The greatest problem is Plex ignore the users from a very strong community. The communication between Plex and community is really horrible. But the community is the biggest capital of a company and they forget this.
It is nice to have a feature request forum, but you will get no response from the devs. Some requests nearly 5 years old (audiobook library and faulty playback position) that will simple ignored.
Instead there are all the time new features, the old core functions are broken. I don’t need DVR, don’t need Cloud Sync, don’t want live tv. I need a audiobook library and parental control like in Emby Media Server with functioning storing of the playback position. But this two features sounds not cool enough for the portfolio of PMS.
I think Plex needs a feature freeze for a time and work hard on core features and apps.
I’ve been laughing at emby clients for a year, but I resinstalled it some weeks ago and they’ve come a long way.
I used to think Plex clients were much better, but in Plex the FireTV2 is broken, the MiBox is broken, PMP is considered by many to be broken, PlayStation is broken and Windows UWP/Xbox One is broken…
Hell I can’t even listen to more than 6-7 songs on my android tablet, been over a year now…
I’m seriously considering switching permanently. Their UI isn’t as nice, but the stuff works and they even have HW transcoding baked in.
@compoti said:
The greatest problem is Plex ignore the users from a very strong community. The communication between Plex and community is really horrible. But the community is the biggest capital of a company and they forget this.
Agree that the communication factor is arguably a predominant issue.
It is nice to have a feature request forum, but you will get no response from the devs. Some requests nearly 5 years old (audiobook library and faulty playback position) that will simple ignored.
Instead there are all the time new features, the old core functions are broken. I don’t need DVR, don’t need Cloud Sync, don’t want live tv. I need a audiobook library and parental control like in Emby Media Server with functioning storing of the playback position. But this two features sounds not cool enough for the portfolio of PMS.
Agree here too. Have zero interest in anything that requires Internet connectivity. Philosophically: wanted something where I could install a PMS for home theater and/or on a boat and/or in a large camping trailer, etc. So that when I had down time (so long as the media was synchronized across devices) that I would be able to enjoy my media. Unfortunately, when you perform the “disconnect the cord” testing/validation - things start to become apparent.
I think Plex needs a feature freeze for a time and work hard on core features and apps.
The attention to detail on some of the aspects combined with it’s general design were a huge attraction. Once things started moving to “log in to use the client” and constant nagging by PMS to “log in” - was the point where I started to question. If you’re doing “local network” (SSDP), none of that should be required - infers wilingness to purchase a Plex Pass for each PMS (eg: “license” for each PMS = means no “nag” to log in, nor should log in be required, ever).
Here’s my interpretation (for philosophical argument):
PMS with media storage
Sync’s any Internet-based metadata
Disconnected from the Internet (example for argument’s sake: multi-week trip without Internet access, but have WiFi for local device access)
A licensed PMS should never require “log in” - nor should clients accessing a “licensed” PMS require a login.
PMS should actually be able to “provide” client app (iOS, Android, Windows, Mac) to consumer via browser. Kind of necessary if you’re in the middle of “no where” and want to access from a device.
All “on-board” functionality should work.
The idea behind “licensed” and “access” is that if you’re and want to enable one of your children to access it - should be able to do so without any hurdle. IIRC - I spent more on a Serviio license, which has less functionality (but has parental control based on embedded media rating - no Internet required), transcodes correctly - also has an (albeit) somewhat limited web-based GUI with embedded HTML5 player (if not using a client app). No where near the eye candy or “gloss” of Plex. I now perceive Serviio as my “DLNA” server solution vs. Plex being the centerpiece for “TV”/Theater. The license is valid across a singular “major version” (includes all minor updates ..). License was purchased +/- 5 years ago while searching for a good media server - later, stumbled on Plex. Plex solved the need for glossy, focal point of media presentation and playback.
Perhaps tying a “different” type of license model to development efforts may be a better driver?
glad some folks around here have finally taken their rose colored plex is the universe glasses off and have had a steaming cup of reality and have finally woken to the reality that plex is moving in the WRONG direction… this product was more reliable and played a better, cleaner picture to my TV 5 YEARS AGO!
