Please allow a roll back to the old interface. Or work real fast on fixing the new. I have too many family asking me what they are supposed to do with the new UI. They went from fully using the old UI without issue to not understanding what they are looking at with the new UI. And it’s too technical and cumbersome, and requires way too much user input. And it’s slow. Up until this, I set it up for people on Roku, because it was fast, rock solid and easy, and they loved it. Love is not a word currently being used. And I spend a unordinary amount of time trying to explain to people how to get to what they used to get to… and that’s not easy.
Please. The very least you could do is inform Plex Pass users that the matter is being looked into and taken very seriously. Your silence says the exact opposite. We need to know if this will be addressed or if we should expect to move on to different product because it wont.
Wow. What a nightmare. Turned on the Plex on my TV and thought I was on another planet. It took me a long long long long time to get back to some kind of Folder View for my Library. You got to wonder what folks were thinking to make such a different interface as an “update.”
My wife goes into Plex via Roku today and can’t find our Christmas movie folder. I assume that there is something wrong with my server and I come into the room take the remote and realize that all of our folders are gone. Now all movies are just lumped together as are TV shows. Plus it takes 4 or 5 mouse clicks just to get to my movies. Horrible UI. Who at Plex thought this was a good idea. Please give us a way to once again view by folder. Please!!!
I would like to continue to use my Roku 2XS. The new UI just crashes on it. The earlier version–even if it lacks the functionalities soon to be introduced on the newer one–seems to be necessary for those of us who have the earlier device. I have it, but also have later ones as well. Please consider these users.
The new UI is beyond awful. Been using Plex for years, avid supporter and Plex Pass subscriber. I share my libraries with relatives and have my parents on both sides set up with their own Plex libraries.
The day this went live, I immediately got phone calls asking what they’d all broken and how to fix Plex. As if this was something I could do. My toddler is also convinced that Plex is broken, as he now can’t find any of his shows or movies.
I’m often on the forefront of software changes, and enjoy beta testing when given the opportunity. But I’m not a fan of change for changes’ sake. It doesn’t need to take ten clicks to get to the one library I want. The left-hand navigation made it very easy to have all of our various libraries (of which, in our own house, we have about a dozen, which has worked well for organizing our content - which I thought was the entire point of Plex), but now it’s extra clicks just to get to those libraries. It’s as if it’s expected we dump all of our similar media types into one place for the sake of easy nav.
Please, please, please, revert back. I don’t use plugins, I just want a clean, simple interface for organizing my own media. I’ve been raving about Plex for years, and have set up at least six other folks’ own media libraries on the system because I was so convinced it was the best out there. And it was. Now it’s a cluster. And it’ll likely be less of a headache for me to find a new system to set up my parents and in-laws on than to convince them that this new Plex is a better option. I can’t be the only one.
The new interface has been around for over a year. They have been slowly moving it to each platform since 2017. Don’t be so shocked that this “came out of nowhere.” It was laid out in their blog post on August 24, 2017 where they explained they would bring it to all platforms over time (https://www.plex.tv/blog/new-hope-for-meda-browsing/)
You had over a year to make your case for not liking the new interface (though I’ll admit with everyone, it probably would not have changed anything)
Yes it’s sucks that the change on Roku had some pretty major bugs I’ve read about, and it makes me glad to not be a Roku user, but I had the same issues with my Samsung TV when the change roled out there. But instead of whining about a new interface, I choose to look at the potential benefits of a uniform app across multiple devices (once the app-crashing bugs get resolved of course).
If you go look at the Release Announcements from earlier this week, you will see they pushed 3 updates to 3 platforms on the same day that resolved the same issues. A benefit of them unifying the code between platforms is that they can consolidate their changes and resolve bugs on multiple platforms at the same time, and at a faster pace. Sure there will still be device specific issues (like the ones you see in Roku now), but I think Plex is really close to being a more robust platform.
At least, that’s what I have hope for. I’ve been a Plex user since 2013, and a Plex Pass holder for the past 3 years. I consider myself lucky for not encountering hardly any show-stopping bugs. Issues suck, but I’ve been with Plex this long, the least I (we) can do is give them a chance to fix the bugs that prevent us from watching our media before pitching a tantrum and threatening to jump ship. If you want to leave for another platform, then leave. That’s the beauty of technology, the best will win out, the poor performers will dwindle and fade away. Vote with your dollar and maybe we will all benefit in the end. Believe me, if Plex doesn’t resolve these show-stopping bugs, I too will find another home for my media.
