Plex for Roku

Topic to keep track of releases and associated changes.

• 1.0: original release
  
• 1.1: Fix for windows PMS discovery
  
• 1.2: Fix for one issue (http request timeout) causing the stuck at retrieving issue.
  
• 1.3: Fix for Linux PMS discovery
  
• 1.4: 9/3/11: PMS Server management, fix (hopefully) for stop after X mins, numerous UI tweaks and improvements.
  
• 1.5: 5.1 fixes, channel fixes, misc SRT fixes
  
• 1.6: 1/31/12: Various stability fixes
  
• 1.7: 2/22/12: Good number of bugfixes (5.1 limited to 6 channels, option to disable 5.1, mark as watched/unwatched, and more)

Scott pushed a new version to Roku, which should show up within 24 hours across the board. To see if you have the new version, go into your preferences. If it says “Preferences - 1.6”, you have the new version.



This include various stability fixes and a few 5.1 fixes that didn’t make it into 1.5. I believe that this update should also re-enable the channel for folks outside of the US, but I don’t have confirmation on that yet.



Moving on to 1.7!

We skipped a couple big releases here (my fault), but will try to keep release notes on this thread for reference. There are more details elsewhere, but here are some highlights for the 2.2 release.



[list]

[]Video artifacts/pixelation for transcoded content: significantly improved combined with PMS 0.9.6.1, essentially eradicated with PMS 0.9.6.2+

[]Dramatically improved load time for transcoded videos (when combined with PMS 0.9.6.1+)

[]Reduced 5.1 audio glitches for transcoded videos (when combined with PMS 0.9.6.1+)

[]Improved Direct Play logic in Automatic mode, especially MP4s that aren’t “web optimized” and files with various audio streams

[]Fixed audio transcoding and increased bitrate to 320kbps (when combined with PMS 0.9.6.1+)

[]Fixes for widescreen/anamorphic videos: should be either or fixed or much better than before, depending on your Roku version and display type

[]Handle PMS IP address changes

[]Improved PMS autodiscovery

[]Fix all crashes reported on the forums

[]Fix playback for certain HLS channels, especially “live” channels

[]Added a shuffle mode for audio playback

[]Improved a few error messages

[]Improved logging for troubleshooting, and added a way to get logs without requiring dev mode

[]Probably some other small things

[/list]

Version 2.4 has just been released to the Roku Channel Store. Highlights include:



[list]

[]Added 10, 12, and 20 Mbps quality settings. Note that these require a really good network connection on your Roku, use at your own risk.

[]Tweak server discovery. Discovery should succeed more often on most simple home networks.

[]Fix Direct Play of files with mono audio.

[]Fix list of languages for which Roku supports soft subtitles.

[]Fix crash when playing certain items from the queue (e.g. Blip.tv).

[]Rework preferences, move things most users shouldn’t touch under Advanced Preferences.

[]Add some basic slideshow preferences, like duration for each slide.

[]Fixes to work with some channel updates that are coming soon.

Attempt to update aspect ratio workarounds based on Roku 4.8 firmware update.

[/list]

Version 2.5.1 has been released today, with some additional information over on the blog.



(Note that the initial 2.5 release had a massive incompatibility with the first gen Rokus, but that the 2.5.1 update released today addresses that. So all should be well.)

The 2.5.5 update was released yesterday. Just a minor update, but highlights include:

• The ability to show release notes inside the Roku channel itself. The first time you run the new version you should see a message letting you know it’s been updated with a quick bullet list of some changes.
  
• Fix the crash when trying to edit preferences inside a channel.
  
• Use TV show posters instead of episode thumbnails in the On Deck and Recently Added rows.
  
• Fix 1080p issues on first gen Rokus (firmware 3.x).
  
• Fix some quirks around hiding home screen rows.
  
• Fix channel directory dialogs.
  
• Fix a couple more crashes that hadn’t come up here but were reported by Roku. Thanks guys!

The 2.6.1 update was just released to the official Plex channel! This is an incredibly exciting update for me, because it fixes basically everything I'm aware of. Many of the fixes require the very latest version of Plex Media Server, 0.9.7.17 or higher. See [the blog post for that release](http://elan.plexapp.com/2013/03/12/plex-media-server-v0-9-7-17/).

- Fix 5.1 audio issues/crashes.

- Fix videos starting over from the beginning after failures.

- Fix a hard freeze toward the end of some videos.

- Fix automatic marking as watched.

- Swap the order of Play/Resume on dialog and show the dialog when playing directly from a grid screen.

- Fix background color of section icons.

- Show a message for channels that report themselves as broken.

- Fix remote playback of queued items.

- Fix remote control advertising on first gen Roku (firmware 3.x).

- Try to show more specific error messages for missing video files.

- Try to improve video loading times.

- Fix a handful of crashes (mostly reported by Roku, thanks guys!).

- Fix an audio player crash on first gen Roku.

