What makes Plex unique is that they support multiple sources for content (their own and self-hosted) and that they drastically changed the interface. So some folks are a bit lost. They lash out because of the change without understand they can get more-or-less everything back.
Netflix et al… only offer one thing: A streaming service. When they change their interface people are still going to see just that. When Plex changes their interface, people have to relearn and adapt. I’m simply suggesting that Plex should help with that.
Roku users, in particular, seem rather persnickety. Every single time there’s an interface change they flip their lids. I don’t know what it is specifically about them which makes them change-averse, but we’ve seen it time and again. Plex could have foreseen this and made it an easier transition.
I find the new interface fine and I don’t have any problems navigating it. Others don’t fare so well.
I have a theory for this. I think it’s the largest user install base. It’s also likely the cheapest bar of entry for a streaming device. Purely opinion. It’s the first device I recommend when anyone is looking for something based on ease of use, and price.
Yeah, I hear you. But I wasn’t speaking so much about the number of comments, rather the content. They’re particularly hateful compared to other users, in my opinion. There’s very little constructive feedback, mostly just vitriol.
I think it’s also because Roku was always supposed to just be easy to learn and use (compared to some of the others)…although I think Apple TV might be just as easy nowadays.
Dump it and rollback to a version with easy video playlist creation instead of trying to eek every bullock from viewers by steering toward “live” channels, of which advertising revenues Plex gets its share.
The rest of it’s pretty crappy too, but the inability to easily created playlists for video episodes and films left me with only one choice: switch to Emby for playlist watching. Emby is also a server and is pretty unbloated, so it sits nicely on the same OS as Plex, and supports easy-as-Plex-used-to creation of playlists for TV, etc. Took ten minutes to build libraries and it set up SQL database faster than expected. As you can see, “Add to Playlist” is in a familiar location but also, the menu offers greater data dives than Plex.
Not navigation issues, although it sucks now, but its capabilities have been removed.
No longer is a Playlist of Video materials easily accomplished … supposedly it can be done but the keys are buried deep in the “library” paradigm structure. WORST of all is the motivation, self-admitted by Plex: to steer users away from their own media to the “Live Channels” for which the greedheads at Plex get a cut of the commercial revenue.
Bad choice; bad reason.
My answer? For playlist use, I’ve duped the service with EMBY:
Remember, I came up with the idea before the new UI was even announced, so I’ve always thought it was needed, not just for the new UI.
Two reasons for me:
Elderly users - They tend to forget often and need refreshers.
New Users - a) With Plex pushing their streaming products so hard and trying to scoop up data, there is a lot to explains to new users about how they need to configure their account to avoid a lot of this. b) The other reason for new users, is that Plex offers many options that most streaming services do not: multiple media types (music, photos, movies, tv shows), collections, library filtering and the ability for admins to customize hubs, libraries, collections. Not at all saying these are bad things, FAR FROM IT (it helps make Plex better!), but it does require more hand holding.
Things I hate about Amazon Prime and many other streaming services is the lack of ability to browse collections and advance filter. Finding Classic movies, for example, is almost impossible unless the streaming site caters to it (Criterion).
Yes, this is definitely a missing feature right now. I really have disliked how Plex has been pushing “Watchlist” over Playlists. I know it is so they can track viewing habits, and that makes it all the worse.
Plex says they will be addressing Playlists, and I’m patiently waiting…
Emby and Jellyfin are on my radar, but I’m hoping threads like this one can help Plex get back on track.
I’m not sure Plex would ever put out anything official specifically instructing users how to NOT monetize them.
I think we’ve probably reached the end answer though. It’s the customization and variable offerings that Plex has which make it feel like we need more instruction than the run of the mill apps need.
Unfortunately, I think this is unavoidable, given they have VC money running their operations. It seems pretty obvious, even though they obviously can’t admit it, that the app release in a barely-beta state was due to a mandate from the Money to start pushing the ad-supported content. I won’t go so far as to jump on the bandwagon that they are 100% against self-hosted content, but I think the devs need to spend more time justifying why they want to work on a non revenue piece than they do the money-making parts. I’m sure they WANT to do Playlists, but I think you’ll be waiting a while.
