So about the end of last year Plex began pushing/forcing a trailer row in apps(Not to be confused with the Trailers server side settings). This row will show up in your Movie discovery queue as it’s own row. End users have no control over the content that is showing in the row, and the row can not be disabled. We have started multiple topics trying to have the devs/engineers add a way to control this “feature”. Plex devs have chimed in here or there in the topics but no change.
Here are the links of past topics.
One user even made a Plex Pass Feature Request to disable this row due to the lack of interest/progress from Plex on removing this row.
Users have been trying to have Plex add a toggle or way to control this due to two main issues.
Users with Kids have no control over the content of this row, it does not adhere to parental guidance and can not be disabled.
Users feel this is Plex building the frame work to start adding Ads to our library. Users are starting to feel they are losing control on what will show up in their library, there are no options to opt out of this row, or to customize the content. In the future this could be expanded to advertise shows/movies by providers. They could even choose to have this row always be the top row in the discovery queue if Plex really wanted.
The only reason why I am posting here in the general discussions forum is to help bring in more of the community in on the discussion. We’ve been trying for five months to have Plex listen to us and address the issue. Are you the community okay with Plex adding this and other similar features?
I really think Plex is working to add this row in as a test. I think the next iteration will also be included in TV Shows. Once the content is added Plex would then have a way to inject ads/content into your Plex Library and collect ad revenue from users. Free users will have no control over the row other than maybe parental settings and as an additional Plex Pass perk users can disable the row.
In the meantime I feel Plex should stop using this feature and disable it until they have proper server side settings and parental controls in place.
@rlobbins said:
So about the end of last year Plex began pushing/forcing a trailer row in apps(Not to be confused with the Trailers server side settings). This row will show up in your Movie discovery queue as it’s own row.
That was not the intent. It was in hopes to provide users information on other movies that are out there.
End users have no control over the content that is showing in the row, and the row can not be disabled. We have started multiple topics trying to have the devs/engineers add a way to control this “feature”. Plex devs have chimed in here or there in the topics but no change.
We are aware of these threads and the request. However, we are currently busy on other things and adding an option to customize the hubs has not been added. We’ve seen the same request for hiding/rearranging other hubs. It’s something we hope to be able to offer in the future.
@MovieFan.Plex said:
We are aware of these threads and the request. However, we are currently busy on other things and adding an option to customize the hubs has not been added. We’ve seen the same request for hiding/rearranging other hubs. It’s something we hope to be able to offer in the future.
I am sure the community isn’t saying scrap it based on the feedback, we just would have liked to know it was going to show up and a way to opt out. A nice compromise on the Plex team’s behalf would have been to leave it disabled or hidden until the entire feature set has been built out. This fixes the issue with the users being upset and the lack of change on this issue.
That was not the intent. It was in hopes to provide users information on other movies that are out there.
I am really confused on why Plex thinks it’s there job to promote movies for studios? They do this themselves though millions of dollars of advertising and it pays off for them already. They don’t need your help for it.
So my only conclusion is you guys receive some sort of ad revenue for each trailer viewed.
You need to undo this option until you can implement it correctly and fully or add a on/off switch for the time being.
The trailers are coming from the same place as all other trailers. They are not stored on your computer, only a link back to the original source so they can be streamed if you want.
@MovieFan.Plex said:
We are aware of these threads and the request. However, we are currently busy on other things and adding an option to customize the hubs has not been added. We’ve seen the same request for hiding/rearranging other hubs. It’s something we hope to be able to offer in the future.
I am sure the community isn’t saying scrap it based on the feedback, we just would have liked to know it was going to show up and a way to opt out. A nice compromise on the Plex team’s behalf would have been to leave it disabled or hidden until the entire feature set has been built out. This fixes the issue with the users being upset and the lack of change on this issue.
I wouldn’t be too sure about that - I am going to say “scrap it” (caveat: until you can make it opt-in only and something manageable). Honestly if I thought Google would offer a refund through the playstore I’d pursue it for the purchases on my kids accounts - other apps/games have faced the same fate when they’ve blurred the line between providing a feature and making a decision for customers.
We are aware of these threads and the request. However, we are currently busy on other things and adding an option to customize the hubs has not been added. We’ve seen the same request for hiding/rearranging other hubs. It’s something we hope to be able to offer in the future.
But were not too “busy” to add it, when it was a feature that no-one wanted? Sorry, don’t mean to sound snarky, but it seems contradictory to claim being busy whilst simultaneously adding unrequired features.
I haven’t updated PMS at home, because it’s stable and I have been put-off by bugs in subsequent versions that have been reported to cause issues with the server or the clients. This feature gives me one more reason not to update.
