How do you get Plex to recognize different versions of a TV series? Case in point, The Outer Limits first appeared in 1963. It was later restarted in 1995. Episodes (sxxexx) are obviously different for the two versions of the show. I’ve got some of each, and want the Plex library to correctly distinguish between them.
I already know that adding (year) will work. Is there a way to do it without renaming all the files?
Filebot is likely to change them for you.
Plex treats the folder name for TV series as the most important thing for naming. As example name the folder containing the 1995 Outer Limits as “Outer Limits (1995)” and then you can pretty much leave the year out of the file names.
However you can use FileBot to get the names perfect and renaming becomes trivial.
After you do any renaming you need to perform the “Plex Dance” or the changes may not be detected:
The following is the general format for TV shows:
TV Shows <— The library points here
---------TV Show Name (Year first aired if needed) <— This folder holds the season folders
------------------Season 01 <— This folder holds all the episodes for season 01
-------------------------ShowName - s01e01 - Episode Name.ext
-------------------------ShowName - s01e02 - Episode Name.ext
-------------------------And so on for the rest of season 01
------------------Season 02 <— This folder holds all the episodes for season 02
-------------------------ShowName - s02e01 - Episode Name.ext
-------------------------ShowName - s02e02 - Episode Name.ext
-------------------------And so on for the rest of season 02
------------------Season 03 <— This folder holds all the episodes for season 03
-------------------------ShowName - s03e01 - Episode Name.ext
-------------------------ShowName - s03e02 - Episode Name.ext
-------------------------And so on for the rest of season 03
Note: The year after the show name is only normally needed or desired if there is more that one show with exactly the same name. Check http://thetvdb.com/ if you are not sure and match exactly the name used there.
There are naming methods other than the above that work but this does work 99.9% of the time.
If you are going to use Plex it is best to use the proper naming conventions so Plex makes the best match possible. Trying to force Plex to use other naming methods is just asking for frustration.
One further note: There have been reports that Plex is having some problems with dated TV shows in the last build or two. I am having no problems but I have not added a new show to my library in a while.
The date in the folder name trick does not appear to work for me. That was actually the first thing I tried. That resulted in ALL the Outer Limits episodes being shown as 1963.
Plex/TVDB has this so screwed up right now it’s hard to say what’s going to work, but I was able to get a match - eventually - with this:
A TV Show Library
…The Outer Limits (1995)
…Season 01
…The Outer Limits (1995) - S01E01.mp4
I do have the Original, but I’m not going in there experimenting on Plex’s Grand New Design until they figure out what the H3!! they’re doing, create some documentation that actually means something and FileBot can make it all happen with the click of a button.
The above did work, but you’ll have to Plex Dance it:
- remove show from library
- update library
- clean bundles
- empty trash
https://support.plex.tv/hc/en-us/articles/200392106-Library-Actions <— clean bundles, empty trash, update libraries - fix structure and file names as per above
- replace show into library
- update library
All Steps - In Order.
