The worst part is how starting these things makes everything worse for 2-4 weeks until you get used to it and then doesn’t really bring noticeable returns for another 2-4 weeks.
And the older you are before you start the longer it takes and harder it is to get going
Yeah, I do this for plex as well, and stash. I think if the file already exists in the directory vlc should use it. It’s up to you to generate them. That is exactly how cover art for albums on songs worked in VLC for a decade before they added the feature to pull cover art on the fly.