I’ll be adding new testers for the next build later this week, I’ll post the link here when it’s up again…
@hobotts good news/bad news on the 4K HDR front, the app supports direct play of 4K HDR/HEVC if it’s already in an MP4/MOV container… However, it’s in an MKV container, it needs to be transcoded and as of right now, it doesn’t seem PMS supports this.
I’ve tried a bunch both app side and editing the profiles on the server to no avail, the best I’ve gotten is 4K/H264 support. I’ve gotten PMS to generate HLS streams for 4K/HVEC but Apple TV and even QuickTime on macOS can’t play the back – after some digging, it may be related to this: http://www.ffmpeg-archive.org/Create-hvc1-mp4-with-ffmpeg-only-td4680453.html. Apple devices only support HEVC via the hvc1 name and not hev1, which is what ffmepg generates by default (there’s literally no difference besides the name as far as I can tell), and further complicating things, the current version of ffmpeg won’t let you generate hvc1 in the MP4 container, you have to use the MOV container.
If you’re aware of anyone who’s gotten this to work point, me in the right direction and I’ll do my best to get it supported (believe me, I want it too!)
Hi, I have an LG HDR TV, a sweet Plex server (with Plex Pass), and an Apple TV 4K. I’m extremely tech-savvy and willing to give you guys helpful feedback. Can I please test the beta?
Alright, the latest build has been pushed out which finally adds support for Plex Home (cc @phunkysai ), this required some major changes behind the scenes, so stability may be an issue until it’s more thoroughly tested.
tvOS 11 was also a bit more of a change than I expected and it broke the UI in a bunch of places, I believe I have it all fixed but would appreciate bug reports if anyone sees anything!
@shnhrrsn said:
Alright, the latest build has been pushed out which finally adds support for Plex Home (cc @phunkysai ), this required some major changes behind the scenes, so stability may be an issue until it’s more thoroughly tested.
tvOS 11 was also a bit more of a change than I expected and it broke the UI in a bunch of places, I believe I have it all fixed but would appreciate bug reports if anyone sees anything!
I only had a brief time to test , no issues yet. I thought you were going to add audio tags (DD 5.1, AC3, etc). I’m also a little confused what the Que is and the numbers by it. So glad to see you developing Catch further.
I’m not seeing the ATV top shelf populating with any content yet, after I back out of the Catch app. I just see the Catch logo. I do have the app on the top row.
I signed up, and then when I tried to redeem in Test Flight, it said it was expired. I will go through the process again this evening and just try to sign back up. Hopefully it goes through this time.
@shnhrrsn said:
Alright, the latest build has been pushed out which finally adds support for Plex Home (cc @phunkysai ), this required some major changes behind the scenes, so stability may be an issue until it’s more thoroughly tested.
tvOS 11 was also a bit more of a change than I expected and it broke the UI in a bunch of places, I believe I have it all fixed but would appreciate bug reports if anyone sees anything!
Ok, thanks. What kind of feedback are you looking for ATM?
Some feedback:
after the first start app goes directly to main profile, no PIN is asked for
upon re-entering app login screen is properly shown but it is hard to say where the focus is set, if at all. You need to do some moving around to notice what element is focused in order to navigate
after login to a main profile, I’m not able to go to settings since I have more than 7 library sections and main nav bar have item limitation
home screen is practically almost unusable for younger ones because libraries are located in main nav bar
when I hit menu to go a step back from resume watching/play from beginning screen, playback starts from beginning
whilst playing a movie you can’t pause by clicking on main surface on remote. You have to use play/pause button
I had a problem logging in with a PIN after switching from a PINless account. The PIN I entered was incorrectly refused as a wrong code. Need to test this some more, though.
There is no way to change audio and/or subtitle track before the playback. This is a problem with transcoding, since you can’t switch tracks in transcode session AFAIK
I might have some UI suggestions or I may be able to offer some help with TVML templates (see my signature and github) but I’m not sure if you would be interested in changes. It looks like you’re designing app to suit your needs primarily
@itzme said:
I only had a brief time to test , no issues yet. I thought you were going to add audio tags (DD 5.1, AC3, etc). I’m also a little confused what the Que is and the numbers by it. So glad to see you developing Catch further.
