Ahh, that explains it. From what I understand Plex actually works pretty well on Roku, but it’s a buggy mess on Android, and I’m just not willing to downgrade from my Shield because one company can’t produce a working app.
I recently got a new TV and tried out the built in Roku, and I can agree the Emby UI just isn’t very good. The Android version is much better.
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Plex for me can be the dogs bollox, then all of a sudden something doesn’t work and it’s useless. Like the OP I want to come home, settle down and be entertained, not get ‘the server isn’t powerful enough’ or some other half-arsed excuse for a bug. A recent server update decided to drop the connection every minute for a minute, after trying many things I decided to recover a week-old image file which worked. On top of that, I don’t use any of the channels or DVR stuff so maybe I should be thankful. Sometimes the Plex app in Kodi works better than the Android app on Shield, especially for 4K rips - both on the Shield! Very strange… Regarding Emby I also think it’s lacking and therefore at the moment nothing can quite replace Plex in our house.
That’s my experience as well. It mostly works, but you cannot rely on updates not borking things.
I do use the DVR (UK OTA) and that now mostly works well for me; EPG errors are typically with Gracenote, not Plex. However Plex support to fix anything is embarrassingly horrible - I can only assume they are short on staff.
Nah. Plex has plenty of “staff” and some of that “staff” is not even infectious most of the time.
Actually I think that Plex assigns a huge part of their staff to adding mostly poorly working additions to the functionality most people I know have no interest in using.
Plex, although I keep a Plex server active, is no longer my “go to” app for streaming.
Plex seems to believe that doing a whole lot of things poorly is better than doing a few things well.
While it is not perfect I now use Emby for 90% of my streaming as Emby, at least so far, Emby has kept its core functionally pretty reliable and many of their actual developers respond to questions/problems on their web site.
Has Plex had its day? I do not really know because there will always be plenty of people that respond more to “flashy” than they do to functionality.
“No one in this world, so far as I know — and I have searched the records for years, and employed agents to help me — has ever lost money by underestimating the intelligence of the great masses of the plain people. Nor has anyone ever lost public office thereby.” - H.L. Mencken
Plex seems to follow Mencken’s philosophy religiously and they are making money “hand over fist.” In spite of the created bugs in their software.
Reading back, I wasn’t very clear but I was referring to support speed fixing EPG related problems and staff levels in EPG maintenance.
Actually, in many cases, you can cure that infection with penicillin. Unless you are allergic or have one of the “staffs” that is penicillin resistant.
I’ve only had minor problems with PLEX since I started using it. Then again, I don’t use the DVR or have an antenna so that source of heartache is missing. Has PLEX ever stopped? Sure. It’s software running on MY hardware. I either reboot my server or in extreme cases I reinstall PLEX. Then it comes back. But considering the fact that I have a lifetime PLEX Pass that I got on sale for $75 in 2018, I’m more than getting my money’s worth.
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Thanks guys for the interesting observations. So I’ve decided to stop using Plex for PVR but continue to use Plex for music and films which always seem to just work. I’m paying an annual fee to HDHOMERUN of £25. I would have been willing to pay that to Plex to have fixed the core functions and then left it alone except for essential changes.(in other words do nothing!)
HDHOMERUN PVR fixes all those things that don’t work in Plex PVR.
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I would be interested to know how you get on with that (EPG accuracy and recording quality etc). Can you pop back in a couple of weeks and update us?
sure no problem
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Hey Plex think about your base, People used plex to manage their own libraries and cut the cord from cable and streaming services that gave them no control. Your latest updates dumb things down and make it impossible for people to enjoy what they built on your platform. You are falling in to the same trap (greed) its the reason why people went are walking away from cable and now some streaming services. Quit trying to force people to use live TV by moving things around. If you want people to use live tv. Invest in better channels and get rid of the junk. Better quality and less channels will get peoples attention. The changes to the way the system works I know are inevitable but as a loyal PLEX user my wife and I would like more consistency the relearning is getting exhausting and we are all already tired .
I never really considered using HDH’s service. I never had a chance to test it… What I did is move to Jellyfin for my DVR service. So, now Schedules Direct gets $25/year. I would have happily given that to Plex if that were the price of a reliable DVR/Live TV service for Android clients.
I’ll be curious to see how you feel about it after a few weeks as well.
I did.
I purchased a year - and it was so incredibly awful I abandoned it with 340 days to go in favor of Channels.
Won’t do that again.
Looks like more pain ahead to me…
I had a similar feeling when I saw this one:
especially the line;
That included managing subscription content and offering rentals and purchases…
We’re already seeing what happens when you design to enhance the Ad-Supported Demographic in favor of Local Media. It only gets worse from here.
Welcome to Netflix.
On the bright side - Netflix was able to design an app that works like a champ on my FireTV - my eyes are bleeding in 5 minutes, but it works. Maybe one day Plex will design one that works.
I have no objection to Plex finding ways to monetize their product by offering more ways to streams media from multiple sources. They are a business after all. Revenue is important.
What I don’t want to see is users being forced to see ads (video or static) when consuming their own media. I also wouldn’t want Plex adding extra hubs promoting their own content unless its an opt-in process.
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When has anyone seen ads while watching their own content?
Never, hopefully. I was just using as an example of something that would be insanely inappropriate.
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So what have i learned in 2 weeks.
EPG accuracy is good.
Image is good.
speed of EPG is good
It works on windows / Android /roku without having to use my server. Recordings are on the server. So no dependency on the server being up for real time viewing.
Out of the box there is no remote viewing(I don’t care… hardly ever needed remote access)
So for me it’s ok… core functions work unlike with plex.
Only time will tell if any of these core features fail… i doubt it.
So I stick with HDHOMERUN for now until plex get their act together.
