Please add the ability to unstack multi-part movies. With the advent of movie studios splitting movies into multiple parts, this feature is becoming more and more important. This should be just as easy as splitting multiple copies of the same movie into separate items. I can understand the need to stack some movies into a single listing (i.e., those that are 'filename - CD1.mkv' & 'filename - CD2.mkv'. But give us the option to override this for other items.
Examples:
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2
The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1
The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2
These should be listed as separate entities in the library with their own art and descriptions. If I wanted to watch part 2 of one of these movies, It becomes a bit of a pain and not very intuitive.
I know there are a couple of workarounds out there to override this behaviour, but for the average user, it is cumbersome. You should not have to rename the file name from 'Part 2' to 'Part II' (using Roman numerals) or put each movie is separate folders. Simply give us the 'Split Apart' option we currently have for multiple copies of the same movie.
My server feeds both Plex clients and WD Media players (older versions). As a result of this, I categorize my movies into separate folders (i.e., Action, Drama, Science Fiction, etc.). I also have personalized folders for my kids (i.e., Finn's Movies, Finns' TV Shows). This helps my kids and wife more easily find appropriate content through the WD interface.
Is this not being looked at? I did the “plex dance” as linked above but I am still having parts 1 and 2 of movies combined. Can we please get this addressed?
I’m having this issue as well with Hungergames Mockingjay. I cannot seem to find any way to either split the movies or access part 2 without having to first fast-forward through part 1 which is annoying. Individual parts should be accessible separately by some means.
This is a multi-part answer to the multi-part problem:
Name the files to be in compliance with Plex Guidelines and a lot of these problems go away:
The Hunger Games Mockingjay - Part 1 (2014).mkv
The Hunger Games Mockingjay - Part 2 (2015).mkv
These are two separate Movies - not one Movie in Two Parts (technically). Correctly named (above) they will show up as such. If put in the library horribly named, then renamed, use the correct names (above) and perform The Plex Dance as suggested by @astrofisher .
If Plex thinks these two Movies are the same - they are horribly named. Fix Names (see #1)
If you can’t be bothered renaming, Plex Dancing, following instructions, etc, and have two separate movies Plex thinks should be conjoined twins you can split them apart:
Note: My ‘Spaceballs’ are joined intentionally - not by some accidental joining or by the position of Orion in the night sky (one of them has a commentary track - the other one doesn’t - I pick the one I want at playback time).
Spaceballs (1987) [480p Commentary].xxx <— this one is in a folder (same name) with the Extras - placed first.
Spaceballs (1987) [1080p].xxx <— then this one is added outside the folder in the same library.
(the placement sequence IS important)
I have two versions of ‘The Big Sleep (1946)’ - Theatrical Version/Pre-Release Version:
The Big Sleep (1946) [Theatrical].xxx <— all in [Brackets] is ignored by Plex
The Big Sleep (1946) [Pre-Release].xxx <— so Plex thinks they are the same Movie - and ‘technically’ they are.
Plex dutifully conjoins them in a Freaky Frankenstein Lab Experiment, but I cleave them apart with the Split Feature - then make a notation in their descriptions which is which. I want these two movies of the same name separated.
If you can’t be bothered renaming, Plex Dancing, following instructions, etc, and have two separate movies Plex thinks should be conjoined twins you can split them apart:
So you have just one file with both movies already stuck together?
(Since there’s no ‘Blue 2’ in the left corner - that’s what I come away with)
If that’s the case - no, Plex can’t split movie files that have been stuck together.
If you have two separate movie files then something very strange is going on.
Not sure if the logs will contain anything useful. I added these several months ago but only noticed the problem when I tried to watch part 2 last night via my roku app.
‘Hunger Games, The - Mockingjay Part 1.mp4’ won’t work.
You’re using MP4 files - disaster awaits… unless…
The Plex Dance®
1,2) Solution:
The Hunger Games Mockingjay - Part 1 (2014)
The Hunger Games Mockingjay - Part 2 (2015)
Solution:
Move Local Media Assets to the bottom of all your Agent lists in all tabs for TV Shows and Movies:
Simply drag and drop LMA to the bottom of the active Agent lists, enabled, just demoted.
In it’s default location Plex gives tip-top priority to embedded metadata in Title Fields of MP4/M4V files and in almost every case that metadata is bogus. Moving LMA tells Plex to stop doing that crazy s*%t.
When the above is completed you won’t have to split two movies that are matched properly - they’ll just be two movies.
You may as well resign yourself to fixing your libraries to bring your file names into compliance. Eventually and without any warning non-compliance results in unexpected behavior. Such is the way with non-compliance.
FileBot - in my signature - can do this for you in seconds - in big hunks of files all at once making that whole thing a lot less painful.
I’ll probably rename them eventually and hope that fixes it, but them being named “wrong” isn’t the point of the issue.
If Plex is going to decide to merge two files into one entry, it needs to provide a way to undo that and split them into separate items. Apparently it does offer that in some cases as seen in your post, but for whatever reason it does not in this case and that is a problem that needs fixed.
So I did the dance and put them back with the names
Hunger Games, The - Mockingjay - Part 1 (2014) and
Hunger Games, The - Mockingjay - Part 2 (2015)
Plex still grouped them initially but the split option was now available so I fixed it that way. I prefer having common prefixes like “The” moved toward the end so things sort better when browsing my library via other apps like explorer / vlc.
Movies are horribly named? Well, that’s your opinion. The option to split should just be there. This behavior of the program is one thing. It does what it is programmed to do. But for the humans who write it to refuse to acknowledge that not everyone wants a messy folder full of media with years in the filenames, THAT is what is horrible. Not everyone wants to clutter up their libraries with crap like NFO files. Not everyone is a pirate and wishes to name their files as pirates do. The only times I put a year in my title is if there are more than one movie with the same name.
