Merging of Series

I am having an issue with Serviio merging V from 1984 and V from 2009 together. What is interesting in this case is Serviio is seeing them as two different series and pulling the correct episode names.

As you can see from the Log both Series are well named including the IMDB number
V 1984
2021-12-28T21:48:23,663 INFO [MediaFileIndexer] Added file 'X:\Film\Series\V_(1984)\S01E01-Liberation Day [tt0086822] [V_(1984)].mp4' (title: Liberation Day) to Library
2021-12-28T21:48:25,258 INFO [MediaFileIndexer] Added file 'X:\Film\Series\V_(1984)\S01E02-Dreadnought [tt0086822] [V_(1984)].mp4' (title: Dreadnought) to Library
2021-12-28T21:48:26,963 INFO [MediaFileIndexer] Added file 'X:\Film\Series\V_(1984)\S01E03-The Deception [tt0086822] [V_(1984)].mp4' (title: The Deception) to Library
2021-12-28T21:48:28,544 INFO [MediaFileIndexer] Added file 'X:\Film\Series\V_(1984)\S01E04-The Sanction [tt0086822] [V_(1984)].mp4' (title: The Sanction) to Library
2021-12-28T21:48:30,107 INFO [MediaFileIndexer] Added file 'X:\Film\Series\V_(1984)\S01E05-Visitor's Choice [tt0086822] [V_(1984)].mp4' (title: Visitor's Choice) to Library
2021-12-28T21:48:31,825 INFO [MediaFileIndexer] Added file 'X:\Film\Series\V_(1984)\S01E06-The Overlord [tt0086822] [V_(1984)].mp4' (title: The Overlord) to Library
2021-12-28T21:48:33,640 INFO [MediaFileIndexer] Added file 'X:\Film\Series\V_(1984)\S01E07-The Dissident [tt0086822] [V_(1984)].mp4' (title: The Dissident) to Library

V 2009
2021-12-28T21:48:56,262 INFO [MediaFileIndexer] Added file 'X:\Film\Series\V_(2009)\S01E01-Pilot [tt1307824] [V_(2009)].avi' (title: Pilot) to Library
2021-12-28T21:48:58,209 INFO [MediaFileIndexer] Added file 'X:\Film\Series\V_(2009)\S01E02-There Is No Normal Anymore [tt1307824] [V_(2009)].avi' (title: There Is No Normal Anymore) to Library
2021-12-28T21:48:59,932 INFO [MediaFileIndexer] Added file 'X:\Film\Series\V_(2009)\S01E03-A Bright New Day [tt1307824] [V_(2009)].avi' (title: A Bright New Day) to Library
2021-12-28T21:49:01,761 INFO [MediaFileIndexer] Added file 'X:\Film\Series\V_(2009)\S01E04-It's Only the Beginning [tt1307824] [V_(2009)].avi' (title: It's Only the Beginning) to Library
2021-12-28T21:49:03,480 INFO [MediaFileIndexer] Added file 'X:\Film\Series\V_(2009)\S01E05-Welcome to the War [tt1307824] [V_(2009)].avi' (title: Welcome to the War) to Library
2021-12-28T21:49:05,168 INFO [MediaFileIndexer] Added file 'X:\Film\Series\V_(2009)\S01E06-Pound of Flesh [tt1307824] [V_(2009)].avi' (title: Pound of Flesh) to Library
2021-12-28T21:49:07,062 INFO [MediaFileIndexer] Added file 'X:\Film\Series\V_(2009)\S01E07-John May [tt1307824] [V_(2009)].avi' (title: John May) to Library
2021-12-28T21:49:08,949 INFO [MediaFileIndexer] Added file 'X:\Film\Series\V_(2009)\S01E08-We Can't Win [tt1307824] [V_(2009)].avi' (title: We Can't Win) to Library

but when you look in the library you only get 1 V series (the poster image is V 1984)
If I look at the series it lists as follows (IE a merge of both V 1984 and V 2009)
Liberation Day <-1984
Pilot <-2009
Dreadnought <-1984
There Is No Normal Anymore <-2009
A Bright New Day <-2009
The Sanction <-1984

I expect this has happened with the move to TheMovieDB.com as before (with thetvdb.com) the series year was part of the series name (ie V 1984, V 2009, Flash 2014) but in TheMovieDB.com the year is not part of the series name and only referenced in the FirstAirDate. IE V 1984 and V 2009 are now both held in the database as series V (with no year). This will affect shows which have the same name but are identified as the remake by the Year.

Serviio 2.2.1

[atc98092]

Have you checked themoviedb.com and see if your years match what they have? I've found that more than once that the year didn't match, and I didn't get the correct title.

Hi Dan (atc98092)

Yes the Years match on TheMovieDB.com. Also all the episode names match so the correct series is being used for the series lookup.

