What are Cinema Trailers and Extras?
Extras
It’s possible to make your movie library richer by adding “Extras” to it. These are things like trailers, deleted scenes, behind the scenes features, and more.
Cinema Trailers
The “Cinema Trailers” feature is designed to let you watch movies with an experience more like a real cinema. When you start playing a movie, instead of the movie starting immediately, you can have some trailers automatically play before the movie. It’s like going to a cinema theater without the sticky floors!
You can use settings in your Plex Media Server to determine what sort of trailers you see. It could be other unwatched movies from your own library or even new and upcoming releases to the theater or Blu-ray.
Related Page: Extras
Related Page: Cinema Trailers & Extras - Plex Web App
Related Page: Why won't trailers or extras play?
Plex Media Server Support
You’ll want to make sure you’re running a compatible version of Plex Media Server. You need to have version 0.9.9.13 or newer.
Warning!: Older versions of Plex Media Server will not support the new features.
Related Page: Plex Downloads
How to Get Extras
You can add Extras to your library in one of two ways.
Automatic Extras
Users with a Plex Pass subscription can automatically have extras added to their library. These extras are sourced from a licensed online provider and will stream for you as needed.
Note: Automatic extras requires an active Plex Pass subscription. These extras are not downloaded and stored locally; they are streamed as-needed and thus require an active internet connection to use.
Please note that some movies may not have any extras available. Older or more obscure movies are less likely to have any extras automatically retrieved. You’ll need to ensure you have your Plex Media Server signed in to your Plex Account.
Related Page: Plex Pass
Related Page: Sign in to Your Plex Account
Related Page: How do I turn off Trailers and Extras from being retrieved?
Enabling Automatic Extras
Automatic extras are gathered via your metadata agents.
- Open Plex Web App
- Go to Settings > Server > Agents
- Select Movies in the top row
- Select Plex Movie in the second row
- Open the preferences for the Plex Movie agent
- Enable the Find trailers and extras automatically setting (see below)
- Now, select The Movie Database in the second row
- Make sure the Plex Movie agent is enabled (it does not need to be first in the list)
Tip!: By ensuring that things are configured for both primary metadata agents, you’ll be set in case you ever switch agents in the future or if some movies were matched with a different agent in the past.
Plex Movie Agent Preferences
The Plex Movie agent has several settings you can adjust, some of which are related to Trailers and Extras.
Relevant settings:
- Find trailers and extras automatically: When enabled, trailers and extras will automatically be retrieved for your movies when available.
- Use red band (restricted audiences) trailers when available: When a “red band” trailer is available, use that when adding a trailer to your Library.
- Include extras with subtitles in Library language: When available, include additional extras that have subtitles matching your Library’s language. (Most users will prefer to not have this enabled.)
Related Page: Scanners & Agents
Retrieving Automatic Extras
Once you’ve made sure your primary metadata agent has the Find trailers and extras automatically setting enabled, you can start gathering extras for your content. Extras are gathered when metadata for the movie is downloaded. Once the option is enabled, extras will automatically be retrieved (where available) for new movies added to your Library.
For content already in your Library, refreshing the metadata will check for extras. You can refresh individual items to update only that movie. You can Refresh All the entire Library to gather content for everything.
Related Page: Scanning vs Refreshing a Library
Local Extras Files
If you have your own extras video files, you can have those added to your Library.
- Ensure your content is named and organized appropriately (see the “Local Media Assets – Movies” guide linked below)
- Enable the “Local Media Assets” agent under your primary metadata agent
- Refresh your Library so it can pick up the new content
Related Page: Local Media Assets - Movies
Related Page: Scanning vs Refreshing a Library