I have been having an issue with movies being combined if the names are similar and not being able to separate them into different movies. I thought changing the library agent might help, but now I can’t change it back. I am not completely sure on the difference between Scanner and Agent, but both of them need to be changed and it won’t allow me to.
How can I change them back to what they should be? and then more long term how can I stop movies from being combined when the title is just similar? I will add the movie with some crazy name so it doesn’t combine them to later match it and change the file name, but even that doesn’t always work.
in continuing to play with it I changed the agent to Plex Movie (legacy) then it would allow me to save it. I then changed to plex movie agent and plex move scanner, so I think that is fixed. I still need help with a way to separate movies when they get loaded.
I would love to have a way to filter and find only the moves that have duplicates loaded.
that is great. is there anything I can do to prevent movies from being combined like this? I have some movies that I keep loading and no matter what I title it they get added as a duplicate.
Yes. Sticking closer to the recommended file naming and folder organization.
In rare cases, where there are movies of the same title, made in the same year you can even go a step further and include the ID number of either IMDb or TheMovieDB.org in the file/folder names.
include the release year of the movie in parentheses
stick every movie into its own, dedicated subfolder
include the ID from the above mentioned metadata sources
thanks, I had not been putting them in their own folders in the past, that would also help with subtitles. I tried this with a movie and it didn’t work yet, is this how I should label it?
Stillwater (2021) - {tmdb-616651}.mp4
or Stillwater (2021) - {imdb-tt10696896}.mp4
When using subfolders, use the same name for the folder (minus the .mp4 file name extension, of course).
Make sure that in the properties of your movies library, you don’t have a check mark in “Prefer local metadata”.
Otherwise the scanner can be thrown off by embedded meta tags in those mp4 files. (which are incorrect in very many cases)
If you have already added a file into a Plex library and it is incorrectly matched, you may have to perform the Plex Dance to delete this incorrect match. Simply renaming the video file won’t be enough.
Otto, I REALLY appreciate your continued help here!!
I named it as you said, and then when scanned the library files and it isn’t found or is being added as a duplicate somewhere. I did have that check box marked but have corrected and unchecked it. I tried to do the plex dance, but I don’t have that option in my menu.
I cleaned the bundles, optimized the database, and still cant find the stillwater movie after a scan of library files. I don’t know why that movie just refuses to show up.
Very good.
Now perform the Plex Dance again. Make sure to perform all steps, and in the noted order.
Take both files away during the Dance.
But only add them back one-by-one afterwards.
