I am running version 1.15.1.791 of the Plex server on a Synology NAS.
There appears to be a playback syncing issue with split files.
Here is an example:
I have three versions of Superman- 1978 Theatrical, 2000 special edition, 2017 extended cut. When I added these to Plex (files are named “Superman (1978)”, “Superman Special Edition (2000)”, “Superman Extended Cut (2017)”) it grouped them as the same movie. I went in and split them apart and then edited the info for each file accordingly (different posters, descriptions, etc.). All three now show up as separate entries when browsing movies.
When I played back the theatrical version and stopped part way through, the Home screen showed all three versions as recently played and the last played position from the theatrical version was synced to the other two versions. The last position for each is not a specific minute count but a percentage of playback for the particular file.
I’ve tried a couple of other movies that I have split into separate versions and they do the same thing. I’ve never noticed that it was doing this before.
I assume this isn’t the expected behavior. Is there something that I need to do to make sure the split files are treated separately?
The files are currently in there own folders with different names, the individual files have different names, they have been split apart in Plex, and their info has been edited.
It’s clear that it doesn’t think they are parts of the same movie. Why would I want the position of the first part of a movie to be synced to second part?
No, I think it more likely that the people coding at Plex assume that the only reason to have multiple versions of a movie is because they have different resolutions and/or encoding (SD or HD). That is pretty clear from the fact that when you choose “Play Version…” from the menu of a merged file it only shows you the bitrate and resolution of the files.
Splitting files should completely sever the connection between them. If they were parts of the same movie or just different resolutions there is no reason to split them.
Do the people writing this software actually use it? Do they not have multiple versions of the same movie? Do they like having those versions buried under a single entry so they are difficult to surface when browsing? How would I even know that I was playing the directors or extended cut of the movie when I pick a version since only the bitrate and resolutions are shown?
I have dozens of movies with multiple versions and I cannot be the only one with this problem. What is everyone else doing to solve it?
It seems like a pretty easy thing to solve. To stay with Plex’ media organization paradigm, add an “Alternate Versions” folder in the movie directory and show them when viewing the title. Or, even easier, make a completely new entry when files are split.
