Manually added "Season Title" is not kept if the Season is a "Season Unknown"

[Pandorica-Opens]

Hi again,

I noticed on the github before the last server update they managed to track down and fix a bug where if you changed the Season Title it wouldn't stick and would refer back to it's default name. The bug is now fixed if you change the title of a Season that has a number (i.e. Season 1), but if there are episodes that have been sorted into "Season Unknown" when you change title it retains the bug.

This is important as there are a couple of shows where episodes don't actually fit into a season, and so would make sense for them to stand-alone as their own "Season", and to rename as suits.

For example, recent episodes of Doctor Who have included a 60th Anniversary Special, A Christmas Special and then Season 1 proper. Left on it's own, Jellyfin sorts the two specials into one "Specials" season, but I would rather they be two separate "seasons". I can achieve this by changing the "series number" in each episodes metadata into a negative season (in this case, season -60 for the anniversary, -1 for Christmas), which then removes it from the "Specials" season and creates a "Season Unknown", but still retaining the metadata for the episode itself (as the actual file is still named according to the MovieDB's listing).

https://imgur.com/a/26gibhZ

Another example is also from Doctor Who, where Series 4 had an additional 5 episodes consisting of their own "season" called "The Specials". As before, I can manually make this Season by changing the episodes metadata, and also place it in the correct running order by changing the "sort order" for all seasons (and for The Specials case, Season 4.5) but again, the Title is not retained. Ideally, I can just rename this unknown season as The Specials, and the whole thing is seamless.

https://imgur.com/a/mf9xJIe

I hope this is not to convoluted. I'm hoping it's exactly the same bug that was previously fixed, just that it hasn't been applied to a season without an official number.

On a seperate note - The "Use episode images in 'Next Up' and 'Continue Watching' sections" setting in the Nvidia Shield app doesn't seem to work - it still only shows the default thumbnail instead of the episodes no matter if the setting is on or off.

Jellyfin server - 10.9.2

[TheDreadPirate]

How are your seasons and specials named and organized? Including the folder names.

[Pandorica-Opens]

How are your seasons and specials named and organized?  Including the folder names.

Sorry this might be slightly confusing with my examples as Doctor Who is now 2 different shows with the same name (I know...)

For both examples, the folders are arranged how I want them to be. Different folders.

https://imgur.com/a/6nEin5t

The episode filenames however, correspond to how it is on theMoviedb, so that they fetch the correct metadata for the episode.

https://imgur.com/a/VB39Wn9

I then go and manually change what season they belong to, then manually change the sort order of the "Season Unknown" that has been created. 

https://imgur.com/a/6oGIpWr

I remembered you can save metadata as an NFO in the folder so have now tried that. This seems to work, but when you refresh metadata the "season" NFO gets overwritten. Is this what's supposed to happen? It doesn't do that for the episode NFO's (and so keeps the changes I've made to what season they belong to). Making them useless for this.

I think this may have already been picked up on the github as I type this - https://github.com/jellyfin/jellyfin/pull/11719 - So I'll update and see if I'm still getting issues.

I'll make a separate post later for the next up thumbnail issue later as I think that might only apply to the android tv app.

[TheDreadPirate]

There is a field in the NFO to lock the file so that Jellyfin won't overwrite them. You can also change permissions on the file system level and make it so jellyfin can't write to them after it has created them.

I'm aware that TMDB lists the classic DW as separate from the revived seasons (I only have the classic DW).

The way you are doing things you are constantly fighting how jellyfin functions. If you want automated metadata your file and folder names need to conform to our documentation and how TMDB organizes your show. Or you use an external app like Tiny Media Manager (there are other similar apps) to locally save the metadata and then you lock the NFOs.

Otherwise you're going to have to do A LOT of manual work, as you've found. And even then, there are some behaviors in Jellyfin you won't be able to override.

[theguymadmax]

There was a bug regarding custom season names that has since been fixed. Try updating to 10.9.6 and see if that helps.

[Pandorica-Opens]

Hi sorry for the delay in coming back,

So updating the server to 10.9.6 indeed fix the title problem and also the thumbnail problem I briefly described at the bottom of the post

The way you are doing things you are constantly fighting how jellyfin functions.  If you want automated metadata your file and folder names need to conform to our documentation and how TMDB organizes your show.  Or you use an external app like Tiny Media Manager (there are other similar apps) to locally save the metadata and then you lock the NFOs.

