Is there another step to activating PlexPass features?

General Discussions
1

I’m not sure what I’m missing. I started a PP a few days ago. I know it is active because I’ve been able to use one feature - multiuser. But I went to use some of the Premium Music features and they just don’t seem to exist. I see the how to pages, but I just don’t have options like “Plex Mix” anywhere. First I tried on my Samsung TV but I figured it probably isn’t supported (though it does say “Smart TV” in the supported App list). So then I try the basic web app, which is also supposedly supported, and its not there either. Not in Windows’ Plex Home Theatre either. I get no lyrics.

The movie previews thing “works” in a way… lol… but man it sucked. I set it up to play 3 previews before any movie in my library, and I chose all the available preview options (in theatre, coming, etc). What did it show me? “Coming this December… The Hobbit”. From 2012. And when that trailer finished, it showed the EXACT SAME ONE. When that finished… yep, it showed it for a 3rd time.

Am I doing something wrong or are the premium features a bust?

2

Lol so I tried the movie preview thing again and this time it says “coming this summer” and its a movie from 2013… and again it played the SAME ONE three times in a row.

How do I get it to show me relevant “previews” (as opposed to postviews) and not show the same one over and over?

[edit]OK, I think the 3 in a row thing is unique to the Samsung app because that didn’t happen in the web player. And the fact it was showing me old movies was because I was including movies - including watched ones - from my library. I started to clue in when I noticed all the previews were from movies I have in my library.

3

Looks like you’ve worked out the movies issues, at least as far as I could have helped you.

As for the Premium Music issues, the Premium features will not appear in a Music library that was created before you got the Plex Pass, or one that was created using the ‘Basic’ option (Basic is the same as the old style). You will need to create a new Music Library, and select the Premium option (should be the default option). The differences between the old and Premium libraries were too great for them to be able to upgrade an old library to the new structure.

I suggest that you don’t delete your existing library, just create a new one alongside it. They may be greatly different, because the old one used Last.FM and the new one will use Gracenote, unless you are using embedded ID3 tags. Once you’re satisfied that the new one is complete and to your liking, you can delete the old library if you want to.

4

Thanks for your help beckfield.

Building the library now. Meanwhile, two questions:

  1. If I decide to not keep PlexPass… can I de-premium it? Or will I need to recreate the library again?
  2. My library is very well kept with regards to ID3 tags. Is there any benefit to leaving that option unchecked and letting Gracenote do its thing?
5

@aR3SA4Ry said:

  1. If I decide to not keep PlexPass… can I de-premium it? Or will I need to recreate the library again?

Unfortunately not. It will continue to play, but you can’t make changes to it anymore.
That’s why the recommendation of @beckfield above to keep your old music library is very advisable, if you are just trying things out.

  1. My library is very well kept with regards to ID3 tags. Is there any benefit to leaving that option unchecked and letting Gracenote do its thing?

I strongly suggest you check the field ‘Use embedded metatags’ in the properties of your music library and also adjust the order of metadata agents under
Settings - Server - Agents - Albums - Plex Premium Music
so, that the line ‘Local Media Assets’ is at the topmost position of the list.

This will give your embedded tags priority.

Further tips for successfully registering your albums (particularly Special Editions and Re-Releases) in a Premium Music Library:
https://forums.plex.tv/discussion/comment/1093611/#Comment_1093611
https://forums.plex.tv/discussion/comment/1050849/#Comment_1050849

6

@aR3SA4Ry said:

  1. If I decide to not keep PlexPass… can I de-premium it? Or will I need to recreate the library again?
    Otto’s answer is best.
  2. My library is very well kept with regards to ID3 tags. Is there any benefit to leaving that option unchecked and letting Gracenote do its thing?
    I had such problems with Last.FM and Gracenote that it eventually forced me to get my tags into shape so I could stop depending on them. Their databases are full of garbage, especially for classical music. Once my tags were in shape, and I did what Otto described above, the headaches were gone. I see no advantage in using Gracenote.
7

Thanks guys. So Gracenote is for ID3 slobs, got it :slight_smile: Another software I use forces me to keep my ID3 in order, and I’m glad because it makes finding stuff way easier.

Now if only the Samsung app adopted some of these Plex Pass features. I really only use it on my TV, and so far none of this is supported. I recreated the library, but there are no options for Plex Mix, or lyrics, etc in the app. The Cinema Preview feature is messed up (its worse than I reported earlier. It doesn’t stop at 3 - I actually had my option set to 2 - it just repeats the trailers forever and the movie can’t be played).

Then again, multi-user is why I wanted it and that works. It just diminishes the value when I get none of the gravy.