On my PMS I have a dedicated library for self-made home videos. When adding video files PMS starts analyzing them and typically creates a still thumbnail. Unfortunately, it doesn’t do that for all videos, some videos won’t receive a thumbnail.
Any idea how to fix that? I already remove those videos from the library and added them again, still no thumbnails. Also manually analyzing those videos doesn’t change anything.
The videos are all in the same format and play well via Plex. It just looks like the thumbnail creation process doesn’t really work.
Thank you.
Can you edit the poster file online?
I can edit the poster file. In fact PMS offers me three all black posters. I can upload an external one, however, thats not the solution I would go for because each time the library has to be rebuilt I have to do that again. Really would like to understand why for one video there are reasonable posters and for another one there are not and how to make PMS generating those posters for all of them.
It could have something to do with the encoded material in the troublesome files - hard to say without seeing the XML info for a working file and a non-working file:
It could be that Plex was ‘busy’ when those items were added and dropped the ball somehow creating a bad bundle in the process (wild guess). ‘Removing and Re-adding’ items doesn’t really do anything to correct a badly written bundle. The Plex Dance® will though.
The Plex Dance®:
- remove item(s) from library
- update library
- empty trash
- clean bundles
https://support.plex.tv/hc/en-us/articles/200392106-Library-Actions <— update library, empty trash, clean bundles
- adjust names and structures or create/name images if necessary
- replace item(s) into library
- update library
All Steps. In Order. No Shortcuts.
If the above procedure doesn’t produce any edible fruit, or XML info provides no clues, you can work around the issue by creating and placing a ‘thumbnail’ of your own:
An Other Videos Library/
…Some Video.xxx
…Some Video.jpg
images named exactly like their video counterparts will be shown as the thumbnail.
The underlying cause remains a mystery at this time.
Thank you JuiceWSA. The Plex Dance® didn’t solve it. Please find below the XML info for both a video where it works and a video where it doesn’t work. Hope this helps.
Working:
Not Working:
Tis a mystery.
Create and use a generic thumb as described above.
A good way to do that is watch one of those things in Plexweb, pause at an appropriate spot, or hit ALT/PrintScreen at an appropriate moment, Open Paint, hit CTL/V, crop out extra stuff and save as ‘Some Video.jpg’.
Kind of a whacky-work-around, but one that will absolutely work.
