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How to setup Quality Profiles

aka How to setup Custom Formats

So what's the best way to setup the Custom Formats and which ones to use with which scores to setup your quality profiles?

There isn't a best setup, it depends on your setup (hardware devices) and your own personal preferences.

Some prefer high quality audio (HD Audio), others high quality video. Many prefer both.

Here I will try to explain how to make the most use of Custom Formats to help you to setup your quality profiles for your personal needs.

I created a flowchart to make your decision/choices easier.


Basics

After you've added the Custom Formats, as explained in How to import Custom Formats. You will need to set it up in the quality Profile you want to use/prefer to make use of the Custom Formats.

Settings => Profiles

!cf-settings-profiles

Sonarr Custom Formats can be set per profile and isn't global

Select the profile that you want to use/prefer.

!cf-quality-profiles

!cf-profile-selected

  1. Profile name.
  2. Allow upgrades. Sonarr will stop upgrading quality once (3) is met.
  3. Upgrade until the selected quality.
  4. The Minimum Custom Format Score allowed to download. More Info
  5. Keep upgrading Custom Format until this score is reached. (setting this to 0 means no upgrades will happen based on Custom Formats)

At the bottom in your chosen profile you will see the added Custom Formats where you can start setting up the scores.

Screenshot example - [CLICK TO EXPAND]

!cf-quality-profile-cf

Warning

These screenshots are just examples to show you how it should look and where you need to place the data that you need to add, they aren't always a 100% reflection of the actual data and not always 100% up to date with the actual data you need to add.

  • Always follow the data described in the guide.
  • If you got any questions or aren't sure just click the chat badge to join the Discord Channel where you can ask your questions directly.

Keep in mind Custom Formats are made to fine tune your Quality Profile.
Generally, quality trumps all

Custom formats are controlled by Quality Profiles.

  • The Upgrade Until score prevents upgrading once a release with this desired score has been downloaded.
  • A score of 0 results in the custom format being informational only.
  • The Minimum score requires releases to reach this threshold otherwise they will be rejected.
  • Custom formats that match with undesirable attributes should be given a negative score to lower their appeal.
  • Outright rejections should be given a negative score low enough that even if all of the other formats with positive scores were added, the score would still fall below the minimum.

Sonarr v4 current logic

Sonarr v4 current logic - [CLICK TO EXPAND]

As of v4 release the logic is as follows:

The Current logic on how downloads are compared is Quality Trumps All ‼

  1. Quality
  2. Custom Formats
  3. Protocol
  4. Episode Count
  5. Episode Number
  6. Indexer Priority
  7. Seeds/Peers (If Torrent)
  8. Age (If Usenet)
  9. Size

Source: Wiki Servarr

REPACKS and PROPERs are v2 of Qualities and thus rank above a non-repack of the same quality.

Settings => Media Management => File Management => Proper & Repacks Change to Do Not Prefer and use the Repack/Proper Custom Format


Which Quality Profile should you choose

Which Quality Profile should you choose - [CLICK TO EXPAND]

Flowchart

If you're unsure or have questions do not hesitate to ask for help on Discord

Discord chat


TRaSH Quality Profiles

WEB-1080p

If you prefer 720p/1080p WEBDL (WEB-1080p)

I suggest to follow the following Guides first.

For this Quality Profile we're going to make use of the following Custom Formats with the scores given in the table.

Attention

All the used scores and combination of Custom Formats in this Guide are tested to get the desired results and prevent download loops as much as possible.

From experience most of the time when people change scores or leave out certain CF that work together they end up with undesired results.

