Why does TheTVDB DVD Order not work correctly in FileBot and Plex?

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rednoah
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Why does TheTVDB DVD Order not work correctly in FileBot and Plex?

Post by rednoah »

TL;DR If you use TheTVDB as scraper in Plex, then you must use Airdate Order. If you want to use DVD Order, then you must use TheMovieDB::TV as scraper.


Plex and FileBot use the same API, so Plex sees what FileBot sees. But neither Plex nor FileBot necessarily see what you see on the website. That's because the current stable TheTVDB API v2 predates all the recent changes on the TheTVDB website (e.g. arbitrary custom episode orders) and so the API response is limited to the standard Airdate SxE / DVD SxE / Absolute Order data model.


FileBot / Plex will use the DVD SxE numbers if they're known according to the TheTVDB API response.

e.g. DVD Order 4x06

Code: Select all

{
         "id":337902,
         "airedSeason":4,
         ...
         "airedEpisodeNumber":10,
         "episodeName":"Branch Wars",
         ...
         "dvdSeason":4,
         "dvdEpisodeNumber":6,
         ...
         "absoluteNumber":63,
         ...
}

However, in some cases, standard SxE uses two Episode objects, which are combined in DVD SxE as a single Episode object, and so 3 distinct Episode objects are created in the database, but only the two from the standard SxE order are visible to FileBot / Plex, listed as if there's no corresponding DVD SxE at all, thus making FileBot / Plex default to the standard SxE numbers, on an episode-by-episode basis.

e.g. DVD Order 4x02 (by default, because DVD numbers are missing)

Code: Select all

{
         "id":4075826,
         "airedSeason":4,
         ...
         "airedEpisodeNumber":2,
         "episodeName":"Fun Run (2)",
         ...
         "dvdSeason":null,
         "dvdEpisodeNumber":null,
         ...
         "absoluteNumber":55,
         ...
}

:!: As a result, FileBot may show a mix of DVD SxE numbers and standard SxE numbers, whichever can be known from the TheTVDB API response. Plex is in the same boat. So if you see strange DVD numbers in FileBot, then Plex will almost certainly be working with the same strange partially-defined-partially-undefined DVD numbers internally.
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