Server Version#: All up to 1.13.8.5395
Player Version#: Any
When a file contains a double episode the help and forums say that to get both episodes to show they should be named in the format S01E01-E02.
Doing this does indeed list the episodes separately.
Unforunately it plays both eipisodes as E01 then proceeds to play them both again as E02.
This has been the behavious for the many years I have been using plex and I occasionally look for a solution and then forget to ask the question specifically myself.
Is there a way to eat my cake and have it so that both episodes are shown in the list but do not play twice?
That is the Plex way and it is not going to change. There are two fixes that most folks use:
Just drop the second (or the first) reference to the episode. Instead of s01e01-e02 just use s01e01. (Or you can use just e02) Plex does not care if an episode is missing. It just skips it and if you need/want metadata from what you are leaving out you can edit the episode and insert that metadata. This is the method I use because I am too lazy for the second choice.
Use one of the many video editing tools to split the episodes apart and then name the parts correctly. A number of folks use this method but, as I said, I am too lazy to do so.
Those are pretty much your only choices (or just mark the second watched after you watch the first) because Plex can’t/won’t fix the bug. There programmers have better things to do besides actually making Plex work correctly.
The advice I originally read on how to name double episodes came from the Plex team themselves. I am sure of it.
If this is the Plex way and not going to change, are you able to point me to other discussions that the Plex team have been a part of confirming this please?
I have found them in the past to be open do discussion on improvements that can be made to the user experience.
If there is a reason this cannot be accomodated I’d like to see those reasons as it would help my understanding of the process. None come up in any searches, only advice on how to correctly name double episodes to make them play correctly.
It would be nice if they could make it so if it sees the same file twice it only adds it to the play list once, that way we can have our complete listing in the menu but also have it so the autoplay doesn’t repeat episodes.
Makes for an easy fix too e.g.
while (current_file_name == next_file_name) {
next_file_name = next_file_name + 1;
}
play(next_file_name);
