Caster - An Application Launcher (inspired by AppTV)

media server .9.8.5 and both Home theater .9.10.0 and Plex .9.5.4 Home theater does not open the Castor page at all but I do get a blank page when using plex.app. I'm assuming all I had to do for installation was drag the plugin into the plugin folder and restart the plex server (other than make my images and icon files.

Could t be my version of Python needs updated? 

Sorry for the super late reply.  I would think PMS would have installed the most up-to-date version of Python; if you're up for it, try updating your version of Python, and post your results.  If that doesn't fix it, the function I'm using may not available for OSX.  If so, I'll need to add code to handle use on OSX.

Hi, I've recently just found this cool thread. I installed the app and I have a few issues.

Firstly I'll describe my setup, I run PMS on a server machine and I have multiple PC's running PHT.

Installing Caster was pretty simple, I placed the .bundle into the PMS server plugins folder and it showed up straight away.

The first issue I ran into on the PHT machine, I selected Caster, then tried to selet Caster Options but nothing would happen, no new windows/options opened up. I tried the rest of the options like Select Appl.. etc and they all work. The only way I could get into Caster Options was to go through the PMS Web and I could get it to work.

I created a Netflix channel just like you have which it all worked but when I tried to launch it from the remote PHT machines, it would launch Netflix on the PMS machine.

Is there any way around that, I've been looking for an option to launch external programs and caster is perfect besides launching everything on the PMS instead of the PHT's.

Awesome app.

Hi; thanks for trying out the app!  :)

Currently, it's not able to launch applications on remote machines; both PMS and PHT need to be running on the same machine.  Unfortunately, I haven't looked a whole lot into whether this can be accomplished in PMS.

I'll check out the "Caster Options" issue.  Thanks for your input!

Sorry, still got the same result, channel unavailable with the PMS,  and PMC does nothing. 

I will give another shot later, right now I'm a little busy.

Did you re-download the bundle, and replace the entry in the plug-in folder?  If so, please open the "__init__.py" file, and let me know what version number you see in the comment block at the top.

Sorry for the super late reply.  I would think PMS would have installed the most up-to-date version of Python; if you're up for it, try updating your version of Python, and post your results.  If that doesn't fix it, the function I'm using may not available for OSX.  If so, I'll need to add code to handle use on OSX.

No, actually OSX is behind Windows and way behind Linux. I asked this question in another forum and got the details. No timetable on parity. Not a priority as I understand it. I would love to install Python myself but in opening up the package to look at where to put an update, I see several instances of Python in a couple of different folders. Just no clue of what to put where.  :wacko:

No, actually OSX is behind Windows and way behind Linux. I asked this question in another forum and got the details. No timetable on parity. Not a priority as I understand it. I would love to install Python myself but in opening up the package to look at where to put an update, I see several instances of Python in a couple of different folders. Just no clue of what to put where.  :wacko:

Ok, I kinda figured that.  Thanks for following up!

If you don't mind waiting (and helping me debug), I can add code that's compatible with earlier versions of Python.

Ok, I kinda figured that.  Thanks for following up!

If you don't mind waiting (and helping me debug), I can add code that's compatible with earlier versions of Python.

I'm your Man.  :rolleyes:

Great news if one has a Plex Pass. The newest preview release 64 bit server brings parity to Python so now all versions use 2.7. This has made an improvement on how Caster performs. Although I still could not get anything to occur in "Home theater", the regular Plex.app allows me to get to the other pages. i can even set a "caster name" in the preferences. But, I cannot set an icon, background image, find the application to link to, etc. Nothing happens when clicking on those sections. I do not go to the next page in any of the sequences. But now there is less to fix for me! Yea! This is a potentially a great Plugin. Maybe the greatest. i have several applications I'm just dying to create for Plex and Caster would be the saving grace for all us non-programmers: Kylo Browser, MacBlueRayPlayer, FFview (comic book reader) just to name a few. Looking forward with great anticipation.

Great news if one has a Plex Pass. The newest preview release 64 bit server brings parity to Python so now all versions use 2.7. This has made an improvement on how Caster performs. Although I still could not get anything to occur in "Home theater", the regular Plex.app allows me to get to the other pages. i can even set a "caster name" in the preferences. But, I cannot set an icon, background image, find the application to link to, etc. Nothing happens when clicking on those sections. I do not go to the next page in any of the sequences. But now there is less to fix for me! Yea! This is a potentially a great Plugin. Maybe the greatest. i have several applications I'm just dying to create for Plex and Caster would be the saving grace for all us non-programmers: Kylo Browser, MacBlueRayPlayer, FFview (comic book reader) just to name a few. Looking forward with great anticipation.

Terribly sorry for the stupendously late reply; I've been devoting my time to some other projects.

Thanks for looking into this!  I guess now I should pull the trigger on getting a Plex Pass.  :)

And, when you say regular Plex app, do you mean the Plex web app?

Terribly sorry for the stupendously late reply; I've been devoting my time to some other projects.

Thanks for looking into this!  I guess now I should pull the trigger on getting a Plex Pass.   :)

And, when you say regular Plex app, do you mean the Plex web app?

