Multi-Segment Episode Grouping / Continuous Playback

TronVonDoom

Some shows, especially older Cartoon Network series like Dexter’s Laboratory, originally aired as one broadcast episode containing multiple short segments. For example:

S01E01 aired as three segments: Deedeeemensional, Dial M for Monkey: Magmanamus, and Maternal Combat. There are some episodes that are split into two segments, and some that are one full length episode.

However, metadata sources and file naming conventions often split these into separate files:

  Dexter's Laboratory - S01E01 - ... Part 1.mkv
  Dexter's Laboratory - S01E02 - ... Part 2.mkv
  Dexter's Laboratory - S01E03 - ... Part 3.mkv

As a result, ErsatzTV currently treats each part as an independent episode, even though they are really just “segments” of a single broadcast.

Problem

Playback breaks the flow by inserting unrelated episodes between segments.
Scheduling makes multi-segment episodes feel disjointed and less authentic to how they originally aired.
Workarounds like file merging remove the flexibility of keeping metadata intact for each segment.

Proposal

Add support for multi-segment episode grouping, so ErsatzTV can:

Recognize that certain files are parts of a single broadcast episode.
Play them back-to-back as one continuous episode.
Allow grouping to be defined by:
- File naming conventions (e.g., CD1/CD2/CD3 or Part1/Part2/Part3), or
- A manual grouping feature in the UI (drag-and-drop or metadata tag).

Benefits

Preserves the original broadcast experience.
Avoids forcing users to permanently merge files.
Provides flexibility for shows with different segment counts per episode.
Could extend to other cases (e.g., anime specials split into two parts, miniseries aired in chunks).

Example Workflow

User imports three files named:

  Dexter's Laboratory - S01E01 - Title Part1.mkv  
  Dexter's Laboratory - S01E01 - Title Part2.mkv  
  Dexter's Laboratory - S01E01 - Title Part3.mkv

ErsatzTV automatically groups them under one broadcast episode S01E01.
When scheduled, all three play sequentially without interruption.

jason

What type of scheduling are you using? Classic schedules have had this feature for a very long time. See Keep Multi-Part Episodes Together at https://ersatztv.org/docs/scheduling/classic/

TronVonDoom

Still no dice. I feel like I'm still missing a piece to the puzzle.

My Test Process (So Far)

Local Library Setup

   /media/test_media/tv_shows/Dexter's Laboratory (1995) (Other)/Season 1/
   /media/test_media/tv_shows/Johnny Bravo (1997) (Other)/Season 1/

✅ No .nfo files → ErsatzTV is using filenames as episode titles.

Example filenames:

   Dexter's Laboratory - S01E01 - (Deedeeemensional; Dial M for Monkey Magmanamus; Maternal Combat) Part 1.mkv
   Dexter's Laboratory - S01E02 - (Deedeeemensional; Dial M for Monkey Magmanamus; Maternal Combat) Part 2.mkv
   Dexter's Laboratory - S01E03 - (Deedeeemensional; Dial M for Monkey Magmanamus; Maternal Combat) Part 3.mkv
   Dexter's Laboratory - S01E04 - (Dexter Dodgeball; Dial M for Monkey Rasslor; Dexter's Assistant) Part 1.mkv
   Dexter's Laboratory - S01E05 - (Dexter Dodgeball; Dial M for Monkey Rasslor; Dexter's Assistant) Part 2.mkv
   Dexter's Laboratory - S01E06 - (Dexter Dodgeball; Dial M for Monkey Rasslor; Dexter's Assistant) Part 3.mkv

   Johnny Bravo - S01E01 - (Johnny Bravo; Jungle Boy in Mr. Monkeyman; Johnny Bravo and the Amazon Women) Part 1.mkv
   Johnny Bravo - S01E02 - (Johnny Bravo; Jungle Boy in Mr. Monkeyman; Johnny Bravo and the Amazon Women) Part 2.mkv
   Johnny Bravo - S01E03 - (Johnny Bravo; Jungle Boy in Mr. Monkeyman; Johnny Bravo and the Amazon Women) Part 3.mkv
   Johnny Bravo - S01E04 - (Super Duped; Bungled in the Jungle; Bearly Enough Time) Part 1.mkv
   Johnny Bravo - S01E05 - (Super Duped; Bungled in the Jungle; Bearly Enough Time) Part 2.mkv
   Johnny Bravo - S01E06 - (Super Duped; Bungled in the Jungle; Bearly Enough Time) Part 3.mkv

