Default Multiple Version Selection

[ebr 16667]

1 hour ago, brothom said:

Is it a release? Is it a version? Who knows

The way I described above would allow the end user to decide.

 

[ABOhiccups 3]

Can you add a feature to make a specific version as default option?

[ebr 16667]

On 10/14/2025 at 1:02 AM, ABOhiccups said:

Can you add a feature to make a specific version as default option?

Hi.  Please read the discussion in this thread.

[YKEmbyMedia 4]

Hi,

I have the same complain on auto selection. May I ask to add an option to the server when checked, instead of auto selection it suggests the user to pick the version they like to play?

 

In my case I have 2 versions of movie: 4k remux and 4k web dolby vision version. I prefer the last one and know that I need to pick it from version list before hitting Play, which I might forget to do. And even after I picked the version I like, started watching, and then hit Back on remote control, Emby automatically swiched back to bluray version. So I have to pick again another version. And that is really annoying.

Moreover with tv series its even worse - going back afer each episode starts playing to pick the version I like is nightmare - there would be great if the popup dialog I spoke above included "Remember selection" checkbox for tv series.

 

I know it's not a critical thing as you might think and affects small amount of users, but from user perspective having this dialog would resolve most of issues discussed ear6in this topic.

[ebr 16667]

10 hours ago, YKEmbyMedia said:

May I ask to add an option to the server when checked, instead of auto selection it suggests the user to pick the version they like to play?

 

[Zeckro 8]

On 12/17/2025 at 6:38 PM, YKEmbyMedia said:

Hi,

I have the same complain on auto selection. May I ask to add an option to the server when checked, instead of auto selection it suggests the user to pick the version they like to play?

 

In my case I have 2 versions of movie: 4k remux and 4k web dolby vision version. I prefer the last one and know that I need to pick it from version list before hitting Play, which I might forget to do. And even after I picked the version I like, started watching, and then hit Back on remote control, Emby automatically swiched back to bluray version. So I have to pick again another version. And that is really annoying.

Moreover with tv series its even worse - going back afer each episode starts playing to pick the version I like is nightmare - there would be great if the popup dialog I spoke above included "Remember selection" checkbox for tv series.

 

I know it's not a critical thing as you might think and affects small amount of users, but from user perspective having this dialog would resolve most of issues discussed ear6in this topic.

Just accept that any changes regarding the handling of multiple versions will never happen. While your suggestion should not and never be default – I do think that this could be annoying after some time but I personally would accept this as a temporary solution before making customization for version defaults possible –, an optional user setting for this could easily prevent unnecessary negative feedback and would help the users who are unhappy with the current default version implementation, not even mentioning that this is easier to implement than default version customizing. But alas, 8 pages of discussion in almost 8 years in this thread (plus multiple similar threads) did nothing and apparently do not suffice for changes to be made in the handling of multiple versions.

[Luke 42989]

Hi, we plan to improve on this in future updates. Thanks.

[Zeckro 8]

1 hour ago, Luke said:

Hi, we plan to improve on this in future updates. Thanks.

Great to hear, I sincerely hope so but I am skeptical. Let's see what becomes of this plan one year in the future.

[mattyg8 23]

@LukeAfter reading through that thread it seems its not going to be an option.

 

I know in some apps you can set playback to 4k-200 mbps or 1080-60 mbps and is should pick the one based on this but some apps like emby apple tv and android tv you can only set the max to 1000 mbps and not chose either 4k or 1080

[mattyg8 23]

On 8/15/2026 at 12:31 AM, mattyg8 said:

@LukeAfter reading through that thread it seems its not going to be an option.

 

I know in some apps you can set playback to 4k-200 mbps or 1080-60 mbps and is should pick the one based on this but some apps like emby apple tv and android tv you can only set the max to 1000 mbps and not chose either 4k or 1080

@Lukeany thoughts on this? Thanks 

[Luke 42989]

On 8/17/2026 at 7:18 AM, mattyg8 said:

@Lukeany thoughts on this? Thanks 

hi, the apple tv app has the same quality selection features that you see in our other apps.

