Workout Videos - This really can't be THAT difficult

[sannitig]

Hello,

I have been googling like mad trying to figure out the best way to add Workout series to Plex. Collections are kinda meh since I want to share with computer illiterate family.

I tried adding P90X3 as a library and these seems to work great. You’ve got TV Shows, Movies, P90X, P90X2 and P90X3. When you go into P90X3 everything is named correctly (using the file name as the title ‘ab-ripper’, ‘chest and back’ - cool!). The problem with this is if you want to have dozens of Workout Series it is not scalable. Nobody want P90X-P90X100 pinned in their libraries

Rather, adding a “Fitness” library as a TV Show makes the most sense to me. From there you add the “TV show” P90X, “TV show” Jane Fonda etc…

From there, in the P90X “show” you’ll have Season 1, Season 2 and Season 3 - representing P90X, P90X2 and P90X3 respectively. Very cool.

But why…WHY…do the titles come up as episode 1, episode 2 etc. instead of ab-ripper, glutes & hams etc…they were named completely fine when each P90X was added as a library instead of a TV Show. I even tried to import as movies/other videos and it totally used the file name as the title like one would want to see, so it clearly knows how to…

People on Reddit point to this link: http://imgur.com/a/dDe9E which is what I’ve been trying, but if the titles randomly get changed to “Episode 1” instead of “ab-ripper” there’s got to be a way to say ignore this and use the damn file name like you did when I imported you many other ways…

When adding as TV I even placed the S01E1-S01E17 for the P90X series - I shouldn’t have to go into each title and edit it manually (what if I ever need to rebuilt the server or the library) this is becoming absurd

[FordGuy61]

See Naming Home Series Media.

You add the shows using a TV Show Library, but use Personal Media Show agent, as the shows are not listed in tvdb.com.

If you use the MP4 container and have embedded metadata, Plex will pick it up. You must have Local Media Assets enabled. See the support document.

If you use the MKV container, you’ll have to manually edit the episode names in Plex. Plex ignores everything after SxxEyy in TV show file names.

See this thread as well:

Fitness DVD's and similar non TV or Movie sets?

How do you name and categorize a dvd set like a fitness set? For instance 21 Day Fix, or The Body Beast? What type of folder should I put them in? Server Version#: 1.18.9.2578 Player Version#: 4.30.2

[NewPlaza]

@sannitig

From there, in the P90X “show”

If you create a TV Show library then you will get episode 1, 2, 3, etc… TV Shows have seasons and episodes.
Most of the info from the pic you linked to has alot of manual edits. A lot.

@sannitig

what if I ever need to rebuilt the server or the library

You have multiple options.

1. You can just create a MOVIE library(Agent: Personal Media) and add all the fitness files there. Edit title as needed***

2. Create a TV SHOW library(Agent: Personal Media Shows) and add each group of videos as a “series” for each exercise instructor or what every you like. Edit titles as needed***

3. Create OTHER VIDEOS library and add all the fitness files there. Edit title as needed***

*** Much work can already be done before you add to the library if you use embedded metadata(MP4 files only). Plex will scan this and add to your titles.

[sannitig]

Thank you for pointing out that the image I linked has a LOT of manual editing - this proves that I’m not crazy.

What’s weird is that I used the bulkrename utility to rename all the files in P90X3 to P90X3 - S01E01 - Agility, P90X3 - S01E02 - CVX and so on…this actually took for a couple episodes, the names came up as Agility and so on - but about 65% of them showed up as P90X3_DVD_DISC2_blah blah

I guess there’s no way to simply say “use the filename as the title”?? This works in movies so that must mean the metadata is there no? I’m missing something here - I get that TV shows are named Ep1, Ep2 etc - but if the metadata is telling the movies library to use “Agility” then why does that metadata not exist in TV?

Do you even need to edit the title metadata - wouldn’t the title be in the metadata?

[NewPlaza]

@sannitig

but about 65% of them showed up as P90X3_DVD_DISC2_blah blah

That’s because of the embedded metadata.

[FordGuy61]

@sannitig

I guess there’s no way to simply say “use the filename as the title”??

The documentation linked above states that is not supported.

