One episode in 7 seasons of The Mentalist not showing in Emby

[ramseyn 15]

Emby version  4.9.1.80

I have ripped all 7 seaasons of The Mentalist and been watching them in sequence.

However, in season 6, my TV skipped from S6E6 to S6E8, which was obvious from the "Previously on the Mentalist" recap.

So I looked on the Asustor Server (a AS6704T running ADM 5.1.0.RN42) and the file is there - S06E07 The Great Red Dragon {imdbid-tt3196212}.mkv.

My folder structure, which works for all the rest of the seasons and episodes and the thousands of other items, is:

Public

>Media Library

-> TV

---->The Mentalist (2008){tvdbid-82459}

------>Season 6 (2013)

--------> [all the files (S06E01 The Desert Rose {imdbid-tt2801444}.mkv to S06E22 Blue Bird {imdbid-tt3275772}.mkv)]

All other episodes show in Emby and play in Emby on a PC, my phone and my TV

The episode in question (S6E7) does not show or play.

I can access the file over the network with VLC and it plays perfectly.

I have re-scanned the library several times and the Media Library folder is watched.

Interestingly, my backup NAS, also an Asustor though a lower model, running the same version of Emby and a very slightly newer version of ADM, has exactly the same problem - just this one episode missing though the actual file is there.

 

embyserver-63898588800.txt embyserver.txt

[GrimReaper 4739]

Wotking theory: it has been merged with some other episode. 

If you go to S02E07 detail view, do you have a Version dropdown? 

[ramseyn 15]

As it doesn't show in Emby, tere IS no detail view. There is no view at all.

When playing back, all the other episodes are as they should be, not merged with s6e7.

[GrimReaper 4739]

Just now, ramseyn said:

As it doesn't show in Emby, tere IS no detail view. There is no view at all.

 

5 minutes ago, GrimReaper said:

If you go to S02E07 detail view

 

[ramseyn 15]

You obviously mean something I don't understand. I cannot see S06E07 to show a detail view.

S02Eo7, a completely different season, does have a Split Versions button but references only the S02E07 file as its source

[GrimReaper 4739]

Your S06E07 was likely erroneously merged with S02E07, meaning identified as another version of S02E07. 

I'm not asking you for S06E07 details, as it obviously doesn't exist, but for S02E07 details.

Can you share a screenshot of S02E07 detail view, below the Split versions button, showing paths for both files? 

[ramseyn 15]

Here's what I see in S2E7

[ramseyn 15]

Ah, under versions in the top you are right - it shows S06E07 there!

Why?

If I Split Versions where will S06E07 go?

 

[ramseyn 15]

[GrimReaper 4739]

5 minutes ago, ramseyn said:

Ah, under versions in the top you are right - it shows S06E07 there!

Yes, that's what I was trying to determine. 

[GrimReaper 4739]

6 minutes ago, ramseyn said:

If I Split Versions where will S06E07 go?

You will have two S02E07 episodes. On the one that has S06E07 path, Edit Metadata and fill Season 6 Episode 7 in respective fields (you can also clear External IDs fields). Refresh Metadata afterwards. 

[ramseyn 15]

So I split it. Now it shows in Season 7 with no episode number (i.e. at the top of the episode list before episode 1) with the title from S2E7 (listed as Red Bulls, not The Great Red Dragon).

All the metadata refers to S2E7. I have corrected all that, added the correct IMDB ref, cleared the description, changed the sort title to 7. The Great Red Dragon and now it shows in the right place (though it hasn't retrieved the description even though I refreshed metadata.

Why it would combine two episodes from separate seasons when they all include an IMDB identifier hint, I cannot fathom

[ramseyn 15]

This is more extensive. Since watching the earlier episodes a lot of earlier seasons have been messed up. Season 2 has some season 1 episodes and some missing altogether. I just checked one and it seems to have three parts combined.

Something is wrong in Emby. When I watched these I was on an earlier version, before the most recent update to Emby server.

[GrimReaper 4739]

ProviderIds in episode filenames serve no purpose (and can actually confuse parser) since they are unused as episodes are queried by TV Show/episode list (and TV Show folder is the only place where ProviderId serves a purpose/is utilized). 

My suggestion would be to simply remove all those {imdbid-ttxxxxxx} suffixes from all the episodes and leave only TV show ProviderID in place, and simply follow any preferred naming convention according: 

TV Naming

Episode Naming Conventions

Edited November 13, 2025 by GrimReaper

[ramseyn 15]

By TV Show Provider do you mean TVDB or something? Remove them from the file names only?

