If there are two movies with the same name and the same year of production, how should I name them so that infuse won’t recognize them wrong? Do I need to add a specific month and Day after the name?
Do you mean two different movies that have the same name and year of release, or two copies of the same movie with different cuts like a directors cut and unedited or a different resolution?
Could you provide the name of the movies you’re seeing this on and maybe we can figure out the best way.
I have this same problem with two movies called Split (2016). There is no good way apart from knowing it will be wrong when refreshing metadata and manually editing to correct.
No, I mean there are two movies with the same name and release year, for example a movie called sniper, I named it sniper.2022.mkv, but infuse will set it to another movie also called sniper, also released in 2022, how do I name it to make infuse recognize it correctly? Do I add the month and date? For example, sniper.2022 04 29.mkv?
No, that won’t work. Can you provide a link to IMDB for the movie you have? I see no movie with the name “Sniper” in 2022 so if you can link to the IMDB page I think we can get you the correct name.
i have the following scenario. Both done in 2016. Infuse just grabs the top search result for both. Is this what you mean?
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Yes, you are talking about the situation I encountered, how do I name it to get infuse to recognize it correctly?
Take a look at the “alternative titles” tab on TMDB. You might want to change your titles’s filenames to match up with one of those, if one of them provides enough distinction to avoid confusion; perhaps one utilizing a longer version of the title, a different title used during production, or a regional release alternative. If not, perhaps the title might need one. 
Which are you talking about? Split or Sniper?
Either way could you provide the requested info?
It’s like the example movie_lover gave, both movies are named Split, the year of production is 2022, if I name it Split.2022.mkv, how does infuse know which one it is? This will have the possibility of misidentification ah
Then you’ll want to watch this suggestion thread and also add your support for it to become a feature.
Note it is currently tagged as planned.
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It means that we can’t identify this kind of movies well now, and we will update it later, right? When will that be supported?
Split is an interesting example — there were actually SIX movies titled “Split” released in the year 2016, according to TMDB — among at least TWENTY-THREE total films with that exact title in their index.
Most popular title with an exact match often wins when the search algorithm is working correctly … though often with short titles like these an even more popular title that simply includes the word “Split” (or “Lion”, or “Moon”, etc.”) somewhere in it will wind up hijacking the title ID and causing a mismatched scrape, due to the API often failing to prioritize 100% exact title matches in such circumstances.
Given that the only data fields searched by the API are the content’s type (Movie or TV; the latter indicated by presence of a recognizable season number + episode number string in the filename), title, and release year … the only way I’ve found to specify which instance of the six 2016 “Split” films you want your title identified as prior to scraping is to make use of the TMDB alternative titles fields in order to give the API a means to differentiate between the titles.
Perhaps you might create “disambiguating” alternate titles for two of the lesser popular movies such as “Split - April” and “Split - August”, which, when you name your files to match (“Split - April (2016)”, “Split - August 2016”), will give the API enough information to make the correct choice.
You might be better off using the film’s genre, director’s name, production company, or perhaps the releasing streaming network (if the title is exclusive to one), if those seem more unique. Ideally, whatever new title you create will be unlike anything else extant because you certainly don’t want to contribute to the problem of mismatches for anyone else.
I’ll note I’ve found nothing in TMDB’s bible to show this is an approved use of the feature (and I recognize it almost certainly isn’t) but if you practice discretion and you’re careful enough to make sure you don’t break things for other users, you might escape notice.
For most folks, I’d just suggest they use Infuse’s built in tool to reassign mismatched titles by manually searching specific titles after import and selecting the appropriate results.
Until TMDB ID# tags are supported in filenames or .nfo, I think this is the best we can do.
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Yep, I manually correct all mismatched titles with the “edit metadata” function from within Infuse. TMDB ID tags would be the preferred solution when the auto matching does not work.
You still have to know your collection to realise that something was incorrectly matched.
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Yes, although you can manually match, but in case of missing metadata and a lot of movies this is quite inconvenient, I need to check one by one whether there is a correct match, which is quite unfriendly, if infuse can be distinguished on the naming that would be the best
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Yup. Needing to identify and eliminate all mismatched titles in my Infuse collection has long been an affliction of mine, and without a firm grasp of what ought to be in it, this would be extremely difficult.
Let me take you on a brief tour down my rabbit hole:
I started keeping a collection library back in the physical media heydays on a (third-party) website (blu-ray.com) long before I ever transitioned discs to drives — and I still meticulously update that collection as I make additions and/or deletions to titles in my personal media library. That collection is broken out into categories based on various distinctions particular to me; which I mirror in the folder structure of the files located on my local NAS.
