General Discussion - Collection vs Playlist

[Jey2024 33]

Hi, I'm planning to set up a Marvel Universe movie collection. As you know, this involves multiple collections, so I'm thinking of creating one custom collection and tagging all the movies into that collection to keep it organized. I edited the metadata sort titles and renamed them as 01, 02, 03, etc., and when I sort by title, it works perfectly.

While exploring this option, I also stumbled upon Playlists. I tried creating a playlist as well and managed to get the same great result. Both the collection and the playlist appear on my home screen. Both serve my purpose, but I'd like to hear your thoughts on whether you would choose a collection or a playlist for this kind of setup, and why

[Luke 42077]

Hi, the primary difference is that collections can hold anything, including containers such as series. Playlists are media files only.

[Jey2024 33]

17 hours ago, Luke said:

Hi, the primary difference is that collections can hold anything, including containers such as series. Playlists are media files only.

Awesome, for now I just needed to nest my movies. 

[brothom 177]

@Jey2024I personally had some issues using the collections. They can't be sorted after the fact unless you're using the sort title which might ruin other collections.

I prefer using playlists for my movies and episodes, especially Marvel/DC, Star Wars and Star Trek because of their complexity.
The main advantages to using a playlist is that (each) episodes can be easily adjusted / placed.

For example after The Mandalorian Season 2, The Book of Boba Fett season 1 is chronologically correct , followed by The Mandalorian Season 3. 

Another example would be that Loki Season 2 takes place áfter Guardian of the Galaxy Vol 3, Black Panther, Moon Knight, etc.

Dragging playlist entries is a chore tho, since there's no "bulk drag" (yet).

Edited July 30, 2025 by brothom

[Jey2024 33]

8 minutes ago, brothom said:

@Jey2024I personally had some issues using the collections. They can't be sorted after the fact unless you're using the sort title which might ruin other collections.

I prefer using playlists for my movies and episodes, especially Marvel/DC, Star Wars and Star Trek because of their complexity.
The main advantages to using a playlist is that (each) episodes can be easily adjusted / placed.

For example after The Mandalorian Season 2, The Book of Boba Fett season 1 is chronologically correct , followed by The Mandalorian Season 3. 

Another example would be that Loki Season 2 takes place áfter Guardian of the Galaxy Vol 3, Black Panther, Moon Knight, etc.

Dragging playlist entries is a chore tho, since there's no "bulk drag" (yet).

Thanks for sharing that. Yea I agree the sort order could mess up if i have other collections. For now I;m just trying to figure things out. But playlist looks really cool and easy to use

[brothom 177]

3 minutes ago, Jey2024 said:

Thanks for sharing that. Yea I agree the sort order could mess up if i have other collections. For now I;m just trying to figure things out. But playlist looks really cool and easy to use

Yep. They are easy to use but having large playlists might become a little annoying at times. The same can be said for any number of large dataset though. Good luck!

[Jey2024 33]

I'm a bit confused.

With collections, I have a problem: I need to set the sort order manually on all my devices. On my Android TV, I don't see a sorting option at all. Is this normal? I even checked the playlist and don't see a sorting option. However, when I use the Android phone app, I can see sorting options, etc.

[Jey2024 33]

Ok so I'm not sure if this is a bug. When I first open my collection on my Android TV, it's not sorted the way I want. However, when I click All items, I see a sorting option and can sort by name. But when I go back to the collection's home screen, it does not sort the items according to my sort title.

[Luke 42077]

On 7/30/2025 at 11:30 PM, Jey2024 said:

I'm a bit confused.

With collections, I have a problem: I need to set the sort order manually on all my devices. On my Android TV, I don't see a sorting option at all. Is this normal? I even checked the playlist and don't see a sorting option. However, when I use the Android phone app, I can see sorting options, etc.

Hi.  Can you try searching for our standard android app (Just "Emby" on Amazon and "Emby for Android on Google) on the same device's app store and see how that compares?

Thanks.

 

[Jey2024 33]

Thanks @LukeI installed Emby for Android and it is working great. I can see the sorting option. But what is the difference between  Emby for Android and  Emby for Android TV? What I had was Emby for Android TV. 

[Luke 42077]

8 hours ago, Jey2024 said:

Thanks @LukeI installed Emby for Android and it is working great. I can see the sorting option. But what is the difference between  Emby for Android and  Emby for Android TV? What I had was Emby for Android TV. 

HI, Emby for Android is the direction we are moving towards as it is one app for all devices. Thanks.

[Jey2024 33]

You're a champ! thanks