FWIW a feature like this ‘upcoming releases’ row wouldn’t be enough to encourage me to update, but if it’s broken it’s enough to discourage updating. Given that this is server side, and so not reliant on client-side apps having to go through vetting, I would think an immediate culling of the feature until it is better planned and implemented should be floated towards the top of the list.
@“MovieFan.Plex” Can we just have this disabled then if you guys don’t have time to finish this feature? I don’t get why the Plex team is fighting users so much on this issue.
Sorry, but that decision is above my pay grade. The high ups are aware some users do not like the feature, but then some users do. If they decide to make a change, I’ll provide an update. You can make a feature request for it and see how many people agree. This will help gauge the overall feeling towards the feature, for forums users at least.
@MovieFan.Plex said:
Sorry, but that decision is above my pay grade. The high ups are aware some users do not like the feature, but then some users do. If they decide to make a change, I’ll provide an update. You can make a feature request for it and see how many people agree. This will help gauge the overall feeling towards the feature, for forums users at least.
There already is a feature request for it to be disabled and multiple threads for it to go away or be optional disabled.
We get text book answers and no status updates on the problem at all. So can you understand the frustration? Not to mention alot of these users Pay to use this program and its plastered with ads. Who would want that? lol…
@Dion250 said:
There already is a feature request for it to be disabled and multiple threads for it to go away or be optional disabled.
Ok, found the request. I see there are 10 votes since the request was made in March. Again, not my decision but with 10 votes, its not going to be a priority for Plex to reconsider the feature.
We get text book answers and no status updates on the problem at all. So can you understand the frustration? Not to mention alot of these users Pay to use this program and its plastered with ads. Who would want that? lol…
I understand those that don’t like the feature are frustrated that it hasn’t been changed. This can be true for any feature request. But in my personal opinion, based on the level of feedback so far, I don’t see a push to have Plex change anything at this time. I’m not saying they wont, I have no say in the matter, this is just what I observe.
@MovieFan.Plex said:
Sorry, but that decision is above my pay grade. The high ups are aware some users do not like the feature, but then some users do. If they decide to make a change, I’ll provide an update. You can make a feature request for it and see how many people agree. This will help gauge the overall feeling towards the feature, for forums users at least.
?? A feature request required to remove a broken feature that was added without a feature request ??
Surely this is lunacy and I have entered some form of wormhole taking me to an alternate weird-world.
@MovieFan.Plex said:
Ok, found the request. I see there are 10 votes since the request was made in March. Again, not my decision but with 10 votes, its not going to be a priority for Plex to reconsider the feature.
Where is this feature request that I can vote on?
I understand those that don’t like the feature are frustrated that it hasn’t been changed. This can be true for any feature request. But in my personal opinion, based on the level of feedback so far, I don’t see a push to have Plex change anything at this time. I’m not saying they wont, I have no say in the matter, this is just what I observe.
With all respect, and you as a Plex Employee will sadly take the heat on this, I don’t think Plex does understand.
This is a feature that was added without a request for it.
This is a feature that is unmanageable.
This is a feature that exposes minors to content that they really should be exposed to - without adult consent or knowledge.
I’m sorry that Plex wont care, but if this feature doesn’t get removed I will never upgrade PMS and when that finally stops working find an alternative.
@jungwirth Only Plex Pass members can vote on the “Feature” request. I have the link to the request page in the first post.
@MovieFan.Plex said:
Sorry, but that decision is above my pay grade. The high ups are aware some users do not like the feature, but then some users do. If they decide to make a change, I’ll provide an update. You can make a feature request for it and see how many people agree. This will help gauge the overall feeling towards the feature, for forums users at least.
@“MovieFan.Plex” I think it is unfair and pretty contradictory of you to require us to put in a feature request to disable an incomplete feature, which you enabled but won’t disable or commit to a finish date due to lack of dev time. We have been complaining and having this exact same discussion for almost 6 months now, please stop fighting users. The main issue isn’t that it is there for most, its there is no way to filter or set content ratings on the row. And honestly from being a Plex Pass member for years that feature request forum is a joke. You maybe implement >1 thing a year regardless of how much it is voted on.
I guess based on the post above we are well past the point of the Plex team caring about users feedback, if it doesn’t fit into their plan then it isn’t worthwhile to even look at. Yet it is blasphemy for the community to ask for an update on in progress feature or issue, why even have a community forum…
@rlobbins said: @jungwirth Only Plex Pass members can vote on the “Feature” request. I have the link to the request page in the first post.
I think I knew that. As someone who has paid for numerous client apps but not the Plex Pass skeleton key I find it really disappointing that discussion like Feature Requests are behind that wall. And I’m sure I’ve said that before (and I know it probably wouldn’t matter because…
Plex really understands customer service.
