Hi, I am using the mycloud home as my plex server and playback/ondeck, basically all of the features work well (apple tv 4k), no issues bar one BIG ONE!
I have TV Shows and Movies folder. In the Movie folder I have 4 sub folders (Blurays, DVDs, Movies, Kids movies). When i used to use my laptop as my server I could add these so they would show up in the plex app. For some reason since I’ve bought the mycloud home they are all just lumped together, no subsections. So my kids now cannot just see the “kids movies” side bar, just movies, so they potentially would see the cover art of very unsuitable movies.
This seems to be an issue from the set up when adding the folders, it just lets you add “movies”. Is there something I’m missing here, or is it just a HUGELY DISSAPPOINTING restriction on the mycloud home server software?
Many thanks for any input
Plex is very particular with how its folders are structured and named, you have to follow their method of organizing and labeling the files and folders. This is how it’s always been, pretty much from the beginning, and while WD MCH’s version of Plex is a bit different than the standard Plex in some ways, this is one area where it’s exactly the same.
Basically, your biggest mistake was making those extra 4 subfolders. Those aren’t necessary for Plex to know about, and if you really want those labels then you can make 4 collections once everything is in the server properly. Right now, Plex is looking at that folder level for videos and is trying to make sense of the media inside these 4 arbitrary folders, because you can put things into folders for Plex but only if the content is related and named appropriately. Just take all the video files out and put them in the “Shared Movies” folder that Plex made when you enabled it on your MCH. Then all that’s left is to rename them in the way that Plex can best understand them. Here’s a link from Plex’s site:
https://support.plex.tv/articles/naming-and-organizing-your-movie-media-files/
Because the good news is that Plex is now able to take it from here, it’ll find all the right meta-data, posters and so on. And yes, those need specific names too, but Plex should be able to handle that for you. And if not, just explore that site, their Documentation is really helpful. And if you thought naming movies was tough, here’s the actual hard one: TV Shows!
https://support.plex.tv/articles/naming-and-organizing-your-tv-show-files/
It may look daunting, but it’ll be worth it because the payoff is a media server that can keep itself organized and can run smoothly enough to make transcoding slightly less painful than it is. Haha. Plus there’s apps out there that can help you automate this naming process too. Enjoy!
Hi,
Firstly thank you for your well intentioned post/reply. Perhaps I wasn’t clear, or else you didn’t understand what I was asking…
I’ve been using Plex for years with pc or laptop as my server and Apple TV as the client. I can use it very well and have a firm understanding of how it reads my files, categorises, and how the folders should work.
I never made the “mistake” of having separate folders, this is how I had my movies separated on my laptop, DVDs, Movies, and Kids Movies. This always worked well. When setting up the server I would choose movies and then was prompted to select sub folder, which I would do three separate times. After Plex worked it’s magic, I would then have on the client (Apple TV, or any app) those options on the left side bar, DVDs, Movies and Kids Movies, happy days!
Now, since I purchased the WDCH, when setting up the server, it allows you to add movies, but DOESN’T then prompt me to select the folders separately, dvds, movies, kids movies, meaning that all the movies are in one “Movies” section on the left hand side bar on the Apple TV.
Ow do you see what I mean? Also there does t arm to be a way to add collections.
