This would definitely be better than nothing (or the split option they have now).
While I like the idea of having all the main features up front and browsable so it is obvious that choices are available, I could get behind putting them into the extra section. Especially if it came before all the other stuff, or even create a row above the normal extras. It would solve the naming problem since extras are always displayed by their file name.
The only real downside is that progress isn’t saved. So if anyone stopped an alternate cut half way through they would have to start from the beginning when returning to it.
Then do what I used to do and split them into different movies, sort them manually, and give them distinct names and posters. That started to take up too much real estate for films I never watched anyway so I dumped them into the specials.
My first try was to split the two movie versions into two “different” movies, tag and name them properly. Fine at first. BUT… If you add another version, maybe a quality update, Plex merge ALL versions in one movie again and ignores/deletes your manually splitted movies.
Actually, it does keep track of your progress for extras. I assume whether or not this happens is based on the length of material. Can’t see a reason to save progress on a trailer, but a related documentary makes sense. However, these do not appear in Continue Watching.
This truly would be a great improvement and a most welcome feature improvement.
The current way of using it’s rather limited/clunky and not user friendly at all, especially for “non-tech people”. Having a slick, easy to see and access feature, that would achieve switching between versions, different qualities(distinguishing even between a REMUX and a Light encode of the same resolution), before and during play, would be amazing. I really hope this gets implemented.
Thanks
I miss the little blue number duplicate indicator in the corner that showed if there were multiple files it picked up for a movie or episode. Where did that go?
It’s been gone for some time (spring 2021?). You can still filter for duplicates; the details page now has an entry for Versions if there’s different qualities available.
Right… but it was way easier up front when browsing to know you had options for viewing different versions. Now, there’s no way to automatically tell there’s more to it without applying the filters. I feel like the filtered approach is more of an admin function than a consumer one.
@elan I know this somehow feels like I’m bugging you. This is certainly not meant in a way to annoy you. But since it’s a new year I thought I give it another try. Is there like a small solution that you think could possibly be implemented into Plex? I’m really hoping for a solution here thats not splitting up a movie. I really do not need separate tracking and I feel like other Users feel the same way.
Thank you, @elan . Happy to read that.
Since I’ve read a few “please develop a simple approach, that’s fine”.
Well, let me voice my opinion here… I know, that this one is a difficult one if you want to do it properly. But I really hope that you find a proper approach that does fall short of a good solution.
I know that these dev discussions should stay internal. If you want me to summarize possible use cases and possible concepts, I’d be happy to send some white paper your way and let u guys do whatever u want with it - if you see the possibility that it can help your internal discussions.
Or as master Yoda would say: “Do. Or do not. There is no try.”
I would advise not overthinking it. If there’s a simple solution, do it, even if it mirrors what other systems have done. It doesn’t need to be a uniquely Plex solution with a page of instructions.
Maybe implemented something like local extras with a “title -directors.extention” to differentiate the versions. This could work for many types of “cuts” Directors, Theatrical, Extended, Unrated, Sing-a-long… and most if not all movie languages.