If you're unsure or have questions do not hesitate to ask for help on Discord

Discord chat

Unwanted - [CLICK TO EXPAND]
Custom Format Score Trash ID
BR-DISK -10000 85c61753df5da1fb2aab6f2a47426b09
LQ -10000 9c11cd3f07101cdba90a2d81cf0e56b4
x265 (HD) ⚠ -10000 47435ece6b99a0b477caf360e79ba0bb
Extras -10000 fbcb31d8dabd2a319072b84fc0b7249c

Breakdown and Why

  • BR-DISK : This is a custom format to help Sonarr recognize & ignore BR-DISK (ISO's and Blu-ray folder structure) in addition to the standard BR-DISK quality.
  • LQ: A collection of known Low Quality groups that are often banned from the the top trackers because the lack of quality or other reasons.
  • x265 (HD): This blocks 720/1080p (HD) releases that are encoded in x265. - More info HERE.

    Don't use this together with x265 (no HDR/DV), Only ever include one of them ⚠

  • Extras: This blocks/ignores extra's

Misc - [CLICK TO EXPAND]
Custom Format Score Trash ID
Repack/Proper 11 ec8fa7296b64e8cd390a1600981f3923
Repack v2 12 eb3d5cc0a2be0db205fb823640db6a3c
Repack v3 13 44e7c4de10ae50265753082e5dc76047
Proper and Repacks - [CLICK TO EXPAND]

I also suggest to change the Propers and Repacks settings in Sonarr

Media Management => File Management to Do Not Prefer and use the Repack/Proper Custom Format.

!cf-mm-propers-repacks-disable

This way you make sure the Custom Formats preferences will be used and not ignored.

Streaming Services - [CLICK TO EXPAND]
Custom Format Score Trash ID
AMZN 100 d660701077794679fd59e8bdf4ce3a29
ATVP 100 f67c9ca88f463a48346062e8ad07713f
DCU 75 36b72f59f4ea20aad9316f475f2d9fbb
DSNP 90 89358767a60cc28783cdc3d0be9388a4
HBO 75 7a235133c87f7da4c8cccceca7e3c7a6
HMAX 90 a880d6abc21e7c16884f3ae393f84179
MAX 90 81d1fbf600e2540cee87f3a23f9d3c1c
HULU 85 f6cce30f1733d5c8194222a7507909bb
iT 75 0ac24a2a68a9700bcb7eeca8e5cd644c
NF 90 d34870697c9db575f17700212167be23
NLZ 75 b2b980877494b560443631eb1f473867
PCOK 85 1656adc6d7bb2c8cca6acfb6592db421
PMTP 75 c67a75ae4a1715f2bb4d492755ba4195
QIBI 90 3ac5d84fce98bab1b531393e9c82f467
RED 75 c30d2958827d1867c73318a5a2957eb1
SHO 95 ae58039e1319178e6be73caab5c42166
STAN 75 1efe8da11bfd74fbbcd4d8117ddb9213
VDL 75 5d2317d99af813b6529c7ebf01c83533
CC 75 77a7b25585c18af08f60b1547bb9b4fb
HQ Source Groups - [CLICK TO EXPAND]
Custom Format Score Trash ID
WEB Tier 01 1700 e6258996055b9fbab7e9cb2f75819294
WEB Tier 02 1650 58790d4e2fdcd9733aa7ae68ba2bb503
WEB Tier 03 1600 d84935abd3f8556dcd51d4f27e22d0a6
WEB Scene ❗ 1800 d0c516558625b04b363fa6c5c2c7cfd4

Info

❗ = The reason why this Custom Format get's such a high score is because it's the only quality scene group that exist (till now) and scene groups don't add the Release Sources (Streaming Services) to their release name so they don't get the extra point of the Streaming Services.

I decided not to add Audio Advanced Custom Formats to the WEB profile, You will hardly find HD audio with WEB-DL (Most newer WEBDL will have Atmos). If you also want HD audio formats I would suggest to go for the Remuxes.

Use the following main settings in your profile.

!cf-profile-web1080

For some older shows you might want to enable the WEB 720p or even the HDTV 1080p.

Tip

The order listed in the profile matters even if a quality is not checked, for example if you have a 1080p version but wanted the SD version, Radarr will reject all SD results because 1080p is listed higher than SD even though 1080p was not checked.

