I’ve searched around a bit for this and have come across quite a lot of requests for different retailers digital offerings added to plex (Google play movies, iTunes, Amazon etc…) and I think this page is (understandably) pretty much the only answer given:
https://support.plex.tv/hc/en-us/articles/201128288-Why-don-t-videos-from-iTunes-Amazon-etc-play-
I had given up hope of being able to buy digital movies and add them into plex, until I found this post:
quote unix4linux:
‘I just wanted to point out that there is an option for this and it is what I currently do.
Plex allows you to add YouTube as a channel. YouTube, in turn, also holds all of your movies that you have purchased from Google Play Movies in a “Purchased” playlist. When you add YouTube to Plex, the “Purchased” playlist is not visible. However, you can go to your YouTube account and add the movies from your “Purchased” area to another playlist within YouTube. I called mine “Movies”. Then, you can see your movie list via Plex.
This is visible on Plex Home Theater, Media Server, and on Android (it is what I tested).
I hope this helps others.’
I haven’t had a chance to try this out as I don’t own any movies on Google play, so I just wanted to check
a) does this work
b) does anyone else have any other way of purchasing a movie digitally and adding it into thier plex library (I don’t mean buying disks and ripping them - I did that until it broke the bluray drive on my computer (through overuse I guess) - I’m a bit reticent to buy another)
(I’m in the UK and use windows but you don’t have to limit the suggestions to that - any region / operating system would be good to hear about)
Thanks for any help.
I tried this a few months back, you use plexIT via youtube to add as watch later from the playlist of movies you add from the purchased listings, they didn’t play. I think it has some sort of encryption that prevented this.
I have a few google play movies, but due to issues of getting them into a home media server, I tend to not bother buying them as much as I do blu ray /DVD as I can rip them into MKV format.
PlayStation movies is another culprit, digital movies in good quality locked down to a Sony PlayStation or a Sony Smart TV - or a recent update to android meaning they do at least play on a mobile device, but PlayStation movies on a Sony Smart TV (or my smart TV at least) playback terribly. Buffering, stuttering, played fine on a PS4 apart from having to contend with the constant PS4 fan noise. I’ve only even rented a few movies from PlayStation mind.
No, sorry to say, digital movie purchases are just too limiting for my liking. Hence why I am not a fan of digital movie purchases unless we get digital purchases in MKV format we can place into out own media servers - and it’ll be a cold day in hell before that ever happens thanks to DRM /MPAA.
Buying blu ray and ripping into MKV format is still the only sure way to get that perfect media library using Plex - sadly. Very time consuming but its how I’m doing it.
Wish google movies would link with Plex - perfect world as google play do have some decent deals on movies. They have good weekly sales.
Part of the problem is thinking that you “buy” these digital purchases. You don’t. You’re renting them with a 1-time fee, and your entire ability to play them on anything ever is 100% at the whim of the content owner and there’s nothing you can do about it (other than vote with your feet and not give them money for such nonsense).
Buy physical media. Rip. Put on Plex.
