Just started using the preroll feature, and yeah, making the transition seamless would be ideal to recreate that theater experience.
Adding a +1 here as well. I would love this feature as I also just started using the Pre-Roll feature.
I want nothing more than to use this feature, so pleeaase fix the disjointed buffering so I can 
+1 for this feature request… though it seems like its unlikely to be worked on. 2 years, 449 votes, constant comments from Plex Pass holders, and not even a single acknowledgement from a Plex Employee!? Not even a “hey we’d love to do this but we can’t because a, b, and c…” Pretty weak…
Seems like they are not interested in listening to their users… probably only focusing on monetizing the platform with ads and platform integrations.
+1
Came from here: https://www.reddit.com/r/PleX/comments/sl4av3/comment/hvqz9y7/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3
1 Like
Let’s be realistic here, having 2 streams heading to the client may be a bit too much.
But there is a really amazingly simple workaround; You don’t send 2 streams to the client.
As soon as someone starts their pre-roll, Plex should start (IF NEEDED) transcoding the movie locally, and once the pre-roll is done you start sending that out. The delay is still somewhat there but it will be less than before.
Plus; it gives anyone’s slow server some extra seconds to do more work, it would be a win-win.
Here to say I love a pre-roll, there’s some fantastic ones out there and a great way to customise your server and just give it that extra impressive feature when someone uses it.
Why has this not been implemented? it’s got to be simple. Just throwing in my opinion.
It’s implemented but up to the users to decide if they want to see an available preroll before watching a movie.
Obviously, but as many are saying here it is not implemented well, is it? It doesn’t start to buffer the movie while it plays, iit has issues with certain filetypes, or if you’re using a normal 1080 pre-roll but the movie is 4k, it can mess with playback in many ways that are documented and so forth.
Many others have spoken about this better than me but yeh, there’s probably a smoother way of implementing it with less issues. I know many who simply don’t use the feature because it causes issues.
that’s not what this feature suggestion is about.
as for buffering the main movie during a pre-roll… there’s a separate suggestion for that – let’s keep this thread on topic.
The title of this thread is literally suggesting to buffer the main movie while the pre-roll is on, which is what I said in my message. Are you trying to troll me on purpose?
“Buffer main movie during Pre-roll (mod: and/or trailer)” - title.
“It doesn’t start to buffer the movie while it plays” - my comment.
I’m agreeing with what the creator of the thread has said. I’m also stating I’ve had other issues on top of the original one (but they’re secondary and not why I posted). I’m just throwing my hat in there that as things stand, they’re not implemented well and could be better if looked at, no doubt. I know many who have simply turned them off because of the main issue listed here, and others. I’m sure you’d agree that’s a shame?
Edit: For full clarity, while there are other issues I’ve noticed, my main issue is the one listed here, and I’d be happy if that was the one that was actually looked at and implemented. So yeah, I’m not taking anything off topic.
You’re right… my bad – I was confusing this with another thread about forcing a preroll on other users. So you actually just saved me from drifting totally off topic myself 
2 Likes
All good, my bad if it came off as aggro I was just confused really as I don’t post often.
Let’s hope we can maybe see this implemented sometime. Got some great pre-rolls I’d like to use.
Great concept. Add to this that Plex should display a pure black screen between the pre-roll and before the main feature. Seamless cinema experience.
1 Like
+1
This would be a great enhancement for us Unraid users where disks sleep if not in use. So preroll plays while disk, with requested content, is still sleeping. After preroll ends the content is requested and then the disk spins up. This leads to a gap of up to 15 seconds.
Actually there are three possible ways to fix that, IMHO:
-
Like requested here, start requesting and possibly buffering of content as soon as preroll starts. This would reduce the gap by some seconds.
-
Wait with playing preroll until content starts buffering. This would move the gap in front of preroll. This is easier to explain to users.
-
Give users a hook, or something like that, that fires when preroll starts. With that hook we could spinup the requested disk ourself.
Thanks for bringing this FR up.
Been dying for this.
Plex can transition smoothly from Movie.pt1.mkv to Movie.pt2.mkv so I don’t see why this can’t happen. I know enough about coding to know it’s never as simple as it seems from the outside, but it’s gotta be doable.
On which platform?
On Web, Apple TV, Roku, and iOS, that’s not the behavior I see. The first file is played to completion. The second file isn’t requested until the first file is completed.
I don’t know about Roku but Web and the fruity platforms (iOS/tvOS) will play stacked files in 1 go without interruptions. That being said… I have since merged most of my stacked files, so I cannot comment for any recent regressions.
It doesn’t return to the pre-play or post-play screens, but it does pause momentarily when the first file finishes and the second file is downloaded/buffered for playback.
It’s same behavior as when a pre-roll/trailer ends and the main show begins.
I see no interruptions on the web player, Windows App, or LG Webos Player. I have a roku that I’ll have to test. Possible that it matters if it’s being direct played or not, too.