Qualities at the top of the list will appear first in manual searches.

  • Qualities higher in the list are more preferred even if not checked.
  • Qualities within the same group are equal.
  • Only checked qualities are wanted.

This is why it's recommended to move the selected quality to the top of the list.

Source: Wiki Servarr

Workflow Logic - [CLICK TO EXPAND]
  • It will download WEB-DL 1080p. (If you also enabled WEB 720p and/or HDTV 1080p it will upgrade till Upgrade Until)
  • The downloaded media will be upgraded to any of the added Custom Formats until a score of 10000.

So why such a ridiculously high Upgrade Until Custom and not a score of 100?

Because I'm too lazy to calculate the maximum for every Quality Profile I use, and I want it to upgrade to the highest possible score anyway.


WEB-2160p

If you prefer 2160p WEBDL (WEB-2160p)

The only deal breaker with 2160p is when you get them with DV/HDR, 2160p without DV/HDR is a minimal profit.

I suggest to follow the following Guides first.

For this Quality Profile we're going to make use of the following Custom Formats with the scores given in the table.

Attention

All the used scores and combination of Custom Formats in this Guide are tested to get the desired results and prevent download loops as much as possible.

From experience most of the time when people change scores or leave out certain CF that work together they end up with undesired results.

If you're unsure or have questions do not hesitate to ask for help on Discord

Discord chat

HDR Formats - [CLICK TO EXPAND]

Dolby Vision is available in several profiles

  • Profile 5 (1) - This is what comes with WEB-DL Dolby Vision release without HDR10 fallback.
    (Incompatible devices will playback with blown out pinks and greens)
  • Profile 7 (2) - This is what comes with UHD Bluray Remuxes and UHD BluRay releases.
    These files will play on an Nvidia Shield Pro (2019), but on most other players will revert to the HDR10 fallback.
  • Profile 8 (3) - This is what comes with (Hybrid) WEB-DL releases (HULU), Hybrid UHD Remux and UHD BluRay releases all of which have HDR10 fallback.
    This works with several mainstream media players.

  • (1) On PLEX for AppleTV, It has been confirmed that with the latest build of Plex, Profile 5 MKV files now play correctly!
    On an AppleTV 4K 1st gen and up, files are direct streamed (not transcoded) to an MP4 container and play using the native AVPlayer instead of Plex’s MPV.
  • (2) Neither Infuse nor PLEX for AppleTV will deliver real Dolby Vision with Profile 7.
  • (3) On PLEX for AppleTV it won't deliver real Dolby Vision with Profile 8, And will only play the HDR10 fallback.
    “although your TV will incorrectly say that it is playing DV”.
    With infuse it will convert it on the fly to Profile 5 and deliver real Dolby Vision.
    “Make sure you set the Extended Dolby Vision settings to Limited (prefer accuracy) - Convert P8 to P5 (when possible), and play other P8 as HDR (output will switch to either DoVi or HDR depending on the video)”

!HDR Formats Flowchart

Custom Format Score Trash ID
DV HDR10 1500 7878c33f1963fefb3d6c8657d46c2f0a
DV 1500 6d0d8de7b57e35518ac0308b0ddf404e
DV HLG 1500 1f733af03141f068a540eec352589a89
DV SDR 1500 27954b0a80aab882522a88a4d9eae1cd
HDR10+ 600 a3d82cbef5039f8d295478d28a887159
HDR10 500 3497799d29a085e2ac2df9d468413c94
HDR 500 3e2c4e748b64a1a1118e0ea3f4cf6875
HDR (undefined) 500 bb019e1cd00f304f80971c965de064dc
PQ 500 2a7e3be05d3861d6df7171ec74cad727
HLG 500 17e889ce13117940092308f48b48b45b

Tip

If you (or family members you share your collection with) have a setup that doesn't support Dolby Vision then it's best to add ALL the HDR Formats listed above (including ALL the DV ones (with and without HDR in it), It is important to also add the DV (WEBDL) Custom Format with a score of -10000

