The VideoLAN Forums

I used to transfer tv episodes from plex into VLC, and the files would sort themselves into groups based on show name. Neat.

However, the new app update has changed this behavior. Now files are named according to whatever was on the plex screen at the time. For example, episodes acquired from the 'On Deck' section now are named like "S01E01 - Flowers for Your Grave.avi". If I grab the file from the Show section, it's now just "Flowers for Your Grave.avi". If I grab the file from the 'recently added' section, the filename is now "Castle (2009) - S01E01 - Flowers for Your Grave.avi".

The older version of the VLC would consistently grab the full file name. Is there a way to restore this behavior?

This happens in both the Plex server and Plex DLNA options. I think the DLNA version doesn't grab the subtitle either, so that's bad. Acquiring files via SMB isn't an option either since attempts to download any file result in the VLC app crashing.

EDIT: Oh great! Looks like the new update doesn't grab the subtitle either! Boo!

The missing subtitles in Plex are a known problem in the release. The fix wasn't ready in time.

For the other behavioral change, I will forward that to our plex guy. In my opinion, VLC behaves more correctly now, but well, maybe we could also introduce an option or something.

Thanks for the response.

While the truncated names in plex are fine for display, retaining the truncated names for downloaded files messes up VLC's file organisation. For example, VLC no longer recognizes the file as a TV show. Most often, only the episode title is retained, no season/episode/show information. The inconsistency is also problematic. Depending on where in plex's navigation the file is acquired from, the naming convention will vary. In these respects, the simpler file naming convention in the previous version was more helpful. An option to revert to that naming convention would be greatly appreciated.

Just a quick follow-up: version 2.7.1 restores the previous behavior to use the original file (if provided by the server) instead of the display name when saving media. No option needs to be set, it just works as is.