Seek and scan#
Reel's seek controls allow movement through a title with accelerating scan behavior. A seek preview is a proposed destination until committed. Back cancels the seek interaction rather than treating every movement as a completed jump.
The current film-strip interface is enabled for Roku Ultra. Other devices retain the existing seek controls. Treat this as a Reel device gate, not a statement that every feature of Roku's platform is identical across all models.
Show a preview destination, switching to chapter browsing, and cancelling back to the original playback position.
Video preview thumbnails#
Reel uses available Plex preview data rather than generating a thumbnail sequence from the video on the Roku. If that data has not been generated for the selected media, enabling the interface cannot create it.
- In Plex Web, open the server's Settings → Library and configure Generate video preview thumbnails.
- Check that preview generation is enabled for the individual library as well.
- Allow the server's analysis work to finish for the title you intend to test.
Plex documents the server and library controls in Video Preview Thumbnails. Its Plex Movie library settings list Plex Pass as a requirement for preview generation. Generation consumes server resources and storage; make that choice at the server rather than assuming a client can supply missing data.
Chapter data#
Chapter browsing depends on the chapter positions supplied for the selected media. Chapter thumbnail generation is a separate Plex setting from video preview thumbnails. Enabling one should not be treated as proof that the other is available.
Inspect Generate chapter thumbnails under the server's Library settings and check the title's chapter data. Plex documents both controls in its Library settings reference.
When previews are missing#
First identify the device model and whether the Ultra film strip is expected. Then verify which media version is playing and whether PMS has finished generating data for that version. A title being present in a library does not prove its preview analysis is complete.
Separate missing frame previews from missing chapters, and both from a playback failure. A problem with auxiliary images is not evidence that the movie itself needs to be remuxed or re-encoded.