Unwanted UHD - [CLICK TO EXPAND]
Custom Format Score Trash ID
BR-DISK -10000 85c61753df5da1fb2aab6f2a47426b09
LQ -10000 9c11cd3f07101cdba90a2d81cf0e56b4
Extras -10000 fbcb31d8dabd2a319072b84fc0b7249c

Breakdown and Why

  • BR-DISK : This is a custom format to help Sonarr recognize & ignore BR-DISK (ISO's and Blu-ray folder structure) in addition to the standard BR-DISK quality.
  • LQ: A collection of known Low Quality groups that are often banned from the the top trackers because the lack of quality or other reasons.
  • Extras: This blocks/ignores extra's
Optional UHD - [CLICK TO EXPAND]

The SDR is a MUST for this Quality Profile ⚠

Custom Format Score Trash ID
SDR -10000 2016d1676f5ee13a5b7257ff86ac9a93

Breakdown and Why

  • SDR: This will help to prevent to grab UHD/4k releases without HDR Formats.
Misc - [CLICK TO EXPAND]
Custom Format Score Trash ID
Repack/Proper 11 ec8fa7296b64e8cd390a1600981f3923
Repack v2 12 eb3d5cc0a2be0db205fb823640db6a3c
Repack v3 13 44e7c4de10ae50265753082e5dc76047
Proper and Repacks - [CLICK TO EXPAND]

I also suggest to change the Propers and Repacks settings in Sonarr

Media Management => File Management to Do Not Prefer and use the Repack/Proper Custom Format.

!cf-mm-propers-repacks-disable

This way you make sure the Custom Formats preferences will be used and not ignored.

Streaming Services - [CLICK TO EXPAND]
Custom Format Score Trash ID
AMZN 100 d660701077794679fd59e8bdf4ce3a29
ATVP 100 f67c9ca88f463a48346062e8ad07713f
DCU 75 36b72f59f4ea20aad9316f475f2d9fbb
DSNP 90 89358767a60cc28783cdc3d0be9388a4
HBO 75 7a235133c87f7da4c8cccceca7e3c7a6
HMAX 90 a880d6abc21e7c16884f3ae393f84179
MAX 90 81d1fbf600e2540cee87f3a23f9d3c1c
HULU 85 f6cce30f1733d5c8194222a7507909bb
iT 75 0ac24a2a68a9700bcb7eeca8e5cd644c
NF 90 d34870697c9db575f17700212167be23
NLZ 75 b2b980877494b560443631eb1f473867
PCOK 85 1656adc6d7bb2c8cca6acfb6592db421
PMTP 75 c67a75ae4a1715f2bb4d492755ba4195
QIBI 90 3ac5d84fce98bab1b531393e9c82f467
RED 75 c30d2958827d1867c73318a5a2957eb1
SHO 95 ae58039e1319178e6be73caab5c42166
STAN 75 1efe8da11bfd74fbbcd4d8117ddb9213
VDL 75 5d2317d99af813b6529c7ebf01c83533
CC 75 77a7b25585c18af08f60b1547bb9b4fb
HQ Source Groups - [CLICK TO EXPAND]
Custom Format Score Trash ID
WEB Tier 01 1700 e6258996055b9fbab7e9cb2f75819294
WEB Tier 02 1650 58790d4e2fdcd9733aa7ae68ba2bb503
WEB Tier 03 1600 d84935abd3f8556dcd51d4f27e22d0a6
WEB Scene ❗ 1800 d0c516558625b04b363fa6c5c2c7cfd4

Info

❗ = The reason why this Custom Format get's such a high score is because it's the only quality scene group that exist (till now) and scene groups don't add the Release Sources (Streaming Services) to their release name so they don't get the extra point of the Streaming Services.

I decided not to add Audio Advanced Custom Formats to the WEB profile, You will hardly find HD audio with WEB-DL (Most newer WEBDL will have Atmos). If you also want HD audio formats I would suggest to go for the Remuxes.

