I have a few TV shows where there are multiple episodes in a single file (named appropriately with the sXXeXX-eXX) format, but these annoyingly show up as multiple entries when viewing them in Plex. The annoying part isn’t that there are 2 entries, but more that playing either of them starts from the very beginning of the file.
It would be nice to be able to either mark where the 2nd episode starts within the file somehow or condense these to a single entry with both episodes listed.
Thanks!
Marking the point where the next episode starts would have to be a manual process done by each user for each file. IMHO, not practical or realistic.
Having one entry showing for the multi-episode file makes more sense. However, how would you handle the situation where the episode titles are different and/or with different descriptions?
For some users, it would be useful – I would happily do it for the handful of episodes I have like this. For lots of shows, the split point is roughly in the same spot anyway (two 12 minute episodes in a single file, for example). This also seems like something that could be automated in a number of ways – for one, a lot of shows fade to black at the split, so perhaps that could be used to make an educated guess as where the likely split point is. Chapters are another way this could be used – pick the chapter from a list where the next episode starts. Finally, the split point could be shared with other users in a similar way episode names and descriptions are shared today.
For the single entry solution, I think you just have to display all of the titles and descriptions – something like “Title 1 / Title 2” for the title and for the descriptors, you could have a separator between the episodes.
Disclaimer: I am a Plex user just like you. I too would like Plex to be able to handle this. I debate here just to help sharpen the focus and expectations.
Having the computer guess the split is sloppy, some dual episodes by time they make it to DVD do not have a split but because they were aired that way, TheTVDB lists them as 2 episodes. A big example of this (in reverse) is “The Bible (2013)”. It actually aired as 10 episodes over 5 nights (tv,com and imdb.com), but for some reason, TheTVDB.com lists them as 5 episodes. Plex primarily uses TheTVDB as the episode source.
“Fade to black” sounds good at first until you notice that the trend now is a black fade where commercials were.
Finally, the split point could be shared with other users in a similar way episode names and descriptions are shared today.
Names and descriptions are not shared per se, They are provided (primarily) by TheTVDB. And in this case how can we determine that my recording splits at the same time as another’s recording?
I agree there are many problems here. What would be nice is to have a set of tools that could be used as appropriate. For most of my TV shows, they are DVD rips, so they most likely have chapters in them. Being able to select which chapter is the one that separates the first from the second should would be super useful.
For others, they might have recorded the show themselves. In that case, being able to scan a video for places where the scene fades to black and being able to pick one might be the better solution.
I know that this can’t be magically solved for everyone. But right now as it exists, it’s pretty much unsolved for everyone.
