I use Plex server for my Channels DVR recordings. Two particular shows I record daily, The Herd with Colin Cowherd and Fox13 6:00 News, aren’t on TVDB. I keep a poster in each folder named “folder.jpg”. Is there any way to get plex to automatically choose that image rather than having a black, empty thumbnail? Thanks.
Try naming the poster “poster.jpg” instead of “folder.jpg”
Here is how Plex handles local assets.
I see they list “folder” as a valid name, but I’ve been using poster.jpg and it works if nothing else is available. I’ve never tried folder.jpg.
I just noticed something about what you said. It sounds like you are putting an image inside the same folder as the live recording. I’ve not tried that. My OTA recordings get recompressed and dropped into a new library where they are scanned again.
I think the original recording uses the artwork downloaded with the EPG listings. I don’t know if that can be overridden within the specialized Live TV & DVR library.
You might be able to create a new library and point it to the same folder as your OTA recordings. Maybe.
That is how I use Plex with my Channel DVR recordings. Works great for anything that TVDB matches. These are the only two shows at the moment that I record daily that doesn’t match.
Don’t know about the EPG comment and how it relates to Channels DVR.
Channels makes a folder for each TV show. It is one folder deep with “TV” being the parent folder.
Haven’t tried naming the image “poster” but I will try it. Like you mentioned, “folder” is listed as a valid name so I didn’t try that.
Oh. Somehow I misread that you said “Channels DVR” and read it like you were using Plex for your tv channel DVR recordings.
Plex doesn’t have TVE support. Channels works great. I use Locast for the locals.
I know. I actually use Channels DVR too. Crazy that I misread that.
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So you just use the Channels software for all recordings? I use a combination of Plex and Kodi for playback. I use a PC with a Harmony hub bluetooth remote and it works very well. Much smoother playback compared to the Channels app on a Firestick 4K.
I use Channels DVR for the recordings. There are usually no more than 4 per day so then I rename, recompress in Handbrake, and then drop it into a new folder for Plex to scan. It cuts the size down to about 1/3 of the original.
Is Plex grouping the episodes under the series properly? Even though it doesn’t find online data for it? Does the custom poster show up in the series settings, but not get applied to the individual episodes in recently added or continue watching?
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The problem is that the TVDB doesn’t have those two particular shows, not the folder structure or naming. Every show that matches with the TVDB database is perfectly fine under the same structure.
The only problem is the poster. Both shows show up fine in Plex. I can manually add the poster but they don’t stick for the next days episode.
I should probably contact TVDB to get them to add The Herd. Local news I doubt they would ever add?
What is your folder name and the last two episode file names. Let me test it.
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You can go to TVDB directly to see if they have any show.
FOX13 600 News/FOX13 600 News 2021-08-04-1759.mpg
The Herd with Colin Cowherd/The Herd with Colin Cowherd S2021E153 2021-08-04-1200.mpg
I did try to rename the poster from folder.jpg to poster.jpg with no luck on the Fox13 news recording:(
Try refreshing the metadata.
I just ran a test like this:
- Created a folder and fake episode with a date from a few days ago.
- Scanned library which found the episode with no posters.
- Marked episode as played.
- Added another fake episode with following date.
- Scanned library which found the second episode (still no poster).
- Added poster.png file to folder.
- Scanned library. Nothing.
- Realized I needed to “Refresh Metadata” to make it check for new art.
- Poster showed up, so I marked second episode as watched.
- Added third fake episode with following date.
- Scanned library which found the third episode and used the right poster.
- Watched third episode.
- Added another.
So far the new episodes are picking up the poster.
Are you by any chance deleting all episodes out of the folder before the newest one shows up each day? That is one thing I didn’t try.
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Yes. I delete the episodes. The folder stays because I added the poster picture within the folder, otherwise the folder gets deleted too.
Too bad that Plex can’t automatically add posters to files with no match. I guess I can leave one episode in the folder and it should work. That isn’t a terrible workaround. Maybe I can request that Plex automatically add poster to unmatched episodes if it cannot find a match? Thanks.
If I delete the episode each time, the poster will still be detected automatically after the next episode is dropped in. The only thing it doesn’t do is put them into the Continue Watching hub. They are only showing up in the Recently Added hub like a brand new series.
I even tried dropping a new poster image in and the new image is used. So it must be rescanning like a new series each time.
I wonder why it isn’t working for me? It saves the image under edit/poster but doesn’t automatically add it?
I just registered at TVDB and I am going to try to add both shows. Hopefully it isn’t too complicated. Thanks again.
I don’t even have to edit the poster settings if it is a new show with the poster.jpg already inside the folder. And probably assuming it can’t find an online match.
I played around with the agent preferences and local media assets (tv) with no luck.
When I click Match/Auto Match/ Personal Media Shows, it loads the poster.jpg, but it doesn’t stick after I remove the file and re-add it.