Use the following main settings in your profile.

!cf-profile-web2160

Tip

The order listed in the profile matters even if a quality is not checked, for example if you have a 1080p version but wanted the SD version, Radarr will reject all SD results because 1080p is listed higher than SD even though 1080p was not checked.

Qualities at the top of the list will appear first in manual searches.

  • Qualities higher in the list are more preferred even if not checked.
  • Qualities within the same group are equal.
  • Only checked qualities are wanted.

This is why it's recommended to move the selected quality to the top of the list.

Source: Wiki Servarr

Workflow Logic - [CLICK TO EXPAND]
  • It will download WEB-2160p with HDR/DV.
  • The downloaded media will be upgraded to any of the added Custom Formats until a score of 10000.

So why such a ridiculously high Upgrade Until Custom and not a score of 100?

Because I'm too lazy to calculate the maximum for every Quality Profile I use, and I want it to upgrade to the highest possible score anyway.


HDR Formats

  • You have a setup that supports Dolby Vision.
  • You share your media library with other family members that also have have Dolby Vision compatible devices.

I suggest to follow the following Guides first.

For this Quality Profile we're going to make use of the following Custom Formats with the scores given in the table.

Attention

All the used scores and combination of Custom Formats in this Guide are tested to get the desired results and prevent download loops as much as possible.

From experience most of the time when people change scores or leave out certain CF that work together they end up with undesired results.

If you're unsure or have questions do not hesitate to ask for help on Discord

Discord chat

All HDR Formats - [CLICK TO EXPAND]

Dolby Vision is available in several profiles

  • Profile 5 (1) - This is what comes with WEB-DL Dolby Vision release without HDR10 fallback.
    (Incompatible devices will playback with blown out pinks and greens)
  • Profile 7 (2) - This is what comes with UHD Bluray Remuxes and UHD BluRay releases.
    These files will play on an Nvidia Shield Pro (2019), but on most other players will revert to the HDR10 fallback.
  • Profile 8 (3) - This is what comes with (Hybrid) WEB-DL releases (HULU), Hybrid UHD Remux and UHD BluRay releases all of which have HDR10 fallback.
    This works with several mainstream media players.

  • (1) On PLEX for AppleTV, It has been confirmed that with the latest build of Plex, Profile 5 MKV files now play correctly!
    On an AppleTV 4K 1st gen and up, files are direct streamed (not transcoded) to an MP4 container and play using the native AVPlayer instead of Plex’s MPV.
  • (2) Neither Infuse nor PLEX for AppleTV will deliver real Dolby Vision with Profile 7.
  • (3) On PLEX for AppleTV it won't deliver real Dolby Vision with Profile 8, And will only play the HDR10 fallback.
    “although your TV will incorrectly say that it is playing DV”.
    With infuse it will convert it on the fly to Profile 5 and deliver real Dolby Vision.
    “Make sure you set the Extended Dolby Vision settings to Limited (prefer accuracy) - Convert P8 to P5 (when possible), and play other P8 as HDR (output will switch to either DoVi or HDR depending on the video)”

!HDR Formats Flowchart

Custom Format Score Trash ID
DV HDR10 1500 7878c33f1963fefb3d6c8657d46c2f0a
DV 1500 6d0d8de7b57e35518ac0308b0ddf404e
DV HLG 1500 1f733af03141f068a540eec352589a89
DV SDR 1500 27954b0a80aab882522a88a4d9eae1cd
HDR10+ 600 a3d82cbef5039f8d295478d28a887159
HDR10 500 3497799d29a085e2ac2df9d468413c94
HDR 500 3e2c4e748b64a1a1118e0ea3f4cf6875
HDR (undefined) 500 bb019e1cd00f304f80971c965de064dc
PQ 500 2a7e3be05d3861d6df7171ec74cad727
HLG 500 17e889ce13117940092308f48b48b45b

Tip

If you (or family members you share your collection with) have a setup that doesn't support Dolby Vision then it's best to add ALL the HDR Formats listed above (including ALL the DV ones (with and without HDR in it), It is important to also add the DV (WEBDL) Custom Format with a score of -10000


HDR Formats + DV (WEBDL)

  • Not all devices in your chain support Dolby Vision.
  • You share your media library with other family members that don't have Dolby Vision compatible devices.

