I would like to see Plex Media Server process (read, access) and present in Plex clients the embedded metadata (especially or in particular the ‘name’) if it is present instead of the file name. If the ‘name’ is not present in the MP4/M4V container metadata then it would of course be fine (indeed appropriate) to use the filename.
This would then be consistent with how Plex Media Server and Plex clients manage and present other video media stored on local media.
For some reason it is not clear to me. Are we talking about the Extras ( trailers, behind the scenes, etc…)
Yes, I refer to Extras media that can be further defined as either:
When stored on local storage, in a Plex library type “Movies” or “TV Shows” (i.e. not “Personal Video”) and filename ending as follows:
-behindthescenes.ext
-deleted.ext
-interview.ext
-scene.ext
-trailer.ext
This media is presented in most (not quite all) Plex client apps.
In a past era it seemed straightforward that a file name and the media title would be the same (e.g. A file storing the movie “The Wizard of Oz” might have the file name “The Wizard of Oz.avi”). Of course this was complicated when anyone added extra information to the file name, perhaps the year of production in brackets, information about the version/edit or even information about the technical attributes of the file. Embedded, editable and structured (key:field) file formats also able to store additional metadata, like MP4 and MKV, of course, are able to record/store much more than video, audio, production information and technical file details.
My media file name typically includes production company, movie/TV title, and information about the encoding (eg. 1080p, 720p, 540p, 480p. This information is very useful (indeed important) to the administrator of this technical system. But the end user isn’t interested in this technical information. Indeed with limited space for presenting information in the user interface the “interviewee name” or relevant detail might not end up on screen.
It would be much more flexible (and indeed also support technical media management activities) if Plex referenced embedded “title” or “description” information to present in the interface about particular Extras media. Ideally, very much like how Plex media server and Plex apps make use of embedded metadata in regular non-Extra media (i.e. TV Show, Movie, Personal Video media).
I would like to second this. The simplest use case is when the name/title of extra cannot be properly represented by the file name. A common case is the colon (:). Consider the extra 2001: The Making of a Myth, for which I have filename “2001_ The Making of a Myth”. I have set the movie name metadata, but Plex still shows the filename–unless I change it in the database. Then, after restarting the server, the proper name is used. And, the database change survives “Refresh Metadata”. So, this a matter of updating the metadata agent to use the embedded metadata for extras.
I use MP4 format for 99% of my libraries and I use the program Subler to embed (and edit) all metadata in my files and I have Plex set to use embedded metadata as the highest priority source for all my files. Whenever there is existing metadata for extras (which is very common with longer extras, such as making-of documentaries included with movies), I embed it. Also, I often end up putting alternate cuts of films as an extra (type “Other”) since Plex has no facility for properly dealing with alternate cuts, and those always have embedded metadata as well, but Plex cannot use it, and the user is left with just the filename and a random thumbnail to try and figure out it’s a whole other cut of the film, which is not ideal.
Implementing this would just be a matter of parsing the MP4 files and if there’s metadata there, then use it, and if not, fall back to filename and random thumbnail.
Somewhat related, Plex should also keep track of where a user is when watching an extra so if they pause it and switch out and then go back to the extra they can resume. On longer extras (60+ min) or where alternate cuts of a film are the extra, not being able to resume is very frustrating.
