Hello, I am brand new to Plex, and in the very initial testing period. Currently I use a mixture of MediaPortal and Emby but I am hoping that Plex with the new Plex Media Player can replace them both.
Currently - the deal breaker is that I can’t get Frontview+ to work with Plex, and I can’t see it mentioned anywhere in the forums to ask for help. It looks like it may no longer be supported or working with Plex. If not, is there something else I can use instead?
The feature I am looking for is to have ‘Now Playing’ metadata on a second screen that is attached to my HTPC, whilst I am playing back videos on Plex Media Player on the TV. Emby Theater has this with Frontview+ and MediaPortal has it with MPDisplay++
With Plex, you have the media server PMS. PMS is the container and controller of all things related to your media. It is a client-server architecture. Plex has numerous clients ranging from Plex Media Player (PMP), which is a HTPC style, mobile clients for your tablets and phones, as well as embedded apps for your televisions and Plex/Web which is the web browser client for all browsers.
If I am understanding you correctly, you wish to remove Plex’s front end and replace it with your own (FrontView+, etc). This is not possible but I think the information you want is native to PMS. It’s located in the “Activity” icon → “Now Playing” . In Plex/web (the web browser interface), you can always see “Now Playing” and see the activity of all clients using the server.
In the image below, you can see my Roku 3 playing a movie. Were I to click on it, I could see the details.
Thanks both for the responses, I don’t think that is the functionality I am after, I probably haven’t explained it very well. Here is a photo of the second screen whilst watching a film on the TV.
Perhaps this will shed some light. This is the Samsung client in action. It’s a 2 minute phone camera video taken playing 4K UHD DTS 7.1 over wifi. (normally google plays this directly in the browser for me but it’s having issues today)
Thanks ChuckPa - I am wanting ‘now playing’ info on a second screen, whilst the film is playing on the TV. I attach a more expanded view of current set up, so small second screen to the left, main TV front and centre.
Thanks - I am just playing with that now, it would work if it then had the slider at the bottom that showed time elapsed and time remaining on the video playing on the TV counting down. But using the Windows 10 app to control Plex Media Player - these numbers just stay at zero, is that because PMP is still in beta stage, or is that just how it is designed?
It depends on the app used to fling the media.
I haven’t tried it with the Windows 10 app, but I know the iOS and Android apps will show the time elapsed and time remaining
Okay so the Windows 10 app doesn’t really work properly, because you can use it to start playback on the media player, but then have no control of it once it is playing back, nor any playback stats. Any other apps that would run on windows 10 that might work? Or, is the Windows 10 app broken, and should I report it as a bug?
Your initial post indicated you wanted a 2nd display with now playing meta data. If that is all you want, plus the option to have a slide show of posters when nothing is playing, check out this http://www.movieposterapp.com/index.html
I keep getting a red error message saying ‘there is a problem connecting to this player’ and the Plex Media Player I am trying to connect to has a green padlock next to it’s name.
Alitchy - thanks - that is so nearly what I am looking for, but not quite there. The posters are great, but main priority is the progress bar, which isn’t there. There is a time started and time ended, but I can’t seem to get it to a size that is readable from the sofa. Are there any more apps like this do you know?
I don’t know of any other programs that do this, however the developer of the app is pretty responsive to requests. The app is not his primary job, so don’t expect frequent updates, but he is pretty engaged.
