Movie thumbnails are too small to read at a distance

General Discussions
1

Greetings all,
My mom and dad both have vision issues and cannot see the movie titles in the current two column format presented on Plex by default on Fire TV, Playstation, Roku, etc. I would like to be able to make the movies on the plex come up in one large tile on one row, to enable them to better see the movie and title from about 7 feet away from the screen. The current two title, two row setting is fine, if you are sitting right on top of it, but not so great when you are actually viewing distance away from the screen. Can we get an option in preferences to make one, large tile, in one large row, to scroll through our movies and music with. I know it won’t be the best thing on Earth for everyone, but some accessibility options for those with vision options would be great.

2

This is a reasonable request that I am quite sure Plex will never even consider. Plex is about as anti choice as a company can get because they believe that having choices makes the code too complicated for the programmers to maintain and/or the users are too stupid to correctly handle all the complexities that choices put into play.

On the Roku (maybe on other clients as well) there is a way to get at least some of what you want:
When you have the two row list displayed press OK on the remote and that gets you to the preplay screen where the poster is larger. In that screen you can press FF or RW to move to the next or previous movie. This is not at all ideal as it does not give a list at all but it does giive the large posters and still allow you to browse.

One note: On some systems the above is quite slow but on my Roku 3 and my Roku Ultra the speed is acceptable.

Edit: Additionally, Your parents migh be happier using RARflix (Private Roku channel see: https://github.com/ljunkie/rarflix/blob/master/README.md ) as it offers modes that are more eyesight friendly than the regular Plex channels. It requires some setting up but I find browsing my movies with “Full Grid” set turned on and set for a style of “Portrait” and “Pop out” (Description on bottom right) turned on to be one of the best Plex experiences there is.

RARflix is very configurable so it can be a little daunting but once set up is is very easy to use. The only real drawback is that it is no longer being developed because Plex hired the developer but it should continue to work well for some time.

3

@hazenoff said:
Greetings all,
My mom and dad both have vision issues and cannot see the movie titles in the current two column format presented on Plex by default on Fire TV, Playstation, Roku, etc. I would like to be able to make the movies on the plex come up in one large tile on one row, to enable them to better see the movie and title from about 7 feet away from the screen. The current two title, two row setting is fine, if you are sitting right on top of it, but not so great when you are actually viewing distance away from the screen. Can we get an option in preferences to make one, large tile, in one large row, to scroll through our movies and music with. I know it won’t be the best thing on Earth for everyone, but some accessibility options for those with vision options would be great.

The Plex Team developed their app on a computer monitor sitting at their desk. I doubt very seriously they ever saw the app anywhere else, but if they did they are watching it on those 400" Plasma Sets Plex Pass subscribers bought for them. This is how they access Plex. Users out in ‘The Real World’ use Plex and see it very differently, but Plex doesn’t care what happens out in ‘The Real World’. Plex’s world exists in the area no more than 24 inches from center body mass. Nothing else matters.

Plex is convinced they have developed the best Plex UI on the planet and nothing anyone says will alter that belief. Plex doesn’t do ‘options’ because - as we already know - Plex has developed the best app and no further alterations are necessary. There is no need for a user option in an app that is already perfect in every conceivable way.

Possible additions to consider to further enhance the ‘perfect’ Plex Experience for you parents include, but are not limited to:

  1. A small telescope or field glasses to bring the UI into the recommended range for optimal viewing as determined by The Plex team.

  2. Air Sick Bags and breath mints to counteract motion sickness when viewing two horizontal rows running from your parent’s house to Tokyo.

  3. A Puke-Chute installed near your parent’s viewing area for easy disposal of the aforementioned Air Sick Bags - you don’t want those things just piling up. Malodorous and a breeding ground for disease. Let’s keep those folks healthy. There’s always a chance they may become Plex Pass Subscribers.

  4. A pair of seeing-eye dogs trained to bark and ‘point’ when the sought-after program appears on the screen. Telescopes and Field Glasses used in the home can also bring on Motion Sickness so it’s a good idea to have ‘user options’ in the home viewing area (even though Plex doesn’t believe options are necessary).

There are many more ‘options’ available to The Plex Home System limited only by the scope of your imagination. I too suffer from high-mileage-eyeballs and the 4 options above were at the top of my list. Your list may differ slightly, but I offer a few suggestions so you can begin to enhance your parent’s Plex viewing experience and maybe in the process your own.

Do have a Plexilicious Day.

Note:
I use RARflix for Roku (3) 95% of the time to access The Plex Server. I will fire up The New App (kicking and screaming) when I need to do something RARflix doesn’t do, or doesn’t do well. RARflix link in my signature.