I suggest to follow the following Guides first.

For this Quality Profile we're going to make use of the following Custom Formats with the scores given in the table.

Attention

All the used scores and combination of Custom Formats in this Guide are tested to get the desired results and prevent download loops as much as possible.

From experience most of the time when people change scores or leave out certain CF that work together they end up with undesired results.

If you're unsure or have questions do not hesitate to ask for help on Discord

Discord chat

All HDR Formats + DV (WEBDL) - [CLICK TO EXPAND]

Dolby Vision is available in several profiles

  • Profile 5 (1) - This is what comes with WEB-DL Dolby Vision release without HDR10 fallback.
    (Incompatible devices will playback with blown out pinks and greens)
  • Profile 7 (2) - This is what comes with UHD Bluray Remuxes and UHD BluRay releases.
    These files will play on an Nvidia Shield Pro (2019), but on most other players will revert to the HDR10 fallback.
  • Profile 8 (3) - This is what comes with (Hybrid) WEB-DL releases (HULU), Hybrid UHD Remux and UHD BluRay releases all of which have HDR10 fallback.
    This works with several mainstream media players.

  • (1) On PLEX for AppleTV, It has been confirmed that with the latest build of Plex, Profile 5 MKV files now play correctly!
    On an AppleTV 4K 1st gen and up, files are direct streamed (not transcoded) to an MP4 container and play using the native AVPlayer instead of Plex’s MPV.
  • (2) Neither Infuse nor PLEX for AppleTV will deliver real Dolby Vision with Profile 7.
  • (3) On PLEX for AppleTV it won't deliver real Dolby Vision with Profile 8, And will only play the HDR10 fallback.
    “although your TV will incorrectly say that it is playing DV”.
    With infuse it will convert it on the fly to Profile 5 and deliver real Dolby Vision.
    “Make sure you set the Extended Dolby Vision settings to Limited (prefer accuracy) - Convert P8 to P5 (when possible), and play other P8 as HDR (output will switch to either DoVi or HDR depending on the video)”

!HDR Formats Flowchart

Custom Format Score Trash ID
DV HDR10 1500 7878c33f1963fefb3d6c8657d46c2f0a
DV 1500 6d0d8de7b57e35518ac0308b0ddf404e
DV HLG 1500 1f733af03141f068a540eec352589a89
DV SDR 1500 27954b0a80aab882522a88a4d9eae1cd
HDR10+ 600 a3d82cbef5039f8d295478d28a887159
HDR10 500 3497799d29a085e2ac2df9d468413c94
HDR 500 3e2c4e748b64a1a1118e0ea3f4cf6875
HDR (undefined) 500 bb019e1cd00f304f80971c965de064dc
PQ 500 2a7e3be05d3861d6df7171ec74cad727
HLG 500 17e889ce13117940092308f48b48b45b
DV (WEBDL) -10000 9b27ab6498ec0f31a3353992e19434ca

Tip

If you (or family members you share your collection with) have a setup that doesn't support Dolby Vision then it's best to add ALL the HDR Formats listed above (including ALL the DV ones (with and without HDR in it), It is important to also add the DV (WEBDL) Custom Format with a score of -10000


HDR Formats + DV (WEBDL) + HDR10+ Boost

  • Not all devices in your chain support Dolby Vision.
  • You share your media library with other family members that don't have Dolby Vision compatible devices.
  • You have a (Samsung) TV that supports HDR10+.

I suggest to follow the following Guides first.

For this Quality Profile we're going to make use of the following Custom Formats with the scores given in the table.

