I’ve been using The Renamer for years (I believe I found out about it in these forums) and while sometimes the connectivity with TheTVDB was iffy, I could get what I wanted - A tv show renamed and placed into a proper directory structure. Just put in “jericho.s01e01.mp4” and out comes “\Jericho (2006)\Season 1\Jericho (2006) - s01e01 - Pilot- The First Seventeen Hours.mp4”
However, it appears that TheTVDB did some major overhauling and The Renamer was rendered dumb and unable to give results back in any way except to say “!!! EPISODE TITLE MISSING !!!”
The Renamer hasn’t been updated since 2014 and the mailbox for the developer is way past full. So it looks like The Renamer is no longer able to do what it’s needed to. It’s been a nice one.
So the question is now “What works now with TheTVDB v2”. Some on other sites have said “Filebot” is good, but I have a hard time with parting with $20 for a piece of software that I have never seen work and don’t know if it will now with v2.
What, pray tell, do you fine fellow Plex using folk, use for your tv show naming? Do you do it the old way of going to a website, look up the info and just rename the file manually? Do you just throw all of your files into a big folder and let Plex sort it out?
Keep in mind that I’m not looking for movie file naming and tagging - I use MetaX for the meta tags and I name the files myself in a format such as “The Wizard of Oz.mp4” and put the file into a folder called “The Wizard of Oz (1939) [1080p]”
Embedded metadata in the Title Field of MP4/M4V files will cause no shortage of pain and suffering. Plex will read this info and prefer it over a perfect file name/structure, 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 Shows 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 may need to write a new bundle for the show or movie so The Plex Dance® was invented:
I also have been using TheRenamer for years. It does still work, just not with TheTVDB. When you open the app, bottom right corner you can toggle through different TV show dbases. I know TheTVDB is the best but I can identify most if not all of my shows toggling between IMDB and EPGUIDES. I tried the older filebot 4.7.9 but it requires an outdated JAR and I’m not into that. The new version of filebot is pay only so if I can continue using TheRenamer, I’ll do that.
I have used theRenamer for years as well. I knew it was a dead program but what happened was the TVDB use to use a 6 digit number in the URL for the show title. In theRenamer the program would use that number to find the show and pull the metadata. Since the remodel of TVDB they no longer use the number in the URL (https://www.thetvdb.com/series/fear-the-walking-dead). You can still see the number when you search but that’s it.
As for the ones saying they are using Filebot for TVDB I’d like to know what OS you are on because I run Linux on my server farm and when Filebot tries to read TVDB’s site it hangs and I have to reboot to kill it. Killing the process doesn’t even work. I am using 4.7.9 version and it shows it was last updated on 4/3/2017.
@nicolidarkk said:
I have used theRenamer for years as well. I knew it was a dead program but what happened was the TVDB use to use a 6 digit number in the URL for the show title. In theRenamer the program would use that number to find the show and pull the metadata. Since the remodel of TVDB they no longer use the number in the URL (Fear the Walking Dead - TheTVDB.com). You can still see the number when you search but that’s it.
The old URL’s still work.
As for the ones saying they are using Filebot for TVDB I’d like to know what OS you are on because I run Linux on my server farm and when Filebot tries to read TVDB’s site it hangs and I have to reboot to kill it. Killing the process doesn’t even work. I am using 4.7.9 version and it shows it was last updated on 4/3/2017.
Windows 7 x64 Ult.
Still works as of 05/07/2018, 10:02PM
Hmmm ok. Well I don’t want to pay 9.99 to 19.99 for a program that is free on Linux… When it runs on Linux (Ubuntu 18.04) it just hangs during the tv shows… Not sure what’s different since it’s the same version.
@nicolidarkk said:
I have used theRenamer for years as well. I knew it was a dead program but what happened was the TVDB use to use a 6 digit number in the URL for the show title. In theRenamer the program would use that number to find the show and pull the metadata. Since the remodel of TVDB they no longer use the number in the URL (Fear the Walking Dead - TheTVDB.com). You can still see the number when you search but that’s it.
The old URL’s still work. Fear the Walking Dead - TheTVDB.com
I understand the old URLs work but the programs are not looking at the old one. I have tried and tried to find any settings to force anything.
As for the ones saying they are using Filebot for TVDB I’d like to know what OS you are on because I run Linux on my server farm and when Filebot tries to read TVDB’s site it hangs and I have to reboot to kill it. Killing the process doesn’t even work. I am using 4.7.9 version and it shows it was last updated on 4/3/2017.
Windows 7 x64 Ult.
Still works as of 05/07/2018, 10:02PM
Hi Guys,
I seem to have a different problem. Renamer changes the file names as needed but then Plex doesn’t find the files, it just lists them as S01E01 etc… I have to unmatch the TV series, then rematch and it fixes all the files…Any ideas??
Thanks
@mrtanner87 said:
Hi Guys,
I seem to have a different problem. Renamer changes the file names as needed but then Plex doesn’t find the files, it just lists them as S01E01 etc… I have to unmatch the TV series, then rematch and it fixes all the files…Any ideas??
Thanks
Mr T
That could be alot of things.
What is the series and what is the folder/path and names of episodes?
Example; D:\Plex\SeriesTV\Porno Valley (2004) - s01e01 - Mercedez Bends.mp4 D:\Plex\SeriesTV\Porno Valley (2004) - s01e02 - Titsicle.mp4 D:\Plex\SeriesTV\Porno Valley (2004) - s01e03 - Tightie Whities.mp4 D:\Plex\SeriesTV\Porno Valley (2004) - s01e04 - A Penny for Your Thong .mp4
Sorry I’ve taken so long to reply. The folder/path and names are as follows:
C:\TVShows\NCIS\NCIS.S15E16.Handle With Care.mkv and so on. I just don’t understand why it doesn’t pick up the info until I unmatch and rematch the show???
Plex will read bogus embedded Title Fields and prefer them over a perfect file name/structure (borking your match in the process), 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 Shows 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 may need to write a new bundle for the show or movie so The Plex Dance® was invented:
I had the same issue with the local metadata doing that and JuiceWSA is
right. That is the way to go about it. As for the other part of this
discussion FileBot magically started working last night… Not sure why or
how but it worked quick… I’ll keep testing and see but theRenamer is
really dead. I got the April Win10 update and now I can’t even open
theRenamer… So sad, it was such a great program.
Plex will read bogus embedded Title Fields and prefer them over a perfect
file name/structure (borking your match in the process), 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 Shows and Movies here:
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 may
need to write a new bundle for the show or movie so The Plex Dance® was
invented:
When I record material I use MCEBuddy - and he ‘renames/converts/puts into the appropriate library type’ automatically, but some have used MCEBuddy in a Rube Goldberg Brain Teaser - only renaming and placing files - by disabling some of it’s features.
Somewhere around hour 3 of work-around invention you start thinking 20 Bucks is sounding pretty good…
I spoke too soon. Tried using Filebot tonight on Linux and again it freezes. I have a popup window that is blank that says TheTVDB in it and nothing. I have to reboot to clear it.
Update: And I figured it out. If more than one show requires me to select the show in a popup then it crashes. 3 shows required manual selection…
