[BUG] Plex Media Player UI scaling broken

Plex Players Desktop Players
1

Server Version#: 1.16.3.1402 (latest)
Player Version#: 2.39.0.1005-1b0839a8 (latest)

I use PMP on 2 Windows PCs.

  1. One has 4k resolution and UI scaling at 200%. PMP works fine - the web player in Firefox and PMP are both scaling at the same ratio. Screenshots of both below.

  2. The other has 1080p resolution (laptop monitor) and UI scaling at 150%. The web player in Firefox looks fine, but PMP displays everything WAY too large - it looks like it’s scaling at 200% instead of 150%. Screenshots of both below.
    As an additional problem, when I open PMP, the window is positioned off the top and left edges of the screen. (PMP doesn’t remember window position and ignores the ‘start maximised/minimised’ setting in the Windows shortcut, so it starts like this every time.) Screenshot below.

Changing the UI scaling on this machine to 100% resolves the issue - PMP is now scaling at the same size as the web player in Firefox. (Screenshots of both below.)

The issue here seems to be with 150% UI scaling - 100% and 200% both seem to be fine but it doesn’t seem to behave with 150%?

plex%20media%20player%20-%204k%20monitor%20-%202x%20display%20zoom%20(looks%20as%20expected)
plex%20media%20player%20-%204k%20monitor%20-%202x%20display%20zoom%20(looks%20as%20expected)943×530 271 KB
plex%20web%20player%20in%20firefox%20-%204k%20monitor%20-%202x%20display%20zoom%20(looks%20as%20expected)
plex%20web%20player%20in%20firefox%20-%204k%20monitor%20-%202x%20display%20zoom%20(looks%20as%20expected)943×530 269 KB

5x%20display%20zoom%20(looks%20as%20expected)
5x%20display%20zoom%20(looks%20as%20expected)943×530 300 KB
5x%20display%20zoom%20(UI%20unusably%20large)
5x%20display%20zoom%20(UI%20unusably%20large)943×530 295 KB

5x%20UI%20scaling%20(window%20opens%20off%20edge%20of%20screen)
5x%20UI%20scaling%20(window%20opens%20off%20edge%20of%20screen)943×530 314 KB

plex%20media%20player%20-%201080p%20laptop%20monitor%20-%20UI%20scaling%20reduced%20to%201x%20(looks%20as%20expected)
plex%20media%20player%20-%201080p%20laptop%20monitor%20-%20UI%20scaling%20reduced%20to%201x%20(looks%20as%20expected)943×530 329 KB
plex%20web%20player%20in%20firefox%20-%201080p%20laptop%20monitor%20-%20UI%20scaling%20reduced%20to%201x%20(looks%20as%20expected)
plex%20web%20player%20in%20firefox%20-%201080p%20laptop%20monitor%20-%20UI%20scaling%20reduced%20to%201x%20(looks%20as%20expected)943×530 324 KB

2

Confirmed that this is affecting any non-integer UI scale ratios: PMP will round them to the nearest 100%.

There is a temporary fix for this for anyone who has a 150% UI scale: in Control Panel > System > Advanced System Settings > Environment Variables…, add the variable QT_SCALE_FACTOR and set it to 0.75. Close PMP and re-open and it should now be scaled at 150%. (However this might also affect any other QT apps that you run.)

3

Alternative fix: find Plex Media Player in the start menu, right click on it, go to More > Open file location. There, where you see the ‘Plex Media Player’ shortcut, right-click on it andclick ‘Properties’. Then, in the “target” box, where you see “C:\Program Files\Plex\Plex Media Player\PlexMediaPlayer.exe” or similar, after the quote mark, add –scale-factor=1.5 (for a scale of 150%). So now in the Target field you have something like:
“C:\Program Files\Plex\Plex Media Player\PlexMediaPlayer.exe” --scale-factor=1.5
Click OK, close PMP, reopen it from the start menu, should work now.
Don’t use this and the system environment variable at the same time or they compound!

4

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