Multiple [Quality] Versions of the Same Movie

[Jossk]

I know Jellyfin can handle it fine, but has anyone come across a reason to do so? For example, if I have the Porco Rosso 1080p Blueray version ripped, is there a reason to have 480p DVD version as well?

I'm just trying to see figure out if it's worth my time ripping the DVD if I have the Blueray.

Thanks

[Efficient_Good_5784]

There are a few reasons people would want to have multiple versions for a single file. A popular one would be to have a director's cut and regular version together. If you don't care about having both, just choose which you want to keep and discard the other.

For having multiple versions of different resolutions each, this is usually done to have a pre-transcoded file. Some people want to avoid transcoding in real-time when someone wants to watch something remotely. Having a small file already available means that the playback will be faster since there's no transcoding to be done. All that would be in your way would be the network speed, but since the resolution is already lower than the original, the network will handle it easier.

It's up to you if you want to waste storage space on having lower-quality files of movies coexisting with the full HD or UHD copies.
It's a tradeoff that you make when it comes to your server.

[ThomasPGH]

I know Jellyfin can handle it fine...

Actually, it can't. There's tons of bugs that were introduced with the 10.10. versions that never got fixed.

Jellyfin infrequently refuses to add films with multiple versions to collections.
When you start one version, the Continue Watching section lists all of the different versions.
If you later delete a version, you'll never get rid of it. It seems the database is never cleaned up properly.

Also, if a film with multiple versions is part of a collection, the collection's XML file grows infinitely with every single library scan. You'll end up with thousands of duplicate entries.

I would recommend that you try to avoid multiple versions since the issues are so obvious that it can easily be deducted that none of the devs are using this feature.

For example, if I have the Porco Rosso 1080p Blueray version ripped, is there a reason to have 480p DVD version as well?

I'm just trying to see figure out if it's worth my time ripping the DVD if I have the Blueray.

Apart from the beforementioned reasons, are you sure you would like a 480p video in your library? This looks awful on a modern TV or PC screen.

[ThomasPGH]

Actually, it can't. There's tons of bugs that were introduced with the 10.10. versions that never got fixed.

Sorry, I got that wrong. Just found this:
https://forum.jellyfin.org/t-broken-coll...-nfo-files

It started with the 10.9. series already and no one else seems to have noticed, indicating that I may be the only one on this planet who stores multiple versions of a film on their Jellyfin.

[flo f]

Actually, it can't. There's tons of bugs that were introduced with the 10.10. versions that never got fixed.

Sorry, I got that wrong. Just found this:
https://forum.jellyfin.org/t-broken-coll...-nfo-files

It started with the 10.9. series already and no one else seems to have noticed, indicating that I may be the only one on this planet who stores multiple versions of a film on their Jellyfin.

You're not. I used to do that until 2 weeks ago. I kept 4k and 1080p versions next to each other. I was running jellyfin on a hardware that couldn't transcode 4k videos so I had a library for remote users and another account for myself for various clients, but then I also wanted to watch in 4k on my TV locally. But it was such a mess, even with a plugin that was supposed to make it better. I never got a proper display of watched/unwatched videos for example. So I gave up and moved to a setup that is able to transcode multiple 4k streams at the same time.

[Jossk]

There are a few reasons people would want to have multiple versions for a single file. A popular one would be to have a director's cut and regular version together. If you don't care about having both, just choose which you want to keep and discard the other.

For having multiple versions of different resolutions each, this is usually done to have a pre-transcoded file. Some people want to avoid transcoding in real-time when someone wants to watch something remotely. Having a small file already available means that the playback will be faster since there's no transcoding to be done. All that would be in your way would be the network speed, but since the resolution is already lower than the original, the network will handle it easier.

It's up to you if you want to waste storage space on having lower-quality files of movies coexisting with the full HD or UHD copies.
It's a tradeoff that you make when it comes to your server.

Good points.

Is Jellyfin able to select the best version it doesn't have to transcode? Or does it take your selection and automatically transcode if needed? If the latter, then might as well only keep the highest quality UHD->BD->DVD.

As for the hardware, 32 TiB storage (which I'm only using ~5%), & 62 GiB of memory. Unfortunately, the CPU is underwhelming. Obviously streaming video wasn't even a consideration when TrueNAS designed it.


Remote viewing is one of the last things on my checklist, but I'll keep the information in mind when the time comes.

[ThomasPGH]

Is Jellyfin able to select the best version it doesn't have to transcode? Or does it take your selection and automatically transcode if needed? If the latter, then might as well only keep the highest quality UHD->BD->DVD.

No. Before 10.9 Jellyfin chose at least the 1080p version of a film over 4K on mobile devices as the default unless a different version was picked manually. Since 10.9 all clients default to 4K, resulting in downloading tens of gigabytes over 5G if you don't pay attention.

[theguymadmax]

Is Jellyfin able to select the best version it doesn't have to transcode? Or does it take your selection and automatically transcode if needed? If the latter, then might as well only keep the highest quality UHD->BD->DVD.

No. Before 10.9 Jellyfin chose at least the 1080p version of a film over 4K on mobile devices as the default unless a different version was picked manually. Since 10.9 all clients default to 4K, resulting in downloading tens of gigabytes over 5G if you don't pay attention.

That behavior was fixed in 10.10. Multiple versions sort alphabetically if the resolution is not in the filename: https://jellyfin.org/docs/general/server...f-versions

If resolution is in the filename, then it's sorted from highest(default) resolution to lowest.