I’ve honestly never tried Emby… never had a reason to. I do have Jellyfin running alongside Plex, though. The odd times that Plex has server issues, I turn to Jellyfin for my content. Jellyfin is good, if not as polished. It’s problem is the transient nature of being crowd-developed… We all complain about development issues with Plex, but Jellyfin also has some truly bad bugs that aren’t easily ignored. The Live TV guide issue and their version of Watch Together immediately come to mind.
So far, I’ve taken the position of freezing app updates where I can so I don’t have to deal with the New Experience until it gets closer to parity (feature-wise) to old version. I do have one Roku that I’m forced to use. It gets used maybe once a month, but it’s enough to keep tabs on progress of updates.
Yes, long lists are best vertically, but two things come to mind in regards to the library listing in the new UI:
Why are people creating so many libraries? No, there is nothing truly wrong with creating many, which is the nice thing about being able to customize your experience, but usually I see people creating these long lists to provide either (1) categorization of movies/tv shows or (2) to restrict access to content.
Categorization - this really should not be done via separate libraries. We need to think in terms of databases. Databases store items of similar type in a single table (or table relationship structure). You then filter the items in the table based on relationships or additional table fields. Collections, Genres and Labels are those things and they work better than Libraries based on media file locations. Yes, okay, I get the need for 4k libraries, but only due to limitations in Plex’s handling of multiple versions (resolutions). Then there are the adult videos (for those who are so inclined - not me). Next, you have Home Videos. Finally, are Music and Photos. So, you end up with 7 or so libraries. Honestly, adult videos should probably be on a separate server otherwise they should just be mixed in with your movies and given a genre and restriction label. So, minus one library = 6. Out of the remaining 6: Movies, TV Shows and Music (maybe 4K) would be the pinned/favorites. 3 (4) libraries is not a problem horizontally.
The one problem here is that Plex doesn’t make getting to these genre/labels/collection grouping probably as easy as it could be, thus making them less effective.
Restrictions - I see way too many people trying to restrict media by using Libraries. Plex is definitely not designed to do it this way, though you can. People are trying to make this function more than it is. Operating Systems do NOT primarily assign permissions based on location; it is based on individual file attributes and user/group permissions to those attributes. Yes, yes, in an OS you can place things in a folder designated as restricted, but the reality is that it is the individual files placed into such a folder are inheriting folder attributes that become file attributes that control their access. In Plex, the problem is that you usually end up with copies of the same media file in multiple folders/libraries or if not copied, users with access to all content have to remember which library the media is found in or search for it. (I mean adults like watching “Lady and the Tramp” too, not just the kids. )
Plex uses Labels for restriction. You put all your Movies into a single Library and then assign Labels to the movies. Next, you grant/exclude access to specific Labels to individual users. I personally assign an Age Rating Label to all my content. Age 0,3,5,8,10…25. As my kids grow up, they are granted access to higher levels of Age Rating. Also, I have a “Hidden” label that all users have as Excluded so I can hide things for administration purposes (such as some Collections). The one problem here is that Plex overrides exclusion with grants. It should be the other way around; if something is Denied, it should always be Denied.
Bonus: In the new UI there is a vertical Library listing available on Roku (click on “Libraries”).
This has been an age old Plex question since the dawn of time. Plex prescribes keeping everything together, and I believe they have said so several times… yet… users prefer it not so because… they can.
I do not know why this is. I can tell you that I keep my 4k movies separated from my main library because back in the day Plex struggled to transcode 4k, and I didn’t want to be ripping 4k streams out of my tiny bottleneck intarweb connection.
So, I have/had a reason to have two movie libraries. Who’s to say why others do? It doesn’t matter. They use the system the way they use it because they can, which makes trying to shoehorn their use case into a prescribed hole problematic.
The real issue is that it’s a hole that previously did not exist.
Which brings me to another complaint about the current UI that I wish were different:
Not every device I own is capable of proper 4k playback. Honestly, I can’t think of a reason that I would ever want to play 4k on my phone or tablet… so, I usually didn’t Pin those libraries in the menu systems for those devices.
The new cross platform Favorites system doesn’t really allow for that level of customization. I’d rather continue to set it by device, over having uniformity.
