I have a single file that is multiple episodes. It just so happens those episodes are the last episode of Season 3 and the first episode of Season 4.
S03E26_S04E01 - Episode Title <— Does not work, neither episode shows up.
How are you suppose to name this file?
I do not think Plex has a mechanism for that kind of split. There are tools that allow you to split videos into two or more parts.
If you cannot split the show I think I would name it as the first episode of season 4 and place it in the folder for season 4. That way Plex would play the episode in the correct order and it would have the metadata for the second part which is generally more instructive. You could also edit the the metadata to reflect both parts.
Clearly you could also name it as the last episode of season 3 if that makes more sense to you.
Plex really does not care if an episode is missing. If one is missing it is simply skipped in the logic for playback or placing it On Deck.
I use the same general idea for most multi-part episodes as Plex will try to play the episode twice if it is named to reflect it being a two part episode unless that has been fixed lately, I have not tested it in a while as just naming a multi-part episode as one episode works well for me.
If Plex has a naming system that allows a multi-part episode to skip seasons I am not familiar with it.
Split the file
Can’t split the file, it is edited as one single episode. That would be far worse than having an episode not listed in plex
If what I asked is not possible consider this post a feature request.
That sounds like a really odd way to have the episode in the first place.
What show is this so I can check if I have it?
Star Trek: The Next Generation Blu-ray Remaster
S03E26 and S04E01 are a single episode.
Yeah, mine is the same way. It’s twice as long as a normal episode. I am just going to find a good spot to split it and move part 2 to S04E01. It’s odd it spans seasons, but it isn’t unusual for a long episode like a season finale spread over several physical episodes just that it’s within the same season usually. I mean they were literally different seasons and release dates, I don’t get why it is combined like this.
45:30 looks like the end and the typical beginning of an episode, it just won’t have credits or new intro, but if you are really picky you could add them.
I’m hoping at some point there is a way to do this as well. I am trying to add the Star Wars: Clone Wars (2003) series to Plex, but I can only find it in 2 files. The first one, “volume 1” spans the first 20 episodes of the show, Season 1 Episodes 1-10 and Season 2 Episodes 1-10, then “volume 2” is the 6 episode season 3.
Has anyone found a solution for this?
That’s the way it is in my collection as well. It is however listed correctly as the close of Season 3 and the open of Season 4 at TVDB:
http://thetvdb.com/?tab=season&seriesid=71470&seasonid=2301&lid=7
Even if you did split the episodes to represent how they actually aired in July/Sept 1990 you’d have to destroy the ending of 1 and the opening of 2 because to my knowledge there is no editing software available to do that kind of miracle work (frame accurate rebuilding of the opening and closings) with an H264 stream. MPEG2? Absolutely - I do it almost daily. H264? Not in a million years. To add, the opening sequence is missing completely from 2 and the closing is missing from 1.
Ultimately, the best option at present is to just name it:
Star Trek The Next Generation - S03E26 - The Best of Both Worlds (1and2)
or
Star Trek The Next Generation - S04E01 - The Best of Both Worlds (1and2)
(After careful consideration this is where it went and how it’s named in my collection)
Personally I wouldn’t butcher the episode with that hacked split job MKVToolNix is going to do (because I tried it and) - the result would be (was) horrendous and it’s way better to just decide which season you want it in and put it there.
Thanks for the Q & A, I just came across the same issue.
I’m going to go with JuiceWSA’s solution - clearly it’s the way the creators intended it to be viewed. It’s such a rare thing, so I can live with Plex “missing” the first episode of season 4, and have just unticked the monitor flag in Sonarr for that episode 
The same exact episode(s) brought me here as well. I know it’s an old thread but if I’m still finding it then others probably are too and I just wanted to add something.
Jusedawg’s idea of where to split the episode isn’t the way it originally aired. While he’s right that the way it’s edited now on the bluray 45:30 seems like the spot a commercial break would go. But that fade to black is actually where the the intro theme was originally, right before that is the opening sequence of S04E01 which is from 44:29-45:30.
I remember very clearly watching that episode when it first aired and the actual end of S03E26 was at 44:28/29 right after Riker says “Mr. Worf, fire!”, but before it cuts to the ship exterior to show them firing. That is a cliffhanger I will never forget.
The problem is it originally hung on Riker’s face for several more seconds with dramatic music playing before cutting to the credits, and now it’s edited so there is no pause and it just continues on to what was actually the opening sequence of S04E01.
So in light of this it’s my opinion that the episode can’t be cut without ruining the drama even worse than the new edit already has, because the ending and beginning of both episodes would be so abrupt. It’s a shame really because I’d have liked my kids to experience it the same way I did, but unfortunately I see no alternative.
Another half-ass solution to this that I haven’t seen mentioned that I do is to create a fake empty file and give it the name of (S03E26) and then naming the real two-episode file (S04E01).
It isn’t a perfect solution but when playing the series in plex it just displays an error to skip episode which takes you straight from S03E25 to S04E01 but it looks as if that episode exists in the plex view if that is what is most important.
Hilarious. 3 years later I notice this very episode as I am doing a mass re-name to make sure everything is on point and I search and find my own post complaining about the same issue. Almost 3 years later and Plex still has not added this feature enhancement. I couldn’t imagine it being too difficult to implement. These episodes are cut to be seamless splitting the file isn’t an option.
plex supports multi-episode files
for star wars clone wars, you need to use DVD order (edit show > advanced > dvd order)
Star Wars - Clone Wars (2003)/Season 01/Star Wars - Clone Wars - s01e01-e20.aviStar Wars - Clone Wars (2003)/Season 02/Star Wars - Clone Wars - s02e01-e05.aviwith a recent update, plex will now avoid duplicate playing the multiple episode files.
It’s not a matter of supporting multi-episode files in this case; that works fine. The issue is that the two episodes in the file span multiple seasons. Plex does not support this.
nothing does.
if this is star wars clone wars like the previous post, then you must use DVD order and naming, as indicated.
This is a predicament.
I’ve decided, since it’s only a couple extra GB, I’m going to name the file “Star Trek The Next Generation - S03E26 - The Best of Both Worlds (1).m4v,” and copy the same file to season 04 and call it “Star Trek The Next Generation - S04E01 - The Best of Both Worlds (2).m4v.” This is just for aesthetics, really, but I don’t like season 04 missing content.
The DVD order option works as TechnoJunky said, but it did other things I didn’t like on the exact air numbering, but it’s a good option to know about.
I just ran into this cross-season, multi-episode conundrum!
Any attempt at surgery on this conjoined twin of an episode will only lead to needless suffering.
A missing first episode is infinitely more troubling than a missing last episode.
Season 3’s going to have to take one for the team.
Sorry, Season 3… you’re down to 25 episodes. I hope one day you can forgive me. 
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