Plex ignores anything in the [square brackets] for metadata and sorting. Per guidance from folks on here I use the brackets for descriptive terms such as [B/W] vs [colorized], [Extended] vs [Theatrical] and [1080p] vs [4K] (Plex obviously recognizes the latter but I use this for my own file management purposes)
Given this, here’s an idea…what if Plex simply included the contents of the [square brackets] in the “Play version” list. Then you see resolution, bit rate (like others I’m not sure of the value in this one) and whatever description was included by the media owner.
I had been linked to this request when I struggled to organize my library and questioning a mechanism that I understood was supported by Plex by allowing multiple files under the same entry. In my case it would be allowing to choose language of the different versions via the metadata – in my case an Anime’s English and Japanese versions.
I wanted to +1 this but add some substance so you can see the find a full write up here.
I am aware of Plex ignoring anything within square brackets and thus use a custom code in FileBot to add the below additional information to all my media files: [Content rating-MPAA rating, (Video res-codec), (Audio language-audio channels), (subtitle language), Source, Encoder] …where
Content rating = 1 to 10 (from IMDB for Movies and theTVDB for TV Series)
MPAA rating = G, PG, R, etc.
Video res = 480p, 720, 1080p, 4k, etc. along with HDR info (if any)
codec = x264, x265, etc.
source = BluRay, WebRip, etc. along with Extended, Director’s Cut, etc. information
n this is one of the main reason I would love for Plex to simply display the complete filenames with the ‘Play version’ option instead of just showing the bitrate/resolution info.
Plex already has the capability to display the full filename and does this when one clicks on ‘Get Info’ so I am hoping that it would not be too difficult to implement this option
How would it hurt the original intent to additionally display the file name?
If someone needs the bitrate, he or she would still see it, right?
It just adds value without taking anything away.
And if you think, it would bother people to see the file name, because the file name might be quite long, you could add an option for this and disable showing the file name by default.
Exaclty. I have 3D versions of my movies. As well as uncut ones, unrated, and everything. I’d love to be able to add some trigger in the title of movies (like 3DSBS) to allow plex to show this on clients.
Does that mean you’re simply not going to do this incredibly easy change despite 115 and over two years of conversation about it? If you’re unilaterally denying it, close it. Don’t just post something ambiguous and move on. Come on.
We’re asking you to include a piece of information that is already available in the list. I’m sure you’re not a developer but I’ve looked at the tables myself and the query to add it is trivial.
Maybe you’re confused by these other people talking about adding other crap, please look at my initial request, this is just for adding the file name.
The dismissive and disinterested responses I get from Plex whenever I have a feature request or bug report are so disappointing for a product I used to be incredibly excited for. I don’t understand why you’re like this these days. Talking with Plex Staff used to be easy, now it’s like pulling teeth. Is this strategy really working for you? What are you paid to do even? Have some empathy for your users at the very least.
If you’re saying no, say no and close the request.
It’s a problem with TV Episodes occasionally, too.
Neon Genesis Evangelion has Director’s Cuts for Ep. 21-24. Plex doesn’t let me split them, since they have the same S##E##, and aren’t Specials, and the Play Version… doesn’t let me know which is which.
The OP posted a perfectly acceptable solution, just showing the filename:
It seems silly that this was requested over 2 years ago. Don’t let perfection be the enemy of progress.
I’m copying an image from very early in the thread. I would assume photoshop or editing elements in Chrome. It’s a fabrication, regardless of method. It’s just to display a mockup of what many of us think the Play Version should show.
I have been a plexpass subscriber for years and I’m coming back to this topic regularly. It’s the only big annoyance I have with Plex. I don’t WANT several items in my catalog with the same movie. Spend a few hours to give us SOME way to add information in that useless bitrate dropdown list.
Filename or data inside square brackets from filename, or after a - or whatever. Just something.
This is the only suggestion I really care about, enough to actually start looking elsewhere for media library software.
I’m still subscribing in the tiny hope that Plex actually cares, but I close to give up on put some effort into moving.
PLEX never tells anyone which suggestions they are ignoring now vs which ones they are ignoring later. You just have to wait to see whether your suggestion is ignored forever or just a very very long time.
There are many good ideas in the thread. However, the following is a simple, elegant, and quick way to solve an obvious pain point of many users:
While the following definitely makes sense, particularly the suggested work around, it:
Misses the point that sometimes the details displayed aren’t even clear enough to distinguish between different encodes. Even where it is possible to distinguish, showing the file name would provide welcome additional info about the encode
Doesn’t detract from the basic point that simply including the file name would greatly improve the the UX for this, admittedly non-standard, use case. Even though this isn’t the purpose of this feature, the current work around of having to split all movies where this is an issue is a lot of overhead and complexity which could easily be avoided with a very simple and elegant enhancement (including the file name as per @xanderstrike’s mock up). While this overhead might be worth it in some cases, for many others it isn’t.
At a minimum @xanderstrike’s suggestion should be implemented. Enhancing functionality beyond this (as per other suggestions in this thread and as per Multiple Cuts Of Movie) may or may not be worthwhile, but there isn’t a good reason not to implement this basic functionality.
Why not use the additional title of a version, e.g. “Pulp Fiction (1994) - 1080p.mkv” (see Multi-Version Movies)? There has to be one and it’s more customizable
There doesn’t actually have to be one. By default plex agents will also merge items that don’t strictly follow the " - ArbitraryText" naming format in the article you cite.
The full file name may include additional relevant encode or version information beyond the " - ArbitraryText" naming format.
Thus, the full file name as suggested by the OP is best, most flexible, and simplest solution
To clarify/expand on this, the following are some examples I can think of:
Different files with the same video encode but different audio. e.g. AC3 2.0 v.s. DD 5.1 v.s. DTS-HD-MA
Different files with the same video encode but different subtitle options. e.g. French v.s. German
Different files with the same video encode but from different sources. e.g. DVD, Web-Dl, Bluray, UHD. These could all be encoded to the same resolution and bitrate but would vary in quality due to oversampling.
Different files with different video encodes but the same bit rate and resolution. Despite the same average bitrate and resolution, these could vary drastically in quality
In all these examples the different files would appear identical in the current “Play Version” dialogue.
This is to say nothing of the scenarios where the encode bitrate or resolution might be different but it’s still not enough to easily identify the different files.
Filenames provide a wealth of information which would enable easy identification of the different encodings.
There implicitly has to be one because no os can have multiple files with the same name in one directory. So if you have multiple versions (with the same extension) you have to put an extra title at the end. This would be my favorite solution for this problem. I don’t want to have so much information / metadata at the version dialog.
This issue presents more problems now if trying to keep HDR10/HDR10+/Dolby Vision 5/7/8 versions of the same title - you can’t distinguish what is what and won’t know what to play based on local playback capabilities unless you just go one by one until you happen upon the version you are trying to play
Please Plex devs fix this soon-ish rather than lateri-sh