And how!)
I’ll revisit an earlier remark on this though, because if I’m going to be told to participate in a pointless Feature Request vote process that I don’t have access to, I’m going to be a pedant about things:
@MovieFan.Plex said:
The high ups are aware some users do not like the feature, but then some users do.
Are you saying that some users like the fact that Plex can now broadcast restricted trailer content to minors?
Because whether intended or not that is the capability that was added to Plex.
As a footnote, if anyone at Plex cares about community proliferation or “influencers” anymore; at this point Plex is on a downward arc as far as I’m concerned. I’m sitting here thinking “thank god I haven’t updated PMS” (still on 1.14 I think). I’ve avoided issues with PMS on Ubuntu. I’ve avoided issues with disconnects. I’ve avoided issues with transcoding. The list goes on. And now I can add that I’ve avoided presenting R rated content to kids. The last is something Plex should be genuinely ashamed about not having pulled the second it was reported to them.
@jungwirth said:
?? A feature request required to remove a broken feature that was added without a feature request ??
Surely this is lunacy and I have entered some form of wormhole taking me to an alternate weird-world.
If something is broken, then please provide details and we can look into it. Not wanting this feature is not broken. Not all features that Plex introduces are those that are requested. There will always be things Plex will want to add.
With all respect, and you as a Plex Employee will sadly take the heat on this, I don’t think Plex does understand.
This is a feature that was added without a request for it.
Again, not all features are ones requested.
This is a feature that is unmanageable.
Understood and we are looking into this.
This is a feature that exposes minors to content that they really should be exposed to - without adult consent or knowledge.
This shouldn’t happen. The trailers should be based on the restrictions for a user. For the admin, since there are no restrictions, there are no restrictions on the trailers either. If you have other user accounts with restrictions, they should be followed. If there are no restrictions for a user, the trailers should be capped to PG-13. I’ll have to check how this translates to non-US ratings. If this isn’t working, please provide details and logs from PMS. This is something that I can help get changed.
I’m sorry that Plex wont care, but if this feature doesn’t get removed I will never upgrade PMS and when that finally stops working find an alternative.
Plex does care. We’ve had similar requests to customize other hub categories as well and hope to provide that ability in the future.
Apparently other people are reporting it. I’m reporting that I’m refusing to upgrade PMS until this is something configurable at the server side. And that I’m disappointed in it all.
I’m definitely not going to go live with testing the new version just to prove my point, but my small scale testing here has proven that it’s not working. It’s not capping trailers based on PG-13. And beyond that, ratings vary world wide and personally the way PMS matches that for our (Australian) market is not 100% anyway. I’ve seen “R” and “Unrated” trailers.
Beyond that: I can’t vote on it (not Plex Pass).
I’m at a loss to understand how Plex would conceivably require any more info than they already have at their disposal on this. I’m not going to spend time testing, logging and reporting back on something that has already been reported to Plex: that’s Plex’s job, I’ve got my own job.
Maybe Plex does “care”. Maybe they just don’t care enough, IMO. This isn’t about customisation at its core, this is about exposure. I’ve learned to live with, enjoy or ignore UI changes, this isn’t just a UI change though as it introduces non-curated content to my library. And that’s something completely different.
Look, do what you (Plex) will. No skin off my nose right now as I’ll just stay on my old version of PMS.
@MovieFan.Plex said:
If something is broken, then please provide details and we can look into it. Not wanting this feature is not broken. Not all features that Plex introduces are those that are requested. There will always be things Plex will want to add.
Since switching to Plex I have made 3 or 4 threads about bugs and things that could be fixed. I never get responses or acknowledgements on those either.
The only feature I have wanted added to Plex is the ability to remove the Ads all over my screen. I am so confused on how the Higher ups at Plex would think adding Ads is a “Feature”.
Plex really needs to put more effort into Customer Support…
@“MovieFan.Plex” Please see responses in these threads from @ChuckPA
That is how you handle concerns. Not by simply telling people to vote on feature requests they don’t have access to or asking them to post logs because you perceive it as ‘working as intended’ until proven otherwise. I would suggest also that you peruse the threads all linked here and count up the users complaining about this. You say only 10 people have voted on the feature request? Clearly more than 10 people have voiced their disapproval of this “feature” across all these (and there are other threads I do not have access to) threads - tends to indicate the ‘voting’ is next to meaningless as a metric for measuring interest.
This feature, and more pointedly, the response to it, are the sole reasons I have not gotten a plex pass. I have taken the time on our home network and devices to block advertisements, and this forces ads on me. I may be an outlier, but I prefer an ad-free life.