If you do a TheTVDB.com lookup on the The Flash 2014 it returns the name as "<SeriesName>The Flash (2014)</SeriesName>" . If you do a TheMovieDB.com lookup on the The Flash 2014 it returns the name as "name":"The Flash" with no year; this means that when Serviio displays the series (since the move to TheMovieDB.com) it displays it as "The Flash" not "The Flash 2014" . The Flash 1990 also has the name "The Flash"

Json from "The Flash 2014"
""backdrop_path":"/41yaWnIT8AjIHiULHtTbKNzZTjc.jpg","first_air_date":"2014-10-07","genre_ids":[18,10765],"id":60735,"name":"The Flash","origin_country":["US"],"original_language":"en","original_name":"The Flash","overview":"After a particle accelerator causes a freak storm, CSI Investigator Barry Allen is struck by lightning and falls into a coma. Months later he awakens with the power of super speed, granting him the ability to move through Central City like an unseen guardian angel. Though initially excited by his newfound powers, Barry is shocked to discover he is not the only \"meta-human\" who was created in the wake of the accelerator explosion -- and not everyone is using their new powers for good. Barry partners with S.T.A.R. Labs and dedicates his life to protect the innocent. For now, only a few close friends and associates know that Barry is literally the fastest man alive, but it won't be long before the world learns what Barry Allen has become...The Flash.","popularity":1026.477,"poster_path":"/lJA2RCMfsWoskqlQhXPSLFQGXEJ.jpg","vote_average":7.8,"vote_count":9006"

Json from "The Flash 1990"
""backdrop_path":"/vEyQhPi2cjHamAsVClq3y14qtnv.jpg","first_air_date":"1990-09-20","genre_ids":[10759,80,18,10765],"id":236,"name":"The Flash","origin_country":["US"],"original_language":"en","original_name":"The Flash","overview":"When a bolt of lightening crashes through a police crime lab, a mix of electrically charged substances bathes chemist Barry Allen, transforming him into the fastest man alive--The Flash.","popularity":44.012,"poster_path":"/fi1GEdCbyWRDHpyJcB25YYK7fh4.jpg","vote_average":7.4,"vote_count":386"

as you can see from the above both series are "The Flash" with no year, so Serviio will put both Flash 2014 and Flash 1990 as the same series, same with V1984 and V2009, Ghosts 1995 and Ghosts 2019 and all series where the date was part of the name on TheTVDB.com.

This isn't a series lookup error, this is because of the difference in the data between TheMovieDB.com and theTVDB.com, namely that The year isn't included in the Name on TheMovieDB.com.

[atc98092]

Yeah, looks like it's a database issue for them. I would have hoped the IMDB tag would have clarified the titles. Any time I've had misidentified titles the IMDB tag would clear it up. The only other title confusion I've run into was with Hawaii Five-0. Since there's two versions of the show, even with the year Serviio sometimes get a particular episode wrong. What I found there (and I don't think it'll help you here) was that one series used the letter O while the other used the number 0. Looked identical unless you looked really closely.

When I searched themoviedb for The Flash, I see the two versions you have. On the overview page for each series, it does list the year right after the title. Strange the JSON return doesn't include that. I suggest contacting the database and let them know their system it not differentiating between the two series. Looks like you can contact them here: https://www.themoviedb.org/about/staying-in-touch

Hi Dan,

Don't think it's a database issue with TheMovieDB.com as the information in there is correct, it's how Serviio is using the data and assuming that the Series name is unique (as it was able to with TheTVDB.com). The unique elemet is the Series ID, which Serviio already has as thats how you get the Episode names. At the moment it looks like Serviio is grouping series by the series name and not the Series ID.

At the moment I think Serviio is doing this

Loop for each series name
Select all episodes where Series name = Loop Series Name
End Loop

The above will put V 1984 & V 2009 in the same series as the Series name is V (and all the other series with Years in the series name on TheTVDB.com)

What I expect is should be doing is

Loop for each Series ID
Select all episodes where Series ID = Loop Series ID
End Loop

The above will put V 1984 & V 2009 as separate series (and all the other series with Years in the series name on TheTVDB.com) as the Series ID is Unique

This isn't a metadata lookup issue, but a grouping issue when displaying the series list via dlna or the mediabrowser page.

Only 1 Series of V is displayed not both
https://drive.google.com/file/d/10b4NVPvoLtMJcP2mQ-6e3xQc8lJYkGRL/view?usp=sharing

Merged Episoded (Both V 1984 and V2009 listed under V)
https://drive.google.com/file/d/10djPM1A5e_C06S6cK5fOlgA6d9M_vlyZ/view?usp=sharing

[atc98092]

Ah, I gotcha. That's something Zip will have to investigate. You might help by making a post in the Serviio Bitbucket issues list (https://bitbucket.org/xnejp03/serviio/issues) and post a link to this thread.

Thanks for your help.

logged Issue #1164

[freaknik]

Same thing with Hunter X Hunter. There is the original series in the late 90’s and the remake in the next decade. And Serviio combines them.

I also noiticed that if you have a series which had the year in the title on TheTVDB.com, now if you add additional episodes you get a new series for the new episodes (without the year in the series name) and all the old episodes in the series with the year in the name...

For example

Ghosts (2019) which had Season 1 and 2 in, If you add season 3 you will now have Ghosts, with season 3 in, and Ghosts (2019) with seasons 1 and 2 in.

Simple fix for this issue is just Cut and Paste the folder else where on the drive, once Serviio has noticed it's gone and removes it from the database, simple Cut and Paste it back and Serviio will add all seasons into Ghosts.

Unfortuantily this doesn't resolve the merged series.