Thanks very much for the detailed response. I’m using Windows, but there are equivalent apps that can do what you describe.
Where we differ the most, however, is with respect to organization. You are apparently using the “Movies” library type, whereas I’m using “Other Videos” with the “Personal Media” agent. This came about because I keep all the music vids by a particular artist within a folder named for that artist - like my music structure (on a different drive). Using the “Other Videos” type prevents Plex from mangling all the video names every time a new video is added to that folder. The Movies library type expects only 1 main movie file per folder (except for appropriately named extras). So even tho the title field is “locked”, Plex will still change that field unpredictably when that folder gets added to.
Coincidentally, I name my files exactly the way you do. With my setup, when a new file is added to an artist folder, Plex uses the whole filename as a title, so I have to manually cut & paste the year from the title field into the date field and then add the appropriate collection(s). That’s manageable when adding only a few vids at a time.
What I was hoping for was something like your ViMediaManager to scrape IMVDb for metadata and then generate an NFO file for PLEX. This would provide me with more genres, which would be nice; as would the access to other fields to play with; and if automated, easy to implement. Unfortunately, the XBMCnfoMoviesImporter is only for movies and TV shows, so I’d have to change my library type and whole organizational structure. With over 2000 vids, that’s a daunting prospect. It’s either that, or coax the dev for that nfo importer to add “Other Videos” to that plugin’s functionality.
As it is, it’s not too much trouble to add a new vid manually, and I get most of the functionality I need. Shuffle play through the vids by collection is easy and fun except for that annoying 15 sec delay on occasion, as I mentioned before. To play by artist, I switch view on my Roku from Collections to Library/Folders and can play through all from a particular artist. Another wish list item would be replay gain tagging as in music. The volume difference between vids can be huge, as you probably know.
Thanks again for your effort. Here’s to hoping Plex surprises us all with some support. 