Note : Currently, the “shows” will only be named as “Episode 1” etc. Any additional information included in the filename (like “Getting Ready”) is currently ignored.

@sannitig

Do you even need to edit the title metadata - wouldn’t the title be in the metadata?

Yes. Not necessarily.

Look at the thread linked in my earlier post. This shows how Plex picks up metadata from MP4/M4V files.

Metadata may or may not already be present and may or may not be correct. It depends on what software you used to create and manipulate the files.

Handbrake and MakeMKV have limited capability to set/edit metadata. Subler is a good tool for manipulating metatdata on mp4 files. Unfortunately it is Mac only. I have used iTunes on Windows as well. It can edit some metadata fields in mp4/m4v files.

Maybe others can recommend metadata editors for Windows. I’m sure there are good tools available. I’m just not aware, as I use Subler on my Mac.

[NewPlaza]

@sannitig

I guess there’s no way to simply say “use the filename as the title”??

Not the filename but MP4 metadata, yes.

I made no edits in Plex and didn’t manipulated the Plex database. All information was from embedded MP4 metadata. Posters are external .PNG files.

[sannitig]

Thanks everyone!

Here’s what I did in case anyone is interested in the future. First thing is first, I used Avidemux to change anything into an MP4. I used MP3tage to add a “title” to metadata - use the “filename to tag” if your filenames are correct. The ones that aren’t you use BulkRenameUtility to make them what you want.

I’ve found so far I don’t need to name my files P90X - P90X3 - S01E01 - Abs Ripper, simply naming the files 1 - abs ripper, 2 - chest, 3 - legs seems to work great. I did however name my folders
P90X > P90X 01
P90X > P90X2 02
P90X > P90X3 03

So far things are looking pretty good - this will all be placed in a “fitness” library as TV shows and I’ll have to get my own poster art for it - but again things are looking good. I’m thinking of setting up an FTP server and offering any “guides/diet plans” that come with the programs - would the URL would be added as a comment in the season somehow?

[NewPlaza]

@sannitig

would the URL would be added as a comment in the season somehow?

You would need to edit that item in Plex and add the URL. Just note, the URL won’t be clickable…

If you really want to go crazy and add show summary, episode summary and all the bells and whistles automatically then you can use…

[REL] Extended Personal Media Scanner

See the documentation here for more details on the scanner and how to install it. https://bitbucket.org/mjarends/plex-scanners After you have installed the scanner you will need to install the metadata agent for the scanner to work correctly. See the documentation here for more details on the metadata agent and how to install it. https://bitbucket.org/mjarends/extendedpersonalmedia-agent.bundle Change Log: 4/4/2015: Moved the creation of the scanners to within the Scan method 5/29/201…

[sannitig]

Thanks so much - again seriously.

The only thing that I am not able to do is edit the Season names. Perhaps I named them wrong - I expected to see them named P90X, P90X2 and P90X3

[NewPlaza]

@sannitig

The only thing that I am not able to do is edit the Season names

And you won’t be able to. That something that can not change.

[TeknoJunky]

if you don’t want to use tv show style organization, you can simply create a ‘other-video’ library and use whatever path/filenames you want.

/data/media/misc-videos/Turbofire/2010 - Turbofire/Turbofire - Abs 10.mp4

[NewPlaza]

I would also like to point out that many people have uploaded alot of fitness/exercise on themoviedb. Some as movies and some as tv series.

Few examples…

10 Minute Solution: Kickbox Bootcamp

Jillian Michaels: 6 Week Six-Pack

Jillian Michaels: Ripped in 30

Also, you can use keyword searching
https://www.themoviedb.org/search/keyword?query=exercise

https://www.themoviedb.org/search/keyword?query=fitness

And there is nothing that says you can’t add to it… If you wanted to.

[sannitig]

Thanks for you assistance on this everyone. P90X was part of the movie database so I don’t know what I did wrong, maybe it was because I wanted P90X cut up in to seasons rather than having each release as a series…whatever, I simply used some software called “bulk renaming utility” and “mp3 tag” to edit my MP4s and this worked great.

I also had to use a video converter to convert the vids to mp4.

hopefully this helps someone else down the road

[sannitig]