How to prevent metadata from bad TVDB matching

[Renoir]

I’ve been experimenting with JF for a few weeks now and figure I’ve reach the stage where I need to ask the experts here in areas where I am still stumped. Please excuse my inexperience. (I’m on JF 10.10.7 macOS Silicon)

These questions are all about TV show matching and metadata.

1. If a TV show does not exist online and JF has matched it to a show with a similar name, is there a way to remove that match? (Like using Unmatch on Plex). I am aware I can use the metadata editor to remove or overwrite the data, but that’s unrealistic for a TV series, since there will be wrong data to remove at the series level, the season level, and for each episode, including titles, descriptions, cast and crew, multiplied many times. All the metadata for such shows is already embedded in my files and that’s what I’d like to see JF use.
   
2. The Library option Prefer embedded titles over filenames seems to have no effect: even when set, I see “Episode 1” etc for episode names when there are actual episode names embedded in each file. 
   
3. If a show is correctly matched to TMDB but matched to an incorrect show in TVDB, I can’t seem to remove that incorrect TVDB match when editing the show metadata: if removed, that bad TVDB match returns at the next metadata refresh and makes JF pull in the wrong metadata again from TVDB. (TVDB is generally useful so removing it library-wide is not a solution.)
   

Thanks for any guidance.

[theguymadmax]

If you're fixing your media. It's best to correct the folder names and add the media provider ID for hard-to-identify media.

Code:

Series Name (2018) [tmdbid-65567] or  Series Name (2018) [tvdbid-65567]

Check out the docs: 
https://jellyfin.org/docs/general/server/media/movies
https://jellyfin.org/docs/general/server/media/shows

[TheDreadPirate]

1. Not that I am aware of.
2. That setting would use the embedded title instead of the file name when constructing the query for TMDB/TVDB, etc. It does not configure Jellyfin to only use the embedded metadata.
3. If you set TMDB as the primary, any TVDB mismatch SHOULDN'T be a problem. However, if your metadata provider order of precedence is not consistent through each metadata category, that could cause problems if TMDB and TVDB match on different shows.

If you need only local metadata for a show, you have to disable all providers in the library for each category, scan in the show, lock the metadata for the show, then re-enable the online providers for future shows.

---

theguymadmax also has a good suggestion. Using the ID in the folder name should correctly map the show, even between providers. Assuming it exists in both locations.

[Renoir]

[...] add the media provider ID for hard-to-identify media.

Code:

Series Name (2018) [tmdbid-65567] or  Series Name (2018) [tvdbid-65567]

Thanks for that. I had found that neat tip when I went through the documentation and have used it to match correctly movies when there are multiple movies with similar titles released in the same year. 

I am now testing with all online providers turned OFF for a shows library. In that configuration, interestingly, JF includes the [tmdbid-xxxxxx] string in the series name it displays. I suspect there is no logic in the code to ignore it because it usually gets overridden by the series name fetched from online providers.

[Renoir]

1.  Not that I am aware of.
2.  That setting would use the embedded title instead of the file name when constructing the query for TMDB/TVDB, etc.  It does not configure Jellyfin to only use the embedded metadata.
3.  If you set TMDB as the primary, any TVDB mismatch SHOULDN'T be a problem.  However, if your metadata provider order of precedence is not consistent through each metadata category, that could cause problems if TMDB and TVDB match on different shows.

If you need only local metadata for a show, you have to disable all providers in the library for each category, scan in the show, lock the metadata for the show, then re-enable the online providers for future shows.

---

theguymadmax also has a good suggestion.  Using the ID in the folder name should correctly map the show, even between providers.  Assuming it exists in both locations.

Thanks for your comprehensive reply. 

1. Bummer.
   
2. Ah! <lightbulb>
   
3. I re-tested after making the search order identical for all data categories. JF still picked up additional data from TVDB for a different series (and, most annoying, lots of cast entries). That's even the case with a [tmdb-xxxxx] tag in the series folder name. Perhaps a special code like [tvdbid-0] could force JF to not try to match against a specific provider, for a specific series. (Enhancement?) 
   
4. Per your final advice, I disabled all online providers, leaving only the Embedded episode image extractor, but now JF is not picking up episode numbers and episodes are listed alphabetically by title rather than in sequence. 
   
5. Also, JF does not then extract episode descriptions. Isn't that what the library option Prefer embedded episode information over filenames does? 
   

[theguymadmax]

For better management of your media, I recommend using an external program like tinyMediaManager. It generates NFO files along with images in the media directories, which Jellyfin will read.