Killing PMP

Does the shield support HDMI CEC controls? I can navigate my Apple TV and PS4 with my TV remote. Could be an option if it’s that bad, you would just loose voice control of the Shield.

I can confirm Shield handles HDMI CEC. I use the Shield remote to turn on the system and adjust receiver volume.

Not only does it support CEC but there’s a whole set of settings to customize it. The ShieldTV is a fantastic device. Its bundled remote, not so much. It’s better than the AppleTV remote but that is faint praise indeed.

Side stepping hear. Do you use the harmony for anything else? Really struggling to justify the price for just a remote.

No, just home theater stuff. It only cost $60; it frequently goes on-sale. I have one for my bedroom too. It’s the hub plus the button-only remote. I don’t want a LCD screen on my remote.

Check out the Xiaomi Mibox at Walmart. It’s cheaper $60, $40 on sale, and does really well grabbed one for family that hated Chromecast.

Yeah I think my wife is going to throw the remote out the window soon, and the cheap replacement options aren’t all that great either. It’s a real weak spot for the Shield. (She also prefers the Roku’s extremely simplistic interface, which I can appreciate, even if the Roku’s refresh rate switching has caused issues for me)

As a matter of fact, the harmony hub is on sale for $50 today.

2 Likes

I’ve been meaning to pick one of those up just for fun. Good reminder.

Yeah. Been looking at it. Problem is my set up is basically just a TV currently since kids like to poke soft paper comes. So doesn’t make sense if I can find more use. Im assuming it has no lag like the shield remote?

It connects to the ShieldTV over bluetooth. Zero lag.

In my bedroom all I have is a TV and a ShieldTV and I use a harmony hub there too. It’s just so, so choice. Highly recommend.

Note that due to CEC support you could probably skip it and just use your TV remote to control the ShieldTV (and Plex app) too.

Lol, let’s start a separate thread for the remote control support group discussion.

2 Likes

Link me?

I use the HTPC feature 99% of the time. I don’t see the extra effort in maintaining this for windows. Especially with the new UI.

Not that Plex will care about this but i’m very dissatisfied with this announcement.

What is the reason for canceling this besides that no-one is apparently using it? A lot of people here seem to use it. In my facebook group there are a lot of complaints as well. I want an honest answer.

7 Likes

Well just going to have to throw my voice into the crowd here: getting rid of the HTPC interface for desktop is a terrible, terrible idea. It’s going to alienate a lot of your most loyal users who run custom media centers such as myself.

If Plex is truly cross platform and you can implement your HTPC interface on so many consoles, smart TVs, and streaming boxes, why not on desktop too? Is it that hard to maintain?

I feel like I’ve tolerated a lot of bad decisions on the part of the Plex team these past several years. You’ve tried to make amends on some of them, but there have been so many UI regressions, important features removed, and unwanted features added while so many long term bugs plague your apps. It just screams that you don’t understand what your users want or how they use the apps, and you have your priorities all wrong. And now there’s this.

It’s very troubling. I was paranoid that Plex had the stink of death about it, and this just makes me even more worried. All it’ll take is for someone to come along and offer a minimum eco-system that actually supports my and these other user’s needs and we’ll all be gone.

17 Likes

Here’s an employee response that doesn’t apply just to the topic of audio…

1 Like

I think it might be us, old time power users that are the problem.

We started using it, plex needed to make money and we promoted it, so they did. The average user is just not interested in what the stuff we are. And thus if 100 people want A but 1 wants B… we’re never going to get B.

It’s probably time to face the inevitable which we all saw coming, we are not and probably never were the target demographic of Plex Inc.

10 Likes

You know I kind of agree with this.
Once upon a time PMP was considered the flagship device. Even more so with the embedded version.

Although I had to move away from PMP (for HDR support), I do still find this move totally baffling.

I personally feel Emby and others will be the winner from this crazy decision. If abandoning PMP seems like a good move then I start to wonder if any users on any client are safe anymore.

5 Likes

Well, certainly. In the very beginning you had to use a HTPC, so many of us started out there. Actually in the very beginning I ran XBMP on an OG Xbox.

I tend to feel HTPCs aren’t worth the trouble these days, but I fully acknowledge that many people have extensively customized setups and haven’t switched to a ShieldTV or AppleTV for whatever reason. Plex knows it’s hurting those people, they did the math, and they accepted it.

I would like them to commit to maintaining the Plex Kodi addon, though. Just keep it working, that’s all.

1 Like

Neither Emby or Jellyfin are good alternatives here, were plex has clients left and right they drop. The alternatives simply lack the clients.

They mostly have something similar to what the new plex app is, an electron based app (with a TV mode) but still no real good audio support.

A hybrid plex for mobile and mpv for TV seems like the best option atm, as I just checked out the alternatives and they are in the same boat.