Over the years I tried XBMC. Then KODI. Now Plex. None of these can handle my TV shows. This time around I even named them how they should be. The “scrapers” never get it right. All my media files are from disc. News flash! Multi-part episodes are different on disc than how they were broadcast. If I don’t use the scraper, it still doesn’t get the basic info from the file name. The frickin’ title. Seriously, can I get some help here? I’m sick of this. I’m fine having them all in one folder named how I want them named. MPC-HC is what I use, but I’d like to share my media, and people like apps like this. Can I please get some help?
https://support.plex.tv/hc/en-us/categories/200028098-Media-Preparation
https://support.plex.tv/hc/en-us/articles/200381023-Naming-Movie-files
https://support.plex.tv/hc/en-us/articles/200220687-Naming-Series-Season-Based-TV-Shows
FileBot: Link in my signature.
Movies
A Movie Library/
…Movie Name (YEAR)/
…Movie Name (YEAR).xxx
or
A Movie Library/
…Movie Name (YEAR).xxx
TV Shows:
A TV Show Library/
…Show Name/
…Season 01/
…Show Name - S01E01 - Episode Name Optional.xxx
…Show Name - S01E02.xxx
^^this way or the highway^^
there are no other options - get it wrong and, well… don’t get it wrong.
Once you get it right you can opt for the DVD Order, but TVDB is all about the aired order.
The thing to know about TVDB is - TVDB is always right, even if they’re wrong.
Plex matches TV Shows through TVDB. End of story.
Want a match - match TVDB.
Get over it.
Can’t deal with it all?
An Other Videos Library/
…we just name it any dam thing we want.xxx
…Plex don’t care ‘cause it never tries to match anything.xxx
…we don’t get no artwork or descriptions or nuthin’, but we do what we want.xxx
…and we be lovin it.xxx
An illustration of the wonders of FileBot.
One day to my horror, I found my entire Alfred Hitchcock Presents Show was non-compliant. I discovered this when it started acting weird.
I opened FileBot and dragged the entire show, right from the show folder into FileBot and hit ‘Match’ (TVDB) then ‘Rename’.
2 seconds later this is what happened:
That should pretty much say everything that needs to be said about FileBot.
Ugh. How do I say this without being insulting? That looked like a copied response and my comment wasn’t even read closely. I said I HAVE followed the naming convention. Filebot won’t serve my purpose. It uses online databases of TV shows, which I’ve already stated don’t match up to how things are on disc. Broadcast rips and disc rips differ sometimes. If I try to have Plex get my shows without one of those databases, it still doesn’t work. Really, how hard is it to get the information from the filename? I don’t care about matching it to an online database and having fancy pictures. I’ve tried not doing that, WITH THE PROPER NAMING CONVENTION, and it still doesn’t work. No, I will not “get over it.”
All I get is the same rudeness about naming conventions from the support for every program I try. Well, this time I tried it, and still, poop.
Instead of getting pissed off, perhaps you could actually provide useful information to help us help you. How about listing the shows you have that won’t match, and exactly how you have your directory structure and files named?
What can I say?
If you want Plex to match your items with online databases you have to use Plex Naming and Structuring Standards.
If you don’t want to match anything and would rather do everything yourself use an ‘Other Videos’ Library Type.
Those are your options.
The reason for Plex and it’s main attraction is getting your media elegantly presented and operating. That happens through matching with online databases. That requires specific file naming and structuring.
If that’s not what you want perhaps Plex isn’t for you.
Stick with VLC or whatever you’re using now - if it makes you happier.
Frankly in all my years with Plex there are only a few shows that really ‘required’ a special order of episodes:
Firefly comes to mind.
Network Executives destroyed the show with their meddling, so many of us want to see the show in the order the creator intended. That’s easily done with the new DVD order feature within Plex (trust me it was a long time coming).
In order to get to that stage you have to name and structure properly - then trigger the DVD order - else your episodes will be invisible and that can’t be good.
Why can’t it just display the stuff correctly without needing an online database? Obviously the program has the ability to get basic information from the filename (season, episode(s), title)… I don’t want a huge list of video files. This is for sharing with other people. I just personally use a desktop and open the files right from explorer.
There are a bunch of shows. Seinfeld, Knight Rider (1982), The Office
I’ve already said how many times that I am following the specified naming convention. Do I really need to list display it?
@ramicio said:
I’ve already said how many times that I am following the specified naming convention. Do I really need to list display it?
Yes. You might not believe this, but there are numerous posts where people say they follow the naming convention and then it turns out they aren’t quite following it like they thought.
Log Files will settle this pretty quickly:
https://support.plex.tv/hc/en-us/articles/200250417-Plex-Media-Server-Log-Files
Drag zip file to a message window and drop it.
Filebot is wonderful…
What FileBot can’t do is remove possible embedded metadata in the Title Field of MP4/M4V files. Plex will read this info and prefer it over a perfect file name/structure (you may not have any of those yet), but you can combat that situation by moving Local Media Assets to the bottom of every agent list you can find. All tabs in TV Show and Movies here:
https://support.plex.tv/hc/en-us/articles/200241558-Agents
Just drag LMA to the bottom of the list and drop it. If you do have embedded metadata this will cure the issue, if you don’t it won’t matter. LMA will do what it has to from the bottom.
