Plex and chapter generation

Plex Media Server
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Server Version#: 1.26.1.5772
Player Version#: NA

Man have I been searching the nets, plex forums and reddit on this topic and nothing is really explaining how plex does chapters. We got subtitles, tv shows, players, file formats, poster, setting etc. But I can not find any concrete on chapters. So maybe a dev that knows about chapters can jump on and maybe explain a bit how this works.

So I had to build a new plex server for myself. This server was 13 years old. I don’t think I need to explain why. That old build has plex on it and everything was working just fine. All I every needed to do is updates. Before I made this new build, I was running the latest version of plex on it. On that 13 years old server

Chapter Generation - 100%
Subtitle pickup - 100%
Thumbnail Generation - 100%

All I ever did was rip a blu-ray raw. Mux what I needed using TxMuxer and dumbed it into my movies folder. Plex was able to do all of it.

Fast forward to today. I got a new server and there is so much missing, I am freakin shocked. I can see why so many people have such a love hate with it these days. Anyways, I am rambling. These newest version of plex does not generate any chapters from my media at all.

For example Star Wars attack of the clones on my old server I had chapter that were generated automatically when I added the file. I know this because when I went to my web player, I was able to pill them up. Watching on my nVidia shield TV, I can see them there. Not only that, I was showcasing the power of plex to one my of friends 3 weeks ago to show him how easy it was to rip media, store on plex and how plex does everything else for you. So I know this was working.

Upon re-adding my media to the new plex server I built 2 weeks ago, that same file, this version of plex is not generating any chapters. WTF

So what am I asking really.

  1. how does plex generate chapters?
  2. does it fetch from an online database (chapterdb - yes I know about chapterdb, using it as an example)
    a) if it still does, what online database is it fetching it from
  3. Does it fetch it from metadata from the movie file (.m2ts, mp4, avi, mkv, etc)
  4. can you make chapters into a .txt and than put it in the movie folder and plex will pick it up (Kind of like you do with subtitles that are SRT that you don’t want to embed into the main movie file)

I just cannot find a great answer and a write up in the support section on how chapters get generated in plex would be helpful (Just like there is a article on how thumbnails get generated)

Apologize, I know this topic has been done to death but as I have said, I have been searching and nobody really has a great answer. Any help would be appreciated. Some explanations from devs would be a god send and if anybody suggests things that I have tried, I will let you know and thank you for your help.

Thanks,
Zerosandones

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Plex isn’t generating chapters.
It’ll use chapter information embedded in your files. This is usually automatically included for DVD or Blu-Ray rips – although those rips will only use some generic chapter names.

There’s no online database involved to fetch any chapter titles.

Plex doesn’t pick up chapters from a local media asset (e.g. separate text files).

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Plex can read “named” chapters from MKV files.

Plex does also use an old copy of the ChapterDB website. But of course with nobody adding new titles, this is becoming obsolete over time.

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Prior to this new server build, I never added any chapter info to any of my titles (I have 207 media files to date. Not very much I know. Blu rays take lots of space raw, so i am very selective). Yet, in my old build every single one of my movies had chapters. So, it must have been picking it up from somewhere.

With that being said, thank you for replying. If the newest version of plex is picking up chapter info from is being embedded in my files, I am disappointed. That mean I am going to have to go through all the media and add the chapter info.

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Thank you for the response. In the meantime, you are saying that plex uses an old copy of ChapterDB. That can tie me over in the meantime, but how do I set that up; ChapterDB?

It is one of the agents under the settings sections of the server?

and yes, from what I have gathered most people use MKVToolNIx to get chapters going and then using handbreak to encode what they have.

But as long as plex can read mkv files and i get direct streams playing out, I guess I have no other choice than to rebuild my whole library. woof.

again thank you for the response. Appreciate the input and the time to reply.

