Server Version#: 1.20.1.3252 (Docker container running on Ubuntu 18.04 host with PlexPass)
Player Version#: N/A
I setup a brand new plex server and added a Movie and TV Library. The Movie library works great with the new scanner. The TV scanner refuses to match anything. It is at defaults (TVdB, etc.)
The odd part is if I go to any show and click the 3 dots/match, it auto matches the show on the first entry without me having to manually do anything. My folder and naming convention matches that of plex, and this same library has no issue on a second plex server that’s attached to it. I’ve attempted the following things to troubleshoot, and all end in the same result:
Delete the library, empty trash, optimize database and clean bundles, restart container, re-add library
Delete library, empty trash, optimize database and clean bundles, recreate library with TheMovieDB as agent, restart container, scan
Disable IPv6 support, restart container, scan
Go to library and click “Refresh All Metadata”
Perform curl commands to tvdb2.plex.tv and thetvdb with successful/correct responses
Parsed through logs for any notable errors or “CRITICAL” events
Tried adding loopback and docker networks to “allowed without authorization” based on forum search suggestions
Tried disabling local media assets and other agents, with only the TVDB at the top of the list
None of the above changed the result. When Plex is scanning, it just won’t pull metadata for TV shows. But as I said above when I click on a show, then Match, it matches without me having to enter or change any of the search criteria, and it’s always the first result.
My TV show folder names do not contain the year (I learned the hard way last year that this can cause matching issues.) My library paths in the plex library are as follows:
/mnt/unionfs/Media/TV/TV
/mnt/unionfs/Media/TV/TV-Archive
etc
Within those paths are the shows in the following file and folder format:
/mnt/unionfs/Media/TV/TV/Yellowstone
/mnt/unionfs/Media/TV/TV/Yellowstone/Season 1
/mnt/unionfs/Media/TV/TV/Yellowstone/Season 1/Yellowstone - S01E01 - Show Title.mkv
It’s pertinent to note I just set this server up a few days ago and it’s running version 1.20.1.3252, which I believe was just released on the 8/27, 2 days ago. Is it a possible bug in the new version or am I missing something/doing something wrong? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
-Ed
Logs please. Settings - Server - Troubleshooting - Download Logs.
If you’ve enabled VERBOSE logging – Turn it off first then restart Plex and force a Scan and Refresh metadata before downloading the logs . Verbose is a big hindrance in these cases.
It’s very unlikely to be a bug this severe . Everyone would be screaming it if were.
Fair, but I have tons of shows and not a single one matches. Even in the case of Yellowstone, the first result is the correct one. When I use to have the (xxxx) year tag in the folder name, it wouldn’t always match, so I reverted to no year, although some still have the year their as I haven’t gotten around to renaming all of them. And historically, in the case of multiple matches, it still picks the first match, I just have to go back and fix it. But in this case, it’s not matching anything.
In either case, I would imagine at least one show would match no? Especially since my other Plex server pointing to the same library doesn’t have this issue.
I get what you are saying but I have multiple TV show root folders, but they are structured properly. As noted my other plex server pointing to the same content works fine. And when click “Match” it’s always the first hit on the dozen or so I tried without any manual intervention or updating of search criteria. Curious to see what ChuckPa finds in the logs.
That said I appreciate you chiming in! I’ll take any and all advice/ideas at this point. I’m pretty well versed with plex at this point but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t learn something new about tweaking plex on a monthly basis.
-Ed
I have since tried several more troubleshooting steps. I deployed a brand new plex container with no existing db/metadata/settings (fresh install.) Same thing, I tried reverting the docker container to plexinc/pms-docker:1.19.5.3112-b23ab3896 and plexinc/pms-docker:1.19.4.2935-79e214ead (both times fresh installs) - same issue. But heres the other odd thing I discovered:
Without click Options/Match in a show, if I just click Options/Refresh Metadata, it works. Without me having to match it. If I go to the library and click “Refresh all Metadata,” it doesn’t work. I’m very lost as to whats happening.
I’m seeing some naming inconsistencies between the logs and TheTVDB.
I’d like to ask if this is perhaps one of the commonalities among those things which don’t match
/mnt/unionfs/GD/TV/The Men Who Built America- Frontiersmen
The use of - breaks up the parsing of the identifiers in the episode name.
series - SxxEss - optional info.ext
versus what’s being seen as The Men Who Built America - Frontiersmen - SxxExx - stuff.ext
In this section example,
Token 1 = “The Men Who Built America”
Token 2 = “Frontiersmen”
Token 3 = “SxxExx”
When performing initial scan, it will want SxxExx as the 2nd token.
When matching manually, it gets much more liberal PLUS you can select the proper match.
Is there any commonality with others which don’t match?
Thank you for getting back to me! Unfortunately no, that isn’t a commonality. I have a ton of shows and I know some are as plain as can be, e.g.
/Yellowstone/Season 1/Yellowstone - S01E01 - Episode Title.mkv
The other odd thing is if I open a show with no metadata and click options/refresh metadata without matching the show, the metadata shows up. If I click on the library and select refresh all metadata it zips passed the items scanned in as though they already have metadata.
Look at where the problems occur.
Are the issues with MP4?
I am suggesting this because MP4 and AVI files carry metadata (names).
PMS is sensitive to this.
If there are junk names (“Name=” or “Title=” field) then PMS will get confused and not match without help due to the conflict between given file name and name found in the file.
Hmm even if I’ve disabled “local media assets?” Because on one of the new test instances, I tried turning off that agent with the same result. But again, with some shows being all MKV, this still occurs, and the odd thing is if I go to any show and click options/Refresh Metadata, it matches and pulls in data without any manual intervention.
It’s pertinent to note this is on a fresh install, creation and scan of a new TV library only. Existing libraries pointing to the same media are updating fine and without issue.
I’ve had two friends create fresh plex docker instances and they are getting the same result. However, like you said, if it was wide spread I feel more people would be complaining. We are trying to compare our settings to see if there are any similarities.
So one similarity is the three of us were out of the same datacenter. So I stood up a fresh instance at home.
So just to ensure I’m not nuts, has anyone here in the last 5 days or so created a new TV library with linux docker plex, scanned and they are getting posters? Because right now, I just added a new TV library to an existing plex server that is working fine, hit scan, and any new items in that library don’t show any posters either. This is on a local server at home, different IP/ISP/etc. As far as I can tell, any TV library I create from scratch and scan won’t auto pull posters/metadata anymore, but simply clicking “refresh metadata” on an individual item does, so it appears they are matching but failing to pull the actual data for the match on the mass scans.
One thing I have read online is some recent updates cause plex to store more metadata for TV, and one thing I am seeing in the logs is DB timeout issues. Is it possible that some sort of race condition is occuring during the mass scans that is preventing the metadata from being pulled?
ChuckPa can you clarify one thing - with the TV scanner at it’s defaults - Does plex need to scan through ALL the media first before pulling in any metadata?
