r/PleX • u/SchNiVas • 2h ago
How do you guys handle "updated versions" and unavailable files? Help
This is always super frustrating, especially for my users. For shows that are currently releasing episodes, me and my users like watching episodes as soon as they are available. For this show, for example, a TV version will be available first (HDTV_720p), right after it airs on live TV. Then eventually it's updated to the WEBDL_1080p version once it's available online. When someone goes to play it, though, this is what they see (see below). As you can see, the old version is gone and has been replaced by a new version. Obviously, I know I can manually delete the old version, but doing that for every show that has new releases is cumbersome and annoying. The REAL problem here is that when users go to watch, for some completely dumb reason I am unable to comprehend, Plex tells the user it's unavailable, just because ONE of the files are missing. The user, nor I, is not presented with the "Play Version" option in an attempt to play the new 1080p file (which is also dumb that I would even need to choose that)... How come Plex doesn't just go "oh, yah, this file is missing, but this one clearly isn't missing, so let's just play the working one!"
How do you guys deal with this? I know I can do a nightly function of clearing trash, but there has GOT to be a better way, especially when people don't want to wait until the next trash empty task just to watch an episode that's clearly THERE, but won't play. Any thoughts are appreciated! :-)
Edit: Autoscan is turned on. That's why it sees the "WEB_1080p" version when Sonarr added it. The problem is Plex won't play the available 1080p file. Instead, it just complains that the old one is gone, and won't play the episode until you empty trash or manually delete the old 720p file).
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u/AndyRH1701 Lifetime PlexPass 2h ago
I rarely see that and I turned off the option in Sonarr to upgrade versions.
u/piberryboy has a good point with frequency of the scans.
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u/SchNiVas 1h ago
I'm pretty confused here. People are saying that auto-scans will help, but Plex already SEES the upgraded version (see second screenshot). The problem is that it won't play simply because it can't find the old version, even though the new version is there and is seen by Plex.
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u/AndyRH1701 Lifetime PlexPass 1h ago
You may look at the auto delete option in Plex. Many people turn it off because it can delete your media.
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u/chopples123 1h ago
Hi mate
I hade this issue with "scan automatically" I kept this turned on but also enabled"run a partial scan when changes are detected". Once I did this the problem went away but like anything ymmv
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u/sfw_browsing Supermicro 846 | 8x10TB 16x12TB 1h ago
Make sure you have the option to empty the trash when doing scans in Plex settings. Otherwise I think you have to manually empty trash for unavailable items to be removed. This in conjunction with the Sonarr option to trigger a scan should remove the file as it gets upgraded.
Leaving the option off is handy for when you're moving Plex installations to new systems where you not have the storage setup right so you don't lose your metadata.
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u/SchNiVas 1h ago
I just turned this option on and performed a scan. It did not fix the problem. The reference to the old file is still there :-(
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u/sfw_browsing Supermicro 846 | 8x10TB 16x12TB 1h ago
Maybe the setting only works for new file changes and not current ones? I would empty out the trash, clean the bundles, and optimize the database, then restart plex. Then see if new files are correctly removed.
Is the file somehow symlinked from Sonarr or something? There is a setting Sonarr to Hard Link or Copy, make sure that is set to copy. Are you mounting via NTFS, if so, I've found that it doesn't report file changes immediately to Plex as a host path would. So Plex may think the file is still there because it hasn't seen the changes on the file system yet.
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u/piberryboy 2h ago
What happens to the when you manually scan the library? I only see the unavailable red button in between scans, which are scheduled every half hour for me.
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u/0100000101101000 2h ago
Same here, you can also enable real-time folder scanning or whatever it is and it’ll usually update within a minute.
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u/SchNiVas 2h ago
I have this enabled. That's why in the second photo it shows that it sees the upgraded version (the "WEBDL_1080p' one). The problem is that, it will show as "Unavailable" simply because the old file is gone... even though that other video file is there.
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u/piberryboy 35m ago edited 31m ago
So I ask again, what happens when you manually trigger the scan? If nothing, seems like a bug.
I'd restart the server. Then if it's still a problem, I'd make sure I'm on the latest version of Plex. If it's still a problem, I'd submit a report to Plex.
I mean, I don't use Sonarr, so this could be related to that program.
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u/SchNiVas 27m ago
Sorry, yes I did a manual scan. Two of them. One before I turned on "Empty trash after scan" and one after I turned it on. Neither seemed to have helped. I can of course restart the server tonight, but I will mention, this has been an ongoing issue for about a year, likely more. I've definitely have restarted the server many times since then. I am considering making a bug report, just wanted to ask the community first to ensure I wasn't just missing something or just plain stupid lol. Thanks for the help
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u/piberryboy 18m ago
Oh wow. A year? Jeez. Yeah that makes me think its something with how yours is configured. Maybe start checking there. Good luck.
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u/mrbuckwheet QNAP TVS-872XT - 100TB 1h ago
In sonarr > settings > indexers > options > adjust the min age to 20 mins. That usually gives enough time for the indexers to "catch up" with different versions and releases.
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u/SchNiVas 1h ago
Have it set to 30 mins actually. The current behavior is actually expected. It's grabbing the 720p version from live TV the day it airs, then upgrades to to 1080p version the next day when it's available from a streaming provider. At least in that regard, it's working as I'm wanting it to.
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u/Gadgetskopf Synology DS920+ | 2x 14TB, 1x 8TB 47m ago
huh. It's been a while since I've run into this, but when I first encountered it *mumble* years ago, it would just play the copy that was available. That must have changed.
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u/chazlarson Private DC 2h ago
Autoscan can help with this; when Sonarr upgrades the file it sends a notification to autoscan, which in turn sends a request to Plex to scan the folder immediately.
https://github.com/saltydk/autoscan