I’ve been using Plex for the better part of 10 years also…and I’m in the same general state of mind here too. I don’t care about Photos on my system…I’d just like things like audio playback to be consistent. Right now I’m trying to figure out why the only audio I can get is from the Passthrough mode they recommend against. Seems like every few updates they regress back to some instability in video or audio playback. Videos that I played fine a few days ago are now dead silent no matter what settings I have in the Audio section, but all the interface sounds play and movies with DTS or Dolby play when passthrough is on. I’m going to try a Time Machine restore of the previous PMP app and see if it clears up.
I shouldn’t spend 20-25% of my time troubleshooting the player…or just not able to use it for a bunch of media files until something is ironed back out.
Yes…I could post logs and all and hope for feedback and responses, but some of these instabilities have existed much longer than the Photos or DVR parts…so yeah…lack or prioritization.
I don’t wanna be a tech when I get home from work…I want the player to work properly and consistently.
I love Plex…and still support them…just wish they would remember what the app is actually supposed to be the best at.
It’s been abundantly evident for probably the past 2 years that Elan and the Plex team have shifted from a community driven software platform that was funded by Plex devotees to a commercial entity aggressively moving to emphasizing grabbing as many subscribers as possible.
They have largely targeted adding new features, often massively half baked and unstable (hello DVR/Live TV) over anything else. They have started to never participate in forums, abandon bug fixes, censor comments under blog posts being critical of development and affecting their marketing.
Speaking of marketing, it seems that’s where the vast majority of the effort these days goes. I strongly suspect they are in a BIG subscriber grabbing push as per their recent 10million private investor funding and once they have accumulated a large number of paying subscribers they’ll be looking at selling off the company and cashing in.
I thought most of the problems were on the Windows platform, because I mainly use Plex on Windows when I’m on the move (using Fire TV at home for movies).
It doesn’t make me feel any better to hear that all platforms seem to have major problems.
Time for Plex to come out with an official comment on what their future plans are to fix this mess because they won’t be able to sell the company with a forum packed with disgruntled customers. That’s assuming the customers stick around much longer.
I spend hours each week (almost each day) on these forums, and yet never saw this. Of course they put this in the public section, not in the Plexpass section or even in the announcements section… no email… not in the mailing list… stupid.
I am pretty annoyed myself with Plex lately. Apparently they have a bug in their software that is well documented and known about, but they have devs working on other issues and there is no timeline to fix it. The forum support guy worked pretty hard to help me get it working, but I am in the situation where until they release a fix, I am stuck.
And it only stopped working a couple releases ago. Of course they give no option to download old versions of the software so I am stuck with broken software and no estimate or timetable of when they’ll even attempt to fix it.
I would agree with others in here they’re chasing new features to grab a larger user base at their current user’s expense.
I spend hours each week (almost each day) on these forums, and yet never saw this. Of course they put this in the public section, not in the Plexpass section or even in the announcements section… no email… not in the mailing list… stupid.
You know they said they received “Over 300 responses” but I think it should be stated that they received “less than 400 responses” I would have expected, given the activity level of these forums, that there would be over double that number if there were any real need or desire.
I responded resoundingly in the negative but the results are hidden from users so Plex can make them whatever they want and implement the “new” revenue stream and say that the users requested it no matter what the real results were.
Personally I think that Plex should worry a LOT less about “paid” support and new features but rather make what they have work well. Currently for the way I use Plex it works almost perfectly but for others it is broken to varying degrees and should actually get fixed before Plex even considers a new way of making money.
Some things break through no fault on the part of Plex (see the current fiasco with Roku) but Plex is in control of a lot and they need to step up and FIX the problems.
I do NOT buy the “we add people to add new features so we do not hurt development and maintenance of existing products” BS because all products are impacted by the testing of new features and all products are further impacted when the new features do not live up to their expectations or have bugs.
While I understand that Plex wants to make money and I agree that they need to do so Plex needs to realize that not all growth is good and sometimes a new “feature” is more like a “cancer” than like good growth and the cancer can overwhelm the body and cause death rather than growing the body that is Plex.
