I seriously wonder who has been in charge of this change - it’s the most ill thought-out “update” I’ve seen in any software for decades.
I started using the Plex App because it was more useful and did the same thing as the web app, now it’s been updated I think I’m going to have to go back to the web app just so I can write a Chrome extension and undo some of the damage.
Lets start with removing the Continue Watching section? What sort of an idiot thinks that’s a good idea? No, renaming On Deck is NOT the same thing, and pretty useless to anyone who not only likes to see what they are part-way through watching, but also to anyone with any sort of a visual disability (in fact I’d not be surprised if someone with worse eyesight and more time did in fact report it to the relevant authorities in their country).
Then the whole half-finished / unfixed bugs - that button on the top-right that used to let you change layout? Emphasis on “used to”. At least the fixed the scaling slider - though that really doesn’t make up for not being able to see what you’re in the middle of watching properly.
Then how about the whole “server-controlled”… I’ve just gone in and deleted all access to everything except the actually useful data - but thank you for making previously hidden libraries front-and-centre, I’m sure everyone loved showing all their old pictures to their current partners or even random strangers because they decided to open Plex in front of them. Having something available doesn’t mean it should be put on the home screen (wonder how many children have been exposed to porn when they made this change… In fact - anyone want to start a class action suit - pretty sure they won’t be hard to find for you USA folk) Oh yeah, that’s right - it went to automatic, but you can still unpin things - you just have to do it manually without the ten minutes of scripting that would have ensured that no new libraries became visible.
Seriously, after working in software development for several decades I thought I couldn’t be surprised by the lack of user testing involved in a new release. For a company the size of Plex there’s no excuse not to have full E2E testing for the things that got broken, and a user focus group that actually tries out the ideas before causing the collective face-palming from the people that use it.
Hey developers, get a Roku, hook it up to a decent size screen 43" or larger (so you can enjoy the beautiful layout on the screen (sarcasm) ) and use the garbage you have created for one week and use it as if you were in charge of the whole family’s entertainment and then, maybe then you will see what a cluster-f you’ve created. Be sure to push out an update that f’s it all up too during that week and changes everything without asking. Don’t forget to also navigate seasons and play/delete…oh and change recording options too. Dont miss out though on more fun when you click the FF or RW a few times so you can enjoy it starting the recording over a for no reason. If you’re lucky, and I’m sure you will be, you’ll get to see the spinning wheel stuck at 33% for what feels like an eternity…but, that makes for great conversation with the family about how everything else works fine except for PLEX. Be careful though, don’t FF and get too close to the end of a recording, because that can trigger it to just halt and end it and mark as played. (I have multiple Roku Premier + and Ultra LT units, all hardwired and they all do the same thing, no matter what I tweak in the settings) I just want to scream at the sheer ridiculous of it all.
Also, why the heck is the DVR section not separate to begin with?
It’s ridiculous what you have to do to just change a recording option (series, etc). We should be able to click on a show title and go to more options and boom, there’s everything you can do with the show/series right there. I go through more batteries in every room where there is a TV because to do anything with Plex I have to click and click and click and click and click and click and click and click and click and…well you get the point…actually, I’m not sure you do because nothing seems to have improved with ease of use in a VERY long time. In fact, its gotten worse.
Heres a tip…seek out everyday people of all ages off the street, sit them in a room with Plex and and give them a remote…maybe then you can see how absolutely ridiculous your layout/format is and they begin to navigate it. Be sure to take note as they stumble through all the layers of cruddy developing. PLEX is not intuitive and sleek, it’s messy, clunky and absolutely downright stupid to navigate and use.
I apologize for being so negative but seriously, come on.
Oddly enough, complaints about how Plex UX changes impact people with low vision fall on deaf ears.
About 2 years ago a few of us complained about the UNI UX and some changes were finally made. Those changes have since been changed for the worse. ie: the tiny greeish check mark for a completed show.
Oddly enough, complaints about how Plex UX changes impact people with low vision fall on deaf ears.
Maybe that’s where legislation can help - as it’s also a publicly available web app there’s definitely laws here in the UK that they need to adhere to - and all it takes is the right number of people making it official - fortunately I only (now) need glasses for screen work, but in another couple of years this is going to be a major impact - one of the things I push for at work!
