New Plex UI --- How do I customize?

[leelynds]

I’m obviously getting older and stupider day by day. I’m trying my best to adapt to the new UI that Plex insists is the best way to go, because “You can customize it to show only the content you want!”

I’ve read several post implying that I can get a home page that will show me all of the “Recently Added” movies and all of the “Recently Added” TV shows into one hub on the home screen. Not that it’s important, but these are generally from people who like the new UI. I don’t, but I’m kind of forced to use it.

I’ve asked in several threads how they do it, because the best that I can get is a hub specifically for one library. That is, if I have three TV libraries, I can get a hub for each individual library, but I can’t find a way to combine or collapse them into one. I don’t want to have three “Recently Added TV” hubs on the home screen, I want one hub that has everything. Just like good old Plex Web or the old apps used to look. That is clean, simple, and uncluttered and involves very little scrolling to see new content.

I’m admitting here, I’ve given up countless times because of total frustration. I’ve tried on all of the apps, and they all end up with the same mess. That is, a never ending scrolling home page with multiple hubs for “On Deck” “Recently Added” etc from individual libraries from individual categories from each server that I have access to.

The help pages that Plex have provided me with no assistance in trying to achieve this simple, and what I feel is an obvious and necessary goal. I’ve read and re-read them, always with the eternal hope that I have missed an obvious step. Apparently, I’ve tripped over it every time, and fell into an extremely cluttered home page.

Humbly, I request that someone give a senile old man a “Plex UI Customization for Dummies” manual so I can get back to just watching my media and not spend hours searching or customizing. Thanks in advance.

[cayars]

It’s so easy, even a caveman can use it. LOL

I think you might have already figured out the customization people talk about in the threads. It’s simple and works when you have a simple setup to begin with. Those who typically like the UI tend to not have many libs and/or they fit the categories well.

When you don’t have many libs then the UI fits pretty well and is rather simple to configure. The more libs or complex system you have the worse the UI IMHO is.

I can only assume this UI isn’t designed for us with more complex setups as it doesn’t allow the type of customization we need/want or had previously and got used to using.

I too would love to see the type of “configuration” these people talk about and think works well. I bet they don’t have more then a very basic system lib wise.

[leelynds]

I have a second question in regards to the customization.

I have a friend who shared his server with me, and he has a nasty habit of re-naming, re-organizing and adding and deleting libraries on a monthly basis.

Assuming I can get something like what I’ve asked for in my previous post, what happens when the inevitable happens and a library has been renamed or deleted? Or if he adds a new library? Will my customized home page be broken? Or will it just ignore new and deleted/renamed libraries and I’ll have to start all over again?

[EyeOnPlex]

I don’t want to put down the person who designed the new UI color theme but the Roku tan color is god-awful looking. I’m sure there is an audience that likes the bright tan UI but for late evening I’d really prefer a darker theme with the option to change colors.

I’m also kind of confused by the “hubs” methodology but haven’t had time to dig in and explore the new UI to fully understand how they intend for it to be used efficiently.

[leelynds]

@EyeOnPlex

the Roku tan color is god-awful looking

I’m not sure, but I think the background is actually super blurred (and possibly brightened) background pictures for you media. I think the home screen background is a super blurred Plex logo. If you pay close attention, you can see the background change as you move thru media. There was a long discussion 2 or three years ago about backgrounds with the previous app… Eventually we got the option to dim or blur, but I don’t believe ever a solid color choice… Why Plex insists on this blurry thing is beyond me, we have options to choose our backgrounds in Plex Web, but very few apps actually show them any more.

[leelynds]

I’ve been told that I’m wrong with my first post in this thread, and that by adding one hub to the home page from another server’s libraries, that hub will display all of the available libraies media for that hub. That is, if I add an “On Deck” from only one TV library on “Server B” it will actually show the “On Deck” from the other three TV libraries on “Server B”

This is going to be a lengthy post, because I’m going thru the process step by step. I’m not trying to be belligerent or argumentative. I’m actually trying to use the app, despite the fact that I don’t like the user interface, in hopes that some endearing factor wil slap me in the face and I’ll see the error of my ways.

Some background info:

I customized my home screen so that the Media types row only showed the libraries from my server. The libraries from other servers were all placed below the ellipsis, so that I had to click on that to see libraries from another server. My home screen was basically left as the defaults, with hubs for “On Deck,” “Continue Watching,” “Recently Added Movies” and “Recently Added TV.” All of those hubs show media from all of the libraries from my server, in a manner similar to Plex Web.

Step ONE:
Navigate to a friend’s libraries by clicking the ellipsis and choosing his “TV Shows” Library.

Step TWO:
Frustration begins. I can’t get a “Discover” view no matter what. Check every available menu I can find, but “Discover” is not available. I can sort a million different ways, but there doesn’t seem to be a “Discover” option. I need the “Discover” view to be able to add a hub to the Home Screen but I can’t find one.

Step THREE:
Check another TV library on that server. Maybe I can get a “Discover” view there. Same thing.

