When playback fails ("File is missing"), offer the other copy of the same title on the server

[matcha4ever67]

What happened

My Plex server has Lilo & Stitch (2002) in two libraries (Disney and Movies). One of the two files is missing on disk. In PlxNative, search lists the title twice, once per library. Picking the broken copy ends on:

Playback failed — The server cannot play or convert this file
File is missing
PlxNative 0.8.0 · webOS 10.3.0 · k24n · K24N_ATSC · BOARD_DV_1ST · decision_refused

The only actions are Change quality and Back. Change quality retries the same file, so it can't help when the file itself is gone. Picking the other search result plays fine, but I only found it because search happened to list both.

For comparison, Plex Web shows the title once with a Choose Source menu listing both libraries, and the official Plex app let me switch to the working copy the same way.

What I found in the code

• The "Also available" lookup never runs on an account with a single server (data/src/metadata.rs, request_alt_sources: others.len() < 2 returns early).
• Even with several servers, the "Also available" pill only appears when the copies are on different servers (alt_available counts distinct servers), so two libraries on the same server never get it.

Suggestion

1. Let the "Also available" lookup find copies in other libraries on the same server, not just on other servers.
2. When /decision refuses with generalDecisionCode 2000 and another copy is known, show a Play other copy action on the failure screen beside Back. I'd still pick the copy myself, so it keeps the rule that the app never chooses a copy for you.

Setup

• TV: LG OLED77B5PUA (2025), webOS 10.3.0 (board k24n)
• PlxNative 0.8.0 (release)
• One Plex server, remote connection, PMS 1.43.4

[matcha4ever67]

Update: I found out why one copy fails. In Plex Web, Get Info on the broken copy shows the file as Unavailable, with a Deleted At date. The file was deleted from disk, but Plex keeps the item in the library until the trash is emptied. The other copy is the real file.

So the server already reports the problem before playback starts. PlxNative doesn't read the deletedAt field anywhere, so it can't tell the broken copy from the working one. An idea: mark or hide items whose media has deletedAt set, the way Plex Web shows "Unavailable". Then the broken copy wouldn't look playable in the first place.

(For anyone else who hits this: emptying the library's trash in Plex removes the broken copy.)