I really want a way to be able to do this… It would be great if Plex would support this, even if it was a by show/episode level where we could manually specify the times.
I would also love to see this feature. You could also expand the concept a little and combine this with filtering for commercials. Tag/create different chapter types like intro, commercials, recap, and content. Then, add in a few player preferences like skip recaps when previous episode was played recently, skip intros when bingeing, or simply skip commercials.
i may have a system that will work
first what kind of info will be needed
the first is to setup a way of telling plex what to do for shows as there is not standard
for this we need two bits of info how is the intro done and the outro done
to achieve this we need to make some standard
how like this
type of intro skips
this would tell plex what type of skip is need for this show
type 1 - normal skip – show starts with intro right away
type 2 - advanced skip --show starts then plays intro then cont.
type 3 - part skip – show is part two or more and requers two skips the recap and the intro *
type 4 - manual skip – this one is setup in the file with times
(*type 3 can be overrided to not skip recap if one wishes)
type of outro skip
type 1 -normal – at the end of the shop the credits roll
type 2 - part skip – if the show has sample clips of the next part
type 3 - oops skip – if the show has boopers at the end *
type 4 - manual skip – this one is setup in the file with times
(*type 3 can be setup to skip the boopers or to play them)
next we need a file to hold this info
this can be a simple text file
ladys and gentlemen the .skipfile
example 2 broke girls S03E12.skipfile
inside it be setup like this
file start after this line
tv_show_name=2 broke girls # name of show
imdb_id=tt1845307 # imdb for backup
episode=S03E12 # the episode
skip_credit=thebinarygeek119 # set by user logged in to web app
approved=true # tells plex if is a supported file or unsupported if unsupported a popup is sent out to player needs approve_hash to stay true if no hash get reset to flase
approve_hash=@457956sd5v645d6sg6fvg45964569633_plex_admin # this is the plex approved signed hast only a trusted plex admin can do must sign the file with a hash for popup not to show
intro_skip_type=2
outro_skipe_type=1
start_intro_skip=00:02:54 # tell when intro is played
stop_intro_skip=00:03:12 # tell when intro ended
start_outro_skip=00:20:23 # tell when outro is played
show_end=00:21:31 # tell when show ended
file ends after this line
now for the server side as this file is useless if the server can use it
for the skipfile to work there needs to be a way to prosses this
this is up to the devs
but wat need to be put in place is
a skip setting
a gobal skip setting
a skipfile creative option this can be added to the web interface when playing a file you can mark this
a skipfile share
a skipfile open/closed option
a open database vote in player this could be a pop up that ask did the skip work as expected then did the outro skip work as expected at the end of the show this could be a timeout question
a skipfile open database this is the unsuported and community driven by voting for if the skipfile works as said once this has so many votes a admin can view it and sign it and move it to the closed database
a skipfile closed database this files are in a read only state and have been signed this are working and approved skipfiles
the open database is a beta optinal database up to the user to try and may not be up to plex standards but with enoght votes as good has the ablty to move over to closed database if too may down votes then is auto removed
the skip_credit is for who set up the file and the one thats get credit for the file
this could be shared with other apps too like emby and kodi
these are just my way of seeing how it would work
i think if its community driven that would take the pressure off the devs to do it but still have plex quality and plex control as you can submit your own work but needs approve for all users to use unless the try the beta files
the closed database is the default and have proven to work well
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Depending on the client there are easy ways to do what you want. On Rokus and most Android platforms simply pressing the right arrow one or more time accomplishes the skipping. Trying to make it automatic would introduce more problems than it would solve. There are too many inconsistencies to make it practical.
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I most certainly DO NOT EVER want skip boxes popping up over my videos! I like watching recaps, opening credits and end credits for all of my videos. I will absolutely NOT TOLERATE any pop ups asking me to skip these things like Netflix is doing.
To the person that suggested this ridiculous annoyance I have a suggestion for you. Use the Fast Forward button on your remote! You can already skip ahead by doing this. But just because you are too lazy to do this it doesn’t give you the right to ask Plex to plaster MY SCREEN with pop ups asking me to skip everything! If this feature is ever added I am DONE with Plex! Please under no circumstances listen to this suggestion. I don’t want this annoyance added to Plex!
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The inconsistencies are in the TV shows. Even within a given series the opening part of the show often varies in length.
Personally I think that implementing it so that it works would be a nightmare and very much not worth the effort. If it were tried as you suggest then each user (or administrator) would have to create the text file for each series and often, for many series, a text file for each episode.
