But the Plex client does vary between Android versions. There’s no possible way it can not vary. Sure, the feature base is the same but the underlying functionality is not.
For example, in C, you can use conditional macros eg: #ifdef to force the compiler to use specific blocks of code in certain circumstances… like varying library versions or architectures.
Or logic paths to support functionality that is in one Android version but not the other.
That’s why something may break on the Firestick but still work on the Sheild.
So in a way they are developing client versions separately.
Personally, I am also disappointed that such basic features as the actor filtering does not work very annoying.
For example, I can’t understand why they don’t make 2-3 versions on Android. A Pro and a Normal or even a Basic. Under Pro would then be a premium player like the Shield Pro and under Normal or Basic a 0815 China Android box.
The Shield is recommended for years as the streaming box No. 1 here by all and it is also great how fast and well it works especially with 4K material. That but such functions that then work with other apps do not go here is incomprehensible to me.
Even more so when I then have to read that the Plex Inc. now employs over 100 developers full time!!!, Since I wonder at times what these 100 people do if you have to wait years for such features or fixes.
I also wonder for a long time if it would not be better to develop their own box and then have a perfect experience. I’ve been around for more than 8 years and have brought more than 80 people to Plex and most of them with a Plex Pass and all the time there are problems with this and that player out of nowhere and all the time you have to send logs and invest a lot of time to get something done. It is simply incomprehensible that there are supposedly so many developers working here and then there are so many bugs. Smaller bugs I can understand, happens with any software but what here again and again for things that have worked perfectly for years or at least months and then just nothing more, without the basic design what was changed, amazes me again and again. There seems to be no quality check for the apps. But I am not a developer and therefore do not know the code. Nevertheless, I do not understand why one does not focus on a hardware fully and then says who wants to have the best Plex feeling should buy this, because all features come first and the support is 1A. But no, it is felt every few months X new devices and the support is as bad as ever, although it has been promised X times that they communicate more and respond to requests, etc., it repeats itself for years over and over again.
I can only say that the Android player has kept me extremely busy for more than 2 years. Especially the Sony TV variant does not run clean for months. Meanwhile I have sent more than 10x logs, spent countless hours with testing and the result is so naja. But from the developer side it says with you it runs cleanly. What should I say as a user? When I look at the logs I understand 70% nothing. Here I just expect that a developer can tell me what the problem is. It’s not like I generally have 5th hardware or bad connections. Everything top honestly said and still goes hardly forward.
That at the same time Kodi always runs 1A and had no problems with any format or device, is then another such point that makes me furious. Why do they get it right and Plex can’t? Would it not be better to leave out some devices and create a better platform? A lot of people would be willing to spend some money if there was finally a perfect feel and you only had to talk about new features and not just fixes all the time. Personally, that would be worth much more than a lifetime Plex Pass.
To be fair, it’s not the click that’s the hard part. It’s querying the database of every library with potentially thousands of entries for a specific piece of metadata, where each entry could have 20+ actors. If not done efficiently, it could take minutes. And platform differences often prevent you from just porting the code over.
The server is querying the database and returning the results to the client so it doesn’t matter. This functionality already exists in other clients and the server and has no real overhead. Clients such as the Roku.
On all the platforms I use including Windows, Android, Linux and some really really weird single device OSs. Android is the only one that gives me regular unexpected problems. I do get problems on all of them and I actually have more on Windows but most Windows issues I have are know and have solid (at least mostly solid) workarounds. The same goes for Linux, although many fewer problems, and the alien OSs I have, but again easily worked around.
Android is the only OS I regularly use that consistently finds some way to freeze or crash or in some other way fail to perform some task. I do not think that Android itself has the problems I often see but rather I think it is the sheer number of apps that exist and people install too many or install just two that do not work and play well with others.
I just do not understand Android well enough and I do not have enough time to dig through Android code to find issues.
That is why I very rarely use Android devices for anything except phone calls…
The good thing is that there are enough different OSs that I can find what works best for me for every situation.
BTW: It does seem that Android has more problems than even Windows but that could be a false feeling because I understand Windows better than all the rest.
But we are locked in to most OSs driven by choice of what you are doing and with what you have a good familiarity.
People say that Microsoft is the great Satan and that “may” be true. I think that way about anything Apple. But my feelings may just be the result of the “better the devil you know” mindset. There is actually room in the universe for two or even more “Great Satans.”