Audio tags are coming! getting Plex Home support was time intensive and a huge priority so that was the focus, I’m going to circle back to that stuff… On that note, changes for Plex Home is likely why top shelf isn’t working, I’ll take a look and make sure it’s fixed in the next build
@hobotts said:
I signed up, and then when I tried to redeem in Test Flight, it said it was expired. I will go through the process again this evening and just try to sign back up. Hopefully it goes through this time.
Let me know if you’re still having trouble, it seems like others were able to get signed up/installed
@shnhrrsn said:
Alright, the latest build has been pushed out which finally adds support for Plex Home (cc @phunkysai ), this required some major changes behind the scenes, so stability may be an issue until it’s more thoroughly tested.
tvOS 11 was also a bit more of a change than I expected and it broke the UI in a bunch of places, I believe I have it all fixed but would appreciate bug reports if anyone sees anything!
Ok, thanks. What kind of feedback are you looking for ATM?
Some feedback:
after the first start app goes directly to main profile, no PIN is asked for
upon re-entering app login screen is properly shown but it is hard to say where the focus is set, if at all. You need to do some moving around to notice what element is focused in order to navigate
after login to a main profile, I’m not able to go to settings since I have more than 7 library sections and main nav bar have item limitation
home screen is practically almost unusable for younger ones because libraries are located in main nav bar
when I hit menu to go a step back from resume watching/play from beginning screen, playback starts from beginning
whilst playing a movie you can’t pause by clicking on main surface on remote. You have to use play/pause button
I had a problem logging in with a PIN after switching from a PINless account. The PIN I entered was incorrectly refused as a wrong code. Need to test this some more, though.
There is no way to change audio and/or subtitle track before the playback. This is a problem with transcoding, since you can’t switch tracks in transcode session AFAIK
I might have some UI suggestions or I may be able to offer some help with TVML templates (see my signature and github) but I’m not sure if you would be interested in changes. It looks like you’re designing app to suit your needs primarily
This feedback is AWESOME, thank you! I’m obviously building it to suit my preferences for sure, but I’d love to make it a viable alternative for others as well! I’m definitely open to UI suggestions but the app is native, not built in TVML.
Almost everything you said sounds like a bug or oversight that I’ll get taken care of… Obviously the libraries thing is a bigger issue, but just getting access to settings would at least offer a partial solution since there’s a way to hide libraries in there. Either way I’ll need to come up with a solution to accommodate those with many libraries, so I’m on it.
Thanks again for your time and feedback, if you haven’t been completely turned off by the app I’d love to hear more!
@shnhrrsn said:
Thanks again for your time and feedback, if you haven’t been completely turned off by the app I’d love to hear more!
I’m not exactly turned off but I do realize you have a different approach regarding UI and UX. Maybe I sounded like I was put of because my post is rather cryptic but that is just a lack of time, really.
posters for TV shows are different. It looks like you’re not pulling them from PMS. This explains slowness on first start and does not make much sense to me. If I have chosen a poster in PMS - I want it in the app as well
media shelves on home screen are a bit confusing for me. Labels are misleading- e.g. why queue instead of unwatched. Shelves are populated by watched media and sometimes there are more watched than unwatched items there. Having at least an option to turn watched off would be nice, I guess
playing HEVC videos results in black screen with audio only. My guess is it has to do with hev1 vs hvc1 issue. Plex transcodes this video thus no black screen there
I am missing rotten tomatoes and IMDB ratings as well as actors in movie details/pre-play screen
My boy didn’t figure out how to watch a related trailer but found it under “preview” eventually
Music and Photos are missing but this is temporary, I suppose. When/if they arrive, app will need yet more space in MainNav bar for library sections
Switching to a shared server could be a bit cumbersome since you need to do it from Settings, AFAICT
TV shows/Seasons/episode navigation is very nicely done IMHO
Just wondering - why have you opted for coding the UI instead of using available TVML templates?
I’ve been prompted to link and enter the activation code twice now, since the latest update It might be because the server I leave Catch set to is an external/cloud one, and occasionally it is offline. When I activate it brings me back to my local server; that part makes sense though.