The number of people that would actually benefit would be small and the effort would be large and you can already easily skip as needed with the arrow keys so I see no benefit overall for most of the user base.
But Plex surprises me often with superfluous features while ignoring features and bugs that actually need work, so you never know.
what would be kind of cool is, (optionally of course) have plex running the comskip on existing content in an attempt to create chapter markers (when there isn’t any already).
Or even cooler, if plex would use comskip to generate a timeline like used in the comskip debug window @ http://www.comskip.org/ that is shown on the player progress bar.
I do almost always. When I don’t, I just use the normal skip forward/back like everyone else.
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Yes I watch every recap segment for every episode I watch, including the opening credits and the end credits too, whether you doubt me or not. There are actually people out there that enjoy listening to the music and watching the credits roll.
And in my experience features like this never come with an on/off switch. Just look at Netflix, they don’t allow you to turn this terrible feature off even after multiple complaints, watching anything on that service is a nightmare. It’s always asking you to skip the intro and recaps and shrinking the end credits on us while shoving suggestions in our faces.
I don’t want Plex turning into a viewing cesspool like that. And ultimately this “Feature” (Annoyance) is not even necessary, you act as if you can’t fast forward with your remote to skip what you don’t want to see. Fast forward or use the right arrow key. I get you want to skip these things, but I don’t and I do not want pop ups asking me to skip all the time.
No. He told you and I told you that there is already a way to skip as desired. The Right arrow and/or the FF button gives that functionality just fine.
There is no need to clutter up the interface and the code with such an unneeded feature when the functionality is already there.
In most cases I am very much in favor of user choice but, in this case, I see it causing more issues that it solves. It just gives another place where the users by misunderstanding, misusing or otherwise screwing up the text file can cause problems.
There is no driving reason for this to ever get implemented.
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You seriously don’t understand do you? It doesn’t matter where the skip buttons appear. I don’t want to see it on my screen anywhere, not ever! I only want to see the episode or movie, no pop ups from the app. This is not a great feature at all it is a total annoyance for people that don’t want to skip portions of the video.
I do marathons too, and when I do I still watch the entire video. If you want to skip parts of videos you have that right, with the tools Plex currently gives you which allow you to do this. But you have to respect the right of people like me because I have a right to watch my videos without pop ups asking to skip things. It doesn’t matter where they pop up or for how long, they are unwanted.
Now if I requested a feature to disable the ability to skip anything and forced YOU to watch the entire video you would be completely against it. Try to see it from that point of view and you’ll understand how people like me feel.
You can do something similar right now by including your own chapters. You can then skip to the chapter of your choice in supported clients.
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see chapter section @ https://support.plex.tv/articles/205671108-media-playback/
I don’t know what other clients this applies to besides ios though.
Available in Plex Web and Plex Media Player.
Come on everyone. Let’s not get toxic here…
While I agree that there are people who wouldn’t want this, it’s been something I’ve been wanting too. As long as it’s implemented in a reasonable way. I don’t have a good answer on what that would be, but the way how I would like to see this happen is
- when video file is imported, a scan is run on the file. It’s not a huge issue to do repeating scene detection and Mark those as opening and closing scenes.
- if playback is coming from a previous episode, the ending and opening could be skipped (how to determine whether ending should be skipped is open)
- if playback is started with the current episode, the opening would be shown but could be easily skipped by hitting the +30s button.
And of course per library toggle for this detection and automation…
This would allow both modes of operation and everyone would be happy.
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Things like this belong in Feature Suggestions category and there is already one for this. I suggest voting on that and commenting any different ways to implement there in the existing topic. TV Series intro/outro time span definition and auto-skip
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If the movie/tv show does not already have chapters, you can create the entries with MKVToolNix.
If the chapters exist, you can edit as desired.
Sample chapter XML file attached.
XMediaRecode has similar capabilities and works with both MKV & MP4 containers.
chapters.xml.txt (3.5 KB)
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All the post have been moved to this exsting topic. If you have not voted on it yet up top please do so.
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Would it ever be possible for Plex to recognize the title card of a show, the end of the usual credit sequence, and just sort of guess at where they stop and start? Having a database of these wouldn’t be too hard to build, would it?
If the image looks like X, hey, it’s the beginning of a title sequence. Maybe fudge it a bit for different colors but there’s gotta be a way for the program to make an educated guess. Same with the end of the sequence.
+1 for this, I also made a feature request without seeing this one - glad there are like minded people out there 
