Usage¶

The settings page, section by section. Open it under Dashboard, Plugins, QualityGate. The screenshots come from a demo server with two of the Blender open films and six invented users; nothing on them is a real person or a real server.

Policies¶

A policy is a name and a Maximum Resolution. That field is the only one that restricts playback: the filename patterns, If No Match Found and Max Bitrate on the same card have enforced nothing since 3.4.0.0, and Configuration lists them. Set Default Policy to the policy everyone gets unless assigned otherwise, and API key and anonymous requests to cap integrations and unauthenticated requests, which carry no user.

The top of the settings page: the note that each policy's Maximum Resolution is what restricts playback, and the first policy card, named 720p Only

User Access¶

One row per Jellyfin user. Assigned Policy is your explicit choice; Effective Access is what the user actually gets after the default is applied. Full access is an explicit choice that beats the default, which is how you exempt one person while everyone else inherits it. A row that reads Denied (invalid policy) points at a policy that was deleted or disabled; Configuration says how to give that user playback back.

The User Access table: alex on Full Access, guest on 480p Guest, kids-room on 720p Only, and admin, robin and sam on Use Default, whose effective access is the default 1080p Family

Version Grouping¶

Tick Group an encoded copy with its original and a movies library shows Film.mkv and Film - 720p.mkv as one film with two versions when both files sit in the same folder, whatever that folder is called. The Media Info dialog of a film lists both. A capped viewer is offered the version within their cap; an unrestricted viewer gets the original first. One library, two qualities has the naming rule and what to check before switching it on.

The Media Info dialog of Sintel: two media sources, Sintel (2010).mkv at 3840x2160 and Sintel (2010) - 720p.mkv at 1280x720, in one film

Encode Priority¶

Tick Prioritise encodes for capped viewers, add an encoder, give it the folder as Jellyfin sees it and the height it produces, and choose where the list is written. The Serves line says which policies' viewers this encoder can help. Preview (dry run) builds the list without writing it, and Status shows what a run would write: the items capped viewers are about to watch that still have no version within their cap. Encode priority has the encoder side and the findings.

The Encode Priority section: one encoder named Movies over /media/movies producing 720p and serving two groups of viewers, and a preview list with Tears of Steel (800p) at rank 1 because a capped viewer has it in Continue Watching

Watching the cap hold¶

Dashboard shows every active playback, one card per device. For a capped viewer playing a film above their cap, the info button on the card says Transcoding; a viewer whose film has a copy within the cap plays that copy directly. Both are correct. The card does not print the size; GET /Sessions does, as TranscodingInfo.Height, and it must not exceed the cap. Being served a height above the cap is wrong, and Troubleshooting starts from there.

The dashboard while kids-room, capped at 720p, plays Tears of Steel, whose source is 1920x800: the device card shows the client, the film and kids-room