Ripped Movie DVD extras with iTunes as library source

[vastwasteland]

I use iTunes (12.6, Mac 10.9.5–it’s an older Mac that can’t handle newer versions) as my media source for Plex. Overall, it works very well. However, I can’t figure out how to organize extra content from DVD’s that I’ve ripped (all purchased content, BTW). (This is for Movies only–I just create a “Season 99” for TV show extras).

I tried to follow the rule of moving the content to a subfolder of the movie in iTunes, as is prescribed in the forums if you store your content directly in a Plex library, but that did not work. Example:

…/iTunes Media/Movies/Frequency/
Frequency.m4v
Featurettes/
Science and Tech Behind Frequency.m4v

The result in Plex is a separate Movie called “Featurettes”.

I also tried moving the extra content to the same level directory as the Movie, but it listed them in Plex as separate movies.

What am I doing wrong here? Right now, I’m putting these extras in Home Movies, which seems incorrect and messy. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Server Version#: 1.19.5.3112
Player Version#: 4.39.1

[FordGuy61]

Embedded metadata can sometimes have Plex put things in incorrect locations.

Check the metadata in the extras. Make sure the Title field, if present, has the name of the featurette, not the movie. Subler is a very good Mac tool for editing MP4/M4V metadata.

Check Server Settings -> Agents -> Movies for Local Media Assets. Make sure LMA is the lowest selected agent. If it is not, move it to the bottom of the list of selected agents.

Also, try scanning the movie library again.

When I add extras Plex initially adds them at the movie level, like what you’re seeing.

If I manually re-scan the library, Plex then displays them at the correct location, on the movie pre-play page.

Note: I’ve no idea how iTunes will react to the files/subfolders. Unlike Plex, iTunes renames files and edits embedded metadata. If iTunes scans & picks up the extras, it may overwrite any changes you make.

[FordGuy61]

An example on my system with the movie 12 Angry Men. The trailer is the online trailer from Plex. I renamed a two Jellyfish test files for the featurette and short.

I’m running PMS 1.20.0.3181 which has a new Plex Movie scanner. The original now appears as Plex Movie (Legacy). As a result, screenshots of my Agents look slightly different than in pre 1.20 releases.

..../iTunes Media/Movies
      /12 Angry Men
        /12 Angry Men.m4v
        /Featurettes
          /Featurette 1.mkv
        /Shorts
          /Shorts 1.mkv

[vastwasteland]

I had read elsewhere on the forums that the LMA agent should be at the top, so I had moved it there. When I put it back to the bottom, the featurette worked correctly, showing up with the movie. THANKS!!!

[JuiceWSA]

@vastwasteland

I had read elsewhere on the forums that the LMA agent should be at the top

LIES!

Video File Naming

With LMA in priority, Embedded Titles within MP4/M4V files are preferred - even over a perfect file name. Local Media Assets should - AT ALL TIMES - remain enabled (unless specifically instructed to turn it off). Local Media Assets should be ‘Demoted’, to the bottom of the stack of active agents under ALL tabs in Shows and Movies, but should NOT be disabled. Local Media Assets is needed for many things - it doesn’t need to be given Tip-Top-Priority (as Plex has so hatefully placed it as it’s …

Of almost 2 million accounts - there may be a few dozen (lol) actually needing LMA in the top slot. The other millions of Plex Users are victimized by Plex’s refusal to move LMA OUT of the current DEFAULT position - no matter how many mp4/m4v users it screws…

Once Plex does something wrong - it stays wrong - no matter what.

[FordGuy61]

@JuiceWSA

LIES!

Don’t hold back. Tell us how you really feel.

How local assets work will probably change with the new agent/scanner. Still in beta, but right now it does not have an option for LMA, just “Plex Movie.” FWIW, my mp4s with embedded metadata still look OK when using the new scanner/agent.

New Plex Media Server movie scanner and agent preview

What is it and what’s new? We’re working on some upgrades to our movie metadata infrastructure, and we’d like to give you a peek at what’s in store. The major changes are a brand new scanner and agent, rebuilt from the ground up to be lean and super speedy, and a cloud-based metadata service that does all the heavy lifting to bring together multiple metadata sources such as IMDb, TheMovieDb, Rotten Tomatoes, and more to provide you with the best metadata in one place. We’d like to invite you to…

[JuiceWSA]

@FordGuy61

FWIW, my mp4s with embedded metadata still look OK when using the new scanner/agent.

So will mine - they’re all MKV files with no metadata and LMA has been Demoted to Siberia to work in the Poop Mines, Comrade…lol

Take a walk down memory lane through all my ‘Solved’ threads… almost ALL of them are the LMA Hack…

I also have no plans to change Agents.
The one I’m using in concert with Filebot is so close to 100% - some would call it a miracle. Everybody is falling to their knees over this new agent and I’m like: Wtf, Man… what’s wrong with this one (TMDB)? It NEVER MISSES!

[chrisallen]

FYI the new agent has separated out local media settings.

You can now set “per library” if you want to -embedded metadata, and if you want local media assets such as artwork and posters etc. this allows you to have local artwork without being forced to use the embedded MP4 metadata (or vice versa)

[vastwasteland]

Is there any chance that Plex software changed since August and broke this capability? I have finally gotten back to the process of ripping DVDs (it took me all this time to knock out the DVD’s for TV shows), and now the process listed above no longer works. No matter what I do, the “featurettes” will not appear under the related film. I see that they are in place for the few movies I ripped back then, but nothing added now will work.

Plex server 1.20.3.3437