I know this post is highly subjective but I feel like I need to vent a little.
I’ve been a Plex Pass Lifetime member for a while now and recently I’ve been disappointed with some of the decisions being made about what features need to be added to Plex.
Three main things spring to mind for me:
casting HD Homerun
Audiobook support
Google home integration
These three things have been requested multiple times in these forums. People feel gypped when they discover they can’t cast TV stations to their ACTUAL TV. It’s ridiculous that this isn’t a feature when something like Emby just does it.
Audiobook support has been requested soooo many times. It shouldn’t be hard to do as all Plex needs to do is track where an audio file is so that it can be rssumed, much in the same way TV shows work. Yeah the audiobook scraper might need some work but that should be doable too.
Google home integration. I should be able to ask Google to play something from Plex without having to resort to a third party Plug in. Netflix can do it … Plex should be able to as well.
People have been asking for these things and then we get Tidal. Who even asked for Tidal to be integrated? (Was it JayZ? I bet it was JayZ.). No one really wanted this feature. I signed up to Tidal to see what all of the fuss was about. Plex couldn’t even cast the last episode of A State of Trance or Above and Beyond Group Therapy, via Tidal. Tidal is ok, bit if you already have a streaming service that works, the Plex integration doesn’t offer enough to make switching worth while.
News, Podcasts and Webshows? These are all a bit meh. I already have a podcast player. News seems to be mostly US based and none of the Webshows have piqued my interest.
I think Plex really needs to get onto the three things above or at least provide reasons as to why they might never happen.
I’m going to piggy back on this and add that I’m barely 24 hours into my 30-day trial of Tidal and found an issue that will most certainly lead to a cancellation before the trial is up.
I work a full day (or more) in my home office with either my Roku TV or a Google Home Max streaming something. I’ve been paying for unlimited Google Play Music for almost 2 years and have been a PlexPass member since 2013 - I love Plex and Google because they usually do what they’re supposed to. I watch my movies/live TV or I stream my music cast from my computer to the Home Max. As soon as I start my Tidal trial, I try to cast it through Chrome to my Home Max and it says “This content is not currently supported when connected to a remote player.”. I’m sorry, can’t do what??? You’re trying to win me over in 30-days and (in addition to not even starting out the trial by asking me what my musical preferences are) now you can’t even cast to the one device I use for several hours every day.
As I am severely underwhelmed, I second the gentleman’s notion of concentrating on Google integration.
The question of Plex integration into Google Home has been asked over and over again and for as long as I have been a lifetime Plex pass member, but it warrants asking again.
When will Plex be integrated in to Google Home Assistant? Is anyone even working on this or was the decision to partner with Amazon Alexa the death knell to Google integration?
