I have an old (must be 20yo) budget bench dishwasher and never have any issue with anything not being clean. Never done pre-wash and often overpack it.

People who saw the TC video reading this post:

My dishwasher literally doesn't have a pre-rinse cycle, the first wash is the main one with the powder, so I get to avoid this whole conundrum! By which I mean, I do quickly wash them by hand if there's any obvious gunk, and no one would realistically tell me not to.

To those curious, it's this countertop one: https://www.midea.co.il/product/mdwmt030sw-w-il (couldn't find a product page in any other language)

The compartment for the detergent has no lid, so the powder drops as soon as you close it.

It also does not have anywhere to put rinse aid, but a bottle of some was included when I bought it new. Great attention to details.

I never pre-rinse and I never have any problems. Not using pods and adding soap to the pre-wash cup as per the manufacturer instructions made the real difference.

My dispenser door is permanently jammed Open,so i had to reluctantly Switch to pods for the Timed Release. Powder is better imo.

If you haven't cleaned your filter recently I will recommend you double check it. It's probably not it, but it's an easy thing to check

Pre-rinsing is the hill I'm willing to die on.