Server Version# 1.31.1.6733 :
Player Version#:1.65.1.3596-7b1f6d97
Background:-I have thousands of music video (Legally purchased)" and thousands of music albums. Music is in a folder called “music”, named and formatted as Plex expects. Videos in a separate folder under alphabetically arranged sub folders. I need to keep the videos and music in separate folders for my other software to work.
If I put the music videos in the same folder as the music files, and name them as requested (i.e.“file name-video” they show up and can be as seen and played as Extras when browsing the music album with Plex
But I am struggling to get it to work using the Global music videos path setting. Whether I use the fully qualified Synology path (EG /volume2/Video/VirtualDJ/Videos”) or the simplified version (“/Video/VirtualDJ/Videos”) as the global music video path it doesn’t seem to pick them up – even after rescanning etc.
Any suggestions would be gratefully received, because as I say I do need to keep music videos and music in sperate folders.
Thanks for your input.
I think that I was aware that the I will have to put the music videos I want to tie up with the audio tracks in the root folder. I just can’t put them into the audio folders.
I am just struggling to know what the correct global video folder syntax is on the Synology to get it to work.
I have tried all the combinations I can think of, but I am obviously using the wrong syntax.
I’m a Plex newbie
I figured out the libraries of films and serials. Cool product and I already want to get away from apple libraries)
But I have problems with the local library of music videos …
To view global music videos without linking to audio tracks, do I need to create a music or movies library?
When creating a music library, videos are not displayed, and when creating other libraries, it is not clear how to manage a large number of video clips.
When I add multiple videos to an artist folder, only one is displayed on the artist page
The Global Music Videos feature does require a music library. It also requires you have at least 1 music track for the artist that you have a video for. Think of these music videos like extras. Without the Artist entry, you can’t have extras to go with them.
I am still trying to figure the best way to handle Music Videos. Having them ‘In-line’ is fairly straightforward, but like many others, I would prefer to keep them in their own separate folder, rather than simply mixed in with the audio files.
For that, we have the ‘Global Music Videos’ folder. This folder needs to be structured like a Music library folder, with matching Artist etc structure (for any videos that exist). So essentially, Plex ‘merges’ the Music and Global Music Videos folder structures and treats that ‘merged’ structure as if the music videos were stored ‘in-line’.
How is that different from simply adding that folder as another folder for the Music library, instead of defining it as ‘Global Music Videos’?
A library can have multiple folders and Plex merges them to present the contents of all specified folders as the unified Library. Apart from not being ‘Global’, how is this method different from the aforementioned ‘Global Music Videos’ folder method?
Global Music Videos are only tied to the artist, they are not in-line and do not line up with the music track. The Global folder also applies to all music libraries.
Edit: Although what you bring up is an interesting idea. I never thought about trying to add the Global folder as just another folder to the music library. Conceptionally, it would be the same thing as having the videos in the artist folder. I can bring this up with the team.
Ok, sounds promising. The question would be whether in order to ‘see’ the video files, the accompanying audio file is required at the folder/directory level or the library level.
The result of ‘amalgamating’ 2 folders to make the library would in this case be the same (in the library) as if the video files were actually stored ‘in-line’, but when Plex is looking for an associated music file, does it do this within the amalgamated library? If it does, then my suggestions might be a very useful solution. Fingers crossed.
However, I am still unclear about the comparison between ‘in-line’ and using the Global Music Videos folder. The official docs on the latter clearly state that videos CAN be associated with tracks if named the same. The wording is slightly different from that for the ‘in-line’ alternative, but I have come across claims that the GMV folder can NOT link video to track, which is in direct opposition to what Plex’s own documentation clearly states.
Final clarification on this would be most helpful.
Sorry, I was wrong. I hadn’t checked this in a while.
Yes music videos from the Global folder can be tied to a track, but it has to be named exactly the same as the track file as indicated in the support article, not the song title. Tracks are typically named with the track number, while I doubt many have a track number with their global music videos.
Thanks for that, very helpful and informative, but can you be more specific. When using a Global Music Videos folder and wanting to associate a video with a specific track:-
Presumably the .extensions of both video and track files will be different and therefore can be ignored as far as matching names are concerned?
Does the video need to be (or can it be) in an album folder, assuming the track file itself is in an album subfolder of the artist’s folder?
Does the video file name root (i.e. without extension) need to be EXACTLY the same as the track file root (so filename and not track title)? Or can it have additional description as for ‘in-line’ videos?
Sorry to keep asking, but I would really like to get the exact and unambiguous operating parameters, so that when I set this up, I can be sure of what is required to make it work. Also hopefully clarifying it for others.
Sadly, adding the Music Videos folder as a folder in the Music library is not a useful solution.
First of all, after adding the MV folder, scanning and then updating the artist’s metadata, NONE of the videos show up. I then copied a track into an album folder of the artist I was testing, scanned and updated the artist’s metadata and now the videos at the artist level did all show up. However, it now listed 2 albums of the same name, one being the single track I had copied into the MV folder, rather than a duplicate track within that album. So merging of folders appears to be at the album, not track level.
Anyway, neither of the ‘track’ videos showed up. They are correctly named (i.e. matching the track filename) in correctly named album folders, in the correctly named artist folder, in the MV folder, but they were not associated with the tracks (i.e. no video icon showing).
Maybe I could have messed about with that some more, but it’s not a worthwhile solution as it requires an audio file (anywhere within the artist’s folder it would appear) for any videos to be picked up.
From which we can deduce that this requirement for an audio file to exist is at the directory/folder level and not the library level.
My opinion is that the devs should modify that behaviour to be at the library level, so a folder of music videos can be added as a folder to a music library and for it to work as if videos were really ‘in-line’. That would solve a lot of the current problems with trying to integrate Music Videos.
Yeah, that doesn’t work. It’s not implemented that way. Currently, related items (not just for music) need to be in the same folder, we don’t combine them across different folders.
it requires an audio file (anywhere within the artist’s folder it would appear) for any videos to be picked up.
That is also a requirement. Artist are not created unless there is an audio track so no audio track, no artist, and therefore no music videos. There aren’t plans currently to support an artist without a music track.
When I use the global folder and name the files this way, I get a duplicate video.
/Music
/ROSÉ
/-R-
ROSÉ - Gone.flac
ROSÉ - On The Ground.flac
ROSÉ - On The Ground - On The Ground-video.webm
/Global folder
/ROSÉ
ROSÉ - Gone - Gone-video.webm
By using global folders, is there a way to have no duplicate videos while being attached to the trak? If not, you should find a way to make it work like that.
If I name the file this way, I get this, which is not what I want. I don’t think that should be the original intent of your design either. I think only the name of the song should be displayed, not the name of the artist, because it is already on the artist’s page.
All great info, thanks for posting and hopefully the devs will fix the duplicates bug.
At first glance, it does seem that Plex is making something so apparently simple, into something very complicated. However, I appreciate they are trying to link different files based on naming that is at the discretion of the user. So they have to try and create matching rules, which will work in most circumstances, but with certain naming variations might give the odd results being seen.
However, it appears that once the dupe bug is squashed, a Global Music Videos folder should provide all required functionality.
One question though. If the Music folder’s structure has tracks inside album folders (inside artist folder) and whose filenames do not include either artist or album (a Plex acceptable scheme), should the associated videos in a GMV folder also be in identically named album folders?
I have assumed the GMV folder should 100% mimic that of the Music folder, but is that actually the case?
