FireTV cube: cannot play video after update

Plex Players
1

Server Version#: 1.43.2.10687-720010687 (Synology)
Player Version#: 2026.12.0 (971050218) (Amazon FireTV Cube)

I have used Plex successfully for at least 5 years. Prior to yesterday, I had not experienced issues.

After a forced update to a new player yesterday, the vast majority of my videos will no longer play. The files are being accessed but the player remains in a paused/frozen state. This remains an issue even after rebooting my firetv cube.

With no way to play files, this update has effectively turned my plex server into a virtual brick.

2

Update: for no apparent reason, the videos began playing without intervention or adjustment. Then, the next day, videos stopped working again.

PS. I’d like to chime in and say how much I dislike the new Plex player. It doesn’t feel like adjustments requested by users.

  • The left menu worked perfectly. Now, several clicks are required for the same task.
  • Previously, an audio Playlist could be started and navigated away from while it contined to play. Now, the Playlist stops.
  • Previously, Sweet Fades worked as advertised. For those that didn’t? It was easily turned off. Now, Sweet Fades are just MIA.
  • The back button no longer works as expected.
  • Cannot exit from several screens from within the player. The only option is to press the Home button on the remote and then stop the plex player and clear the cache. A lot of effort simply because the back button no longer works as expected.
  • Can no longer find an option to exit the player. Another place where the back button is missed.
  • “Scan library files” cannot be accessed.
  • No longer an option to view lyrics when playing music.
  • … and more.

Plex corporate seems to have spent effort in breaking something that wasn’t broken.

I am certain that I could expand on this list, but what would be the point? Plex has already let me know that support is not provided. Just drop a line in the forum which might be reviewed and might be compiled into future releases. Based on this latest “upgrade”, I’m not holding my breath waiting on good things.

What I did do is installed EMBY server on my Synology NAS and the EMBY player on all of my devices. Install and setup was easy. Now, I’ll test it out in the coming days.