PLEASE add Section “unplayed Movies” for home screen. I miss this since ever.
we know our library and want to see unplayed stuff on the front-page. not some recommendations of seen stuff. on my Home Screen there is just the continue and start show section. why someone want to see recently released or added movies on the home screen when its seen?
that’s the same fault what Netflix and Prime make. that’s annoying.
please this can’t be so hard. do I need to start a feature request for that?
thank you and have a nice weekend.
btw I enjoy this new home screen because on my lg oled plex cant organize Home Screen in the app it selfe
PS. best unplayed section for movies doesn’t work really, most of the time its empty but there are 50+ movies. 50% of them has imdb rating 7+
I’m quite unhappy with this as well. It’s my home screen, why can’t I have it laid out as I wish? I don’t need all the stuff about what’s on live TV for plex, movies on plex and the rest. Perhaps they are getting $ for putting this stuff in front of the user’s eyeballs? I can’t think of any other reason a product which promotes itself as a way to "Control your media destiny! Organize, beautify, stream, and share your personal collection of movies, TV, music, and photos anywhere, on all your devices. "
I found this in another thread. It works. You can limit the home screen by unchecking every box you want. However, it will still leaves Recent Channels and Shows On Now…but its better than what it was.
Note: there is a big hand icon that will show up once you’ve expanded each. At fist I thought it wasn’t going to allow me to uncheck a box, but it will, you have to be very precise with the mouse get it right on the box, the hand will disappear, the pointer will be back and you can click away.
Here is what I see we need to make this work MUCH better:
Provide a “Recently Added TV” that encompasses ALL TV libraries and a “Recently Added Movies” that encompasses ALL Movie libraries … like we used to have… and still be able to turn off all the Recently Added that you have for each individual libraries.
Here is why I need this (and I’m sure there are many others). I have a total of 85 Libraries (some are movie and some tv… I have over 41,000 movies and tv shows). You can just imagine my family looking to see what I have added recently, looking at each “Recently added in …” library to see if I have added anything to the server.
If we could get these added, the ability to turn off the existing “Recently added” for each library, and maybe rearrange… I think everyone would be happier.
Hopefully this is something the developers are already working on. I know that sometimes you have to turn off some features temporarily while fixing others.
It’s actually cool that cord cutters has realised its 2021 at last.
The blog post or a very similar one I first saw last year.
What I’m not up to date with lately is Jellyfin this year.
Does it actually have any fully/partially working clients yet?
That’s part of the issue. It shouldn’t have to be all or nothing. I wouldn’t mind having Plex Movies & Shows enabled and pinned but I don’t want recommendations or anything added to CW.
The only way to keep it from adding unwanted rows to the Home screen is to unpin it or disable it altogether.
Jellyfin is currently at a similar level of development to Emby, some say it’s surpassed it.
I am trying out the AndroidTV client and it does everything I need, though it still needs a little work on the look & layout.
Here’s a recent discussion thread from Plex users transitioning to Jellyfin. I think like myself a lot of Plex users start out by running both Plex and Jellyfin.
Not really , no clients currently as of 25th April 2021 for WebOS, Samsung, PS4 and PS5, ATV native, X box, Vizio, VIDAA, Alexa, Sonos, NAS of any kind.
That falls well sort in my book. Yeah Emby don’t have support for some as well.
I didn’t mean to imply that Jellyfin has as many clients as Plex, only that they cover many of the major ones.
This recent move by Plex has upset many users. There are countless complaints as though the user uproar will make any difference. This reminds me of how Plex killed plugins a couple years ago. It was an obvious move to give Plex more control of the platform, and make Plex more palatable to media services & investors that saw Plex as software for pirates and illegal activity.
Plex WILL become a hub for more types of paid content. And Plex WILL make that content more visible. Plex WILL make more money from these paid services and user analytics than from Plex Pass. So Plex WILL NOT bend the knee to any user complaints that hinder that roadmap.
As pointed out, at the moment Plex has little competition for home media servers. It’s part of the reason that Plex can act so brazenly against their users. So open source projects like Jellyfin are important. The more visibility Jellyfin gets, the more interest, the more clients.
The TV apps have been coming for more than 12 months, good luck all I hear is bugs for there existing apps. Freeware for now, the project is community built relying on contributions from volunteers during a long global pandemic. What can go wrong?
that functionallity seems to be very buggy - I am now seeing some “recently added” and some not although I have set libraries to be displayed…
For example, I am not seeing “Recently added Movies” altough I have set some library to be on “Home”. I have 4 libraries from type “Movies” on the sidebar, 3 with ticked “Home”, 1 without “Home”… I dont see the “Recently added Movies” section.
The Fire TV app works fine, so its possible for other clients to work fine, too, eventually. The Android client on my phone and the web interface seem to work fine, too. Haven’t tried any others, so I have no idea on their state of polish.
JF certainly has a ways to go, but there are certain things that it does better (or at least more reliably) than Plex, and some things it falls on its face in comparison to Plex. That’s why I run both concurrently.
