Server Version#: 1.43.2.10687
Player Version#: 2026.13.0
My Amazon Firestick was recently updated to the ‘New Experience’ version of Plex. While I appreciate Plex trying to innovate and deliver new offerings with the platform, I’m facing technical issues that are a real step backwards for my Plex utilization. My main two playback issues I’m facing are a little different from what has already been reported.
- Passthrough Audio: I predominately have MKV files for my media library and have the Amazon Firestick plugged into an Onkyo AV Receiver. Prior to the update, the Audio Passthrough was set to HDMI and worked well. Following the ‘New Experience’ update, the Audio and Image gradually become more and more out of sync whenever Direct Play is selected. Additionally, when I change the Passthrough Settings option to ‘None’ on the Player, the Audio still indicates it’s playing as a ‘Passthrough’ and has the same out of sync issues. This doesn’t seem to be an issue when the file is Transcoded or if the file is a non-container format.
- Direct Playing unsupported Codecs: Several of my media files (but not all) are using a ‘VC-1’ Video Codec. The Amazon Firestick natively does not support this Video Codec. Prior to the Plex update, when playing a video with a ‘VC-1’ codec, the player would automatically play the stream as ‘Transcode’ when starting the file. Following the update, the player appears to try to ‘Direct Play’ the video even with a ‘VC-1’ codec, though it is unwatchable (screen flashes with gray pixels, slow frame rate, no audio, etc.). After starting the video I have to go to the cogwheel, change the Quality option from ‘Original Quality’ to ‘Convert to…’, just to have the video play. I am not sure why the ‘New Experience’ version is trying to now Direct Play the unsupported Codec.
Those are my two biggest frustrations as I feel like I need to constantly change from Direct Play to Transcode to enjoy my library. As others have said, the older versions had more user control and visibility to the settings. Some examples setting the player to different playback speeds, adjusting subtitle displays, and being able to read all of the audio track . Prior to the update, I appreciated the player status telling the user if the file was being Converted or not; and even with the New Experience ‘Nerd Statistics’ turned on, the playback details automatically disappear too fast while I’m trying to read the screen, I feel like this information should appear and clear on user command.
I do see some improvements with the new menu (like the ability to change artwork from the player), but on the whole it’s more cumbersome for me to navigate. Many of the new ‘social’ features do not appeal to me personally, but I understand Plex is trying to position itself apart from the competition. As others have said, I also find navigating the menu to be less responsive. I hope to see more visibility to the settings and allowing me to have more robust playback on my media.
Hope the next update(s) can resolve these issues!