Renaming/restructuring is best performed OUTSIDE the library and you’ll need to write a new bundle for the show so The Plex Dance® was invented:
The Plex Dance®:
- remove show from library
- update library
- empty trash
- clean bundles
https://support.plex.tv/hc/en-us/articles/200392106-Library-Actions <— update library, empty trash, clean bundles - bring names and structures into compliance
- replace corrected show into library
- update library
All Steps. In Order. No Shortcuts.
If you’re fiddling around in a library and things aren’t changing - that’s a long time bug Plex can’t seem to fix, but can be overcome with The Plex Dance. In fact it’s the ONLY way.
It’s best to get things right BEFORE they go in a library. If that doesn’t happen though - Plex Dance it.
Well, I am.
Shows folder/
Series/
Season xx/
Series - SxxEyy(-Ezz) - Title.ext
It’s not difficult to read a document and follow its instructions.
I’ve just noticed that the database doesn’t even match up to official episode listings of how they aired. So I dunno. I guess I’ll people that when it comes to sharing my TV shows, they’re SOL, and I’ll go back to MY naming convention, because only I will be viewing them.
Filebot is not wonderful. It didn’t work for me, so I just wrote a perl script to rename my stuff per your naming convention. I have no metadata. These are matroska files.
- bring names and structures into compliance
- replace corrected show into library
Those are pretty condescending. I’ve already told you umpteen times that I named things PER the naming convention.
I did all those steps. No change.
The Office - S5E01-E02 - Weight Loss
There are 26 files and 28 episodes. Plex shows 28 different items, instead of combining the multipart ones. There are no titles! I can’t even tell if the two first items are split by plex, and if I play the 2nd episode, it starts from the right point, because no nothing will even play. WTF?
What’s the show?
Did you go to TVDB and see if the DVD order matches your order?
If it does name according to the TVDB DVD Order.
Then go to the Show Main Level in Plexweb.
Under the dots: Fix Match/Search Options (when you can get them) and…:
That should put everything in order and draw the correct descriptions - just like it does for us with Firefly.
Yes, doing this for every show is a GIANT PITA.
Unfortunately TVDB lists shows the way they aired. The DVD order may be what you’re used to, but the aired order is what TVDB uses.
DVD order can be employed, but… it does come with a fair amount of pain and suffering so using it sparingly may be the way to go.
I don’t have that in my list of agents. Regardless, the discs are Blu-ray, and don’t match that site’s “DVD” order. Regardless also is that it can’t just get the season, episode, and title name right from the filename without using an agent or whatever it’s called.
The main issue is that it can’t simply get the information from the filename. This is my whole issue, and you guys keep going back to playing with these silly online databases.
When I rip TV shows from DVD/BD I name them according to the aired order/name from TheTVDB. Plex scans the directory, reads the filename, and bam - 100% match. It gets the information from the filenames. If you choose to name yours according to the order on the DVD/BD, then I guess that is the origin of your problems.
Okay, good for you. I’m not getting into a/v editing to split a single file into two while ripping and reencoding.
WHY DO YOU ALL KEEP HARPING ON AND ON ABOUT THESE ONLINE DATABASES? WHY CAN NO ONE ANSWER A SIMPLE QUESTION ABOUT WHY THIS PROGRAM CANNOT SIMPLY FIND THE INFORMATION FROM THE FILENAME? FFS, THIS IS ALL I GET FROM ‘SUPPORT’ WHEN TRYING ALL OF THESE STUPID PROGRAMS.
Goodbye. Write better software, and try to actually understand what people are trying to convey. I don’t know how many times I’ve need to say that I don’t care about online information, and that I’m fine with getting it from the filename.
“The Office - S5E01-E02 - Weight Loss.ext” is incorrect. It may work and it may not but:
“The Office - S05E01-E02 - Weight Loss.ext” is the correct naming.
That one example may be the only one that is not named correctly and it may not be causing any problems but it at least is non-compliant in strict Plex naming conventions.
BTW: Just a hint but it makes it a bit easier for most people to maintain a library if you use lower case letters in the season and episode part of the name like: “The Office - s05e01-e02 - Weight Loss.ext” Plex does not care but it does make reading a bit easier for many people.
Plex uses an online agent database for TV show information. The filename must have the correct show name and episode/season identifier in it. If you don’t name your shows correctly it WILL NOT FIND THE INFORMATION. This is not rocket science.
If you don’t want Plex to use any online information at all for TV shows, then drag the agent to the bottom of the list and Plex will never match it. You will have no metadata for the show. You will not have proper episode information.
This is how Plex works. It’s how Plex has always worked. And, from your first post, it seems that every other system you’ve tried also follows the same basic rules. They all use online databases to fetch show information from, that’s how it works. You are trying to use these applications in ways they are not designed to be used.
That was an error in typing it into the message here. That leading zero is and has been in the filenames. Still doesn’t change anything. It simply doesn’t work. All I want has been mentioned countless times.
Listen. The program OBVIOUSLY gets the information from the filename and splits it up before sending it to these scrapers. So why can it simply not display my titles? The titles ARE specified as optional in your naming convention. This is ABSOLUTE nonsense. I’ve tried dragging those things to the bottom of the list. Write better software. Not everyone is some video pirate.
It has been explained why Plex uses an online database and that is NEVER going to change. However if you want to use Plex and you do not want it to use any online data you can make your library an “Other videos” library and Plex will do nothing but display the filenames. You will lose all tracking of watched status etc but it will work.
The other alternative that I “think” might work is to use a TV library but turn off all agents. If you do that I do not think Plex will go find any metadata but you will still have watched status etc. I have never tested that but it might work OK.