Otherwise you're going to have to do A LOT of manual work, as you've found.  And even then, there are some behaviors in Jellyfin you won't be able to override.

Yes it is fighting the system a bit, but it does work. You can see how I want to fight it though - Series 4's Christmas special is listed on theMovieDB as S00E07, giving no clue to Jellyfin where it's actually supposed to be in relation to other episodes. My way (so in this case change the metadata in Jellyfin to S4E00) fixes that while still allowing the episode to retrieve thumbnails, descriptions ect... from the web because the actual file is still named S00E07.

My solution of using negative seasons does throw up an small issue though. Jellyfin now sees these as occurring before season 1 (of course), and so the next up feature doesn't work properly. For example, instead of the last episode of Series 4 leading to The Specials (Season -4), it leads directly to Series 5. And Jellyfin considers S-4E01 to be the first episode of the series instead of S1E01, even though they are correctly sorted visually between series 4 and 5.

All you need to do when you hit this season is manually go into The Specials season and start from ep 1 (rather than just clicking next episode), so it works but not as intended I guess.

The only reason I used a negative season number is because Jellyfin wouldn't allow a decimal (S4.5) in the season box. A solution could be if decimals were allowed in the season box then this tells Jellyfin the season exists between 4 and 5 and everything would line up, with the the last ep of s4 (S4E13) leading into s4.5 (S4.5E01) ect... And you could potentially put an infinite number of seasons between the two, if you so wanted.

If I had any knowledge of code whatsoever I could take a look, but unfortunately I don't so, I can only make the suggestion!

Thanks for your help though!

[Efficient_Good_5784]

There is another way.

What I've been doing is not following the season numbers for one of my libraries. Mainly so I can fit specials and movies where they belong in the viewing order.

For example, lets say I have a show with two seasons and a movie that takes place between the two. I would sort it like this:

Season 1 == Season 1
Season 2 == Movie
Season 3 == Season 2

This works and plays everything in order.

The only downsides is that Jellyfin will obviously display the seasons (and movies) with incorrect season numbers, as well as having the metadata be messed up.

Basically, doing this means you're responsible for editing all the metadata manually. Just make sure to lock your edits so you don't lose them later.

Also, for the library I do this with, I have the season and episode metadata turned off specifically for that reason. I only keep the main show metadata enabled.

[Pandorica-Opens]

There is another way.

What I've been doing is not following the season numbers for one of my libraries. Mainly so I can fit specials and movies where they belong in the viewing order.

For example, lets say I have a show with two seasons and a movie that takes place between the two. I would sort it like this:

Season 1 == Season 1
Season 2 == Movie
Season 3 == Season 2

This works and plays everything in order.

The only downsides is that Jellyfin will obviously display the seasons (and movies) with incorrect season numbers, as well as having the metadata be messed up.

Basically, doing this means you're responsible for editing all the metadata manually. Just make sure to lock your edits so you don't lose them later.

Also, for the library I do this with, I have the season and episode metadata turned off specifically for that reason. I only keep the main show metadata enabled.

Sure, but as you say this would mean Season 2 now displays as season 3 ect... which would fix the "next up" problem but messes up everything else.

I'd say it's less work to manually change the metadata for the few that don't belong in a season, than it is to fix every episode that should be season 2 but is now season 3 and so on. I'm more willing to lost the next up feature than I am for the season numbers to be wrong.

If it were possible in Jellyfin designate the movie in your example as Season 1.5, then all you'd have to do is add/adjust the metadata for that movie, rather than the entire season after it. If you can already make a negative season why not a decimal?

[Efficient_Good_5784]

In my example, it would display season 2 as season 3, but only in parts of the GUI that specify the "S##:E##" format. You still have control on giving the season a custom name.

But yeah, it does require more work.

[Efficient_Good_5784]

If you can already make a negative season why not a decimal?

Also, I would be careful with relying on negative season numbers. It seems like it's undefined behavior. Basically not supported by Jellyfin if a future version ever changes how this behaves.