- Fix annoying group selection in iTunes channel.

- Fix shuffle in iTunes channel.

- Add support for shuffling a slideshow.

- Add a separate quality pref for local/remote content.

- Improve performance of home screen loading a bit.

- Experimental support for continuous play.

- Experimental support for media selection.

- Allow direct play of videos with no audio track.

As always, you can force your Roku to check for updates by entering and exiting the channel store.

The 2.6.4 update was just released to the official Plex channel! The main theme for this release was fixing things that were discovered in the previous release.

NEW:

- Add more detail to subtitle selection UI.

- Support for browsing "mini" servers, such as the latest Plex/iOS.

- Show a more helpful error when video transcoding isn't supported.

FIXES:

- Fix crash caused by iOS update.

- Fix multipart video playback (including several channels).

- Fix iTunes video playback (e.g. podcasts).

- Fix WebKit channel playback.

- Show HD branding more consistently.

- Detect surround sound support changes caused by (un)plugging Roku 3 headphones.

- Detect transcoding support for shared servers.

KNOWN ISSUES:

- Some channels (that use RTMP) will fail with a message about the platform being unsupported. This is an inconsistency in the channel framework that will be fixed there, not in an update to the Roku channel. It should be fixed soon, hopefully before many of you even read this.

As always, you can force your Roku to check for updates by entering and exiting the channel store.

The 2.6.6 update has been published to [topic=53331]the PlexTest channel[/topic]! I skipped the 2.6.5 update in this thread, which was only ever released to PlexTest, so I'll include those notes below as well.

-- 2.6.5 --

The 2.6.7 update has been approved and released for the official channel as well. (See above for release notes.)

If you have any problems, let us know in the Roku section of the forum.

The 2.8.2 update has been published to both the official channel and [topic=53331]the PlexTest channel[/topic]. 

NEW:

  - Support for the new Plex remote control features.

There's also more info on changes to the channel in [topic=90788]this thread[/topic].

The 2.8.4 update has been published to the official channel.

NEW:

 - Preference for clock display on the home screen.

FIXES:

 - Fixes for channel store integration.

The 3.0.0 update has been published to [topic=53331]the PlexTest channel[/topic]. As the version bump suggests, this release includes some fundamental changes to the way we do things inside the channel.

NEW:

- Switch to a left-focused, mixed aspect ratio grid screen.

- Support for filters inside of sections.

- Support for unpublished servers discovered through plex.tv.

- Add preferences for direct play of music codecs.

FIXES:

- Improved discoverability, particularly for iOS.

- Fix soft subtitle display without depending on Roku's subtitle display setting.

- Fix a variety of crashes.

- Fix missing titles in iTunes channel.

- Audio stream selection when multiple languages are present.

- Improve display of music now playing screens when being controlled by another Plex client.

- Play nice with overridden ref frames limitations in PMS profiles.

- Fix stream selection with shared servers.

A small 3.0.1 update has been published to the PlexTest channel. The main goal is to address some crashes on the home screen.

NEW:

- Add a few more "shortcuts" in the top row of section views.

- Allow "1 - 5 of 100" row labels to be hidden.

- Take a stab at improving playback of audio files that stutter for the first few seconds.

FIXES:

- Try to fix crashes on the home screen.

- Never focus a particular section icon on the home screen if it will force other icons off the screen to the left.

The 3.0.2 update has been published to the PlexTest channel. This update primarily incorporates feedback on the new library browsing experience.

NEW:

- Rework library display to use themed rows (All, On Deck, ...) and add filter options to the Search row.

FIXES:

- Allow dialogs (e.g. Resume vs. Play from beginning) to be controlled by Plex Companion remotes.

- Fix loading issues in the iTunes channel.

The 3.0.3 update has been published to the PlexTest channel.

FIXES:

- Channel activation status is remembered in case of connectivity loss.
- Fix transient state when connecting/disconnecting a Plex account.
- Fix a few lingering reboots on grid screen.
- Fix a variety of crashes.

The 3.0.3 update has been published to the official channel.

NEW:

- Switch to a left-focused, mixed aspect ratio grid screen.

- Support for filters inside of sections (via Search row)

- Support for unpublished servers discovered through plex.tv.

- Add preferences for direct play of music codecs.

FIXES:

- Allow dialogs (e.g. Resume vs. Play from beginning) to be controlled by Plex Companion remotes.

- Channel activation status is remembered in case of connectivity loss.

- Fix transient state when connecting/disconnecting a Plex account.

- Improved discoverability, particularly for iOS.

- Fix soft subtitle display without depending on Roku's subtitle display setting.

- Fix missing titles in iTunes channel.

- Audio stream selection when multiple languages are present.

- Improve display of music now playing screens when being controlled by another Plex client.

- Play nice with overridden ref frames limitations in PMS profiles.

- Fix stream selection with shared servers.

NOTE:

- iTunes channel may crash. This bug has been fixed and is awaiting approval from Roku.