Server Version#: 1.25.6.5577
Player Version#: N/A
So I’m sure this isn’t something that impacts a majority of the userbase, but for people like me it’s incredibly frustrating. I, like many others, have multiple versions of a number of movies in my library. While there are a number of things that could be better about how Plex handles this in an ideal world, what I wanted to bring up is what happens when I add a new version of a movie with multiple versions in my library.
In order to properly track, visually, which and how many versions of a movie are in my library, I split them apart. I give them unique titles, sort titles, descriptions, and posters. And if it’s a fan edit or a preservation, I put it in its respective collection with the appropriate tag.
Then, when I get a new version of that movie to add to my collection, Plex combines them all into one entry again, picking a seemingly arbitrary entry as the “master”. For Ghostbusters, for example, it usually chooses the “Paranormal Edit B” fan edit, and combines all my versions into this entry.
You can imagine how frustrating this can be when you have anywhere from 5-15 copies of various movies across a library. I literally have to maintain a spreadsheet to keep track of these, so that whenever I add a new version the process of splitting them apart again and re-adding the manual metadata takes me less time.
Additionally, whenever I am replacing a drive, I copy the data from the old drive over, then add those folders to my library before removing the folders on the drive I am retiring. This action causes any movies with multiple versions, where at least one version is on the drives in process, to combine into a single entry. It involves the extra step of filtering by duplicates and splitting them apart, fixing the metadata, etc. This is even frustrating when it comes to movies that I only have two versions of (i.e.: 1080p and 4K). It’s less work than my 15 copies of Star Wars: A New Hope, sure, but it’s still extra work. I’m sure I’m not the only person who keeps both 1080p and 4K versions of features to cut down on the amount of transcoding when accessing our library remotely, though I’m sure many of them don’t split them apart. I do, so that I can have 4K specific collections.
I also cannot use the automatic partial scanning, because if I remove a version for one reason or another, it removes every version of that movie from my library. I then have to hunt them all down across my drives and plex dance every version of the movie that I own. Instead, I have to do manual scans, because this behavior does not occur on manual scans (due to it scanning the entire library). I realize this is a different issue, but it is another frustration when it comes to how Plex handles multiple versions of the same movie.
In summary, there are some major pain points when it comes to how Plex handles movies with multiple versions. I am hoping to raise awareness of them in case they haven’t been considered. Hopefully collectors like myself can be taken into consideration when looking at future updates/features. Especially when it comes to how media scanner handles them.