[Ockingshay 4]

For my UFC events there are usually 3 versions of the event and the file names end  -early prelims, -prelims, -main event respectively. Drop-down list works perfectly for selecting and playing the different versions but the order should always be early prelims, prelims and main event and that isn’t always the case. 
 

Really does need to be a manual way of choosing the sort order 

[ebr 16667]

2 hours ago, Ockingshay said:

Really does need to be a manual way of choosing the sort order

That's really not what versions are designed for.  In fact those aren't versions of the same thing at all so that isn't even multiple editions.  Those other two items are really extras...

[mattyg8 23]

On 8/22/2026 at 3:54 AM, Luke said:

hi, the apple tv app has the same quality selection features that you see in our other apps.

Yes but some apps let you select up to 1000 mbps or 4k -200 / 1080-60

So if you can only select 1000mps it will default to 4k file where on some apps if you select 1080 - 60 it will default to 1080 file. Its not universal across apps.
 

Can we please add this to the android tv app

Edited August 24 by mattyg8

[mattyg8 23]

On 8/25/2026 at 7:31 AM, mattyg8 said:

Yes but some apps let you select up to 1000 mbps or 4k -200 / 1080-60

So if you can only select 1000mps it will default to 4k file where on some apps if you select 1080 - 60 it will default to 1080 file. Its not universal across apps.
 

Can we please add this to the android tv app

@ebrCould it be possible to make this available in the Android Tv app.
Currently can set playback to 1000 Mbps
Would be good to have it the same as the others:
Up to 4k - 200Mpbs
Up to 1080p - 60 Mbps

This should then allow people to set to max 1080 and then it will play the 1080 version if both exist

Thanks

[Ockingshay 4]

On 22/08/2026 at 20:02, ebr said:

That's really not what versions are designed for.  In fact those aren't versions of the same thing at all so that isn't even multiple editions.  Those other two items are really extras...

Hi Ebr, although not as originally intended, it does work perfectly for this scenario. 
 

it’s a bit more nuanced than being extras as it’s really 1 event, broken into multiple sections. It is always only one event, eg ufc fight night XXX and then during that event there will be a prelim section that is free to watch (to entice you to buy the main event) and then the main event itself. As I have fight pass I record them both and then add them to the same episode and just rename the end of the file -prelim or -main event.
 

rather than merging the files together to have 1 giant event, it’s better to be able to select the section you want to watch, so you can get to the specific fight you want quicker. 
 

the only issue is that the order isn’t always correct, but on the grand scheme of things doesn’t really matter, but for the more traditional logic of say theatrical vs extended, it would be nice that theatrical is always first in the list as the director’s cut always comes chronologically after. 
 

I also do it for episodes of tv shows when they split into part 1, part 2 on the disk (or on tv cos they need to be only 1hr segments) but tvdb for example doesn’t give them separate episode numbers. This way the metadata lines up and Happens more often than you think. 
 

being able to select a version via a dropdown is one of the main reasons I moved from plex and is a lot more than just using it to select a format more compatible with your player, eg 4k and 720p

Edited 14 hours ago by Ockingshay

[ebr 16667]

13 hours ago, Ockingshay said:

the only issue is that the order isn’t always correct, but on the grand scheme of things doesn’t really matter, but for the more traditional logic of say theatrical vs extended, it would be nice that theatrical is always first in the list as the director’s cut always comes chronologically after. 

And that's the problem.  Our current versions aren't for different parts or different editions.  We have logic in each app to choose the version that best plays on the device so using them in they way you are is never really going to work out like you want.

We have in our future plans to introduce the concept of "Editions" which would allow this type of thing.

[mattyg8 23]

On 8/26/2026 at 11:25 AM, mattyg8 said:

@ebrCould it be possible to make this available in the Android Tv app.
Currently can set playback to 1000 Mbps
Would be good to have it the same as the others:
Up to 4k - 200Mpbs
Up to 1080p - 60 Mbps

This should then allow people to set to max 1080 and then it will play the 1080 version if both exist

Thanks

@ebranything on this please