One thing to keep in mind is Infuse will keep local collections and streamed collections separate.
For example, if you have these files added to Infuse on your Mac using the ‘Local Folder’ option then collections you create with these items would not be available on other devices, as those devices would not have a way to actually access those files.
However, if you have the other devices set to stream files from this Mac (via something like SMB) creating a collection with files from the SMB connection (on any device) would then be available on all devices.
and like magic…I now see the custom collection on the iPad.
I did recreate the share, and update the mac side to 8.1.6, so one of those two worked. Wish I had done them one at a time.
Thank you guys for the help, and have a great weekend.