I disagree, we are airing out why someone would want to force anyone to watch something. At the moment no one has come up with a good enough reason IMO
I agree there are much better things that could be implemented, but thats not the topic here.
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I have a better idea. Instead of it being āforced on allā why not be able to force it on specific users. I hate trying to explain to my parents how to turn on the pre-roll feature every time they get a new device or replace a device before watching movies. The devs allowed it on April Fools Dayā¦ it was forced on everyone regardless if you had it selected or not so the functionality as I have stated before is already there. How many votes does it take to get something implemented? I have at least 20 people I know that will support this request on top of the number that have done this already (72)
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The problem is your asking for a āfeatureā that 72 people want, that does not directly enrich the experience for anyone except the 72 and I would say could be a nuisance, I donāt know how many people use plex but I suspect its more than 72 and a few of your mates. If people want a better āexperienceā then allow them the option to have it - no need to force it upon them.
It might be days before they watch any of your content - what possible real reason would there be for that ?
I donāt believe that power should extend to users - Plex is only a hobby (or it should be) why do you want to force it on anyone ? Why force it, I still have not heard any good reason for this !
I donāt like the idea of a forced pre-roll at all, as a plex pass ācustomerā who has paid his dues and demands and supported the project with $$$ I want to be able to block any pre-roll from library sharers.
If plex started to force a pre-roll on everyone that stated the terms and conditions for sharing a library on every video shared for like 10-20 seconds or some other advert, I wonder how many would leave the platform.
At the absolute best I would consider acceptable is that plex pass viewers should be able to block user pre-rolls, and its blocked as a default for us. Free users well whilst I still donāt agree with it - would at least give them an incentive to upgrade, but I still think its a super bad idea and would hate to see it used as a mechanism to pressure people to buy something in order to simply stop something.
Dude would you seriously quit commenting on everything I post? Youāre being a nuisance. 72 people have voted for this. That means 72 people took the time to login to a forum, find a feature request area, and vote for it. That doesnāt mean that only 72 people think this is a good idea. If you think that, you are being naive. This is a feature request topic, create your own about why you think itās such a bad idea and see how many people agree with you instead of TROLLING/HIJACKING this topic about a feature request.
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You are like that person that only sees what they want to see. Iāve already given a perfectly good reason. My parents and some of my friends are very NON-TECH SAVVY. Every time they add a device I have to repeat myself like a broken record. I donāt want to have to explain where to turn this feature on for every new device they add, plus the GUI is different on every platform so it just becomes a headache. I work in the IT business and have to deal w/ non tech savvy people all the time. When Iām done with my job for the day I donāt want to play tech guy for everyone else. Everybody I share my Plex with loves the pre-rolls Iāve created for fun so I would like to be able to just turn it on for them on the server-side instead of the client side. Maybe the word āFORCEā is what is bothering youā¦ I really have no clue. I want to be able to turn on PREROLL as an admin at the server level for my users with a checkboxā¦ Kind of like the ability to share libraries and un-share libraries with a checkbox. This is my last response to you because you are a TROLL.
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It is very reasonable to post why one thinks a particular feature request is a bad idea in a feature request thread to try to discourage people from voting for what can be perceived as a flawed request. This is an open forum and it is open for a reason.
I also think it is a bad idea for many of the reasons already stated as well as my belief that Plex should be as unintrusive at all times as possible.
But people that want this also have valid points, I just happen to think they are wrong.
I even have a better idea. Once a user has turned on pre-roll it stays on and implies to any future device that is added for that userā¦ you shouldnāt have to turn on every time a new device is added or being used.
We were having a discussion about it, about its merits and the many disadvantages it has. If you quote me - I will respond, thatās not hijacking or trolling.
There is no need for you to reply to me, I know where you stand on the subject !
Err no, I am giving you a counter argument. Its up to you to justify your request, as it is for me to justify why it should not be done. Looks like your losing the argument.
Sure - if I decide I want your pre-rolls, I have no problem with that setting propagating to my devices when logged in as me. I just want the option to not watch your pre-roll, thatās all.
Just because Iām sort of wonderingā¦are you a user on a lot of Plex servers that are people you donāt really know? Because that might explain why youāre so dead set against this?
For myself (as an Admin), because the people that use my server are friends and family (and know the work I do to keep my server maintained so they can use it), I know they would have no issues watching a pre-roll.