Attention

All the used scores and combination of Custom Formats in this Guide are tested to get the desired results and prevent download loops as much as possible.

From experience most of the time when people change scores or leave out certain CF that work together they end up with undesired results.

If you're unsure or have questions do not hesitate to ask for help on Discord

Discord chat

All HDR Formats + DV (WEBDL) + HDR10+ Boost - [CLICK TO EXPAND]

Dolby Vision is available in several profiles

  • Profile 5 (1) - This is what comes with WEB-DL Dolby Vision release without HDR10 fallback.
    (Incompatible devices will playback with blown out pinks and greens)
  • Profile 7 (2) - This is what comes with UHD Bluray Remuxes and UHD BluRay releases.
    These files will play on an Nvidia Shield Pro (2019), but on most other players will revert to the HDR10 fallback.
  • Profile 8 (3) - This is what comes with (Hybrid) WEB-DL releases (HULU), Hybrid UHD Remux and UHD BluRay releases all of which have HDR10 fallback.
    This works with several mainstream media players.

  • (1) On PLEX for AppleTV, It has been confirmed that with the latest build of Plex, Profile 5 MKV files now play correctly!
    On an AppleTV 4K 1st gen and up, files are direct streamed (not transcoded) to an MP4 container and play using the native AVPlayer instead of Plex’s MPV.
  • (2) Neither Infuse nor PLEX for AppleTV will deliver real Dolby Vision with Profile 7.
  • (3) On PLEX for AppleTV it won't deliver real Dolby Vision with Profile 8, And will only play the HDR10 fallback.
    “although your TV will incorrectly say that it is playing DV”.
    With infuse it will convert it on the fly to Profile 5 and deliver real Dolby Vision.
    “Make sure you set the Extended Dolby Vision settings to Limited (prefer accuracy) - Convert P8 to P5 (when possible), and play other P8 as HDR (output will switch to either DoVi or HDR depending on the video)”

!HDR Formats Flowchart

Custom Format Score Trash ID
DV HDR10 1500 7878c33f1963fefb3d6c8657d46c2f0a
DV 1500 6d0d8de7b57e35518ac0308b0ddf404e
DV HLG 1500 1f733af03141f068a540eec352589a89
DV SDR 1500 27954b0a80aab882522a88a4d9eae1cd
HDR10+ 600 a3d82cbef5039f8d295478d28a887159
HDR10 500 3497799d29a085e2ac2df9d468413c94
HDR 500 3e2c4e748b64a1a1118e0ea3f4cf6875
HDR (undefined) 500 bb019e1cd00f304f80971c965de064dc
PQ 500 2a7e3be05d3861d6df7171ec74cad727
HLG 500 17e889ce13117940092308f48b48b45b
DV (WEBDL) -10000 9b27ab6498ec0f31a3353992e19434ca
HDR10+ Boost 901 0dad0a507451acddd754fe6dc3a7f5e7

Tip

If you (or family members you share your collection with) have a setup that doesn't support Dolby Vision then it's best to add ALL the HDR Formats listed above (including ALL the DV ones (with and without HDR in it), It is important to also add the DV (WEBDL) Custom Format with a score of -10000


FAQ & INFO

Why only WEB-DL

Why do you only have a release profile for WEB-DL - [CLICK TO EXPAND]

I only do WEB-DL my self for TV shows because in my opinion WEB-DL is the sweet spot between quality and size and you often don't see big differences anyway for TV shows. (Except for shows like GOT, Vikings, etc)

Why prefer P2P groups

Why do you prefer P2P groups over scene groups - [CLICK TO EXPAND]

Scene groups always release in a rush to bring it out as fast as possible.

So I noticed often that I got Repacks/Proper releases from them or from different groups and quality. P2P releases are a bit smarter and work sort of together by not doing the same release. Also, I noticed that with some scene releases the 5.1 audio was stripped out or converted to AAC audio.