Completely valid with the current implementation of Plex. They need to create a better way of handling 4K to low bandwidth or non-suitable devices; a difficult task, I’m sure, but still something that is causing us, admins, a definite problem.
However, as for other reasons to create separate libraries, I would love to hear other admin’s reason for creating them. Just because Plex allows something, doesn’t mean it is “best practice.” There needs to be some education of admins. I highly doubt most admins understand databases. I got a BS in college and several years of experience on the job involving databases, AND still don’t fully grasp the best practices. So, I adjust.
Plex can’t be expected to handle all the messes that admins create moving forward. Plex needs to focus on making the best use of the database they have created. (Note: I’m completely on board with “bashing” Plex when it’s on them…elan really screwed us with the lack of creating a Christmas genre for music and when I presented it to him, he said in so many words: “deal with it.” No, that’s on you elan! You aren’t following the rules of proper database structure.)
I get why some admins get caught in the trap from lack of knowledge, but that doesn’t mean Plex needs to accommodate them, especially if Plex already provides better ways to accomplish the same thing in a “proper” way. It’s up to users to adjust as they learn from their “mistakes.”
I’m enjoying this discussion, thank you. I hope Plex, inc. is reading this as well (which they said they do).
Smart VCs should see the error of their wishes (when losing money). Plex is still a very visionary company. A smart VC should be able to see beyond today and realize where media consumption is headed.
Cable TV, is dead.
Streaming is a mess.
So what is next? FULL OWNERSHIP of media content by individuals. They need to take a HARD look at the shakeup in the music industry. It’s isn’t necessarily pretty, but a VC needs to be a visionary (earn their money) and figure out how do they make money on the best guess of where video media needs to go by natural progression.
This move to ad-based support is just redoing cable tv. That died. Learn from it and figure out the future: individuals owning the content and using Plex to host it for their consumption. Add in the need to share the media.
See, what content studios haven’t figure out yet is that there is a difference between content ownership and content viewing. They are getting it slowly, but are headed towards pay by content viewing. This isn’t going to sit well with most people. People want to OWN the content.
So, right now studios/streaming services are pushing piracy. A bad thing for all. 90+ years of copyrights is horrible. 7 or 14 years was reasonable, as originally established; plenty of money to be made.
Studios need to reread the Supreme Court’s decision on the ruling FOR Betamax. Studios admitted they made more money by allowing Betamax (VCR). The more control the place on media, the less money they will make in the long run.
We are in a huge transition and Plex is way out in front of it. It’s a current mess of piracy and “illegal” sharing. But, most people/companies would agree that Plex is offering something of a balance that needs to be leveraged better. Plex isn’t the bad guy, they have created a tool that allows a greater consumption of media with proper ownership. Everyone could win. Studios get paid plenty of profit and user get to enjoy their owned content freely.
I mean for myself, it just made certain content easier to find for my family. Some of the libraries I have are:
Movies - this is what gets provided to remote friends)
4K/1080P movies (this is the above along with 4K so not provided to remotes)
Music Videos
Adult Movies
Adult Scenes
Christmas/Holiday
Concerts
TV Shows
Exercise Videos
And I know there’s other ways that these could be presented, but many of them really don’t fall into just a TV Show or Movie library. For example, Exercise Videos, Music Videos and Concerts? Really completely different types of videos.
I don’t think Plex really understands how server admins breakdown their content - they have a very simplistic view of what should be.
That isn’t improving. That is standard quo (or backwards). Plex is making an effort to move forward but really missed the boat in some ways. We are trying to figure out where they messed up. However, we should recognize where Plex got it right: Clear logos, visual pop, an attempt to simplify navigation and uniformity. They really do need this but it needs to be based on screen format.
I like what you showed from Emby. It shows progress. So, how does Plex do it better than Emby? They could probably copy, but there is probably even a better way to do it.
I honestly have nothing good to say about the new layout. It’s so screwy and counterintuitive there is nothing I can actually see that would make it better. Having everything at the top and little sub menus I have to scroll left and right across is completely ignorant. Turns out they haven’t effed up the Xbox app so now we’re using an Xbox controller for Plex. Which is it’s own annoyance but not as much as this.
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