Or why they can’t add back in some features that the new app should have anyway and continue to provide a rudimentary HTPC experience? It wouldn’t take much; start in full screen, add keyboard navigation and scalable UI components, add the audio pass-through features back in. These are things that the new app should have anyway.
Either way, it makes no sense. I think @celloch guessed it right. They are pursuing business partnerships that mandate intentionally killing the HTPC interface.
Yeah, I would have expected Plex to do the exact opposite of what they just did: dump the embedded Plex Web view and only ship what was, before, the “TV mode”, i.e. a nice looking UNO interface that matches the one on other devices like Roku/ATV/etc.
As it stands, the new Plex Windows app is so ridiculous that (being a Plex Web under the hood) it actually shows you the “connect to a player” button in the top right… a player casting to another player! Inception! 
That’s a fair point, however may I point out that you STILL haven’t!
Shall I ask a 3rd time or shall we just leave it for the community to interpret the answer?
I rip blu rays to my Plex server using my HTPC, which lives in the basement as a headless install. I also play DVD series and AAA games on my HTPC. Which media device can do this? I’m on board. 
Ditto, I need to figure out an alternative as well. Lifetime plexpass was essentially a 5 year subscription. I’m curious about other options, I don’t want to buy new hardware. I actually thought Plex worked better than I could have conceived and this move is a total disaster.
Just to join the discussion and hopefully put a bit of pressure to revert this decision:
Nope, this is horrible evolution. I now control my tv and media center from 1 remote. Easy to explain to my non IT minded wife and convenient as hell.
No need to take my smartphone, connect to wifi, open an app, connect to chromecast, choose on a small device what we want to watch (yeah… no longer deciding together what to watch while browsing through the library) and finally click on play.
Also what if the person who’s smartphone you’re using fell asleep and you want to pause? Furthermore, the fast forward on Chromecast is not as nice, the overall experience is slow.
And they say it’s a equal or better user experience?
Nope, really don’t like this one :-/
It they push this one through, it will be Kodi for me. Thank God I’m not a paying user.
Make sure to add your vote here if you haven’t already.
Pardon my ignorance Elan but how would I go bout replacing my HTPC with the apple tv in order to continue with direct play video and audio (including DTS) for locally stored content?
For 100% direct play it would need to be the Shield.
The Apple TV will happily direct play any video but will not handle HD audio Passthrough.
Nor do I agree that buying new hardware is even close to an acceptable solution for you guys.
Dear Plex,
Just another frustrated long time user here. I know you probably aren’t listening to what I have to say because I bought my lifetime pass long ago. Shame on me, I guess, for believing in the vision you were selling us at the time.
We stuck with you when you when you dropped your mediocre support for Kodi and told us to use your bumbling excuse of a half-baked substitute player. After all, I guess it was pretty hard to add mouse support to Kodi, and you probably got really tired of people asking for it in your forums.
We stuck with you when your database got hacked and you handed over our information that we trusted you with. We stuck with you with you ignored our requests for help in your forum, which by the way was the only way for paying customers to receive support. But hey, you were busy making great improvements in your players, right? We stuck by you when you broke important features in your players and never bothered to fix them, but at least you gave us Tidal and VR. Every time you abandoned a new effort, I kept telling myself that you must be working on something great instead!
Sorry Plex, but it is not me, it is you. I have to admit, the Media Server was always good, and it kept me coming back again and again. But you were never any good at Windows players, and I am not sorry to say that I have been seeing PlexKodiConnect on the side for years, and he is better than you have ever been (written and maintained as a side gig by a single dev, by the way).
I would just like to remind you that it was us geeks that funded you from the beginning. Telling me to drop my PCs and buy Shields is insulting. Telling me that you don’t have time to include a 10’ interface or pass-through audio on your flagship Windows player is infuriating. I know that you are more enamored with your “millions of users” than me, but perhaps you did not consider what will happen to the masses when us geeks take down our servers and start denouncing Plex to the same people that have glanced our beautiful rigs over the years and have asked “How can I get that?”
It was just two weeks ago that I proudly proclaimed to my family, “look at how good PMP is coming along, maybe we could try using that now!” Then you announced this latest disappointment, which is by far the most painful yet. I will fondly remember the good times, but I am afraid our values have become too divergent.
Sincerely,
A geek scorned
I’ve been using embedded openPHT on my miniITX htpc for years (just after PHT was replaced by PMP back in the day) and has been solid. Definitely far from perfect, but solid and convenient enough to pass the dreaded ‘wife-test’ over the years (no disrespect to the AV geek gals out there ). One button macro push on the remote and you’re in and ready to watch. If I have to eventually go back to a Roku or blu-ray player app to watch things off my plex server I’ll go nuts . Their interfaces are already bad enough, let alone not having the audio features for a real home theater (no, I’m not buying a Shield…)
I had always hoped for a renaissance of the embedded platforms but this seems to likely be the death knell for that ever happening. Fortunately openPHT still works for what I need despite not having any active development in a long time, but someday it will be so feature far behind or finally broken by a newer server version that I’ll have to find something else.
Beautifully said @richln, beautifully said…
And they still don’t care, because millions of other users, or something like that.
Oh that may well be currently, although I’m damn sure this post has certainly opened some eyes!
But this is still only Day 4. Plenty of time for plenty more people to find out…
ok, do you count how many use those of us who have Plex servers and have family and friends play our content? If I now have to get rid of my server and use something like JRiver, then they will all stop using Plex player. That’s 14 people counting myself.
Guys, I can guarantee you they’re just waiting it out. Internally they probably notified all employees to stay out of this, don’t feed the fire and in a few weeks no one will remember what happened.
Of course I hope I’m wrong, but that’s common practice in software development nowadays, unfortunately. I call it “development by numbers” - you make decisions based on the profit vs. costs calculations and losing some users, even if they’re your “code audience” or “power users”, is part of the calculation.
It happens when a company transitions from the start-up stage (at which point it’s all about a group of people passionate about “the cause”, driven to create something great) to the mid-sized to large company stage. At that point, it really takes a strong leader to make the call to never forget the company’s roots and original vision even if it means sacrificing maybe a few percent of the profit. In most cases that doesn’t happen and they’ll just make the financially correct decision.
Anyway, got to go, I think my glass is already half-empty 
Just my 3 cents. I mean… my $119.99.
i wanted to throw my comment in the ring also - i will keep it brief b/c i have some pretty strong feeling about this i don’t think i can articulate as well as others have said.
this may very well be a deal breaker for our household, where we have 2 HTPC setups. i really hope the fine folks in charge of this decision take a moment to rethink the real impact on us long time users.
“There is no such thing as bad publicity”, often attributed to P. T. Barnum, in fact it’s just a cool saying because it’s true.
This thread has a ton more views than posts and since the OVERWHELMING MAJORITY don’t even know what a HTPC is this thread is just entertainment for them pretty much like it is for me, because this equus has expired. The Fat Lady Sang a while ago and has left the building.
I font have an HDR compatible screen, I do use the PC part of the HTPC so
Well I dont think it’s hilarious but you are certainly acting like a suit and one who works in the accounts departemts rather than showing a commitment to your product or your users howerver few your metrics say we are