I only added these IDs because in an older version of Emby I had all sorts of mis-identifications - for example everything in the original UK version of House of Cards was identified as the copycat US version from years later

[ramseyn 15]

Season 6 now has multiple episodes that show more than one version - and the versions are THE SAME. If I split one, it shows the same episode twice in the list and I cannot recombine, nor can I delete one of them because it warns it will delete the file (which is shared by the "other version).

And one episode from season 1 has vanished. I am going through 149 episodes in Emby looking for where it may have been merged and have not found it yet (when I reached season 6 and found the issue above)

[GrimReaper 4739]

19 minutes ago, ramseyn said:

By TV Show Provider do you mean TVDB or something? Remove them from the file names only?

ProviderID can be any provider of your choice that is supported, as per KB article linked above:

Quote

ID Tags in Folder & File Names

Emby can also read a Meta-Data ID from the name.

Supported Formats:

• Name (Year) [tvdbid=xxxx]
• Name (Year) [tvdbid-xxxx]
• Name (Year) [tvdb=xxxx]
• Name (Year) [tvdb-xxxx]
• Name (Year) {tvdbid=xxxx}
• Name (Year) {tvdbid-xxxx}
• Name (Year) {tvdb=xxxx}
• Name (Year) {tvdb-xxxx}

Supported ID's:

• tvdb
• tmdb (Moviedb)
• imdb

Example:

The Vampire Diaries (2009) [tmdbid=18165]

Emby supports the following tags with the host website for lookup.

• tmdbid (https://www.themoviedb.org/)

• imdbid (https://www.imdb.com/)

• tvdbid (https://thetvdb.com/)

I was telling you that the only place you need ProviderIDs are TV Show folders, as in:

1 hour ago, ramseyn said:

The Mentalist (2008){tvdbid-82459}

You can drop them from episode filenames as they serve no purpose (and can potentially cause issues). 

[ramseyn 15]

Got you. I'll try this on my secondary server first before doing it on my main server...

 

And once spit, how do I get rid of the resulting duplicate in the list, since I can't delete it because it will delete the file?

Edited November 13, 2025 by ramseyn

[GrimReaper 4739]

3 minutes ago, ramseyn said:

And once spit, how do I get rid of the resulting duplicate in the list, since I can't delete it because it will delete the file?

There's no duplicate and nothing to remove, there's only incorrectly assigned episode. As said:

1 hour ago, GrimReaper said:

Edit Metadata and fill Season 6 Episode 7 in respective fields (you can also clear External IDs fields). Refresh Metadata afterwards. 

Insert proper Season and Episode numbers. 

[Neminem 1515]

It also might be the year in your season folders.

Season 2 (2009) not sure what happens when this is used.

[Neminem 1515]

Here is the naming I use.

Folder : Black Mirror (2011) [TvdbId=253463]

    Season folder : Season 01

         Episode : Black Mirror - S01E01.mkv

[ramseyn 15]

16 minutes ago, GrimReaper said:

There's no duplicate and nothing to remove, there's only incorrectly assigned episode.

There is a duplicate title in the list.

Both entries refer to the same file and path and if I try to delete one, it says it will remove that file from disk.

[GrimReaper 4739]

2 minutes ago, ramseyn said:

Both entries refer to the same file and path and if I try to delete one, it says it will remove that file from disk.

That should not be happening, something in the db is messed up. 

Remove that file from TV show root on your filesystem, run Scan media library to clear the db, move it back, scan again. 

[ramseyn 15]

That fixed the duplicate.

Unfortunately it also lost all my season images. Here is after and before the move and rescan, move back and rescan...

It turns out all the artwork disappeared from the parent folder. I cvopied it across from the other server and it now displays correctly. Why it disappeared is a mystery.

 

 

 

Edited November 13, 2025 by ramseyn
Added fix

[GrimReaper 4739]

5 minutes ago, ramseyn said:

Unfortunately it also lost all my season images.

That didn't, you were literally just scanning, but something else might have, as only you know what other operations you performed. 

On TV show level, try Refreshing Metadata>Search for missing with Replace existing images ticked. 

Edit: Also, what Image fetchers you have enabled in your library and in what order? 

Edited November 13, 2025 by GrimReaper
Append