# Pre-roll doesn't play (but trailers do)

**URL:** <https://forums.plex.tv/t/pre-roll-doesnt-play-but-trailers-do/866274>\
**Category:** Plex Players\
**Tags:** server-mac, plex-htpc\
**Created:** [January 14, 2024, 3:17pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/pre-roll-doesnt-play-but-trailers-do/866274 "2024-01-14T15:17:27Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![malesca](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/malesca/32/167038_2.png) [@malesca](https://forums.plex.tv/u/malesca)\
**Post date:** [January 14, 2024, 3:17pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/pre-roll-doesnt-play-but-trailers-do/866274/1 "2024-01-14T15:17:27Z")

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Server Version#: Plex Media Server 1.32.7.7621-871adbd44  
Player Version#: Plex HTPC 1.53.0

Server and player on the same Mac Mini M1 running macOS 14.0 Sonoma.

When I play a movie, it plays a trailer and then the movie – not the pre-roll video I specified. Seeing the same behaviour in the web player.

How do I fix it? I don’t actually want the trailers, just the pre-roll, but I figured I’d leave trailers on until I get the pre-roll working, to rule that out as a reason for the pre-roll not to show.

I’ve followed [the official instructions](https://support.plex.tv/articles/202920803-extras/) as far as I can tell.

Plex Media Server:

- In the “Extras” settings, I have
  - Set “Choose Cinema Trailers from: Only unwatched movies”
  - Checked “Include Cinema Trailers from movies in my library”
  - Not checked the other “Include Cinema Trailers from …” options (I don’t have Plex Pass)
  - Set “Movie pre-roll video” to: /Volumes/Dodongo/gevalia\_amalia.mp4
    - If I type `open /Volumes/Dodongo/gevalia_amalia.mp4` in a terminal, the video opens in QuickTime Player, so the path is definitely correct, assuming it’s meant to be a Unix path.
    - That video is [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XO8huG07Fc0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XO8huG07Fc0) downloaded via the Downie app.

- On the “Movies” library
  - Under “Advanced”, I’ve checked “Enable Cinema Trailers”

Plex HTPC:

- In the “Player Experience” settings, I’ve set “Cinema Trailers: Play 1 before film”

So are there any other settings I need to set?

What’s a good way of debugging this?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![malesca](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/malesca/32/167038_2.png) [@malesca](https://forums.plex.tv/u/malesca)\
**Post date:** [January 14, 2024, 3:31pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/pre-roll-doesnt-play-but-trailers-do/866274/2 "2024-01-14T15:31:18Z")

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I had been sloppy and ended up with a trailing space after the path. After removing it, it works.

Fair enough – the docs even say

> **Note** : When specifying multiple videos, do not insert spaces after (or before) the separator character.

Even so, it feels a bit unforgiving for Plex not to automatically strip whitespace in this situation. Or showing a clear error message.

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**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/plex/original/3X/2/a/2acb9765406f63293d357b4ec509ec39aa28f2ad.png) [@system](https://forums.plex.tv/u/system)\
**Post date:** [April 13, 2024, 3:31pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/pre-roll-doesnt-play-but-trailers-do/866274/3 "2024-04-13T15:31:54Z")

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