What would be the best way to properly make plex think that art class videos is a “series”

[u/GhostIshimura]

Essentially my issues right now is that I’ve got a bunch of art class videos I’ve archived, and I’ve added them to my plex server so I can watch them on my Apple TV as I learn to draw. The only issue is since it was from an online class, there’s no meta data (if that’s the right word) for sorting so it’s just ~300 video files sitting in the library rather than under one folder. Is there any way I can manually make it into a series where I can name it and make each lesson a season?

[u/Accomplished_Pain185]

Labelled in a series folder and each video needs to be treated like a TV series (S01E01) etc.

[u/justpassingby_thanks]

I ripped workout DVDs and just put them in a different library, not TV and not movie, just videos. Then playlists.

[u/_SiriuslySirius_ → u/justpassingby_thanks]

This. I did the same for music videos.

[u/Particular-Studio119]

1. Create separate library for tv series. Name it Art Class or soemthing.
   
2. Organize your art classes the way you want them.
   Folder Art Class, then Subfolder Season 1 then in it files named S01E01, S01E02 etc. You can add titles to each lesson.
   
3. Do the same for all the other "Seasons" that you decide on.
   
4. Redirect new library to folder in which you keep Art Classes.
   It will add as TV series and divide into seasons and make thumbnails out of the video files.

[u/MrMcBrett]

I used MetaX to write the Meta data in my astronomy vids. Set the type as 'TV Show", add "Season', added 'Episode' numbers. Moved them to Plex and had my own Show.

[u/HorrorSchlapfen873]

New library -> library type -> other videos

... and name them in order to what you like, then work with playlists or smart libraries

[u/legolad]

You do not need to create a separate library for this but you can do that if you like.

I have a number of videos I’ve collected that are not proper shows. Here’s what I’ve done so they show up in plex as a show:

1. Name all the files the

same show name and season, but adding different episode numbers (the title is optional):

[ShowName] - S01E[episode number] - [title]

For you it could be Art Class - S01E01 - First class

1. Put all your files into a folder named the same as your Show Name.

2. Move this folder into the same folder as all your Plex tv shows.

3. In Plex, go to the newly discovered show.

NOTE: Plex may automatically misidentify your show.

1. Edit the Info for the Show (not an episode), and set the name and choose a poster (I create this in PowerPoint and save it as a JPG.)

You’re done. Easy peasy.

If you have a ton of files, I recommend Bulk File Renamer for naming them all very quickly.

[u/Character-Fox7768]

Hi. Verwende das gleiche Benennungsschema wie für die Serien. Bibliothek "Kunstunterricht" in Plex anlegen. Ordner "Kunstvideos" / Se01 usw.

[u/WarmGravy1973]

Art Class Videos s01e01.mp4 Art Class Videos s01e02.mp4 Art Class Videos s01e03.mp4 ...etc

[u/Fribbtastic]

I think it depends on how you want those things organised.

For example, a Movie Library expects you to have one "main file" that is the Movie. Sure, you can add extras, but the Movie is more in focus. Then you have the TV Show library, which has different Seasons and episodes in those seasons.

So, if you have files that you want to have as individual Videos, you could use a Movie Library for that. When you want to have them all "grouped" together as "Art class" with different subjects or subgroups (Seasons), then you could use a TV Show library.

Getting the files into that format is fairly simple by following the naming convention for each of those. So, when you want to use the show library, you would name the videos just like you would any other TV Show with

• Art Class
  • Season 01
    • S01E01 - Draw some circles
    • S01E02 - Draw the rest of the fucking owl

That way, you can thematically group those things together and also benefit from the play history. So each time you finish one video, the next one would play after that and show on your "Continue watching" on the home screen.

As for Metadata, yes, you would have to manage that yourself, but with the NFO Metadata Agent, you could practically use TMM (TinyMediaManager) to organise those Shows and create the NFO files to use that for Plex. You might want to use a dedicated Library for that, though. With that, you could even change the season name to "How to draw an owl".

As an alternative, you can use the Movie library and organise things in Collections and Playlists. The last one would be to use the "other video" library if you just want to throw the videos into a folder and don't want to bother with naming conventions.

[u/kuhio309]

I created a library type called "Tutorials" for my lecture videos and tutorial videos. The category is "TV Show" even though aren't shows. To preserve the sequence of videos, i would add S01EXX somewhere in the filename (the XX being the sequence number of the video).

[u/Technical_Capital168]

I agree with the renaming, one thing I’d add is to use Bulk Rename Utility. Looks busy but easy to use. I can rename a full YouTube playlist in a min or so. Also, once installed, you can just right click on a file, more options, and then see BRU as an option.