Play random video

Hey there! Don't know if many will like this, but i'll sure love to see a random tv serie feature. There are times you just wanna kill time and do not wanna think about what you wanna see. Just press the button and start watching something, just like you do with regular television.

 

Would be great if I could do that with Plex too.

 

Take care

1 Like

Thanks for the suggestion, we'll be looking to add this feature in the future!

+1


:slight_smile:

Bump!!! lets keep this alive

I was going to post about something similar, but I'd like to see the feature expanded.  Forcing a random play could return uncontrollable results.  Instead, I'd like to see the random play at every level so that you are only playing videos within the given structure.  For example:

1.  At the TV or movie level, it could play anything.

2.  At a sub level, like unwatched or a specific TV show, it could play only from that list (to avoid something you've already seen or don't want to watch).

3.  Perhaps for people who watch several shows concurrently (a couple of episodes of one show one night, different show the next, etc.), maybe a "I'm feeling lucky" sort of result where it picks a show and plays the first unwatched episode.

I agree that it should be available at any level.  I have a lot of stuff organised by folder, and it would  be nice to say "In this folder and all subfolders, play a random file."

I just discovered Plex and this is the one thing holding back my purchase as this is all I really want it for. I have folders full of video files and I'd like to have some option to just play random videos within a folder... ( and stream to Chromecast of course :-D ) Having option to quickly jump to next random video would be requirement as well.

I am loathe to just +1 posts but this is a feature that I would really like to be introduced. Even better would be the smart playlists from XBMC.

Is there anywhere where we can actually upvote suggestions for new features so the Devs can see what people want sooner rather than later?

+1 please make this happen! 

if they have this and auto sorting of movies and shows (including renaming and archiving of files) that lifetime membership would be my way of saying thank you ;)

ohh and while were at it how about a simulcast channel (ie stream the same content on multiple plex devices. so that while i am walking from my bedrom in the kitchen to make a snake i dont have to payse my movie.

I too am desperate for this feature. Coming from XBMC, I use the feature ALL THE TIME. My kids are bored? I select Spongebob or queue up a handful of different shows, shuffle the playlist, and let it play. Going to bed at night? Set the sleep timer on the TV, pick a specific show, randomize it and let it play. It's fantastic, and I REALLY want to be able to do this on the Plex client on the Google TV, the PS3, or anything else. This is pretty much the last thing keeping me clinging to my XBMCBuntu HTPC's scattered around the house. My wife and other users would certainly appreciate it as well as it seems to be pretty universal to the less tech savvy users in my home: Plex's UI is just easier to understand than XBMC, but we have come to rely on the randomized queues so much that they are certainly missed when using Plex.

I realize the hurdles that must be overcome with this as it would likely be tough to implement something in the UI that would make it easy to use... I would even be happy if I could open up the media manager on my server and set some pre-defined "playlists" such as:

Play Comedy TV Shows All Randomized

Play Kids shows All Randomized

Play *insert specific show here" All Randomized

And then just have a new section on the clients where I can choose these presets and let them play.

It would be even better if you could choose by show and have it not pull from the list at the time of creating it, but instead to just choose that show and play all videos (so that the end user wouldn't have to constantly update the "playlist" for shows that still have new episodes coming in on a weekly basis).

Just my $.02

Hey Plex, Please add this feature.....I have Music Videos in a folder and I would love for it to play at random in stead of alphabetical order. Alphabetical order has an artist with multiple videos in my playlist gettiing played back to back to back(gets tiring). Other then that great job Plex....I LOVE what you guys do!

https://forums.plex.tv/topic/82417-music-playlist/


This has some what solved this issue for me


Now supports video shuffle playlists

Hopefully this features is added one day.  I took my mac mini, hooked it up to my tv to download XBMC and create channels for random functionality.  Please Plex, add a random mode.  I don't care if it is very generic.  I hate thinking about the shows that I have to pick

+1 feature

Sometimes, when I am in the mood to watch a movie and I really dont know what to watch, (maybe even its just something to fall asleep too,  scanning thru 500+ movies takes more time to find something,  I would love a feature , where there is a (refreshable) category in the movies section called "Random picks" (or whatever)  and just displays 50 or so random movies, (that haven't been watched in the last say week or so),  this would also be a great way to rewatch some good movies that may have been forgotten about..and it would take less time than scanning alphabetically thru that many movies...  :)  This would also work really well in the TV section too..

Im not sure if this has been requested or not before,  couldn't find anything in the search box...

This feature would be so huge for me and my family. We always talk about how Netflix needs a "random button" for your list.

The new WWE network has everything on demand, but they also have a live feed that fills this need. There is always something already on you can instantly get into without spending 15 mins browsing around.

Web and iOS apps can now play random videos :slight_smile:

Is this available yet? I have replaced my cable box, with an HDHomerun, and i am using Plex DVR. So i have all these nice new videos being thrown into plex, would love a single button i can press on the main scree, that would allow a smart playlist generated on the fly.

A section that can just say “All, Comedies, Drama, etc” and you could just select that, and it would play a random smart playlist based on that genre. The problem i have now is i can do this with a playlist, but as new videos are loaded, i have to add them to the playlist.

Maybe this is available, and i just am not using it, but would like a surf feature.

THanks

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