Maybe I’m missing something but how is getting rid of the customizability of ‘manual’ in the best interest of users? Make automatic default, bury manual deep down in the menu if you like, but why remove it?
I don’t see how I’m not supposed to see this as a first step to Plex inserting their recommended content to the top of my screen.
I’d be ok with Plex saying they are doing this to promote their sponsor content, but it irks me that they present this as something they are doing because it’s what users want.
This is completely unrelated to any Plex hosted/provided content. You can unpin those items or disable them for your account, just as you’ve always been able to. You now have even more control about what hubs are shown on the Home Screen for yourself, users you share with, and on the Recommended tab for the library. May I suggest you have a look at Manage Recommendations | Plex Support?
Just to clarify: Can I still have a homescreen with just:
“Continue Watching” (which I understand merges the old Continue Watching with OnDeck)
Recently Added TV
Recently Added Movies
and
Nothing else? I am not interested in “recommended” content. I know what I have and I know what I want to watch…
As I mentioned earlier, I clicked through the announcement without really absorbing what it said, and it is not “re-viewable”. It does not appear in my prior announcements or anywhere on the website I can find…but the way I read it was that “Manual Homescreen” was going away altogether on 4/22 and was going to be replaced with some sort of curated content. This raised eyebrows.
I have several family members who have free accounts that I share with…will they still be able to maintain the above 3-rows only setup, for those who like it that way? Or will I have to set it up for them now? This is unclear.
Yes, you can still have that. You can control it all from the server directly (provided they have those libraries pinned), so no need for helping people add or remove rows from the Home Screen.
Aha. Then much ado about nothing then. Somebody…maybe a Plex Employee (hint hint) should pin an announcement somewhere what the upcoming changes actually are and will mean to users…with updated language. The part about the manual homepage going away really jumped out at me. Mmaybe I misread it, but in that case being able to revisit the anouncement in my “announcements history” or on a pinned post in the forums somewhere would have gone a long way to aleviating confusion.
Interestingly, just after I posted my last reply I was notified that PlexMediaServer 1.22.2.4282 was available for download…after installing, I was offered to make the switch on my web client, which I accepted. It appears that Linux Server now has all the aformentioned customization options in the native web client and…my homescreen did not change one iota.
Now that I’m passed that, I think I actually like the options on offer (if I’m understanding them correctly) and would like to try them on one of my clients before recommending them to others. Is there a way to get my AppleTV to re-prompt me to make the switch, or do I have to wait for the 22nd and/or uninstall/reinstall the app to trigger it?
The linux server itself had the capability the whole time, as did every other platform. It was only that the bundled web client (which again, is the same for every platform) hadn’t been bumped for those features. It was always available via the hosted web app for every platform.
However, glad to hear you had a good experience with the switch! For your Apple TV, you can reset the Home Screen, which will give you the option to select automatic
I have nothing but clients with manual homescreens, 100%. On the 22nd, if I my clients change nothing and if I don’t make any changes on the server, will our homescreens change other than merging “on deck” into “Continue Watching”?
With a couple exceptions everyone has the aforementioned homescreen of just:
This is the whole problem with this forced upgrade. We have been given this date of 22nd, but it feels (at least from my perspective) that it is really not ready yet.
We are given promises that new stuff /fixes is/are coming, but no dates, the only date we have is the 22nd where upon it will be forced on us wether we want it or not. warts n’ all
After the 22nd, users will be migrated over. The home screen will depend on what libraries are pinned, and what hubs you have configured in the server settings, but you’ll still be able to have what you have now
I am telling you as much as I can. I can’t say exactly when a PR will land, or what issues may arise while testing a release, which may cause date changes. I won’t make false promises, and some things require both server side and client-side changes, which can again delay things.
I just spent a few mins looking at the new library management interface. It auto-selected only the libraries (Hubs?) I originally had configured: “Recently Added TV” “Recently Added Movies” for “Home” and “Shared Users’ Home”. Which is the expected behavior for a feature change like this.
There are also now several other options that are unchecked, like “Top Unplayed Movies” or “Seasonal Movies” etc…which some of my users may enjoy.
My question is: If I enable all of them and their homescreen suddenly turns into a thousand rows of unexpected options…can they re-configure what their homescreens pull from my server, or are they stuck with whatever options I choose for them?
I am concerned about radical changes for the older users who will just be sad and never use it again if they get confused
I have a user account set up for myself to test this kind of thing.
Other than unpinning a library to remove it from Home I don’t think users can change much.
I don’t see a way to remove Recently Released and keep Recently Added for example.
Yeah, you control what is promoted now, which can be the same as before, or more, or less. They can pin or unpin the library so its content doesn’t end up on the Home Screen.
