Does Plex support external player like MX Player anymore?

Plex Players Mobile Devices
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Server Version#: Server doesn’t matter here.
Player Version#: 7.31.0.16802 for Android.

Every previous response i could find had different steps to reach the relevant settings so i believe they’re outdated solutions (not that anyone confirmed it’s a working solution).

So, I go to Settings>Advanced >Player >Use external player check box.
Nothing else to set my default player here. When playback, Plex doesn’t offer any options for a preferred player.
Device settings on App Defaults wouldn’t be of any help in this case.

Is there really a way to use MX in Plex?

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There is no way to set a default player from within the Plex app. This is using Android’s default player option. If you do not get an option to choose a player, then you’ve already set a default in Android. What app shows up? Go to your main Android settings / Apps. Find the app that comes up and there should be an option for “Set as default”, click on that, then clear it.

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It just plays in Plex’s inbuilt player without opening any external app. The player info says it’s ‘Exo Player’ for which I don’t have a separate app, so it must be built in with Plex.
And as i mentioned already, the “Set as default” device setting is of no use because there’s no default set for Plex.

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I’m not sure whats going on for you, but it works fine on my device.

image

Can you recreate and get me the log from the app?

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Tried a clean install to make sure, issue still persists. I’ve recreated the issue by playing a media which is automatically plated in default ExoPlayer within Plex. Attached the log.

Thank you for your time.
plex-log-pras92plex.zip (267.4 KB)

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When you try to play something, do you see another page come up that looks a little different and you have to hit play again?

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Ah, I was able to reproduce this issue. I see the problem, will have to see what the devs say.

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Oh, that’s good to know. I’m adding the screengrab of how it turns out for me, just in case.
20200425_034850

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Hi! Did you get an update from the developers about this issue?

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Duh, I just realized I was looking into the wrong thing. Looks like you are trying to play from Plex’s Movies and TV Shows. That does not support external players.

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No, that’s just for the example I wanted to show. I’ve never even used Plex’s own library.
The issue is the same with private servers.

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The issue I found was that if you somehow tell the Plex app to become the default, then remove that, the app still acts like it’s set that way. The fix I found for now was to uninstall and reinstall the app. That removes whatever linkage is there and you will be given the option again to select a new external app.

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Can you try updating to 8.0 and see if you still see the same problem? I’m not able to reproduce that problem anymore.

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Did a fresh install of 8.0. Still no defaults set, and no option to choose. I give up. Due to lack of official support/ solution, I’m giving up on Plex and uninstalling. I’ll be moving to Jellyfin, atleast it’s open source.

Thank you for trying to help.

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It works here too, so it is probably an issue at your end.
Have fun with Jellyfin though.

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Server Version#: 1.19.3.2764
Player Version#: 8.0.2.17816 for Android.

I have a similar problem.
I reset all the default apps on the smartphone.
I have activated the “external player” option on the Plex app.
When I play a video I am asked to activate the account, and immediately afterwards the video is played with the integrated plex player.

After I tried to set “MXPlayer” as the default player, but in plex it doesn’t happen …

17

I hate the default player that come with Plex. I can never expand the movie to a full size screen on my projector. So the only player that work is the MX player. I am watching 3D movie and i want to fill the entire screen and I can’t do with the stupid player that they’re forcing us to use. MX player allow you to crop the screen and resize to 5:4 or 3:4; other players just don’t have those options. I try everything to make to work…nothing. There is an option that say use other player…yeah right, they’re not letting you select any other player and the movie just play. I try to uninstall and reinstall Plex and hope that it work and still no luck.

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Plex player is crippled to me since I can’t use MX Player to play my 3D movies in full screen. Why do you have to force down people throat in using the exo player? It’s not a good player compare to MX Player. You can’t crop the screen, you can’t resize to the format you like such as 4:3 or 5:4 which is needed to expand the screen size to full in 3D. Exo player sucks.

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After all, I wasn’t the only one having this problem. Though I’m glad I moved to Jellyfin since the time I made this post, it’s pity that users continue in this thread without even any response from Plex. And even if they did, I doubt it’ll be more than ‘its working for the majority of us, so you solve your issues on your own’ kind of response, if there’s any.

In a closed source environment like Plex, your issues won’t be heard since you’re in minority.
I’d suggest that you look into Open-source alternatives like Jellyfin and also Olaris which is an up-and-coming Home Media solution.

Also, Jellyfin has a community made Desktop Player that’s in the making,so it’s getting better by the day. :slightly_smiling_face:

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I am able to use VLC as external player on my android smartphone which is pretty cool because it lets met set playback speed
However, I do not find the option on Plex on Android TV (nvidia Shield). Anyone has any ideas?