This mix function feature is absolute useful，please PLEX admin consider it, thx！
I’m unsure why in 2024 we can’t have a library type that supports TV and Movies at the same time. It’s disappointing having to have duplicate libraries like “Documentaries” when it should be able to merge into one. Same for something like “Marvel”… having Marvel TV and Marvel Movies is wasted space. I am guessing (as a software dev myself) this is due to an early design decision (read: mistake) in how Plex was structured from the beginning, but Plex has come so far since the early days, this really needs to be reconsidered.
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Why would you throw in an insult when you are asking for something?
It is strange we can’t merge these, but it makes sense for a few reasons. I think a lot of it has to do with how agents and scanners are setup. They’re not designed with this mix in mind, so it could cause compatibility issues and doesn’t fit with Plex streaming either (last one is a guess).
Shows
For instance, show scanners are checking for episodes, seasons, and specials.
Specials are almost first-class citizens because Plex tracks your playtime similar to episodes.
But they all have to cram into a single “specials” season even though specials can be associated with both the show and individual seasons and sometimes go between episodes.
Often times, thumbnails for specials will contain spoilers for future seasons, so it makes more sense to have a separate “specials” folder per season, but that’s not how Plex works.
Movies
Movies are separate in that they have one video file, but there are various cuts, editions, and special features. You can organize multiple movies of a series or multiple editions/cuts with Collections similar to how a Show has Seasons. Plex will even autoplay one movie into the next which helps with shorts (such as ancient theatrical cartoons → Looney Tunes, Mickey Mouse, etc).
Plex also has a native way of changing which video file you’re using: 4K or 1080p or 480i. The issue is that sometimes the aspect ratio changes between versions, the audio is synced differently as well as having different subtitles. So these variations of the same show should sometimes be listed as separate editions rather than a lower bitrate version of the same show.
Special features are second-class citizens. Their playback isn’t tracked by Plex (watch time is), and they don’t have a great UI. The more specials you have, the harder it is to find something.
Special features fit into separate categories, but there’s no way to sort them or search for them globally either.
Mixing them isn’t what we want
When you ask Plex devs to mix movies and shows, that’s not really what you want. I think that’s the bigger problem. What we’re asking for is something completely different.
Collections were a localized solution to the global Playlists. They function similarly, but they are a first-class citizen in that they can show up as a Show or as a Movie. Maybe that’s where we want to start.
The proposal should be for a new type of video format that is both a show and a movie rather than a mix of the two. That would solve many of these issues!
Welp, it looks like the Plex devs are already on it!
From that post:
Audiobooks? Ebooks? Other library types? This initiative will open the door to us adding support for these types of libraries and making sure that we have the appropriate metadata fields and library features
They’re thinking the same thing I am. Why is Plex limited to the types of data of “show” or “movie”? Why not something else? Audiobooks etc? Now we can start adding these ourselves!
We can finally solve the “TV shows and movies need to go together as part of the same canon” problem in a very abstracted way that allows the utmost in terms of customization!
I’d argue mixing is exactly what we want. Knowing that a particular library is marked as ‘mixed’ plex can assess from there whether its a TV show or movie and follow the normal process. Its not complicated. Emby has already implemented exactly this, and it works great.
There is zero reasons that if I want to have a dedicated library for my comedy shows or documentaries that I should need two separate libraries from each, one show based and one film based. It makes no sense and is an easy fix.
I searched around a bit and didn't find anything that really fit this. I suppose if collections were changed enough, that could work, but anyway...
I would love to have the ability to create a library that's content can be both TV Shows and Movies. I mostly see this as being advantageous for things like Documentaries and Anime. I would think that following a strict method for folders and files could make this work, like where only the TV shows have subfolders(for seasons), but the movies go straight into the folders.
Right now, for example, I have the libraries "TV Shows", "Movies", "Documentary Movies", and "Documentary TV". I want to be able to combine those two documentary libraries into one library section, so that Planet Earth can Sound City can inhabit the same space, and so I can have fewer libraries total.
A more complex use of this would be being able to have my music and concert DVD libraries co-exist as one library, but just based on how the music sections work, I'm sure this is even harder than the above request.
I know this has been requested in this forum before. I think I actually "liked" it prior to withdrawing all of my votes until we get security and tools resolved. Rather than having a whole new topic and votes split, I suggest doing a bit of looking for the previous requests and putting your "Like" vote in on the top post of the thread. This is how voting works here... It might be buried so you could have to go back a ways.
If you find it, can you post a link here? Cause I can't find it. My vote goes here untill then.
That collection idea would sorta work for what i need, but it's definitely not as desirable as actual hybrid libraries. Thanks for the link though!
Thanks I will check it out!
Would also love this and agree it is separate to the collections idea. I have Anime, documentary and study all split into TV shows, and Movies. I would love to cut down my 11 Library's and merge those specific ones into a collection all on their own! You've got my vote.
I’ve been wanting this feature for a long time.
The simplest way i see it working is:
- Create libraries as normal (TV Shows/Movies/Music etc)
- Choose one of the libraries and click the […] button, then choose “Combine”
- Choose the libraries to combine it with and name it. This would then create a new “Combined Library”.
The combined library could show each individual library underneath:
–Combined Library
----Movie Library
----TV Show Library
You could then choose whether to show the individual libraries separately as well, or not.
When viewing the combined library, each thumbnail could have a small symbol overlaid on it to show what type of content it is (TV Show, Movie etc).
When opening media within the combined library, it would act exactly the same as it would from the normal library underneath (TV Shows would show the seasons within the show, Movies would show the movie info.
This would help with Documentary TV Shows and Movies, Music Video Concerts and Series.
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Why not just put your documentary in TV or Movies (depending on what it is), add a tag for documentary, then search for that via genres?
Would love to have that option.
With Jellyfin, you can create a library folder and select your documentary movies library and documentary shows library and it will combined the 2. After, you just need to hide docu movies and docu shows and keep the new Mix library folder.
Can’t believe they didn’t do that option yet, especially that we pay for plex pass.
