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I'm setting up a Plex server on a computer on my home network to serve some old children's shows and cartoons for my kids. Kids shows are often broken up into several short named "segments" within a single "episode". This applies to many/most classic kids shows and cartoons such as Looney Tunes, Animaniacs, etc. I've never had this problem until now adding kids cartoons.

I would like my Plex library, running locally on my own computer, to serve each 2 or 3-part full episode rather than each individual segment. I want "Episode 1" to be the first 3 segments, "Episode 2" to be segments 4-6, etc. This is how each episode originally aired and how most would people would consider an "Episode" to be constructed.

Plex uses The TV Database for its metadata. TVDB somewhat infamously splits cartoons up into segments so that "Episode 1" is Segment 1, "Episode 2" is Segment 2, etc. This will not be changing and cannot be edited by users.

TVDB, finally recognizing this need, has somewhat recently added a new "Alternate Order" or "Flexible Season" feature to it's V4 API so that separate seasons can be set up that contain split episodes, combined episodes, re-ordered episodes (Firefly), re-cut episodes (Money Heist), etc.

The most popular cartoons on the platform already have these new season types added, such as Animaniacs having the default "Aired Order" (segments) and the new "Joined Order" (combined).

Animaniacs Aired Order Animaniacs Joined Order

However, when I try to add a show in Plex using my own local files named according to the "joined" episode numbers and titles, Plex continues to use the "segments" metadata. My "Episode 2" is assigned the metadata of the second segment of my "Episode 1".

How can I force Plex to use TVDB "Alternate Order" metadata for a particular series? I cannot find any such option in the Plex UI. I'm also unsure if this new season format is available to Plex in the TVDB API.

If the TVDB combined seasons are not available, how can I set this up manually or using another metadata source so that each Episode in Plex contains several Segments?

Feature request for this on the Plex forums here: https://forums.plex.tv/t/support-alternate-order-flexible-seasons-tvdb-and-episode-groups-tmdb/537737/1

pkamb
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3 Answers3

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It's possible to set Plex to use TVDB's "Aired", "DVD", or "Absolute" episode/season ordering in the current version of Plex.

This is selected in Plex via:

Show > Edit > Advanced > Episode ordering

How the episodes are named on disk.

Current options are:

  • Library Default
  • The Movie Database (Aired)
  • TheTVDB (Aired)
  • TheTVDB (DVD)
  • TheTVDB (Absolute)

Plex Episode Ordering TheTVDB (DVD)

This will cause Plex to use the corresponding season ordering on TVDB:

TVDB Seasons selector

Note that for the files personally ripped from my Firefly DVDs, TheTVDB (DVD) ordering is correct. The 86 minute video file is the true pilot "Serenity", not the first aired episode. So only by switching the Plex "Episode ordering" is the metadata correct for my ripped files. The metadata is wrong by default.

TheTVDB Aired vs. DVD ordering

This fixes the issue for episodes that are in the wrong order, but it's unclear if this can currently fix the cartoon separate segments vs. combined episodes problem posed in this Question.

For example, Animaniacs uses an additional "Joined Order" season type that does not seem to be visible for selection in the Plex Episode Ordering selector.

enter image description here

pkamb
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1

As of the 1.40.4 PlexMediaServer beta, you can finally select Alternate as an option.

(Metadata) Add support for additional TVDB episode orderings on TV Show preferences. Requires metadata refresh. (PM-1533)

Here's an example of Futurama, with the new TVDB options:
Here's an example of Futurama, with the new TVDB options.

Source: Support Alternate Order / Flexible Seasons (TVDB) [implemented] and Episode Groups (TMDB) [open]

Ramhound
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Chew
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0

This doesn't fully solve the problem, but is somewhat of a workaround.

Plex supports parsing a range of episodes from a single video file like so:

Little.Bear.S01E01-E03.mp4

Multiple Episodes in a Single File

If a single file covers more than one episode, name it as follows:

ShowName – s02e17-e18 – Optional_Info.ext

Where you specify the appropriate season, episode numbers (the first and last episode covered in the file), and file extension.

The Plex player client doesn't support this well. It will get the metadata right for each segment/episode, but each episode is duplicated several times in the player interface:

Note: Multi-episode files will show up individually in Plex apps when viewing your library, but playing any of the represented episodes will play the full file.

These are the 3 segments that make up "Episode 1". They all play the same combined video file from the start, not where each segment begins.

Little Bear Episode 1

Note that it shows "45 Episodes" rather than "15 Episodes". What should be "Episode 2" is annoyingly instead called "Episode 4" due to this per-segment ordering.

pkamb
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