Yeah, VLC played it, but Plex didn’t recognize it. Just saying, could be something as simple as that since OP isn’t using VLC.

I was recently ripping some DVDs and a few in the process were being recognized as such. Turns out, they were simply missing “.MP4” for the file name.

The other advice is solid, and I agree with it all as of this posting. I did want to focus on the money thing.

I think you should accept the money. Some people, particularly older generations, view money as sign of respect, and turning down is against their understanding of social protocol.

You could even use it to get her a nice gift (flowers, cards, gift basket, etc).