Could we get the feature to regenerate video preview thumbnails for specific movies? I have had several movies get added to Plex prematurely, or where I have had to re-rip the movie, but the preview thumbnails do not regenerate to reflect the new file. Right now I have the option of either regenerating preview thumbnails for the entire library (taking a day or more), or to play games with removing the item, emptying the garbage, then adding it back in. Both of these seem unnecessarily complicated to refresh the thumbnails for just 1 movie.
Perform an Analysis on the Movie/Show (Show or Season level - I think).
Pre-play Screen (Show Level) - under the dots.
For the Thermonuclear approach (if somethinā fishy is goinā on) - Plex Dance - thatāll get it (or weāll find out why if it doesnāt):
In some cases if a Merge has occurred with two movies that are similar enough in their makeup - Plex will share the thumbs. Usually this works out fine - Usually.
If the run time is different, you will need new thumbs - in that case, Split, Fix Match on one of them and change to the other agent. That should tell Plex this one is Brand New and will require new thumbs - Usually.
Thereās a few ways to skin that opossum - thatās one of them.
Performing analysis on movies that already have preview thumbnails will not cause it to regenerate preview thumbnails. It will only generate the preview thumbnails if there arenāt any existing for that movie/episode.
I am aware of the āPlex Danceā, but it is a pain in the butt to do every time. It feels like this should just be a 1 button click thing.
I would also be open to a different approach, such as Plex associating the preview thumbnails with a hash of the video file they belong to, making it possible for Plex to automatically detect when the preview thumbnails are out of date. I just am tired of performing the āPlex Danceā or nuking all preview thumbnails every time I replace lower quality content or bad rips.
Cool - you got one vote.
BTW - the Feature Request to fix the reason for the Plex Dance - has been in place for at least 100 years. So far, crickets.
The Feature Request may hit pay dirt - or a work-around in the meantime may come in handy.
Only way is either via the command line scanner
(https://support.plex.tv/articles/201242707-plex-media-scanner-via-command-line/ -
--force --index --item XXXX , where XXXX is the item ID)
or a āPlex Danceā.
Youāll find the ID of an item in its Plex XML info
The number inside the ratingKey="... or key="... properties.
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I canāt help but notice - The Plex Dance is quicker than thatā¦lol
(I do have exemplary Dancing Skills tho)
Not really. You can prepare the first part of the command line and copy it someplace. Running cmd.exe and pasting the ID is rather quick.
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Is the āmedia index fileā mentioned in the Plex Media Scanner docs where the video preview thumbnails are stored then?
Yes, as indicated above.
Ok. Thanks. Iāve seen the Plex Media Scanner CLI documentation before, but never realized that the media index file is the part I wanted to reset. This will help. Thank you!
Indeed that is something which could be clarified.
Thanks for the suggestion!
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I also have an āedgeāā¦
On each of my HDDs thereās a folder called On Deck.
and instant hiding place for Dancing.
(basically, one of itās main purposes for being there)
Anywhoā¦ carry on.
Opossum skint - several ways.
The --index via command line is deprecated and itās use (pms --force --index --item XXXX) will return immediately without any indication that it did anything (I.e. assume itās deprecated and does nothing)ā¦
so, is there a replacement for this deprecated parameter?
āC:\Program Files (x86)\Plex\Plex Media Server\Plex Media Scanner.exeā --generate --chapter-thumbs-only --item 56573 --log-file-suffix " Chapter Thumbnails" --force
Works for me every timeā¦
Obviously replace the item number with the appropriate item.
Iām curious why you need to regenerate these. The scanner usually detects file changes and triggers VPT regeneration when needed.
-b / --index works for me to generate VPT/.bif files. (So does Analyze in the GUI, or via URL command.)
But adding -x / --force doesnāt delete a VPT/.bif file that already exists.
Iām not aware of any way to force-rebuild a VPT that exists, unless the scanner detects a file change.
So if needed I just manually delete the .bif file. You can get the location hash from the media_parts table in the database, or by following the instructions here:
If you replace an item by just copying it over, Plex used to share the thumbs with the old version - now it does nothing until you āAnalyzeā and if theyāre Shows each individual episode must be triggered.
Whatās more, now that Plex āWaitsā - if the new item is very different than the old one - it may not even play - and may even crash my Roku (and yours too).
I long for the old days when Plex (mostly) just worked.
Itās been overhauled to the point of ridiculousness and now we canāt even update media without a lot of Drama.
Hrm. My experience is pretty darn positive lately. And doesnāt sound like it matches yours.
I havenāt had any problems with thumbnails not being generated automatically and immediately.
I add a movie, or add a second/upgraded version, and the scanner finds it, fetches metadata, and queues up the video preview thumbnail job. I donāt need to Analyze to trigger it.
When I upgrade media it usually has a new filename. Iāll check what happens if I replace āMovie (year).mkvā and keep the same filename - I do think the size/checksum difference will trigger the scanner though.
Iām happily using the new scanner/agent. Maybe thatās the difference.
Because itās not generating the VPT for my TV shows. It used to but now itās not. Iāve tried the Plex Dance on those entire seasons and still no thumbnails.
Can you do the Plex Dance for a problem show, and then share logs?
There are rare cases where the method Plex uses to extract VPT thumbnails fails on some files.
Itās pretty obvious in the logs when that happens.
You know, itās threads like these that make me wonder why Plex canāt accommodate this in the GUI. You can already nuke an entire libraries thumbnails through he GUI, but it doesnāt seem like it would be that hard to implement a menu option to delete a specific itemās thumbnails and previews, and force regeneration. Especially if there was a previous CLI command to do it.
Kinda makes me wonder, why do I subscribe to Plex and pay them money when they canāt accommodate simple things like this, but instead keep focusing on unwanted and unneeded features and integrations.
This thread is over 4 years old, and something like this hasnāt been done yet, why? Because politically it seems like Plex does not care and probably wonāt care until their lack of care causes enough people to stop paying for Plex and instead move to a competing software that will focus on Plexās core, which is a Personal Media Server, and not Youtube.
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