and is thus episode 1. When Plex scans the library it thinks this episode should be in two parts, thus pushes all the episodes out of sync and results in a missing episode at the end. What is the solution to this issue? Thanks
My folder structure e.g.
TV Show\Star Trek Deep Space 9\1-Emmisary.mp4
TV Show\Star Trek Deep Space 9\2-Past Prologue.mp4…etc
Plex downloads informations about TV shows from TheTVDB. So your episode and season numbers must follow the conventions on this site. The first episode of DS9 is a double episode. TheTVDB usually has both parts of a double episode listed separately. Therefore, you must adapt the episode numbering of your files.
TV Show\
Star Trek Deep Space Nine\
Season 01\
Star Trek Deep Space Nine - s01e01-e02 - Emmisary.mp4
Star Trek Deep Space Nine - s01e03 - Past Prologue.mp4
Star Trek Deep Space Nine - s01e04 - A Man Alone.mp4
...
I might add to what @OttoKerner said that you can leave off the -e02 from the first episode.
That is instead of “Star Trek Deep Space Nine - s01e01-e02 - Emmisary.mp4”
name it “Star Trek Deep Space Nine - s01e01 - Emmisary.mp4”
That would meant that Plex would simply skip episode 02 but it would also mean that you would not have two entries for the same show. Currently if you use the double entry naming you have two shows listed one e01 and the other e02 and if you watch 01 all the way through which still that 02 has also been watched then 02 will still be marked unwatched and if you start 02 it will actually start at the beginning of 01.
Plex has no way of knowing where 01 ends and 02 starts and it believes there are two different episodes.
However if you just have the episode named 01 then after it plays Plex will move on to episode 03.
I have a mixture of the two naming methods in my library and I am unsure which I prefer but I am leaning to the single naming to prevent confusion on my part.
I used to split files that were joined like that. I don’t do this any more. I name the files for the first episode of the pair, and then I get just that one in the library. If it’s a series I’m tracking through Sonarr/SickRage, etc. I just tell that app not to look for the “missing” one any more. So it seems like I’m missing a few episodes, but I’m not really…
But for shows that have more than 2 episodes in the file, those I split. It’s too confusing otherwise, trying to keep track of what is what. Usually files like that have a jumble of episodes, anyway. They are seldom in sequence, from what I’ve seen…
thanks all, it kind of works but not quite. Episode 1/2 now shows as one episode ‘Emissary’ which is great and the rest of the episodes are in sequence. However the final episode (episode 20) shows as ‘Episode 20’ and no synopsis etc and on the front cover it only shows 19 episodes instead of 20
The number on the front cover means the number of ‘unwatched’ episodes in that season. Which is correct, since you only have 19 epiodes (no. 2 is contained in the file of ep. 1)
The thing with the episode 20: just try to ‘refresh’ this episode.
Since this is a mp4 file, it may contain internal metadata tags which are empty or contain bogus data. To disregard these, go to Settings - Server - Agents - TV Shows - TheTVDB and drag the line with ‘Local Media Assets’ down so it sits underneath of TheTVDB. Then refresh the episode again.