So, I’ve been thinking about this for a while and I wanted to start a discussion and get anyone/everyone else’s opinion.
Plex is pretty remarkable, but I think it can go a step further. Imagine, if you will, adding any TV show you want to Plex that isn’t in your library. Plex would then query a few sources to find the TV show. First it would look at the DVR (if installed) and start recording the show. Everything so far is already in the app, but what if it wasn’t available from your DVR?
Plex would then look at a service like ‘Yideo’ and see where it was available to watch online. Plex would find the episode you wanted to watch and re-direct to that service. Think Hulu, Netflix, Amazon, HBO Go, etc. Additionally, a good number of stations have free content available on their web-pages. I know there are a number of channel plugins available for Plex, but I’m talking about accessing them directly from your “TV Shows” library as if they were your saved content.
Now, I know there is some contention with the above mentioned services due to API and them wanting to control content. But, what if it just linked to the outside source. If you were using a mobile device or smart TV, it would just open the other app. You’d need to configure Plex to know what services you subscribe to and have each app installed on that device (if not using the web-app).
Lastly, Plex would monitor and track that episode as watched. Even better if it sent that info to Trakt.
It would be great if Plex had multiple users to track what has/has not been watched, but that is a different topic.
Maybe it is just a pipe dream, but a all-in-one media directory of sorts would be amazing. It would also be a win-win. Netflix/Hulu/etc. still control content, have ads, etc. and Plex would be more powerful. Additionally, I think it would also cut down on pirating. Not a lot, but some.
No idea where to go from here, just an idea. Maybe the Plex admins need a good idea fairy?
Any thoughts/ideas are welcome
It is absolutely a pipe dream if you think content providers will provide the required access needed to facilitate something like this. They are all about controlling the experience with their own UI, they aren’t going to let you use another UI if they can avoid doing so.
I can’t see this anytime soon.
Meet you half-way -> https://sonarr.tv/
showrss.info
You pretty much described Kodi + addons.
@friedflix said:
showrss.info
Website is very bare. What’s the point of this? Like trakt?
Internet based PVR. Hands free once one completes 10mim setup
@friedflix said:
Internet based PVR. Hands free once one completes 10mim setup
So it replaces sonarr and gets the torrent files/magnet links for the user?
Plex isn’t going to help you find illegal sources of content. So it needs to be content you have/own, content you can record, or content that is legal to stream possibly from sources like ABC, NBC, CBS that we currently have channels for. However, the channels themselves would need to be re-written to pull down this type of information ahead of use.
In all reality, this isn’t the direction Plex has historically taken. Plex historically has been about YOUR media and supports this with meta info, trailers, concert info, ratings, etc that match the media in your collection.
I certainly wouldn’t expect to ever be able to search for a movie in Plex and end up with a link for Netflix, Amazon or Hulu (if I didn’t have it). While I may subscribe to 2 of them maybe my friend who I share with has NO access to those services. The only way (assuming it was done) this could work would be to have a much more involved signup process where people would have to tell Plex what services they have access to. None of these services could be ran through the server for obvious reasons. It just doesn’t seem like something that would have much benefit for most/many plex users.