Confused at why anyone would, as you put it, make their case for not liking it a year ago when it was on a different platform? People are voicing their opinion now because it has hit the platform they use.
Just because it came out a year ago on another platform, they didn’t have the means to test it until it hit their platform. In this case the Roku.
They have had a beta test going on the Roku for a little over a month. For those that tried it, many people complained about many issues. Plex hardly responded and hardly fixed any of them. This latest beta version was available (with many issues) for less than 2 days before they decided to roll it out (without any fixes) as the main UI. 2 DAYS! That is not beta testing, that is rushing it out.
The new UI originally came out for the Plex Media Player, which is compatible on Linux, Mac, and Windows. I imagine most people hosting Plex servers have a computer, and therefore would have the capability to try the new interface. The point is the new interface was available to try (first on PC) for over a year.
I would like to separate the argument for complaints related to the interface change, and the issues/bugs present that are not allowing media to play properly, if at all.
My case for the new interface is that there was ample notice that the change was coming.
As for the bugs that are making the Roku client unstable is unquestionably unacceptable, and Plex should have done more testing for stability sake. Heck, the Samsung release was so jacked up that they role it back to the old version until further notice. Not because people complained about the new UI, but because media was unplayable.
I just don’t agree with everyone’s disgruntled shock that this came out of nowhere. I’m willing to give it a chance. I don’t think it is near as bad as the new iOS update (I assume the android mobile update is the same)
I’ve been watching these threads since the start, and it seems like most people aren’t on the forums and donkt read the blogs. They’re either server admins that set up theor systems the way they liked and moved on with their lives, or they share with these admins and are completely divorced from the community and its goings-on.
Given that, it’s not reasonable to expect people who have incorporated Plex into their daily routines and moved on to put their lives on hold and beta test a completely new, foreign system that they had no idea they would be forced to adopt.
For those of us who use the forums, it was not likely a huge shock that the UI hit the Roku. I suspect the truth is, that the majority of Plex users who have set up a server, are in the same category as my brother-in-law. His server has been running and shared with me for over three years, and he bought a life-time plex pass within a month or so after he set it up. He updates the server when Plex Web tells him there’s an update, and that is about the extent of his interaction/communication with Plex.
He manages his libraries, users, etc thru Plex Web on the computer in his office. and I doubt he even use Plex web to play any media from there. He and his family use the Roku apps for viewing the media served up from the server. He had absolutely no idea there was a new interface coming his way, and phoned me about a week ago to ask if my Roku was kind of screwed up all of a sudden.
For a lot of people, there simply wasn’t a need or desire to install a Plex app on multiple devices, even if they could. They were happy with the Roku, and it just worked. So, yeah, for them it was a big change, and yeah, it was totally unexpected.
That’s valid. I too have family that don’t quite understand that the media on Plex is only there because I put it there. They totally expect it to be Netflix-like where movies just show up all the time, and don’t understand why only have of a TV series is up.
I get it, Plex is a semi-DIY solution for serving up your personal media, and we all choose the solution that works best for us (Plex, Kodi, Emby, etc.) So when something changes (sometimes drastically) I understand why people would get upset, and consider other options.
AND, I would also challenge that if Netflix changed their app layout to something you didn’t like, would you throw up arms and switch to Prime Video? Change is rarely ever accepted, but over time people get use to it and sometimes (sometimes) they realize the change was for the better. [Not claiming the UI change is better, that’s subjective, but I do prefer the updated look]
I finally got around to logging in to understand what happened, after my mother has been calling me nearly every night complaining about ‘un-useable’ Plex on her Roku!
So thanks Plex, now I get to spend hours of tech support I did not sign up for, just so my mother can struggle with something she used to use easily. Bright move.
I despise having content shoved down my throat.
Give me the option to hide news, live tv, and podcasts.
I’m bummed I signed up for lifetime, because I wouldn’t pay a nickel for this.
Reading that statement by Plex is like listening to our CEO when they’re laying off employees and labeling it as “growth” strategy. It’s cringe worthy.
"Our support, design, and engineering teams are actively collecting information "
“evaluating the feedback and we will follow up as soon as we can”
feedback has been there for years now - starting with PMP. Months with iOS and Android… please, Plex employees, communicate like a human beings - we dont come here to read MBA BS handouts.
