How to use RasPlex for playback of local files, even offline !
Some custom “Plex Home Theater” skins have added a “Play File” command to the main menu.
This command opens a file browser which can be used to find media files on local drives,
and to play these media files independently of PMS.
Unfortunately most custom skins are too ‘heavy’ in their demands on the system for use in RasPlex.
But there are a few which demand less processing power, so that the RPi computer can handle them.
One such skin is “Plex Black Edition”, which is available in the skin section of these forums.
And in its most recent versions this skin has added a “Play File” command as mentioned above.
This allows RasPlex to play locally stored files, either from the same SD card holding RasPlex,
or from USB drives connected to the RPi USB ports. Multiple drives can be used via USB hub.
I recommend using external drives rather than the SD card, to avoid risk of RasPlex corruption.
External USB HDDs should preferably have their own PSU, to avoid loading the RPi PSU.
There are several limitations to this kind of playback that you should be aware of.
Most importantly, it ONLY supports playback of files without transcoding (No PMS use).
So in preparing media for such use, you must limit them to CODECs the RPi can handle.
The current implementation supports video and music files, but not picture browsing.
All features that are normally handled by PMS are inaccessible in local playback.
This includes all forms of subtitles, even when embedded in the video file.
(Even then, the player would need to be informed of subtitle presence by PMS.)
None of those limitations are subject to change by the RasPlex team or by the skin author.
That’s because most limitations are inherent to the PHT player and how it interacts with PMS.
For local media playback PMS is not involved, so no such interaction can occur.
How to install the “Plex Black Edition” skin for RasPlex:
First off you need to visit the skin’s release thread through this link.
The first post of that thread contains download links for the skin, and you should of course use the latest version, designed for PHT 1.3.x (the new RasPlex 0.5.0 release corresponds to PHT 1.3.5). The downloaded file is a RAR archive named “skin.plex_black_editionHT.rar” which you should first unpack.
The unpacked folder named “skin.plex_black_editionHT” must then be copied to the proper addons folder of the RasPlex installation. This can be done by various methods, but the easiest one is probably SFTP (SSH FTP).
I use the freeware FTP client FileZilla for this purpose, using its ‘Site Manager’ to define a site entry for RasPlex. There I enter the RPi IP address (as checked in RPi ‘System Settings’ > ‘Connections’) into the “Host:” text box but leave the ‘Port:’ box empty, as port is chosen automatically when selecting SFTP for the “Protocol:” selection box. In the “Logon:” selection box I chose “Normal” and enter “root” into the “User:” field and “rasplex” into the “Password:” field (masked as asterisks), which completes the site definition as I click OK to save it.
I then select the new site entry again and use it to connect FileZilla to the RPi.
When connection completes I navigate the ‘upper’ remote site browser to “/storage/.Plexht/addons” so that this “addons” folder is selected in the upper section of the remote browser, with the folder contents displayed in the lower section (that content should include a subfolder named “packages” which you should leave alone).
At this stage it is possible to drag-drop the skin folder to be installed from a normal Windows Explorer window into the addons folder of RasPlex (the lower section of FileZilla’s remote browser), so as to complete the installation of the skin. Then I just wait for the transfer to complete after which I click the disconnect icon of FileZilla to terminate the SFTP session. No more need be done in FileZilla, so I just terminate the program.
Now the skin has been installed but has not yet been recognized by RasPlex, so RasPlex needs to be restarted in order to allow the new skin to be selected in the submenu entry: Preferences > Appearance > Advanced > Skin.
When you select the new skin there will be a longish delay before the new skin activates (37 seconds on my overclocked RPi), so don’t panic and think it has crashed. This long delay is quite normal. Once it has activated you should move the menu cursor one step down and use the “- settings” entry which opens the submenu with settings specific for the active skin. Here you will find that this skin has a lot more settings than the default ‘Plex’ skin, with its own submenu structure. For full use of the skin you will need to go through all of those settings, and I won’t go into detail on their uses here, except to mention that you will need to go into the “Home Screen” submenu and set the option ‘Show “Play File” in Home menu’, in order to get access to this new command.
