And don’t forget the slow library browsing… it’s a android cache thing. Had a Apple TV 4K 2e gen to test for a while… what a breeze of fresh air, unfortunately it disconnected from my server for strange reason. By accident i clicked on the actors thumbnails, before I realize it’s a nice way of browsing your content… back on the shield I noticed this wasn’t working and after some searching… turns out a long standing bug.
that’s not a bug, it’s just not a feature that has been implemented on the android client yet.
Lol not even surprised…
I was about to create several threads on this, one for needless OPUS → OPUS transcodes that sound all garbled (as if they are reporting the wrong sample rate and thus not being played back properly) and another for when the player decides that an episode has completed in the event you change playback parameters (like switching between subtitle tracks). It is evident that the Shield is a less limited device than say a Roku is (buffering is much quicker for example, and I really appreciate that) so this kind of instability and especially this pointless audio transcode stuff really grates.
There is one particular limitation that I find kind of thoughtless, and that’s scrolling through the channel guide on Android TV (which is extremely slow with the regular remote). I made a feature request regarding that here, in case any of you here would like to vote on it.
I’ve also identified other issues with the Android TV client here. Neither received have any response for more information (logs, etc) from support.
It really is a shame that there is no official bug reporting system here. It’s the polar opposite of something like TrueNAS, where you can directly submit to Jira and are guaranteed to get some response. I don’t blame individual employees for this but it doesn’t seem like fixing this kind of thing matters to whoever manages client development.
One thing folks should remember, though, is that the dev’s are hampered to a certain extent by the hardware they have to deal with with Android TV chipsets.
A lot of Android TV units have the cheapest, crappiest processors you can imagine in them. TV don’t sell based on their chipsets so TV makers don’t put a lot of money and effort in to the best hardware. There’s only so much you can implement on a platform that’s barely got enough oomph to scroll through a menu. The performance gap on a lot of Android TV sets is due to the chipset, not the app.
What they really need to do is segment the app based on the platform with older, slower chipsets getting a “lite” version and more beefier hardware like the Shield running a more feature-rich package. That takes a lot of work, however, and I’m not sure how easy it would be to properly scrape the chipset info and feed a given device the correct package.
In any case, I do agree that the Android TV experience could be MUCH better but it may be that the dev’s hands are tied on it by more things than management.
It may not be a “bug” but it’s absolutely an issue when other clients (on less powerful platforms) have features enabled that more power platforms don’t. I get it if it’s the other way around, but realistically the most powerful platform should at a minimum have all the features of the lesser platforms.
I totally get that you don’t feel plex pass users should feel entitled to any kind of support but things like an issue tracker, responses to items like these, wanting parity of features isn’t that much of an ask. For a lot of us that payment warrants something even if you (and the multitude of people you cite) feel it doesn’t.
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I completely agree with you but since there’s zero communication how are we supposed to know?
Even an explanation to the community of “here’s why a Roku device has features that a device like the Shield doesn’t” would go a long way into generating good will. As it stands now we’re left to wonder why lesser devices have more features enabled.
The communication is even more important re: the bugs like the audio sync which is a HUGE quality of life issue for a lot of people where plex is their daily entertainment driver. But since there’s no communication, and only get updates when it comes to new streaming services being added it’s rather frustrating.
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They seem to be already doing this, although not very well for any…
EDIT: Again I’m NOT blaming the dev’s
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Wow. I didn’t realize that! Thanks for pointing it out.
It’s good to see that the folks on the dev team at least understand the issue. I’ve seen too many developers who just assume that every device is going to function the same because it’s running the same OS.
@dlrohwer - You originally posted that the devs may be developing to the least common denominator, which I hadn’t considered. If that’s true, I don’t see how the most recent release announcement demonstrates anything hopeful for Shield users.
Regardless, I also don’t see why they can’t develop code that branches based on the platform being detected (assuming it can be detected, of course). In other words, no need for a ‘lite’ version of the client, but a single client that is smart enough to know what capabilities the platform on which it is running provides. [this may actually be how it is structured]
That all said, I still can’t help making a comparison to Roku client development, at least from my outside-looking-in perspective. As an independent developer, @ljunkie was known for his [gender assumption!] passion for Plex on Roku, and since he started working for Plex the Roku client obviously gets lots of love. Even when there are problems with the platform, he is active in support conversations, not just on Plex forums but in Reddit and Roku forums, too, always trying to get to the bottom of things and keeping everyone informed. He is a valuable asset to the Plex organization.
I know management ultimately sets priorities, but passionate developers also hold sway. I don’t see the same level of passion for the Shield (specifically) or Android (in general) as for Roku. Hard to say if that can be attributed to individual devs or to management. Perhaps the Roku platform development kit is better and easier to use than what Android has. Or maybe it’s the market reality based on platform market share. Like I said, it’s hard to know, and we can only judge based on the product we’re given.
All we can do as customers is to keep making the issues visible. Like others have expressed, I do wish there was some way for us to know when our issues have been officially acknowledged and recorded, and are being tracked, as some seem to disappear into a black hole. In my experience, that just contributes to increasing customer frustration over time.
Anyway, this is a good thread - constructive and informative. Let’s keep it going!
but the simple fact is that Plex Pass users (of which I am one btw, even thought my forum username may suggest i’m not) doesn’t give you an elevated level of support, it’s not that anyone “feels” it shouldn’t warrant it, it’s that it actually doesn’t. this has been stated many times by plex employees.
what are they already doing?
the link you posted to a release announcement doesn’t show anything about what you were replying to.
they simply have a separate amazon store link because amazon devices don’t have access to the google play store. the 2 versions of the app are the same though.
It Doesn’t?
Try reading the announcement again! Note the links to the .apk’s, see the stuff in brackets “()” does that not mean anything to you? They are indeed different files…
…Google Play and Amazon App Store know what version to get for you.
The android team has been working on issues you are welcome to try with the betas if you want to see if it resolves any issues. Sometimes in topics they let folks try a nightly to see if it fixes a particular thing.
The actor thumbs not clickable is unfortunately just not as simple and straight forward as it seems on Android.
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Thank you for responding @BigWheel ! I appreciate it. I think more communication like this goes a long way.
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they are the same version of the app though, it’s just 1 for 32bit and 1 for 64 bit devices, the features of the app are the same though. that’s the way the google play store works.
there are no “different” versions for devices.
and for clarification, the current shield has both a 32bit and 64bit version of the device.
The apk files for the Google Play store and Amazon store are the same version of the app but are not the same internally. There are many files inside each that differ based on the platform the device runs.
For example the armv7a files are NOT the same between themselves. You can not reliably install one meant for a specific platform onto another platform.
A simple diff command after extraction proves this.
The Android app does not run the same on all platforms because of this. This is a big problem with Android.
i wasn’t suggesting they were.
i was pointing out the actual plex client itself doesn’t vary across the 32bit or 64bit versions. so it’s not like they are developing client versions separately, they are the same across all android devices.