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It is by default included in the current “Plex Movie” scanner+agent.
All the options under Settings-Server-Agents only apply to libraries which use the old, deprecated agents.
All agent options of the new agent are to be found on the “Advanced” tab of each library https://support.plex.tv/articles/upgrading-a-movie-library-to-the-use-the-new-plex-movie-agent/

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https://chapterdb.plex.tv/

  • All info is user submitted, so quality varies (much like online subtitle sites).
  • Given the amount of different DVD/Blu-ray releases based region, various cuts, etc, even if the info is accurate, it may not match your media.
  • As @OttoKerner mentions, the database has been read-only for for some time, so info for new releases will not be available (The original chapterdb.org went offline in 2019. There have been no updates since.).

However, I can usually find a decent match.

  • The text format download can be imported into the Chapter Editor in MKVToolNix (Load movie into Chapter Editor, choose Append Chapters from Chapter Editor menu).
  • If the timing is off by a consistent amount, it is easy to adjust using Chapter Editor (load movie into Chapter Editor, right click on Edition Entry, choose Additional Modifications then Shift Start/End timestamps).
  • If all else fails, you can sometimes find the chapter names and just edit them in manually (if your movie has existing chapter markers but not names). I have not found a way to import just chapter names and keep existing timings.
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Thank you again for the reply and the info. It does clear up a lot of the info out in the web.

Could be a bug, could not be. I do have both set to Plex Movie in the advanced tab of each library and it does not seem to be pulling anything. 2 weeks and nothing.

Thank you for the link as well. I was aware and already read that about a week ago trying to find out why it was not pulling any chapter. Have gone through many articles and no matter what setting I used, the chapters were not populating.

But you have answered my question perfectly. Thank you again.

If you don’t mind, I would like to pm you a question about the understanding of the Settings-Server-Agents. I have read the articles from plex support and the way it read is not as I am understanding on who you are explaining it.

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100% correct. I did read that the chapterdb has been offline since 2019. I even tried downloading their app, chatpergrabber. But when i click to get the API i goes to a page that is no longer existent.

So, what I am doing now for blu-rays is that i grab the .mpls file and put it inot MKVtoolNix. Grabs all the data with it and in the chapters tab, I load the same file than I just mux all together and I am good to go. Much longer process but it works.

For DVD, I pretty much do the same thing. I grab the VOB file that hold the movie. Then in the chapters tab I load the ifo file. Finally in the Mulitplexer → output tab → Chapter section, I also load the same ifo file.

The only thing I cannot get to work is putting the names into the chapters. In the chapters tab, I would select chapter 01. In the next column, toward the bottom their is a text box that reads “name:”. I put the chapter name there and than I hit the “+” icon. I do this for all the chapters. After I mux and put it into plex, plex does not show the names. So I must be doing something wrong. Can you assist me on this.

Thank you for your response. Very helpful information. Time to work on my library and re-do all I have.

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Use MakeMKV to rip the disc to MKV format. It makes an exact copy of the movie, unencrypting if necessary. You can choose which audio & subtitle tracks to extract. The MKV will include chapter markers if they exist on the disc.

Then use MKVToolNix to edit metadata as necessary.

You can drop the MKV into a Plex library or transcode with Handbrake (or similar) if desired.

Note 1: The file created by MakeMKV will not have named chapter titles, just “Chapter 01”, etc. You can play the disc in VLC or other s/w to see if the movie has chapter titles. My experience is that most DVDs have chapter titles. Blu-rays are about 50/50 on chapter titles vs Chapter 1, Chapter 2, etc.

Note 2: Some Blu-ray discs appear to have hundreds of versions of the movie on the disc. It is done to obscure which is the real version. The MakeMKV forum can help you figure out which is the “real” version.

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To rip my blu-ray and DVD I use anyDVD. Got that little gem many many many years back.

For blu-ray I used BDinfo to let me know which movie is the real version. It has been very helpful and accurate so far. Previous to finding it, I was manually playing the m2ts files and muxing them together to make the movie.

Only since yesterday, have I started to us MKVToolNix. I have always used TxMuxer instead.

Thanks for the reply and for the heads up on the chapters. This is going to be a long grind. :smiley:

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