Infuse TV Episodes Not Grouping: Fix Names and Matching

If your TV episodes appear as unrelated films or never form a show in Infuse, start with one affected season. Check where its metadata comes from, whether the files have clear episode numbers, and whether online matching is enabled. Adding more NFO files will not solve every grouping problem.

This guide focuses on episodes read from a folder or network share. The steps below combine Firecore's documented behavior with our recommendation to make one small, reversible change at a time.

1. Check the connection before renaming

An SMB share added directly to Infuse and a Plex connection pointing at the same NAS take different paths to metadata. Check the saved connection in Infuse, rather than guessing from where the videos are stored.

For Plex, Emby or Jellyfin, Infuse uses the server's metadata in both Direct Mode and Library Mode. Direct Mode still refers to a server connection. Firecore describes this in its media-server guide.

If that is your setup, open the affected season in the server's own app first. Resolve any wrong show or episode assignment there. When the server looks right, use the item's Refresh action in Infuse and check again. Our Infuse wrong-metadata guide links to the server-specific steps.

For a direct file share, continue below. Keep the connection method unchanged during this check so you can tell which change helped.

2. Let Infuse identify the show online

Firecore says local metadata cannot manually organize and group TV episodes. For this purpose, Infuse needs supported TV filenames and Metadata Fetching enabled so it can match against TMDB. A tvshow.nfo or episode NFO is not a substitute for that grouping process. See Firecore's TV metadata limits.

Also check whether the affected folder was set to Local metadata. Firecore documents a folder-level Metadata choice between Online and Local, as well as an individual None – use embedded metadata choice. Those options can explain why online matching is not taking place. See Using Embedded Metadata.

For a normal TV series you want matched online, record the current settings before changing them. Leave unrelated home-video folders alone. The tradeoff is worth understanding: online grouping depends on the provider having the series and episodes you mean. A personally named collection of videos cannot be turned into a catalogued TV series merely by writing an NFO.

Look for Metadata Fetching in Infuse's settings. Firecore's pages currently place it under different settings sections, so use the option's name rather than assuming every device has the same menu layout.

3. Give each file an unambiguous episode name

Use the real show's title and a clear season/episode pair, such as Show Title - S01E02.mkv. Firecore supports several forms, including S01E02 and 1x02. Some shorter forms depend on the parent folder and do not work with every connection. See the official naming guide.

Our recommendation is to include the show name in each filename during troubleshooting. It is more typing, but the file remains understandable when viewed outside its folder.

Before assigning numbers, identify the actual video. Check its opening, episode title or another reliable reference against the episode entry you intend to use. A tidy filename can still describe the wrong episode.

Worked example: two ambiguous files

Suppose you have confirmed that part-01.mkv and part-02.mkv are the first two episodes of the same season. Your rename plan could look like this:

Before
TV/Harbour Signals/part-01.mkv
TV/Harbour Signals/part-02.mkv

After
TV/Harbour Signals/Season 01/Harbour Signals - S01E01.mkv
TV/Harbour Signals/Season 01/Harbour Signals - S01E02.mkv

Harbour Signals is fictional. This shows a file plan, not a title to search for in Infuse. Use your real show's name and verified episode numbers.

Keep a written old-to-new path list. Include subtitle and artwork sidecars in your review, and leave any existing destination file untouched. For this first check, changing two known episodes is enough; avoid adding a new poster, changing metadata providers and renaming the entire library at the same time.

Specials and anime need a separate check

Firecore documents season 00 for specials and season-based names for anime, even where you normally think in absolute episode numbers. A miniseries also uses a season number. Check the relevant TMDB episode entry before translating a number such as 057 into S02E07; arithmetic alone does not establish the episode identity. Firecore's naming guide covers these cases.

4. Correct a wrong series match

If Infuse recognizes the files as episodes but chooses the wrong series, open one affected episode's details and select Edit Metadata. Search for the correct show. Firecore says correcting one episode's series match applies the match to the other episodes in that series. The controls differ slightly by device; see Fixing Mismatched Titles.

Our advice is to check a second episode immediately afterward. If the show is right but its episode title describes a different story, revisit the numbering rather than repeatedly selecting the same show. Matching the series and identifying the episode are two separate checks.

If you changed a folder from Local back to Online, Firecore notes that cached details may remain until an item is edited manually or all metadata is cleared. Start with the affected item. Clearing the whole library's metadata is a much broader change than this diagnosis needs.

5. Check the result in Infuse

After filename changes, run Settings → Library → Scan for Changes and let it finish. Firecore documents that control, along with the per-item Refresh action, in its scanning and refresh guidance.

Use these checks before expanding the rename:

• Open the show in the library and confirm both test episodes appear in the intended season.
• Compare each displayed episode title with the video it opens. Play enough to identify it.
• Check that the old and new paths have not left two playable copies in your source folders.
• Try an external subtitle, if you had one, and check any watched or resume state that matters to you.

A correct poster alone does not establish that the right file plays. If something is still wrong, note the filename, connection type, displayed series and episode number. That gives you a specific mismatch to investigate instead of another full-library reset.

6. Review and undo renames with MetaTana

MetaTana can help prepare an Infuse library by reviewing matches and proposed filenames before changing files. It has no direct Infuse connector or dedicated Infuse artwork preset.

For this task, review the show's identity and episode assignments in MetaTana first. Select the small test set in Library, then choose More → Other actions → Rename files in place…. Read every old and new path in Bulk Rename and uncheck anything you are not ready to change. The naming and organizing guide explains how to adjust the pattern.

If the result is wrong, use Undo this batch in the results, or Activity → Show: Renames → Undo all for that batch. Check the restored files and sidecars on disk, then scan again in Infuse. Undoing a MetaTana rename does not restore Infuse's own metadata selections or watched state. See recovering from a bad rename for conflicts and manual recovery.

For a manual rename, use your saved path list to reverse only the changes you made. Do not overwrite a file that has since appeared at an old path. Restore any changed Infuse settings separately.

Download MetaTana when you want a preview and rename history for the rest of the folder. Keep the first batch small until the names, grouping and playback all agree.