“Capitalism is the astounding belief that the most wickedest of men will do the most wickedest of things for the greatest good of everyone.” - John Maynard Keynes
But it can do Atmos and almost all DV profiles.
Hence being so bug ridden matters nothing and is still touted as the trouble free option by most ninja’s.
I love Plex. I am a heavy android tv user on shield tv devices, and the plex app on android tv has some very old bugs that no one seems to be doing anything about …
Sometimes scrubbing back and forth on a video causes the video to freeze or crash plex altogether
For videos already in progress, long pressing on it and selecting “mark as unplayed” marks it as played instead
When watching videos back to back in a playlist, the videos don’t get marked as played as each video completes but instead I have a stack of videos with playback almost complete but not
The up and down scrolling on a playlist causes a weird animation screen skip when scrolling up again after scrolling down
Other than those bugs, one of my biggest feature requests is the ability to control what libraries my shared users see in their sidebar rather than them deciding this themselves.
Although I use it on Shield TV devices, I have experienced these same issues on other Android TV devices, but not on the Android mobile app, so I have come to the conclusion that Android TV is just full of bugs and not being given the attention it needs.
Its truly sad to hear all these experiences especially with the lasted report that Google tv/andriod tv now accounts for 110 millions devices worldwide… it has to be one of the top platforms.
I think it is very logical when it comes to in home users who all use the same libraries… Painful to go to each account on each device to add new libraries or remove old libraries.
No, you said instead of the user deciding for themselves.
Now if the sidebar settings are saved across all devices per account I can see this but forcing UI settings on a user is crazy to me.
But even then there are many people who want the sidebar customized differently on different devices in different locations… which is how it works now.
Netflix, YouTube, Disney+ all define the user experience at the source and allow the user to customise favourites and playlists. I’m looking for this experience because my family don’t want to tweak the UI, they just want to use the app. For deleting, I can just stop sharing the library, yes, that’s fine. But adding a library and in a certain order, is something I wish I could do as an admin in my family group. My point is, there is a use case for it, and I’m sure it is a common one in family groups
Yea, well, the device asks each user to customize their home screen on the first login. The Plex app on Roku will automatically add new libraries to the sidebar as you enable them on the server. Android does not do this though.
I completely agree with this post. It sure doesn’t appear to me either that “Android” is a priority to PLEX. I created an issue/post myself last Sept and never heard back from PLEX other than “we’re looking into it”. Nothing since then.
My issue (to add to the Android support frustration) is that I have a lot of SACD’s in DSF/DSD file format on my PLEX Server. It’s the best sounding format out there. Neither my NVIDIA Shield TV or my Firesticks (4k and 4K Max) can play the DSF/DSD Files (both 2.0 and 5.1 Channel). I get a msg stating “an error occurred”. I have to go to my Apple TV to be able to play the SACD Music. My NVIDIA Shield TV and my Firestick 4K Max are both connected to high quality Stereo Systems. Unfortunately my Apple TV is only connected to an older Sony TV. Using the Sony TV speakers to play the DSF/DSD files just doesn’t allow me to enjoy the “quality” of sound.
I paid good money for a Lifetime PLEX Pass and to be honest (this is directed at PLEX Support) it’s not meeting my expectations. I friend of mine, also a PLEX Pass owner, feels the same way.
To get around this issue, I’ve just set up a Raspberry Pi 4 using Volumio 3 (Free version). It accesses my PLEX Media server music using UPnP and it plays all Music formats that I have (DSF/DSD, DTS, FLAC, WAV, ALAC, M4A and MP3). It’s connected to a DAC and then to my Stereo (same stereo that the Firestick 4K Max is hooked up to). The sound quality is amazing and the Volumio 3 GUI on my iPad(s) works perfectly for me. The Volumio integration with Spotify (and Spotify Connect) is just a bonus.
I’d prefer to only use PLEX for Music and Movies/Videos (as I have many many Movies in MKV format) but until (if???j the DSF/Android issue is fixed……it looks I’ll be using Volumio for Music I think. Yes I’m aware that I could install a PLEX Media Server on the Raspberry Pi but the GUI I’d have to use Music & Movies on the Pi is not ideal (requires a mouse & keyboard).
