Ok, what are the facts?
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So here’s just some quick examples I threw together of various libraries that I know myself and others have:
Documentaries
Anime
Movies
TV Shows
Music Videos
Concerts (yes, could be music videos, but these are full length)
Home Movies
Porn (Full Movies)
Porn (Shorts)
Music (once it comes back)
Photos (once they are back)
Yes, some of those could be combined, but then they’re harder to get to (more clicks).
And here’s the thing - Plex has always allowed unlimited libraries. If they want to start limiting the number of libraries then they should offer us better ways to present filtered data. Yes it can be done with Smart Collections but I’ve said before, the presentation of those isn’t that great.
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In addition… if you ever lose your plex server then all those manually created collections are gone. With libraries you can just easily create them again, restore your watch status and your done.
Also… having libraries and your media split like this has you future proofed if the day ever comes that you need to move off plex to something else.
BTW… I too hate those, your using plex wrong, you should have done this instead. If its wrong then the plex software should not have allowed it in the first place!!!
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I am sure I will get a chorus of “you idiot, you can do it this way” comments, but I started doing things as a new user with no experience and no guidance, and I don’t want to take even more time to re-arrange everything now. I have ripped more than a thousand of my own DVDs.
Now, I have been using Plex for many years.
From the beginning, since even before Collections were added, I have wanted my movies organized into groupings my own way such that they are first-class, top-level items on the home screens of all the apps I use: Web, PC, Android Phone, Google TV, etc. I do not want to navigate through multiple menus, settings, and or filters to get the lists I want.
I also don’t want to hand edit the metadata (genres?) for each and every movie to do it. That’s way too tedious and error-prone. Besides, does Plex really use that metadata? I have read that it does not, that it consults online databases instead.
And I was not happy with the way that Plex organized things.
Thus, I created a separate Movie Library, each pointing to its own disk directory, for each such “grouping”.
Using multiple disk directories makes managing disk space and backups easier for me and makes directory listings faster (try opening a directory containing 1000+ MKV files on Windows.) And, yes, I know a library can include multiple disk directories. That’s beside the point.
And this has been working for me very well. Until they ripped most of what was Playlists out.
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This is the initial reason I got into Kometa: to have backups (scripts) that can recreate my 350+ collections.
Too many horror stories about Plex database corruption.
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Have you seen the new Roku preview with the vertical pulldown menus? Does it fit your needs?
The difficult thing about databases is that they are very flexible. However, there are best practices in using them. Then there is the problem of building UIs that allow the full capabilities of a database.
Plex has been growing its UI capabilities for us to utilize the database structure they created, and so we initially couldn’t use the full potential of the database. This is still the case even today (I’m building workarounds for collectors that I shouldn’t need to do.) So, many Plex admins have used the initially provided tools the best they could to achieve their needs.
The problem for Plex, inc. is how to move forward? Do they support the past or usher users to a future product? Doing both isn’t usually feasible, and even companies like Microsoft and Google force users to adapt. Windows works a lot differently than 3.11 and Android has changed greatly too.
It isn’t that admins are doing things wrong, but that they did the best they could with the tools they had at the time and now there are better ways. We all need to keep learning and adapting. It’s life.
For example: Plex has now made backgrounds a big deal in giving flavor to a title. Before you could really just about ignore backgrounds and instead we focused on posters for the flavor/splash. It wasn’t wrong, but now it’s different and not wrong either, but requires adapting. It’s the hobby. I’m working on creating better backgrounds currently along with clear logos. Now when I jump between my Roku and Plex Web, it’s shocking, and then I wish all my users could enjoy the better look of my backgrounds and logos, instead of seeing Plex Web like UIs. But, they all aren’t using Rokus.
This is PRECISELY the expansive use case that PINNED 
COLLECTIONS could have solved. Whether it be Playlists/Smart Playlists or Collections, they each have different use cases. Hell, having a Smart Playlist pinned to my Left side menu would be hella awesome.
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Having a GUI backup and restore tab in Plex is long overdue. Do they not realize that the Plex directory is often huge and can take forever to transfer over an external drive.
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This should have been incorporated into Plex as part of it’s CORE ecosystem. Third-party apps or add-ons should not have to do the extra loading of what the main product should have as part of its inner core and what was once standard with software packages, especially ones that rely heavily on databases that can suffer problems. If Plex’s marketing team spent so much time selling Plex as an EASY out of the box product/service, then there is NO NEED for anyone to have to use something like Kometa.
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Catering to those who choose to use the product differently has no effect on anyone else in the perfect world. Plex is forcing grouping where it doesn’t need to exist.
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No, they are forcing it due to the standards set out by Hollywood and the mega conglomerate media companies that want Plex to do it their way. It takes away the community driven atmosphere.
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Don’t disagree but Plex, inc only has some many resources. I’m just glad people are creating such awesome third-party tools that can do what we need, and then some.
It now appears Plex is embracing the third-party tools be given us the API. This is going to be a HUGE deal and edge for Plex in the coming years. So, get ready for more an more third-party tools.
It still doesn’t solve the issue of extensive metadata management just to manage one top-level organization scheme.
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Database engines are flexible. Schemas should not be.
I don’t think taking advantage of a many to one relationship explicitly defined in the database schema and UI is errant flexibility. That was a core design principle.
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Those open APIs are already present in Jellyfin, and another reason why I’m working on migrating. Its music API is based on Subsonic’s, so any Subsonic client can be used with Jellyfin.
I don’t see them forcing it. The new Roku preview actually seems to be catering to the heavy library users and giving them an olive branch to continue using libraries for grouping but also moving towards bringing forward the library views: Browse, Recommended, Collections, Categories and Playlists.
My desire is that Plex gets really serious about Collections. That is were the true power of Plex can be unleashed.
These are my movie collections so far:
Plex needs to allow me to break these up into subsections and present them in the menus.
I think you just broke my brain.
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APIs are the future of this sort of product. Glad Jellyfin is in this game. I’ve tried Jellyfin in the past and wasn’t entire impressed. The performance was CRAZY GOOD, but setting up secure remote streaming was painful, and too much for most users. The UI felt extremely dated at the time, maybe they have fixed that, but from what I’ve read, Plex is still tops in offering a professional feel in the UI.
Yes, Plex dropped the ball BIG TIME. I still hate much of the Android app and its many bugs. But, I sense the ship of Plex making the slow turn back on course and if the Roku preview is any indication, I think it’s a decent course.
As for schemas, I think a good schema is a flexible one. Life brings changes and a flexible schema should be able to adapt to new usage needs. I used to design database schemas for a living. My most successful schemas were extremely flexible in core design not in constantly changing. It was the UI that provided the structure and limited flexibility but my UIs were able to change with the new requirements in an applications lifespan while the schema would remain the same or grow from it’s core design without need of rebuilding the core.
Flexible UIs are fine too, but at some point someone is going to take MS Excel and create a massive macro driven mess that really needs to be a database (a perfect example). I cannot count the number of Excel spreadsheets I had to convert to proper databases and web UIs. All because someone knew one way of doing things. It was wrong, and it became a vital company tool, but it was an extreme vulnerability because it was the incorrect method of doing a specific job: like using a screwdriver as a hammer; it works but not well.
And this is where using libraries in place of collections becomes a huge mess. I’m mean seriously, try to recreate this in libraries, which is what I’m reading is what people are really trying to do.
Yes, this list of collections is messy, but it is the proper use of Plex’s database structure and metadata. Plex just needs to provide a better UI for displaying collections.
