+1 on this request. I just bought 2 of the new Chromecasts with Android TV. I have my Rokus set up with the local address and it works on there. Please expose that setting so we can set it up.
+1 here.
I’ve recently purchased an Android TV and am having (completely unrelated) issues with my internet and I find it ludicrous that I can’t just watch the movies on the computer in the next room just because my internet happens to be dodgy.
Especially when I can via every other device in my household (including a LG WebOS TV)
+1
During the large-scale, 6-hour Spectrum internet outage yesterday, when the kids couldn’t otherwise do their remote school work, it sure would have been nice to be able to set a direct connection so Plex via my Shield would have still worked.
@BigWheel @IanDBird If this would in fact be an easy add, could it please be put on a list somewhere to be implemented?
Thanks for the great product and, for whatever it’s worth, I appreciate the efforts you and the Plex team put towards trying to balance all the different user requests out there.
-Nathan
This may work with simple network configurations like, one router with clients connected to it, but like many others, i have more complicated network setup in my home due to multiple IOT etc. and plex on my Android TV always connects as remote and eats up my internet bandwidth (despite this “custom server access URLs” has been configured). My Plex server is accessible locally, my phones can access it thanks to the manual connection option. Please enable it on Android TV app too.
It’s pretty clear Plex removed the option intentionally to force users to connect to their servers, for them to gather analytics.
Just admit it
Jellyfin development can’t happen fast enough so that I never have to deal Plex and the loathing they show us.
EDIT: incredible Plex employees refuse to respond to this post, but are quick to flag me for expressing my displeasure with the way they conduct themselves SMH.
+1 on the Manual Connections on the Android TV interface.
I have been a Plex user for many years and since I have moved to a rural area, I have found that my internet connectivity isn’t as stable. So, when all other streaming services are inaccessible, I should be able to easy load up content sitting on my local Plex server. This whole client phoning home to Plex.tv really puts a wrench in those plans.
Please fix Plex Android TV client so I can easily browse my local sever when my crummy internet is acting up.
The only real workaround I think is using the Plex Kodi add-on.
We’re in exactly the same situation as @techanic – rural, sometimes-unreliable internet and completely cut off from streaming video (short of mirroring Plex from a computer) if the internet goes down without the ability to specify a local server in the Android TV app. Depending on the cause of the outage, it could be minutes to hours to days before the internet comes back up. (Though rare, we’ve had multiple internet outages for days at a time.)
I’d give up virtually any other setting just to get this one added, which from a user perspective seems it would trivial to (re?)add since it’s already in the non-TV Android app. Would be very, very interested to hear directly from Plex about whether it would be impossible to add, if not impossible why it’s been left out and what it would take to get it added, etc.
Full time RVer and long time plex pass holder who has setup countless plex servers for family and friends here…
Plex devs, please add the manual connection feature [back?] to the Android TV app. If the Plex Employee who weighed in here is any indication, there seems to be no reasonable explanation for its continued exclusion. This is a top five if not the number one reason savvy users are leaving for Jellyfin et al in droves – users who you will no longer be able to get your ads and partnership subscriptions in front of nor any of the multiple less savvy users they’re each taking with them to someone else’s competing ecosystem. DAU has gotta be an important number for any future fundraising or business development.
Rather amazing the player will not allow me to play “My” movies on “My” server in “My” house, because the player can’t get to the internet. That brings me to question… why does “it” need the internet? Does it need to provide “my” information to “who”?
I suppose… looking at other eco systems that provide the can provide basic service to “my” server without internet requirement will be looked into.
I would like this feature as well.
Keeping this request alive
This, is not in fact my experience for bugs/issues during my tenure of Plex usage (and if one has been around since 2008 on the forums, I am sure that also hasn’t been the experience had as well).
This would be a great add here into these clients as well (as the feature is supported on the other clients) and allows for disconnection from the internet while still maintaining access.
Just to seek clarification, is your response saying “PLEX is infallible. Every action is taken with intention and on purpose and because of that, if a function or feature present in the other clients is not present on this one, assume that it will never happen, occur and is not an oversight”?
Thanks!
I never said we are infallible. The answer to “how” was the answer I gave, it cannot. Like if someone asked me “How can I make Plex make popcorn when I start a movie” my answer will be it can’t, because in it’s current state it can’t.
The Apple TV app does not have a manual servers option either as far as I am aware. AFAIK it was because TV devices are stationary and mobile devices move around constantly but the original decisions were before my time here.
There are lots of features that might be in one client but not another. Then Android TV client has a good number of bugs and parity issues. as do other clients. A parity issue is not the same thing as a bug. For example clicking on a cast image not going to to a filtered library on the cast is not a bug because it never had the ability and only recently showed cast images at all.
I won’t get into debates about what is more important than others because everyone has different opinions on which should be worked on first, or different perceptions about how long a feature should take to complete.
I would gently suggest that a feature that already exists in one Android-based client – the lack of which in the TV client means that Plex won’t work if the internet goes down, even if the server is sitting a foot away from the client – should officially be on the roadmap for Android TV, even if not prioritized for the next possible release.
It’s not as if we’re asking for a frivolous cosmetic change or new functionality that doesn’t exist in any other client requiring dev work from scratch. Rather, we’re talking about something so critically important that without it the TV client simply will not work during such a common event as an internet outage.
The Roku Plex client has the option to manually specify the server IP.
The Android client which is the same APK as the Android TV APK also has the option to manually specify the server. This should be an easy addition since it would only require access to the setting that the mobile GUI can already access within the same APK.
Lol of course this is still an issue.
Still an issue
Still an issue.
I have read all the post about setting up non-secure connections at the server and I’ve tried all that crap.
Finally I find this thread that suggests it’s an Android TV APK problem. Well that explains the hundred freaking settings I’ve tried that still don’t work when the internet goes down.
A car just ran over a telephone pole and my internet’s out, meanwhile I got thousands of dollars setup in my home network to be able to watch my media , but not using Plex! Android client it seems. I don’t know if you can tell but sounds like I’m ranting along with the dozens of other people before me in this post. Seems there’s no way to tell it to go to the server IP address and just work.
Update,
Well maybe I’m just a lucky one. But after about 10 minutes some of the icon showed up on my Android client and when I click on them I had to wait another 5 minutes while it said talking to server see picture and then it actually started playing something. Whether the 20 minute wait for everything I want to watch is in order I don’t know yet but somehow I must have finally got the settings right at the server to allow an unsecure connection I guess. And that’s the actual problem I have no idea if it’s going to work next time if this is just a fluke or what.
Bump
Keeping this thread open in hopes that the Plex team might show an interest in helping users maintain a more secure home network.