By comparing the title counts between the relevant media title folders extant on my hard discs, those listed in my online collection, and those showing visible in Infuse, any discrepancies easily draw my attention to something being amiss.
Being very particular with my file naming conventions assures me my files wind up accounted for in the correct places … a not insignificant challenge considering TMDB/Infuse and my collection site don’t always agree on a given movie’s proper title or how they sort things alphabetically — so I’ve invested much time into writing scripts which vary my local folder and file names dynamically to keep each source in sync.
If my Infuse collection count is a few titles lower than it ought to be, and the missing files have not wound up in “Others” because they failed to be recognized, its obvious that those titles were misidentified as other titles already in my collection — and that’s the easy part. Harder is identifying files that were identified as titles I DON’T have in my collection.
SO — how best to find mismatched scrapes in Infuse?
My normal workflow generally includes pre-processing everything through Kodi (using TMDB as the exclusive metadata source) because as a PC user, Kodi provides much better tools to quickly review any issues that develop during scraping (simple title/date mismatches, for example), plus the fastest way to scan TMDB-sourced poster artwork and/or media titles to look for anything unfamiliar.
I personally select the folder and fanart images for all my titles — and create many custom posters myself (including for 100% of my 4K and 1080p HDR titles, and all titles for which I have multiple edits) which I always upload to TMDB for others’ potential use (though doing so also serves as a free online personal backup) — and save these images with my collection, so Infuse will by default show my preferred artwork during use. (I also create and add custom fanart and occasionally TV episode thumbs when I find the content on TMDB is lacking — my way of giving back to the community while admittedly still helping myself).
Now, using custom artwork and (if applicable) custom .nfo (to alter displayed titles) is counter-productive to helping one identify mis-scraped titles. So when I’m on the hunt for such, I’ll first rename the file extensions of all my .nfo files to .nxx and of all of my(movie title)-poster.jpgs and root-level TV series folder.jpg files to .jxx.
Since Infuse ignores unidentified “.nxx” files and all images with my invented non-standard “.jxx” file extension, refreshing (or alternatively, deleting and rebuilding) the metadata on my Infuse installation will cause displayed titles and poster art to revert to that of whichever titles my files were matched with at TMDB.
Step two is visually scrolling through the library in “list” view, which is a relatively easy way to find mismatched titles, as title scrape mismatches often have rather long and cumbersome titles that stand out.
Step three is doing the same, but in poster view, scanning for unfamiliar poster art (most mismatched titles often have garishly awful low-budget poster art in addition to being distinctly unfamiliar to me).
In case I identify titles I’m not certain I’ve ever added to my collection (but suspect I might have), it’s easy enough to compare the TMDB poster with my custom chosen fanart to see if they likely represent the same film or TV series. If I’m still uncertain based on my custom fanart or the displayed TMDB synopsis and cast and crew data, it’s easy enough at this point to compare the displayed title with the displayed filename of my local file.
…
Granted, while this is as efficient a solution I’ve since managed, it’s still a rather tedious and undeniably time-consuming process given the rather large size of my personal collection … and likely impossible to implement for those who don’t have personal access to the content they link to (other people’s Plex shares, etc.).
But it’s what I do. Happy to read and learn from what others might do instead.
[Edited to add:]
Even after Infuse starts supporting recognition of TMDB ID#s, we’ll still have to go through this process at least once, while we make sure the ID#s we are using actually direct Infuse to the correct titles.
Thereafter, however, subsequent rebuilds of our libraries should be mismatch-free for all previously confirmed titles.
It’s worth noting this is in large part the situation we have now, considering Infuse does apparently link scraped and manually corrected titles to a specific TMDB ID# internally, and preserves the latter over rebuilds as long as filenames aren’t changed and iCloud sync remain enabled.
(Admittedly, the current situation does not allow those who’ve already linked their content to specific TMDB ID#s outside of Infuse to benefit from those efforts.)
I used to spend hours curating my collection and doing constant full metadata refreshes in the Infuse 4, 5 & 6 days. The wife got jack of it, and Infuse 7 stabilsed around the 7.2/7.3 release. So I haven’t really touched it since. Everything just works and I can enjoy watching the TVs and Movies in my collection rather than just “managing” it all for little return except for pushing my OCD button
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I envy you. My own button is forever jammed in the down position. I shall refrain from commenting here how changes introduced past 7 have contributed to that for me. 