I was hoping PLEX would serve as a means for viewing videos stored in the cloud (dropbox). I fell in love with the interface and really made the best of it. For a while, cloud synching was working for me but I have decided to cancel w/PLEX because the process is too convoluted and unreliable. Here were my issues, and maybe someone has solutions that might lure be back to resume by PLEX subscription (NOTE: Cloud synching is my need, other frills associated with the PLEX PASS don’t interest me).
- Synching takes way too long. I can load a large video directly onto DropBox in an hour. Thru PLEX I had to convert the video into a PLEX version (totally unnecessary for my needs, unwanted wear and tear on my processor, took 30 minutes) and then wait another 4-6 hours for the video to arrive on the “cloud server”
- About 20% of the time, the synching process failed (including posting “empty” spaces on the cloud that looked like the video posted but then nothing played). Usually, no idea why a synch would fail (seemed random).
- Play back often choppy, even on strong wifi
- Synched videos could not be manipulated (could not move from one library to another, just tags or anything else once uploaded). Occasionally, the metadata on synched videos changed after uploading randomly (no idea why that would happen).
- DropBox had a SNAFU and moved my PLEX-synched collection to the delete bin (no idea why). When I restored it, PLEX Cloud Server lost “contact” with the files such that, even when back in the folders to which they were specifically placed by PLEX, the server couldn’t find them. Entire library (which took weeks to upload) was “lost” off cloud synch even though the files were never really gone. (This final issue was the last straw).
The PLEX interface is beautiful. But it’s become a matter of function over form. Having found an app that play files directly loaded to dropbox perfectly without the above problems (I won’t say which app out of respect for PLEX, but it’s there on the app store if you can find it), I’ve bailed off PLEX PASS (sadly because the interface is so nice!). I really want a version of PLEX that creates a cloud server using stuff uploaded directly to DropBox (no conversion or synching), doesn’t care if the files are rearranged, allows metadata adjustment, and plays smoothly. Since I found another less pretty app that can do this, I’m wondering why PLEX can’t do the same and cut out all the cloud-synch clutter. PLEX will continue to be my in-home server - for this use, it really is beautiful. But for cloud/remote viewing, PLEX as it stands now is a no-go for me.
Suggestions for the issues I experienced would be welcome.
