Local content on Fire TV client showing duplicate TV episodes

pablowegwerf · August 22, 2023, 5:09pm

When selecting listed TV show, some episodes are displayed as duplicates when in fact no such duplicate episode files exist. Not listed in sequence either.

Selecting one of the duplicated episodes results in a "no connection" error message - the other duplicate for the same episode works fine and plays as normal.

When selecting the same TV show the next morning, all episodes are shown A-OK with no duplicates (except episodes are always listed left-to-right in descending order instead of ascending order. ???).

So, overnight the server and/or client self-corrected the error.

Anyone seen this problem? Or just me?

I'd really like to get this fixed, very frustrating!

Running DVR Server v2023.08.18.2205 on Win10 PC. Running client on Fire TV (v7.6.5.2).

maddox · August 22, 2023, 5:32pm

Please submit diagnostics through your app.

pablowegwerf · August 22, 2023, 5:36pm

Done.

maddox · August 22, 2023, 5:53pm

Is there a specific show or is it all shows?

pablowegwerf · August 22, 2023, 6:01pm

Not a specific show and not all shows.

However, the latest occurrence was 'The Lincoln Lawyer' Season 2.

maddox · August 22, 2023, 6:05pm

Can you take a photo of what you see when there are "duplicate" episodes. It would be helpful to see what you're seeing.

pablowegwerf · August 22, 2023, 6:12pm

Sure thing!

No way of knowing when that will be however ...

pablowegwerf · August 28, 2023, 9:36pm

Have'nt seen duplicate episodes lately - but have observed the following:

Both show season and episodes are shown in descending order. That seems counter-intuitive. Why not ascending order? (toggling "Watch Order" option oldest/newest makes no difference)
Some episodes don't show an image. Instead, only a solid-color background is shown.
When scrolling horizontally through show episodes, all episodes for all seasons are shown. This would be okay if the season icon was highlighted (as each episode image is enlarged while scrolling) - but it's not.

See attached screenshot.

maddox · August 28, 2023, 9:39pm

This show is not indexed correctly. Find it in your Channels DVR Server web admin and use the Fix Incorrect Match to resolve this, and then see if the results are the same.

pablowegwerf · August 28, 2023, 10:38pm

Thanks. Found instructions thus: "find the content in your library in Channels DVR Server and choose the option Fix Incorrect Match . It will prompt you with alternate choices for your movie or TV show."

Sorry, but that is insufficiently clear to me. I only see how to import content (via the server) - not "find the content". How do I do that exactly?? (I'm a noob - pardon my ignorance)

pablowegwerf · August 28, 2023, 10:40pm

How did you determine the show is not indexed correctly?

maddox · August 28, 2023, 11:47pm

The title of the episodes are using the filenames of the video files. This is how it falls back when it doesn't index correctly.

Find the show in your library in your Channels DVR Server web admin, and choose this option.

From the main nav: Library > TV Shows

pablowegwerf · August 29, 2023, 12:48am

A-OK! Got it!
I was only looking in the 'Local Content' section of settings. Hadn't noticed the menu in the upper right corner.
Very good to learn something new. Thx!!

pablowegwerf · August 29, 2023, 5:00pm

Okay, did the Fix Incorrect Match thing which seems to have worked ... mostly. The episode titles now appear (instead of the filename). However, this is not true for all episodes - some episodes still display the filename instead of the episode title. (see attached image) I perused all the episode filenames (using Windows Explorer) but see nothing different or "weird". So no idea why all episode titles are not displayed (after doing Fix Incorrect Match). ???

maddox · August 29, 2023, 5:57pm

try force quitting the app

pablowegwerf · August 30, 2023, 12:00am

I restarted my Fire TV. Not seeing any change in Channels app.

neild7744 · September 2, 2023, 10:40am

Why don't you just name your local folders & files correctly?

Channels Support - Import Your Own Movies and TV Shows.

Then won't have to manually fix match everything?

Software such as "renamer", "tiny media manager"....etc will bulk rename locally sorted TV show files. Once the renaming is correct, re-add the folder with all your TV shows & everything within the Channels DVR server should work - i.e. Channels should scan your local files & display the correct metadata.

pablowegwerf · September 4, 2023, 12:31am

Thanks for your comment.

Yeah, I understand what you're saying and I've used FileBot and tinyMediaManager in the past (before I started using Channels).

I should note that I'm also a Plex user and I guess my point here is that Plex handles "non-Kosher" media file names just fine so long as the season/episode is formatted correctly (s01e01). Of course, Plex has had 15 years to evolve so it's media file name "indexer/scanner" software is very robust and smart when parsing file name text. See https://support.plex.tv/articles/naming-and-organizing-your-tv-show-files/

Also, I'm pointing out that Channels seems to be buggy when parsing media file names. The 'Life Below Zero' TV show I used for an example has the same file name format for all episodes and yet some parse correctly while others do not. ???