Step FOUR:
Check Plex Web. Can I get a “Discover” view there? Yup. Okay, let’s repeat Steps ONE, TWO and THREE again, and find the “Discovery” view. Not happening.

Step FIVE:
Read the “Customizing Apps” manual again. Read it again. Not particularly helpful, but lets print it out so we can look at it while we’re working.

Step SIX:
Repeat Steps ONE, TwO, and THREE. Now what? No “Discover” page. Take the dogs for a walk.

Step SEVEN:
There must be a way to get a “Discover” page for “Server B.” What am I missing? Epiphany! I need to move the "TV Library"from “Server B” above the ellipsis to see the Discovery Page. I don’t particularly want that library displayed on my home page, but for the purpose of this experiment, I do that. Hurrah, we can now get a discovery page, that shows an “On Deck” for TV shows. I click the options button to add it to my home page, and there it is. But it’s only showing the “On Deck” for the one library. Okay, maybe I wasn’t watching anything from another library, so that might be right.

Step EIGHT:
Navigate to the “Kids TV” library on “Server B” and watch 5 minutes of “Guardians of the Galaxy S01E01” Back to the Plex for Roku home page. Nope, “On Deck” still only shows me the “On Deck” from TV shows, but not Kid’s TV shows. Plex Web shows me all of the “On Deck” shows from all of the libraries on that server. Hmmmm… What did I do wrong?

Step NINE:
Pot’s legal in Canada. Maybe that will help. Maybe “Server B” needs some time to realize I’ve added a hub to the home page for Roku. Good idea. Kill two birds with one stone.

Step TEN:
Still only “on Deck” from one library. Back out of Plex entirely to the Roku home screen. Reload Plex. Same as before. Unplug the Roku, maybe something is stuck in the memory. Beer’s legal in Canada too. That should be enough time before I try again.

Step ELEVEN:
Plug Roku back in, load up Plex. Same thing. Okay, maybe I have to have the “Kid’s TV” library moved above the ellipsis for this to work. Re-customize menu to reflect that.
Nada. Unplug the Roku for 5 minutes, finish my beer, and start the Roku up. No, sir. Ain’t working yet.

Step TWELVE:
Navigate to the “Kids TV Library.” Add “On Deck” from that library to Roku home page. Surely, it will add that to the already existing “On Deck” for "Server “B” now. I’m told it’s supposed to. It should work. Right? Guess again. Two on Decks from "Server “B” One for “TV Shows” and one for “Kids TV Shows”

STEP THIRTEEN:
I was going to throw the Roku thru the window, but it’s -5 deg Celsius and starting to snow.

FINALLY:
What did I do wrong? What steps did I miss? Did I repeat a step unnecessarily? Am I really a senile old fart? (Don’t answer that question) Please help!!!

[ruuk]

Sorry for the confusion. I suspect the idea that this was possible came from the fact that this is possible in the mobile apps.

The current version doesn’t have the ability to add a ‘server level’ hub to Home. This will be coming in a future update, where you will be able to chose whether to add the ‘server level’ version, or the one that just has the items from that library.

[leelynds]

Thanks. I appreciate the reply and acknowledgement it doesn’t work. I already had been told as much in a PM from another Plex employee/team member.

Even when this option is enabled, it won’t fix the basic problem that all servers are available all the time and dumped into categories that actually don’t work. More than likely a server bug, than the Roku app, but I have TV libraries placed in Other videos, as an example, I have no clue how to find some things on remote servers that have things categorized incorrectly., the old “libraries” list just made it easy to browse.

It’s the single BIG reason I dislike this interface. Even if you left the multiple categories, with all servers available all of the time, but added a Select Server option that defaulted to the simple basic home page that shows up when you choose the default server when you initially load the program the first time, you’d go a long way in making me accept this version of the app.

To be clear, and repeating myself yet again, I don’t want multiple “On Decks” on my home page. Or multiple anything, for that matter. I want to be able to select a server, and see only those hubs from that server.

[cayars]

Kind of sounds like the “old system” doesn’t it?

[leelynds]

@cayars

Kind of sounds like the “old system” doesn’t it?

Duh!

Actually, I can adapt easily to the libraries (if they were just mine) across the top, and most of the other UI changes. It’s just a different way of getting to them, that I believe most of us get accustomed to quickly. The most important thing is that plays my media, and so far I don’t think I have had anything fail to play.

Having said that, getting to the media easily, with no confusion about where it’s coming from, and with as few as clicks and arrow over ups and downs and left and rights as possible is important too. This app needs a lot of tweaking to come even close to the simple interface the old app had. But I guess a lot of us have said the same thing.already.

[nickarmstrong84]

Hey Lee,

I wanted to weigh in here that you’re abolsutely not the only one finding it frustrating to use the new UI. Unless it’s buried and I can’t find it, the option to only view “Unplayed” shows or movies is now gone. This was the ONE way I scrolled through content and now POOF…

As well, when you said “never ending scrolling…” I was reminded of why I so passionately dislike the Netflix interface.

I don’t have much to offer to the thread other than commentary but I’ll check back in if I figure out any help to your original post. Good luck.