Quality filtering and sorting¶
NZB-DAV filters the combined search results down to what you actually want, then ranks what's left. All filters live on the Quality Filters and Keyword Filters tabs; ranking lives on the Sorting tab.
Quality filters¶
Every quality toggle is on by default, which means "show everything." Turn off the attributes you never want. NZB-DAV reads each release's attributes by parsing its name.
| Group | Options |
|---|---|
| Resolution | 2160p / 4K, 1080p, 720p, 480p |
| HDR | HDR10, HDR10+, Dolby Vision, HLG, SDR |
| Audio | Atmos, TrueHD, DTS-HD MA, DTS:X, DD+ (EAC3), DD (AC3), AAC |
| Video codec | x265/HEVC, x264/AVC, AV1, VP9, MPEG-2 |
| Language | English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Dutch, Russian, Japanese, Korean, Chinese, Arabic, Hindi |
How the filters treat unknown attributes¶
This behavior is important to understand, because it affects which releases survive:
- Most filters fail open. If NZB-DAV can't detect a release's resolution, audio, codec, or language, the release is kept — a filter only removes a release when it can positively identify a disallowed attribute. This prevents poorly named releases from vanishing.
- HDR is the exception. A release with no detected HDR is treated as SDR. So if you disable SDR while leaving HDR types enabled, releases with no detectable HDR are removed. Keep SDR enabled unless you truly want only HDR content.
Keyword and group filters¶
On the Keyword Filters tab:
| Setting | Effect |
|---|---|
| Exclude keywords | Comma-separated. A release is removed if any keyword appears anywhere in its title. |
| Required keywords | Comma-separated. A release is removed unless every keyword appears in its title. |
| Min size / Max size | In MB, 0 = no limit. A release outside the range is removed. If a release's size can't be read, it's treated as 0 MB — so a non-zero minimum removes size-less placeholder rows. If you set a maximum below the minimum, the size filter is disabled and a warning is logged. |
| Configure Preferred Groups | Release groups to prefer. |
| Configure Excluded Groups | Release groups to remove. |
Preferred and excluded groups behave differently
- Excluded groups are a hard filter: matching releases are removed.
- Preferred groups are not a filter. They only boost ranking under the Relevance sort. Choosing a preferred group never hides other groups — if you want only certain groups, use required keywords or excluded groups instead.
Sorting and selection¶
On the Sorting tab:
| Setting | Options | Default |
|---|---|---|
| Sort by | Relevance, Size (largest first), Size (smallest first), Age (newest first), Age (oldest first) | Relevance |
| Max results | 1–100 | 25 |
| Auto-select best match | Skip the picker and play the top-ranked result | Off |
How Relevance ranking works¶
When you sort by Relevance, NZB-DAV ranks releases by this priority order:
- Resolution — 2160p, then 1080p, then 720p, then 480p.
- HDR — Dolby Vision, then HDR10+, then HDR10, then HLG, then SDR.
- Preferred group — releases from a preferred group rise above the rest.
- Audio — a TrueHD + Atmos combination ranks highest, then Atmos, TrueHD, DTS:X, DTS-HD MA, DTS, DD+, DD, and AAC.
- Size — larger files win the final tie-break.
About "Max results"¶
Max results applies in two places: it caps how many results each provider is asked for, and it truncates the filtered list you see. With Auto-select best match on, NZB-DAV plays the first release after ranking — so "best" always means "the top item under your current sort order."
For the exact ranking math and filter internals, see How it works → Search pipeline.