(Just sort of trying to figure out where youāre coming from, thatās all)ā¦
From the very first movie I remember seeing in theaters, āThe Charge at Feather Riverā if that matters, I have resented the promos/previews/and other junk that played before the movie starts. I resent it enough tthat I will argue against it being āforcedā on anyone.
I do not share my library with anyone and I do not remote into anyone elseās either. I just feel that this is a capability that Plex does not need and should not have because if it is there then someone. or several someones, will find a way to exploit it to the detriment of viewing experiences for many people. I also feel that it gives a route toward exploiting Plex and making it something that is run and shared for profit, by that I mean that people could get paid to provide ācommercialsā before the movies they share.
Of course there is one way anyone can have any pre-roll they want now and with no changes to Plex and that is to use any of the many video merging tools to splice that pre-roll into the front of all the movies.
The right to do whatever they want with their own Plex server should belong to the host - after all, theyāre the one paying for it and the users are generally just (welcome) freeloaders. Plus itās easy enough to cut something disgusting into your video files or post fake movies containing whatever you want. Iāve been tempted to, say, post a fake Game of Thrones season premiere consisting of a clip of my dog pooping, for instance. 
The legitimate uses of this are legion: you could create a vanity intro, you could display a clip with server announcements (people often canāt be bothered to read their bloody messages), include family news, etc.
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Or you can show commercials for pay. If implemented I think that will become quite pervasive.
I suppose itās possible, but who would pay to advertise on a (presumably of dubious legality if itās being shared with the general public) Plex server? Itās not like you could link it to a pre-existing video ad network.
Creating a play tracking system, etc for advertisements would require a lot of additional effort. Plus the only people I can see using it would be public Plex shares, which would kinda go against the spirit of Plex anyway as itās not really intended to be used as a for-profit service.
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So just to be very clear on what my goals here are.
No one here is arguing against a pre-roll. Or that it could be a seperate tick box from other trailers. Or that it might be a good thing for some server āoperatorsā to be able to do.
Its all about having the choice of not having to watch something if I donāt want to. I have given my reasons why I donāt want this āforcedā and why server operators should not have this power.
I would just like to point out that a forced pre-roll could be used to easily spread dis-information, hate speech or any other multitude of sins.
Sure a server operator could falsely name a file, splice it in to a legit video, however the easier it is to do, the more likely it becomes.
I canāt add any more, there is plenty here for plex devs to make a decision on which route they want to take this.
Having tested pre-roll (its not something I use, nor any one I share from) it turns out its already forced.
It seems I can force the playing of any length video I like with or without trailers enabled. All a remote user can do is skip it once its started (thank god). I have only tested with remote users in my home group, but no setting on the remote end would disable it.
So looks like you guys have won and did not know it.
I would love to be able to have an option to turn on or off pre-rolls for my friends and family. It is completely baffling to me why someone wouldnāt want the option. I read through many of the comments and saw quite a bit of heated discussion. It makes no sense to me at all.
So what if a user has to watch a 5 second clip before a movie? Who is this hurting? Maybe because I put all the time and effort into building a server and populating all of the libraries I do want you to make you watch something to remember that I did all of this work. This should be my option. For others who donāt care, they donāt turn it on. Easy.
And on a remote user end. It may be slightly annoying to them. There is a simple answer. Donāt take this free service from whoever is supplying it to you. Iām sure you wonāt hurt anyoneās feelings by not taking their movies and bandwidth.
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Thats it though - its not a service. And I think this is the heart of the problem !! All your supposed to be doing is sharing a library.
All I was saying is that I should have the right to reject your pre-roll if I want.
Also who says its a 5 second clip ? I can play any video of any length and stack them if I wanted.
Anyway its already here - and forced the client cannot stop it. So this thread is meaningless. Have you even tried it ?
You are definitely correct Plex is not a service. What I am providing by sharing these libraries with other people is a service. Plex is a tool to provide that service. Netflix is a service because you pay them and they give you access to their library.
I definitely respect your opinion, I just happen to disagree. If I want to make my friends watch a dumb video I created before they watch a movie, that should be my choice. Now, I would like maybe an option to adjust frequency so it doesnāt have to happen every time, but either way it should be my choice, not theirs. Maybe Iām a jerk, maybe Iām vain, but at the end of the day I am sharing my purchased content to others for no cost.
I did try it, and have not been able to get it to work outside of my home environment, but I will continue testing.
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