Google expects to play from a single source (i.e. Netflix, Hulu, Spotify, etc.) so there is no server, it’s just the service. So when you ask Google to play something from Netflix, it checks “Is X available on Netflix”? If you ask it to play from Plex, it asks “is X available on Plex”? Google does not support “is X available on user Y’s PMS named Z”. It doesn’t matter what Plex stores in our database, there isn’t a way to return user and PMS info back. Or if the data was returned, the Google Home device would have no idea what to do with that info since it cannot talk to a different device (i.e. Plex Media Server).
As previously mentioned, this is a not a limitation of the Plex skill (our Alexa skill works), it’s a limitation of Google Home.
This I understand, but sometimes its helpful to talk though different options and not worry so much about what something was designed to do, but rather what you can make it do.
In my original suggestion I was thinking of a dynamic file. Plex somehow intercepts or parses the request/command to cross reference the titles available on the servers that user is permitted access to. When a request to play file XYZ, would Plex be able to identify the user making the request, identify the servers accessible to that user, and then search for file XYZ among the remaining results? Plex would then condense down a temporary database file of these that lists only the titles from the servers that user has access to, rather than every title from every user, and that temporary file is what would be presented to Google to fulfill the request. Is something like this possible? Is Google able to reference a dynamic feed or does it only reference a cached copy of the database?
The second most voted feature on the forum and… no news since February 2023?
They have already given an answer, “We can’t do it because google doesn’t allow it” despite others creating external progams that get around those limitations. And it works just fine with those workarounds.
The next response is, “Then just use that program”
It’s complicated to setup for most people, but would be trivial to accomplish if it was baked into plex directly, but they don’t care on what any users want. Just about every new “feature” makes that entirely clear.
Anytime they find an excuse not to do something people ask for, they never bother looking into anything ever again.
I switched to emby because they have better customer support.
I think one of the problems with getting a proper Google integration is they would need to redesign the Server/Client relationship. Plex could setup plex.tv as a gateway, similar to how home automation platforms work, but the server would then need some way of controlling the client devices after it received a command. It would probably also need the concept of rooms and custom device names for each client. The streaming boxes themselves might also need some kind of TSR utility running to launch the Plex app when the server sends a stream to it. However it might be possible to send the plain stream to a device like Chromecasting does, but you wouldn’t get the full interface.
To control things in reverse from the client side the way it works now, they’d probably need a TSR for sure that constantly listened to Plex.tv for any commands. Do TV operating systems on Samsung, LG, Vizio, Roku, and Apple, have a system for push commands?
