I've been running a Plex server for awhile now and have good naming conventions in all of my libraries. I'm just now being able to tweak things so that extras can be associated with the original content instead of a separate file. I love the improvements that the dev team has made and it's just awesome to see Plex grow.
I've been searching the wiki extensively and, while there's great info on how to name extras for movies...there isn't the same information in the TV assets section. So, I'm wondering a couple of things:
Does Plex currently support extras in TV shows? If so, what's the format for naming them? Do I use the same basics as in movies with an extras extension after the "meaningful name" such as -scene?
If Plex doesn't support this, what do you do for TV show extras? Do you just create listings in online metadata sites and put them in a "specials" (Season 0) section? Is there a better way? It seems that there must be. Many TV shows/sets come with interviews, deleted and alternate scenes, etc just like movies. I'd love to know the best way for organizing them.
Thanks so much!! Looking forward to hearing your ideas. :)
My solution has been to use episode numbers outside of the regular season. Typically this means that they’re labeled like this: Favorite TV Show - s1e101 - Deleted Scene.mp4
This means that the special features show up with the show and season they relate to but they’re listed at the bottom and don’t pull inaccurate listings from whichever database you’re using.
I even subdivide according to type when there’s a bunch.
s1e000 - Title Sequence
s1e101-e112 - Deleted Scenes
s1e201-e208 - Behind the Scenes
s1e301-e304 - Music Videos
If the special features are for the series, rather than the season, I’ll use the same technique, but file it under Season 0. Because databases do use Season 0 for official specials, you still need to use episode numbers that are outside of what might be used for the specials (s0e101). And check the database listing! Sometimes the special features are listed in Season 0 already, then you just need to match your filenames to the database listing (s0e001).
Please don’t propagate non-recommended filename schemata, so as to not confuse other users.
While these may be working in most cases, they can stil be problematic with particular show titles.
Please don’t propagate non-recommended filename schemata, so as to not confuse other users.
While these may be working in most cases, they can stil be problematic with particular show titles.
Don’t worry about “propagating” anything @tgaetke!! The naming convention you use works great. Not sure what mr “plex ninja” OttoKerner is up in arms about. Your response was much more detailed than a freaking link that didn’t even cover what the OP really wanted to do.
@OttoKerner said:
Please don’t propagate non-recommended filename schemata, so as to not confuse other users.
While these may be working in most cases, they can stil be problematic with particular show titles.
As of the time I’m writing this post, there is no supported naming convention for Specials/Extras which are not grouped into the “Specials”/Season 0 pattern used by TheTVDB. Additionally, I’ve observed a pattern where their moderation team removes or strips down many many sets of specials/extras because the videos in question aren’t part of the mainstream DVD/BluRay releases, frequently removing many of the specials I had previously reorganized, flattened, and/or renamed to fit their naming convention! This has affected shows with quasi-canon content or behind-the-scenes videos relevant to the series.
Users have been requesting support for unscraped extras since at least 2015. If the PleX team won’t step up and make something official, @tgaetke 's looks like it’ll work perfectly.
As of the time I’m writing this post, there is no supported naming convention for Specials/Extras which are not grouped into the “Specials”/Season 0 pattern used by TheTVDB. Additionally, I’ve observed a pattern where their moderation team removes or strips down many many sets of specials/extras because the videos in question aren’t part of the mainstream DVD/BluRay releases, frequently removing many of the specials I had previously reorganized, flattened, and/or renamed to fit their naming convention! This has affected shows with quasi-canon content or behind-the-scenes videos relevant to the series.
Users have been requesting support for unscraped extras since at least 2015. If the PleX team won’t step up and make something official, @tgaetke 's looks like it’ll work perfectly.
