TV Shows in a foreign language

Crupuk · April 11, 2025, 11:31am

Sonarr version (exact version): 4.0.14.2939
Mono version (if Sonarr is not running on Windows): Docker from linuxserver
OS: CentOS with Podman
Debug logs: Non applicable
Description of issue:

Hello,

I wanted first to say thank you for all your work here.
I really like Sonarr, and it’s really helpful, thx for that!

I have already checked the issues on GitHub, and I know that this is a well-known issue and is already referenced for the upcoming 5.0 Milestone (TVDB Data in other Languages · Issue #269 · Sonarr/Sonarr · GitHub). So my message here is not another one asking when it will be done or not but rather to ask: what are the actual viable options?

To be honest, I have tried with Medusa/SickChill/SickBear, and none of them were working with the torrent tracker that I currently use with Sonarr. (Some of them are well-known to work with a different TV show title language), but it seems that the current torrent integration is broken.

So, I wanted to go a bit deeper, and as Sonarr uses an SQLite database, I was able to update the title directly in the database (it was just a test). With this change, Sonarr sent the correct French TV title to Prowlarr, and I finally got the expected result.

But at this point, Sonarr refused to grab the show for the following reason : “Unknown Series.” That seems to come from this code:

github.com

Sonarr/Sonarr/blob/v5-develop/src/NzbDrone.Core/DecisionEngine/DownloadDecisionMaker.cs#L107


      
          if (remoteEpisode.Series == null)
          {
              var matchingTvdbId = _sceneMappingService.FindTvdbId(parsedEpisodeInfo.SeriesTitle, parsedEpisodeInfo.ReleaseTitle, parsedEpisodeInfo.SeasonNumber);
          
              if (matchingTvdbId.HasValue)
              {
                  decision = new DownloadDecision(remoteEpisode, new DownloadRejection(DownloadRejectionReason.MatchesAnotherSeries, $"{parsedEpisodeInfo.SeriesTitle} matches an alias for series with TVDB ID: {matchingTvdbId}"));
              }
              else
              {
                  decision = new DownloadDecision(remoteEpisode, new DownloadRejection(DownloadRejectionReason.UnknownSeries, "Unknown Series"));
              }
          }
          else if (remoteEpisode.Episodes.Empty())
          {
              decision = new DownloadDecision(remoteEpisode, new DownloadRejection(DownloadRejectionReason.UnknownEpisode, "Unable to identify correct episode(s) using release name and scene mappings"));
          }
          else
          {
              _aggregationService.Augment(remoteEpisode);

Without spending hours on it, I guess it’s because Sonarr tries to detect the title, season, and episode from the filename and then checks in its TVDB cache if there is a matching TVDB ID.

What I’m wondering right now is: is there a way, without altering the code, to make this test successful?

I know it’s a very short-term fix, but as I have to download a daily episode manually, if it can do the trick in the meantime, it could help a lot!

(Just out of curiosity, I have checked the release date for the V4 (23/12/2023) but I can find the release date for Sonarr 3… , I see only 9 issues closed in the 5.0 milestones so I guess that a release is not planned soon right ? )

Thx a lot !

markus101 · April 11, 2025, 8:51pm

While Sonarr doesn’t get metadata for series in other languages we do support foreign release names via aliases/scene mappings.

https://wiki.servarr.com/sonarr/faq#why-cant-sonarr-import-episode-files-for-series-x-why-cant-sonarr-find-releases-for-series-x

v5 is a long ways out, lots of changes that don’t necessarily have issues that need to be solved on the front end as well.

Crupuk · April 14, 2025, 7:46am

Heyy,

Thx a lot @markus101 , I see that there is already a line for my TV Shows :

Line : 9859 .
The problem is that in my current provider the name is in French.
I have no right to edit this excel sheet, should I submit a new request ? (I don’t know how this request was added … The same day as your answer it’s strange) .

So, my indexer expect : “The power: Qui a le pouvoir” and TVDB give : “The power: Who as the power” .

Thx a lot !

markus101 · April 14, 2025, 10:40pm

You’ll never have write accessNot having write access is expected (imagine the chaos of it being editable by anyone on the internet).

If it’s already been requested then no, you don’t need to request it again. Someone else probably ran into the same issue.