Just going to start this off by saying I’m loving the new user interface changes on the Apple TV! But I’ve noticed a little issue.
Previously, the blurred backgrounds would apply a blur to the fanart for the item in your library and in cases where you’re unlikely to have fanart such as collections and seasons Plex would stretch and blur the poster which is okay, but it could be handled better (more on that below).
The new logic for blurred / dimmed backgrounds doesn’t use your fanart at all unless you use the dimmed version. The blurred version is stretching and blurring the poster for all items in your library, even if they have fanart. I see a select few people liking this change as the background will match the poster but for myself and I assume others it’s a little frustrating. Sometimes it is very noticeable that the poster has been stretched and it’s honestly a little bit of an eyesore for people like myself who pride themselves on setting custom posters and artwork. I’d really like to see an option to have the blurred effect applied to the fanart if one has been set or alternatively instead of stretching the poster, simply have it fit the width of the screen and centre it, because the resolution doesn’t matter, it’s getting blurred anyway.
Glad someone else is annoyed by this, why change something that wasn’t broken? It’s nice to have the “dimmed” option, but I miss having blurred BACKGROUNDS instead of blurred and stretched posters.
I’m not sure what Plex is going for with ‘Blurred’, but I ‘think’ it’s just a background that’s unidentifiable - in that regard I think they nailed it. It’s truly a strangeness.
‘Dimmed’ just came to Roku and it’s what I was wanting:
The ‘Roku Dimmed’ looks just like that (Plexweb, etc.), maybe 10-15% more Dimmed on Roku than I’d like, but it’s a lot better than no background. Blurred is very odd - not sure what they’re going for, but on Roku I can’t even identify enough of it to know what it’s made out of.
I’m pretty sure blurred created by taking the major colors from the items poster. It’s shouldn’t be recognizable, but it should fit with whatever item it selected.
Over on Plexamp it’s used and it’s pretty nice. The interface will change colors based on the album art of the album or song playing.
Plexamp uses UltraBlur, which is smart colour extraction, blurring and blending. The Apple TV is stretching and blurring the poster, and is not the same as Plexamp.
