Good morning all (depending on your timezone i guess). Join me in welcoming our new mod /u/optipr. He is also the mod for /r/usenet.

This may be something that’s only useful for me, but I figured I’d post it in case someone else wants to use or adapt it.

I have two boxes that I use with Plex. They share network folders between them, so when I need to reboot and restart Plex after OS updates, I have to reboot Server‑1 first and Server‑2 second so everything is ready when the shares come back up. I’m sure there’s a “better” way to architect this, but it’s worked well enough that I haven’t felt the need to change it.

I also got tired of waiting until the user count was low enough to reboot without kicking too many people at once.

These scripts let me schedule both reboots at once for a specific time. The defaults are:

Reboot tomorrow at 1:00 AM

5‑minute delay between Server‑1 and Server‑2

Flow:

T‑2 minutes: Use a Tautulli helper script to send an in‑player message that Plex is going to reboot, then terminate all active streams.

T‑1 minute: Stop the Plex Docker container so nobody can start a new stream.

T: Schedule both reboots using the at job scheduler (man page).

Reboot Server‑1 at T, then reboot Server‑2 5 minutes later (by default).

Plex comes back in Docker via restart: always in the container definition.

I’m not a programmer by trade, so a lot of this was done with the help of AI and then tuned by hand.

The versions in GitHub are anonymized, but anyone comfortable with Linux should be able to adjust hostnames, ports, SSH key paths, and Tautulli details for their own environment.

I don’t know how many people will find this useful, but I wanted to share it anyway. One thing I’ve wanted for a long time is a way to message users about reboots without immediately killing streams; this was the best solution I could come up with using Tautulli’s “terminate stream” endpoint. Hopefully one day Plex will add a separate “message only” endpoint so we can send live in‑player warnings.

GitHub repo: <https://github.com/EricH9958/schedule-reboots>

I don't currently have a description in the sidebar and will be adding one soon. What do we want this sub to be about? Is it for showcasing new apps, discussions of Plex issues etc. Do we want to allow random videos and gifs related to Plex or not even Plex related? Let me know your thoughts.

I've also been thinking of setting up a Discord channel for this. Thoughts on this?

I've seen a few videos talking about how terrible the panel moderator was and how terribly the cast was treated. I love the show but have no idea why they were at this event and who the moderator was.

https://www.imdb.com/news/ni65882884/?ref_=ttnw_art_perm

It feels like every day we get new apps posted that are pretty clearly AI coded. As a group how do we feel about AI generated projects? Do we allow them? What about security concerns?

I'm not a programmer so I don't have the skills needed to dig into the code to check these projects.

My wife and I were on a ramp between the main concourse and the parking lot and saw a guy with a full body camera rig on going around taking exterior shots. In like the third go around we both noticed that they all had IMAX shirts in. Soooo maybe there will be an IMAX version of the show?

Would be weird to see my wife and I show up in the exterior shots.

Accounts and cloud sync

https://preview.redd.it/qgzkrp1zy72h1.jpg?width=1340&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=11a2b3efaf0d35b52446bc7fcb18ae9ce8470698

The biggest structural addition since 2.0. There is now a free account system shared across the site. Sign in and your badge presets, named configs, custom fonts, and lab preferences follow you across devices automatically. Server connection details live in your account too, so setting up on a second machine is just sign in and go and fully secured through clerk, no more browser based api key or credential saving.

The Pro tier unlocks the server integrations and additional font/separator uploads (30 day free trial). The core design tools stay free.

Badges

https://preview.redd.it/07prfbacz72h1.jpg?width=1585&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=9e0147689464433c699acd0d262093679fb911d4

Poster Lab now has a proper badge system with three independent slots:

• 4K
• HDR / Dolby Vision
• Audio codec

All three render together on the canvas. There are 38+ styles across the categories and the whole panel collapses in the sidebar until you need it. Size is a continuous slider rather than small/medium/large presets. Named presets let you save combinations like "4K + DV + Atmos" and switch between them in one click from both the sidebar and the Quick Edit Bar.

Dark Matte and Criterion overlays

https://preview.redd.it/t33vy7chz72h1.jpg?width=1582&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=cf80ec95b3cc7735f6a935bbc94466f472e5358e

Two new overlays added to Poster Lab.

Dark Matte this one is a big favorite around here, now anyone can make them with ease!

Criterion Spine is a full recreation of the Criterion Collection format with four independent colour pickers for the logo, spine box, year box, and font. It pulls the release year from metadata automatically.

Emby, Jellyfin, and Plex

https://preview.redd.it/rtw996psz72h1.png?width=3794&format=png&auto=webp&s=79ba4299d1e5d29b6811cc53f57aeebf781677df

https://preview.redd.it/hk6i75kuz72h1.png?width=3800&format=png&auto=webp&s=1c6323f75138fb00b0e9ba9077f2bbc1e05d9a53

Both labs now connect directly to your media server. The Emby and Jellyfin integration gives you a browsable library dashboard with genre, quality, and filter controls, grid and list view, and bulk selection. You can load existing artwork from the server onto the canvas and push replacements back without touching the server interface.

Poster Lab also has a Quality Rules system that auto-applies badge presets based on media flags. Just set the preference in the emby dashboard and when you open a 4K Dolby Vision title from Emby the right badges are already configured, wont pull badges in unless you enable this preset option.

Emby and Jellyfin both use the same connection settings in account but you can toggle the theme to your preference based on what server you have. Note: Server must be behind a reverse proxy/tailscale funnel etc to be accessed.

Plex support landed recently with the same browsing, loading, and push capability. The connection flow is:

• Hit Connect with Plex
• Sign in through the Plex page in a popup
• Pick your server from the list

No token hunting, no URL copying.

Card Lab additions

https://preview.redd.it/kng4stej082h1.jpg?width=1543&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ea0a183b1b8709990548a7b006afcced64d030f3

A few things worth calling out specifically for Card Lab:

• Custom separator images. Upload a PNG or SVG to replace the default line between metadata and title, with size and vertical nudge controls
• Auto-loading configs. Named configs now apply automatically when you open a show they were saved for
• Pipe line breaks. Typing | in an episode title forces a line break at that point, useful for longer titles where automatic wrapping does not land where you want
• Push summary. After sending cards to Emby or Jellyfin the summary now lists each episode individually with its result rather than a generic count

Network logo placement

The network logo controls now have a nine-point anchor grid. Pick any corner, edge, or centre position and offset from there with sliders. Placements save as named presets that sync alongside your badge presets and season label presets.

Suggestion Page

https://preview.redd.it/ywmt5scw182h1.png?width=1687&format=png&auto=webp&s=53e35b5efa06ec74f4ae1b45a89e55ac239b6a8d

Lastly but not least, the site now has a Feature request page to be able to easy suggest new features, changes, vote for existing requests etc with updates on progress.

As usual the site can be found here: postertools.org

Was talking to a friend and our state Governor race came up. He started bitching about all the political ads and how they are really starting to ramp up. It then occurred to me that I haven't seen a political ad in years. The only thing I watch on live tv is baseball and I can't remember the last time I saw one during a game.

So here's to my Plex server keeping me from seeing all the shitty political ads that are on live tv.

Edit: Shit I jinxed myself. Turned on a baseball game and got three political ads in a row!!!