And that’s it. From this point on the new command will be available in the main menu, allowing you to play local files as described above. And this works equally well with and without any network connection.
(Without network connection your main menu will only contain two commands: “Search” and “Play File”)
Btw: Sorry about the sloppy state of this ‘how-to’, but I’m writing it well past midnight and short on sleep…
Best regards: dlanor
Nice right up dlanor! Can't wait to try it out.
How is the performance of this skin over the default one?
How is the performance of this skin over the default one?
About the same, based on a modest overclocking.
Regards
I've never tried skins before, so I gave this a try and it works pretty well. However, I'm probably missing something obvious here, but how do you switch views ? I'm stuck with the "list" view, and I can't figure out how to change to those neat carrousel or kiosk views.
I've never tried skins before, so I gave this a try and it works pretty well. However, I'm probably missing something obvious here, but how do you switch views ? I'm stuck with the "list" view, and I can't figure out how to change to those neat carrousel or kiosk views.
You need to go back to the Plex Black edition Skin forum and read through the posts, it's in there.
Regards
Media list ViewMode switching in 'Plex Black Edition' is handled by a side menu.I've never tried skins before, so I gave this a try and it works pretty well. However, I'm probably missing something obvious here, but how do you switch views ? I'm stuck with the "list" view, and I can't figure out how to change to those neat carrousel or kiosk views.
This is the same side menu as used for filtering and sorting, but in this skin it also has some extra command icons specific to the skin, one of which is used to step through the available ViewModes. As currently implemented it is the fourth icon from the top, at the right edge of the side menu. If you select that icon you can press the 'Enter' key repeatedly to step through all available ViewModes for the current media list.
The side menu is opened by pressing a DPad button or corresponding arrow key, the specific button/key being dependent on the active ViewMode. If the active ViewMode scrolls vertically then DPad_Left will open the side menu, but if the active ViewMode scrolls horizontally then DPad_Down will open the side menu.
The ViewMode settings are individual per media section and per section level (eg: Show list, Season list, Episode list).
Best regards: dlanor
As currently implemented it is the fourth icon from the top, at the right edge of the side menu. If you select that icon you can press the 'Enter' key repeatedly to step through all available ViewModes for the current media list.
Thanks, well I guess this is why I can't figure it out. I only get 3 icons in the side menu, "list", "play", and "shuffle". The list button puts me in the filter/sort menu.
I'll try reinstalling, it looks like there is a bug in the skin.
Are you sure that you activated the "Plex - Black Edition HT" skin choice properly ?Thanks, well I guess this is why I can't figure it out. I only get 3 icons in the side menu, "list", "play", and "shuffle". The list button puts me in the filter/sort menu.
I'll try reinstalling, it looks like there is a bug in the skin.
I refer to the choice made in the popup menu for skin selection opened by the submenu command:
Preferences > Appearance > Advanced > Skin
I have to ask this, because the three icons you describe are those present in the original "Plex" skin, while the current implementation of "Plex Black Edition" should have two additional icons. I'm attaching two screenshots showing part of my "TV Shows" section, using the "Poster Info" ViewMode. The first screenshot shows the appearance of the listing before (or after) using the side menu. The second screenshot shows the appearance after opening the side menu by pressing DPad_Left or Left_arrow key on a keyboard. (Closable by DPad_Right or Right_arrow key.)
Appearance before/after using side menu:
Appearance with side menu open:
If you can't get something similar then you don't have the correct skin active.
Another possible reason for this is if you haven't downloaded the correct skin version.
The skin has been updated many times quite recently, and the version I use was released Jan 14 2015.
It can be tricky to keep track of these skin versions, as the version or release date is not included in the file names.
Best regards: dlanor
Yes, figured it out. I was in Kiosk mode, which hides the Viewtype icon. Sorry for the brain fart...
thanks, will try this, looks interesting.
works fine on rasplex 0.5.0 with overclocking :)
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