Naming and Accepted File Structures: Movies
The scraper retrieves information from the online databases based on how your video files are named. There is a specific way you must name your movie files and a specific way you must name your TV shows and episodes for a scraper to function correctly.
Naming Movie Files/Folders
For the scraper to work correctly you must include in the file name the year the movie was released. If you are using single files like .avi, .mkv or .vob for each movie, name the movie file as it is named on IMDb. For instance, Batman Begins would be "Batman Begins (2005).avi". If you are using video_ts folders or have a folder with multiple video files in it, then name the folder "Batman Begins (2005)" and have the video_ts folder or multiple files inside that.
Some movies have slightly different titles in different countries (sometimes due to the languages used). In most instances, IMDb will list and recognize these alternatives. However, one of these alternatives will be the 'main' name on IMDb and you might want to use for your own preference one of the alternatives. When the IMDb scraper is used it will use the main one in the Plex library display, but you can later after it has successfully scraped the movie, select it and edit the title. It will still keep the rest of the scraped information.
Some characters are not recommended to be used in the file/folder names. For example on a Mac it is not possible to use a : (colon) symbol even though a movie and IMDB might list this. Using a - (hyphen) instead is acceptable. For example "Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me" is not possible but "Austin Powers - The Spy Who Shagged me" is. Also accents, umlauts, etc. will not work either. For example Aprés Vous will not work properly, but Apres Vous will work.
Editing Incorrectly Scraped Titles
Films that were initially released in country other then the United States first (for example) and have a different title then when released may not display the correct title in Plex. Using the American title will likely return the correct movie but the title displayed in Plex will likely be foreign title.
This is because one movie may have multiple titles, even when only released in one country. For example some low budget or cable movies may change the name when released on video from what it was when released initially in theaters or on television. To correct this you need to be in the Movies section, bring up the context menu, and edit the file title to what you want it to be.
NOTE: making this change does not change the actual file name on your hard drive but only the reference in Plex. Thus when reinstalling Plex from scratch this information will be lost and you'll need to re-edit the title again.
There are more complex ways to correct this so that the change is permanent - please see "creating .nfo files".
Directory Structure for Movies
The structure of your movie directories will have an impact on how successful the scraping process goes. The easiest way to ensure that scraping is successful is to keep as flat a directory structure as possible:
Movies (Source)
Code:
Batman Begins (2005).avi
No Country for Old Men (2007)
VIDEO_TS
The Dark Night (2008)
The Dark Night Pt1.avi
The Dark Night Pt2.avi
If you add directories between the root of source and your movie folders/files, this could create issues when scraping.
Single File Movies
If your movie library is solely comprised of single file movies, then you have the choice whether you would like to use a separate directory for each movie or not. Having a combination of single files and files in folders will also work. You can have your movie file and any complimentary files for your movies (.nfo, subtitles, etc.) in the same folder. If you decide to use folders for your these types of movies, make sure you have the "Use Folder Name for Lookups" option selected in the Set Content window.
Directory Example:
Movies (Source)
Code:
Batman Begins (2005).avi
No Country for Old Men (2007)
No Country for Old Men.avi
No Country for Old Men-fanart.jpg
folder.jpg
The Dark Night (2008)
The Dark Night Pt1.avi
The Dark Night Pt2.avi
VIDEO_TS Folders
When you set the content for your source, it is imperative that you select the "Use Folder Name for Lookups" option for VIDEO_TS folders to scrape correctly. If you do not select this option, it will try to scrape all of the files in the VIDEO_TS folder, instead of the folder name itself. When using VIDEO_TS folders your directory structure should look like the following for the scraper to work correctly:
Movies (Source)
Code:
Batman Begins (2005)
VIDEO_TS
all of the files
The Dark Knight (2008)
VIDEO_TS
all of the files
Do not select "Scan Recursively" for sources that contain VIDEO_TS folders as the scraper will try to scrape all files in the VIDEO_TS folder. It is also important that you do not try move the video_ts files from the VIDEO_TS folder to the movie folder.
Combination of Single Files and VIDEO_TS
The scraper will work correctly if you don't use folders for single movie files and have VIDEO_TS folders. The following example is also acceptable:
Movies (Source)
Code:
Batman Begins (2005).avi
No Country for Old Men (2007)
VIDEO_TS
The Dark Night (2008)
The Dark Night Pt 1.mkv
The Dark Night Pt 2.mkv
Single Files and use of IMG and ISO files
The scraper will work correctly if you use folders for single movie files and use either ISO or IMG files. In this case, you should set the source to scan recursively. Here is an example:
Movies (Source)
Code:
Movies
Award_Winners
No Country for Old Men (2007).img
Favorites
Batman Begins (2005).iso
Coogans Bluff (1968).img
The Beguiled (1971).img
the source is 1GB and comes with an Xcode project but requires you to install linux tools so rather than mess up my MBP install with lots of spurious linux stuff this will have to wait..