In my opinion the P2P releases are of better quality. There's one scene group that does bring out quality releases -deflate/-inflate.

Why so many repacks/propers

Why do I see so many repacks/propers of Amazon WEB-DLs lately - [CLICK TO EXPAND]

A large portion of Amazon WEB-DLs in the last week have only had 192Kbps DD+5.1, because that's all Amazon made available initially. The proper 640Kbps DD+5.1 audio might appear a few hours later or a few months, but when they get updated, the episodes will be REPACKED.

Proper and Repacks

Proper and Repacks - [CLICK TO EXPAND]

I also suggest to change the Propers and Repacks settings in Sonarr

Media Management => File Management to Do Not Prefer and use the Repack/Proper Custom Format.

!cf-mm-propers-repacks-disable

This way you make sure the Custom Format preferences will be used instead.

Custom Formats to avoid certain releases

How to use a Custom Format to avoid certain releases? - [CLICK TO EXPAND]

For Custom Formats you really want to avoid, set it to something really low like -10000 and not something like -10. Being when you add a Custom Format what you prefer and you set it to something like +10 it could happen that for example the BR-DISK will be downloaded (-10)+(+10)=0 and if your Minimum Custom Format Score is set at 0.

Releases you should avoid

This is a must have for every Quality Profile you use in my opinion. All these Custom Formats make sure you don't get Low Quality Releases.

Unwanted - [CLICK TO EXPAND]
Custom Format Score Trash ID
BR-DISK -10000 85c61753df5da1fb2aab6f2a47426b09
LQ -10000 9c11cd3f07101cdba90a2d81cf0e56b4
x265 (HD) ⚠ -10000 47435ece6b99a0b477caf360e79ba0bb
Extras -10000 fbcb31d8dabd2a319072b84fc0b7249c

Breakdown and Why

  • BR-DISK : This is a custom format to help Sonarr recognize & ignore BR-DISK (ISO's and Blu-ray folder structure) in addition to the standard BR-DISK quality.
  • LQ: A collection of known Low Quality groups that are often banned from the the top trackers because the lack of quality or other reasons.
  • x265 (HD): This blocks 720/1080p (HD) releases that are encoded in x265. - More info HERE.

    Don't use this together with x265 (no HDR/DV), Only ever include one of them ⚠

  • Extras: This blocks/ignores extra's

Custom Formats with a score of 0

What do Custom Formats with a score of 0 do? - [CLICK TO EXPAND]

All Custom Formats with a score of 0 are pure informational and don't do anything.

Minimum Custom Format Score

Minimum Custom Format Score - [CLICK TO EXPAND]

Some people suggest not to use negative scores for your Custom Formats and set this option to a higher score then 0.

The reason why I don't prefer/use this is because you could limit yourself when some new groups or whatever will be released.

Also it makes it much more clear what you prefer and what you want to avoid.

Audio Channels

Audio Channels - [CLICK TO EXPAND]

Elsewhere in the guide, you will find a separate group of custom formats called Audio Channels. These will match the number of audio channels in a release, for example 2.0 (stereo) or 5.1/7.1 (surround sound). Personally I wouldn't add the audio channels Custom Formats as you could limit yourself in the amount of releases you're able to get. Only use them if you have a specific need for them.

Using it with any kind of Remuxes Quality Profile is useless in my opinion being that 99% of all remuxes are multi audio anyway. You can get better scores just using the Audio Advanced Custom Formats.

Avoid using the x264/x265 Custom Format

Avoid using the x264/x265 Custom Format - [CLICK TO EXPAND]

Avoid using the x264/x265 Custom Format with a score if possible, it's smarter to use the x265 (HD) Custom Format.

Something like 95% of video files are x264 and have much better direct play support. If you have more than a of couple users, you will notice much more transcoding.

Use x265 only for 4k releases and the x265 (HD) makes sure you still get the x265 releases.

Thanks

Special thanks to everyone that helped testing and creating these Custom Formats.


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Last update: January 12, 2023 21:51:13