Plex caters for all, and I feel it’s done it fantastically during the 2/3 years I’ve been using it. I’m a Plex lifetime pass holder, and I’m beginning to question it. Personally, I don’t want any of these features, Podcasts, Web videos and all that junk. I don’t want it clogging up my UI, I’m just not interested in it. It’s undeveloped and weak, and I feel the software functionality is beginning to deviate from its original purpose of serving your media content. If I want any of those things, I have YouTube and a web browser and it will accomplish those tasks 100x’s better than what’s being added to Plex. At the very least, if people do want these features because, I’m 1 person out of god knows how many (But strongly doubt a large majority do want these features from the initial reception I’ve seen on other forums). Then I want it to be an optionally install at the very least.
Since the last Beta update where Web videos was added, playback for me and a few others seems to be pretty poor. Buffering un-necessarily and the UI seems far less snappy. I find I’m having to reboot my server daily otherwise Plex just seems to slow down and my server is a beast and should capably run the server with no problems. One positive in recent times however is that I support the DVR functionality. I feel with further development on the iOS UI for the guide perhaps. Better transcoding options and a little more optimisation when it comes to streams etc, and they’re onto a full feature. I feel it’s been setup and neglected and it’s not quite finished. These other things? Are a waste of time for me. I feel Plex is slowly losing its direction and it’s frustrating when so many people have backed it with upmost joy - I don’t quite know where their feedback is coming from.
It would have been great if these features were part of an overhauled version of Plugins that was more tightly integrated into the client UI and community-driven.
You can disable News, Podcasts, & Web Shows in your account settings, under “Online Media Sources.”
News, Podcasts, & Web Shows are not installed on your server. You do not need a Plex Server to access them. Create an account at plex.tv, then launch Plex Web, without ever having installed PMS. You’ll see News, Podcasts & Web Shows.
I see, maybe I was a little too hasty to judge. I already had the first 2 disabled.
Web shows is now disabled. In that case I retract my statements about it being force fed to us. But I still stand by that the use of resources doesn’t seem to be worth while. But they have to start somewhere with these features, I guess… thanks
I do agree with that approach. I’ve seen a lot of people suggest having YouTube as an integrated plugin. I wouldn’t mind that so much. It would cover a large amount of external content and I’m sure it would be something a majority of the fan base would make use of. Granted it works seamlessly.
I have given up TV and all news and focussed my time to having Plex keep me company with media only of my choice. This is way better for me for work and to stay unstressed on current events I don’t want to expose myself to so as not to be distracted. I dropped all my podcasts except for a few on films. Now, everytime I do a search of my plex library I am being confronted to my unhappiness with news headlines and podcast with headlines and despite my turning off this features in the main elements, they do keep showing up refreshed when searching. I love Plex and this is not at all why I have Plex and I simply would like a way to fully remove content at my election if I don’t wish to see it. I think many others likely feel the same and hope this option will soon be offered.
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To repeat clearly a point on how news and podcasts are not able to be fully turned off. Despite being disabled they are still showing up on my devices including an iPhone and several iPads in the Search Process. I really would like to have a way to get that feed turned off when searching as I just don’t want to see any content any more other than that which I like and which I chose myself. Plex has been doing this beautifully – I’d like to go back to being free from intruding headlines and hope this full fix (to include searches) can be added soon to a new version.
Update – News feed has gone away after logging in and out on each device. Podcasts feed continue which are less upsetting. I wish they too could be elected to not show up per my goal to using Plex ONLY to see content I have collected and personally include. Again, a juke box with my stuff and none from anybody else. Plex loses value or at least my appreciation by forcing content at us. I’d be glad to pay a bit more per a marketing model that assures me that what I see on Plex is ONLY what I put in Plex for myself and my family to view.
You might try quitting all plex clients, then logout/login to your account at plex.tv.
FWIW, I had Webcasts enabled (News & Podcasts were already disabled). Using Plex Web, I disabled them, saved the changes, logged out of my account, then quit & relaunched Chrome. Webcasts were gone when I relaunched Plex Media Player and Plex Web (and re-logged in to my account).
Edit: Added that I did have to logout/login at plex.tv for webcasts to not show up in Plex Web.
