Let’s face it, having your users scrolling through a large library of alphabetized titles just isn’t fun. I was noticing that my users were mostly using the default “Recently Added” section on the home page to find content to watch. I asked them if they use the library view very often, and they said, “No, it takes too much time to scroll through and decide on something.” They also said they sometimes just think of a movie they would like to see and then search for it. It was becoming obvious that my Plex layout was not helping to inspire them to watch movies or TV on a whim.
So, I began attempting to create a layout for my Plex that inspires users by placing an ever rotating list of movie and TV posters up front on the users’ home pages. I have found Randomly sorted Collections to be helpful.
In trying to better accomplish my goal of inspiring by asking you for suggestions on what types of Collections you are finding helpful in your Plex environments.
My users have been enjoying the use of Collections on their Plex home pages. I have several Collections that have their movies and tv show listings sorted “Randomly.” I then rotate the Collection in and out on the Plex home page to keep things fresh. Currently, I’m running Christmas Movies, Classic Movies, Curator Picks Movies, Period Dramas TV, Curator Picks TV, Crime/Mystery TV. Some of these will be replaced with Actor or Director Collections. Perhaps monthly, such as “James Bond Month” or “Alfred Hitchcock Month.”
As of now, I have the following Collections:
Famous Actors (one collection per actor)
Famous Directors (same as above)
Classics (all movies before 1964)
Christmas (I prefer to select than to use Plex’s default)
Curator Picks (all movies 4 and 5 starred)
Genres (Western, War, Animation, Family, Period Dramas, Religious)
Movie Series (Star Wars, James Bond, Marvel, etc.)
So, I’m wondering if anyone else has some creative Collections they have found useful? Collections of Collections? Kid Sleepover Suggestions? User Recommended? Etc.?
Also, what else are you finding helpful in organizing your libraries for your users and for administration?
Depends on your library of movies, I suppose, but you can maybe do things like “Rough Gems”, to point to movies that are unknown, but surprisingly good.
Personally, I love watching animated movies (as long as the content is designed for above 5-10 year-olds), and have watched a lot of foreign animated films, dubbed only, since I have no patience for subtitles. But there are some films that are so much more amazing than big name American films. I’d love to be able to point to some of my favorite surely-unknown films and ask people to watch them, rather than load up sigh Toy Story for the umpteenth time. Postman Pat, Around the World in 80 Days, Tad Jones, Asterix and Obelix, Daisy Quokka, A Monster in Paris, and more (to name a few).
These are the smart collections I have for bubbling up content or providing a smaller selection offering on hubs.
Recently Released Unwatched - recently released movies that haven’t been watched yet - I removed the built in recently released row from my hubs in favor of this one.
Random 80/90 Action Nostalgia - Shows a random limited selection of 80s/90s action movies
Random Not Watched Recently - Shows a random limited selection of movies that haven’t been watched in the last 2 years
Random Movies - just a list of 20 random movies - I use this for User Home instead of the “not watched” because of “watched flag” bug.
Spider-Man Universe - Title match “Spider-Man” to pull all the different Spider-Man movies across different franchises into one spot in release order.
The “watched flag bug” means that the watched reference only works on admin account. So when a user sees the “unwatched new releases” collection they see MY unwatched movies not theirs. I haven’t tested that in a month or two but hadn’t seen any collection fixes in the release notes. I don’t actually have many users so I don’t test it very often. Maybe someone who does can confirm?
I usually set my Smart Collections to hidden so they only show in the Collections tab or as a hub row I’ve set. Luckily the Smart Collections mixed with dumb collections work okay with that option (previously mixing and matching collection “hidden” settings could have unintended impacts).
@Divideby0 … you might do a “unwatched animation” collection to highlight those for people - if the watched flag is working for users, not just admins. You could tag particular movies as “highlight” and build the smart collection around those tags and genre so as you add animation films you can just tag them to show up in that collection. If you have dumb collections of some of these already you could make a smart collection that pulls from the dumb collections. Just some thoughts…
The Smart Collection are a really great way to help narrow down larger libraries when browsing for “what do I want to watch tonight”. I also have fun finding posters and backgrounds… my new release one uses a Blockbuster Video new release wall for nostalgia (I worked BBV and other video stores for many years).
Edit: Oh, if you set collection as hub row and edit it or change it up, you’ll likely need to remove it and re-add it to the hubs. And older collections sometimes need to be rebuilt to be updated (edit description you might get a “can’t save”) so keep any artwork around you’ve used for those.
I like the idea of “Rough Gems.” I was sort of doing this with “Curator Picks” but “Rough Gems” has a certain mystery to it and it can include movies that aren’t necessarily my favorites, but something worth your time to watch.
Yes, I am aware of the bug with editted collections not updating, so you have to recreate them. However, I was NOT aware of the “watched” bug. Thanks!
Question:
For your “Random 80/90 Action Nostalgia,” how do you randomize it, or is it? See, I found if I pick and chose individual movies and add them to a collection, I can’t have them randomize. Instead, I have had to create a second collection, that is randomized, that pulls from the first collection (filter). However, I’m left with two collections of the same movies.
So instead of sorting by Title you can sort by Randomly and that’ll pull in random selection of titles based on the other criteria you set. If you limit it to 20 it’ll pull 20 random titles.
I use the Release Date sort to build my Recently Released Unwatched collection.
It’s possible the watch flag bug is fixed… most of the other Smart Collection bugs are fixed but I have limited ability to test that one (my users aren’t really up for being testers).
For Smart Collections, you are correct about the Randomly. However, for non-Smart Collections, I have not found a way to have them randomize.
You have me thinking about how better to use the Release Date. I have a lot of classic movies and I’m noticing that my newer movies are getting lost in the mix. Perhaps a “Top Classics” and a “Top Contemporary” collection. Still thinking…
True… can’t randomize “dumb” collections but since they are static collections anyways you can manually re-order them. You can just drag the titles around into a fake random selection maybe.
Edit: I do this with fan edits of star wars movies because they are unmatched and I want them mixed in with the original titles; instead of fiddling with the release dates I just manually move them around.
Academy Awards - Best Picture
Singing, Dancing and Comedy (Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, Fred Astaire)
Musicals
Tear-jerkers
Summer Blockbusters
Top Grossing Movies