No, what I mean is there are 2 clients for OSX, one called "Home Theater" for those with a plex pass and the regular plex client (which I have decided to no-longer use). So, now, for me it is only the 64bit server and 64bit home theater client that I use exclusively. 64 bit just runs sooo much faster. So, once again, Caster no-longer works for me. Nothing happens when clicking to the button in "Channels". I thought you had given up. Glad to see you have not.

Potentially the greatest plex plug in of all time, Ive been following this thread for some time. Here in the UK we have been sideloading plex onto the now tv box via its single side load slot)

I  have plex pass, lastest PMS and pythin however not much joy for me.

where are we with it please?

No, what I mean is there are 2 clients for OSX, one called "Home Theater" for those with a plex pass and the regular plex client (which I have decided to no-longer use). So, now, for me it is only the 64bit server and 64bit home theater client that I use exclusively. 64 bit just runs sooo much faster. So, once again, Caster no-longer works for me. Nothing happens when clicking to the button in "Channels". I thought you had given up. Glad to see you have not.

Potentially the greatest plex plug in of all time, Ive been following this thread for some time. Here in the UK we have been sideloading plex onto the now tv box via its single side load slot)

I  have plex pass, lastest PMS and pythin however not much joy for me.

where are we with it please?

Hey Guys,

I haven't had a chance to work on this yet.  As it happens, I've also been working on some Steam/Plexbox (for which this channel was created) prototypes.  Once I'm done with this round of prototyping, I plan to update the channel for the newest PHT and PMS applications.  My plan is to start working on this again sometime next week.  In the meantime - if you don't mind - please PM me your Caster logs; that should give me a preliminary idea of where to start.

Just sent latest logs. I noticed that with the newest Home Theater and Server I now get to the setup page in Caster, where before I did not with the previous versions of Server and Theater. So, they must have fixed some things critical to some of Caster. I cannot move off of that page, so cannot choose description, icon ....etc.

Yes please!! 

I'm new to Plex, just installed about two weeks ago, so unfortunately my only experience has been with the new Plex 1.0.x line, which is very buggy and missing so many feature i'm almost ready to give up on it.  The decision to abandon support for webkit means no Netflix, Amazon VOD, Hulu, etc.  And the decision to completely deny Video_TS playback on all clients is very disappointing as well.  

With a plug-in like this, I could call VLC to load Video_TS files, I could call a browser to launch web apps like Netflix and Amazon VOD, so many options.  Caster is the only viable option i've seen to make up for Plex's expanding usability holes.

I'd much rather pay you to develop this app than pay for a Plex Pass.  Thanks for taking on the heavy lifting!

Yes please!! 

I'm new to Plex, just installed about two weeks ago, so unfortunately my only experience has been with the new Plex 1.0.x line, which is very buggy and missing so many feature i'm almost ready to give up on it.  The decision to abandon support for webkit means no Netflix, Amazon VOD, Hulu, etc.  And the decision to completely deny Video_TS playback on all clients is very disappointing as well.  

With a plug-in like this, I could call VLC to load Video_TS files, I could call a browser to launch web apps like Netflix and Amazon VOD, so many options.  Caster is the only viable option i've seen to make up for Plex's expanding usability holes.

I'd much rather pay you to develop this app than pay for a Plex Pass.  Thanks for taking on the heavy lifting!

Thanks for the support!  Are you having trouble running this on a non-Windows operating system?  If so: which one?  The current version, unfortunately, only works in Windows; I'm presently working on a version that'll recognize any OS's file system.  It probably won't be ready until January.

You’re welcome! I’m running on a Mac, so waiting a bit longer for cool software is normal. I’ll be patient, no worries.

Hey Guys,

I haven't had a chance to work on this yet. As it happens, I've also been working on some Steam/Plexbox (for which this channel was created) prototypes. Once I'm done with this round of prototyping, I plan to update the channel for the newest PHT and PMS applications. My plan is to start working on this again sometime next week. In the meantime - if you don't mind - please PM me your Caster logs; that should give me a preliminary idea of where to start.

Launch my steam games from Plex you say? I sincerely hope you can find a good solution to do it. It would be amazing. Love caster although I haven't tested it yet with latest server/client. Maybe it's time to get up off my a**

Edit: or wait do you mean a steam machine with Plex integration? Cause that sounds equally if not more amazing

Are you making any progress? Really want this APP!

absolutely awesome! 

but unfortunately this isn't working on linux.

the channel shows up and the settings button is working. but the "Create Application" leads to an error: "Could not find the plug-in folder; please check your installation: /var/lib/plexmediaPlug-ins\" - and the other buttons leads to an error-page "The Channel is not available". :(

Sounds promising. Although the majority of users would probably benefit a whole lot if you could start the app on the machine you requested it on, since most (I think) users do keep their servers seperate from their HTPC's/workstations :)

But very excited to see what comes out of this Plex/Steam mixup of yours.



That’s almost the way I used caster. I ran a server on my HTPC with only caster channel installed which allowed me to remotely launch my HTPC applications from the mobile clients. Not exactly what you were talking about but it was pretty neat.