Created Schedule
- Name: Test Cartoon Network
- Keep Multi-Part Episodes Together: ✅ Checked
- Shuffle Schedule Items: ✅ Checked
- Fixed Start Time Behavior: Strict
  
  Schedule Items:
- Start Type: Dynamic
- Collection Type: Television Show
- Show: Dexter’s Laboratory (1995)
- Playback Order: Multi-Episode Shuffle
- Playout Mode: One (also tried Multiple)
- Guide Mode: Normal
- Repeated same for Johnny Bravo (1997).
Created Playout
- Playout Type: Classic Schedule
- Channel: 201 – Test
- Schedule: Test Cartoon Network
- Previewed Playout

Observed Behavior

When I preview the playout, episodes are displayed like this (excerpt):

Johnny Bravo - s01e06 - Johnny Bravo - S01E06 (Super Duped; Bungled in the Jungle; Bearly Enough Time) Part 3
Dexter's Laboratory - s01e06 - Dexter's Laboratory - S01E06 (Dexter Dodgeball; Dial M for Monkey Rasslor; Dexter's Assistant) Part 3
Johnny Bravo - s01e01 - Johnny Bravo - S01E01 (Johnny Bravo; Jungle Boy in Mr. Monkeyman; Johnny Bravo and the Amazon Women) Part 1
Dexter's Laboratory - s01e01 - Dexter's Laboratory - S01E01 (Deedeeemensional; Dial M for Monkey Magmanamus; Maternal Combat) Part 1
Johnny Bravo - s01e02 - Johnny Bravo - S01E02 (Johnny Bravo; Jungle Boy in Mr. Monkeyman; Johnny Bravo and the Amazon Women) Part 2
Dexter's Laboratory - s01e02 - Dexter's Laboratory - S01E02 (Deedeeemensional; Dial M for Monkey Magmanamus; Maternal Combat) Part 2

So instead of grouping the “Part 1/2/3” together, ErsatzTV is interleaving them across shows.

My Goal (Example of What I Want)

Here’s the playback order I’m trying to achieve:

Dexter's Laboratory - S01E01 … Part 1
Dexter's Laboratory - S01E02 … Part 2
Dexter's Laboratory - S01E03 … Part 3

Johnny Bravo - S01E01 … Part 1
Johnny Bravo - S01E02 … Part 2
Johnny Bravo - S01E03 … Part 3

Dexter's Laboratory - S01E04 … Part 1
Dexter's Laboratory - S01E05 … Part 2
Dexter's Laboratory - S01E06 … Part 3

Johnny Bravo - S01E04 … Part 1
Johnny Bravo - S01E05 … Part 2
Johnny Bravo - S01E06 … Part 3

Troubleshooting I’ve Tried

Adjusted Playback Order and Playout Mode in different combinations.
Tried turning shuffle on/off.
Renamed files to match the format shown in the docs (e.g., s05e02 - Whatever Part 1.mkv, without the show name in front).
Rescanned the library after renaming.

So far, none of these changes have grouped the parts into a single broadcast block.

My Question

If you were creating a schedule to achieve my desired playback order, what exact steps would you take?

jason

Playback Order: Multi-Episode Shuffle

Multi-Episode Shuffle is a different feature, just use Shuffle.

Playout Mode: One (also tried Multiple)

This says play one item from the schedule item (collection), then move on to the next schedule item, which is exactly how it's behaving. Multi-episode grouping is about sorting, which is independent of however many items you instruct it to actually add to the playout. You can see that things are sorted correctly, there's just a misunderstanding about scheduling/playout mode.

I think you probably want one collection with both shows (probably a Smart Collection). They will be shuffled together, and grouped episodes from either show will be in the proper order. You can also then disable Shuffle Schedule Items because there will only be one schedule item, and you can set the playout mode to Flood (play forever).