# Wrong movie indexing

**URL:** <https://forums.plex.tv/t/wrong-movie-indexing/327598>\
**Category:** General Discussions\
**Created:** [November 5, 2018, 1:45am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/wrong-movie-indexing/327598 "2018-11-05T01:45:18Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![pogan2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/71e660/32.png) [@pogan2](https://forums.plex.tv/u/pogan2)\
**Post date:** [November 5, 2018, 1:45am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/wrong-movie-indexing/327598/1 "2018-11-05T01:45:19Z")

</div>

Hello,

I have two Total Recall movies. One by Arnold 1990 and the other in 2012. Here’s how the files are titled:

Total Recall (1990).m4v  
Total Recall (2012).m4v

However, in Plex, both movies have the 2012 image. I know I can edit the poster and drop the 1990 Arnold poster version there but I would prefer to have Plex correctly ID the movie since I believe my file naming is correct.

Is there anything I can do to fix this? I have a few other movies that also have this problem.

Thanks.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![FordGuy61](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/22d042/32.png) [@FordGuy61](https://forums.plex.tv/u/FordGuy61)\
**Post date:** [November 5, 2018, 2:26am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/wrong-movie-indexing/327598/2 "2018-11-05T02:26:16Z")

</div>

See this post:

> [@Need some help Plex not naming Movies correctly 10% of the time](https://forums.plex.tv/t/need-some-help-plex-not-naming-movies-correctly-10-of-the-time/323807/5):
>
> Plex tries very hard to match movies and often succeeds even though the naming is very wrong but there is no guarantee that future badly named movies will be matched. The only way to get even close to good consistent matching is to follow Plex’s naming conventions exactly. You can even add a bit to help Plex. All my movies are named: MovieName (Year released) (IMDB ID).ext The MovieName is exactly as it appears in TMdb and the optional IMDB ID is the id for that movie as it appears in the IM…

You might have to [Plex Dance](https://forums.plex.tv/t/the-plex-dance/197064) the files after making any name changes.

The purpose of this is to remove all cached metadata and xml data for an item that Plex usually keeps. This helps when you want to “start from scratch” for particular item

- move all files for the media item out of the directory your Library is looking at so Plex does not “see” it anymore
- update library ( scan for media items )
- empty trash
- clean bundles
- double check naming schema and move files back
- update library

If the problem persists, check the metadata inside the file via [MediaInfo](https://mediaarea.net/en/MediaInfo) or similar tools. Make sure the Movie Name field also has the year and not just the movie name.

Example:

```auto
General
Complete name : N:\....\Movies\Terminator 2_ Judgment Day (1991)\Terminator 2_ Judgment Day (1991).m4v
Format : MPEG-4
Format profile : Base Media / Version 2
Codec ID : mp42 (isom/iso2/avc1/mp41)
Duration : 2 h 32 min
Movie name : Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)

```

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![OttoKerner](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/ottokerner/32/10079_2.png) [@OttoKerner](https://forums.plex.tv/u/OttoKerner)\
**Post date:** [November 5, 2018, 6:39pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/wrong-movie-indexing/327598/3 "2018-11-05T18:39:06Z")

</div>

m4v files can have embedded metadata. If they contain the movie title without a year, it will overrride the file name.

Perform the following configuration change to reduce the influence of embedded metadata:  
Go to

- Settings - Server - Agents - Shows - TheTVDB

In there, grab the line ‘Local Media Assets’ with your mouse and drag it downwards, so it ends up being at the bottom of the stack of active agents.  
Repeat the same under

- Settings - Server - Agents - Shows - TheMovieDatabase
- Settings - Server - Agents - Movies - Plex Movie
- Settings - Server - Agents - Movies - TheMovieDatabase

Afterwards, perform the [Plex Dance](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-incorrectly-identifying-tv-episodes/100265/4 "Plex Dance") with the mismatched movie file.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![pogan2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/71e660/32.png) [@pogan2](https://forums.plex.tv/u/pogan2)\
**Post date:** [November 8, 2018, 7:25am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/wrong-movie-indexing/327598/4 "2018-11-08T07:25:20Z")

</div>

It worked! I followed both of your instructions.

Here’s what I did.

Rename the file from for example: Conan The Barbarian.m4v to Conan the Barbarian (1982).m4v. (I basically copied exactly how IMDB has it). Adding the date really distinguishes one version from another.

Then after, do the Plex Dance and voila, it works like a charm.

Thanks very much!

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/plex/original/3X/2/a/2acb9765406f63293d357b4ec509ec39aa28f2ad.png) [@system](https://forums.plex.tv/u/system)\
**Post date:** [February 6, 2019, 7:29am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/wrong-movie-indexing/327598/5 "2019-02-06T07:29:47Z")

</div>

This topic was automatically closed 90 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.