Some growth is always needed for a healthy organism but too much growth is actually worse than too little.
I spend hours each week (almost each day) on these forums, and yet never saw this. Of course they put this in the public section, not in the Plexpass section or even in the announcements section… no email… not in the mailing list… stupid.
You know they said they received “Over 300 responses” but I think it should be stated that they received “less than 400 responses” I would have expected, given the activity level of these forums, that there would be over double that number if there were any real need or desire.
I responded resoundingly in the negative but the results are hidden from users so Plex can make them whatever they want and implement the “new” revenue stream and say that the users requested it no matter what the real results were.
Personally I think that Plex should worry a LOT less about “paid” support and new features but rather make what they have work well. Currently for the way I use Plex it works almost perfectly but for others it is broken to varying degrees and should actually get fixed before Plex even considers a new way of making money.
Some things break through no fault on the part of Plex (see the current fiasco with Roku) but Plex is in control of a lot and they need to step up and FIX the problems.
I do NOT buy the “we add people to add new features so we do not hurt development and maintenance of existing products” BS because all products are impacted by the testing of new features and all products are further impacted when the new features do not live up to their expectations or have bugs.
While I understand that Plex wants to make money and I agree that they need to do so Plex needs to realize that not all growth is good and sometimes a new “feature” is more like a “cancer” than like good growth and the cancer can overwhelm the body and cause death rather than growing the body that is Plex.
Some growth is always needed for a healthy organism but too much growth is actually worse than too little.
What Roku fiasco? Another client is broken on top of the ones I know about??
Also I agree, the “we don’t take away from a platform to develop another” is clearly BS when you know the guys from Plex for Kodi were both pulled for other projects and that platform doesn’t see updates anymore.
Why does not plex publish the server source code and continue to make a premium version with additions on it? Like Chromium and Google Chrome? I think basic app like Android and IOS should be free…
This would allow the community to actively participate in the Plex development, fix recurring bugs and make many improvements.
@KarlDag said:
What Roku fiasco? Another client is broken on top of the ones I know about??
Well that one is NOT on Plex. Roku rolled out an “update” that broke Plex and other apps for many people but not for everybody. Over on the Roku forums there is a long thread about it and several shorter ones as well.
See:
and others.
There have been numerous tests that have confirmed the problem is with Roku but Roku’s response has been little more than some level of finger pointing.
It has caused many loyal Roku users like me to abandon the platform in favor of alternatives. I am using a Raspberry Pi for Plex now.
Plex “could” be a big help in situations like currently with Roku if they would just get the clients into a stable situation where the choice would become preference rather than which one is less broken.
I love Plex for its ability to scan media and make it look shiny, but the fact of the matter is that there are problems once you get to using Plex. I bought a Plex Pass for mobile sync, a feature which I was hoping to replace iTunes music syncing, and I was astounded at how I had to go to the sync tab to delete media that I had downloaded. Worse yet is that I tend to download songs individually due to the limited storage space on my device, so then I have to delete songs individually as well… and that list becomes long.
When the sync button is clicked on mobile when browsing the local library, instead of saying “this server does not support sync” it should delete the item from the local library or tell you what server it was synced from. I obviously know my phone can’t sync, and it makes no design sense to keep a useless button there. Remove the button or re-purpose it, people.
This is a very simple thing. Easy fix.
I’m an iOS developer myself. It’s not that hard.
@bsheperis said:
This thread really isn’t a feature request and probably belongs in the general discussions section. I also disagree with the notion that Plex should exclusively focus on what you classify as its “core” features (i.e. playing/recording videos on TV). The software was originally built as a way for users to create their own home theater systems, and I believe Plex has done an excellent job keeping pace with what customers want and expect.
@bsheperis my comments where Plex should do a pole and allow people to vote whats important. Everyone has their requests, video, series, films, music are all top, but we can’t forget many people want to include tv, tv is all part of the modern media centre… but Cloud and Pictures probably are not on most peoples top 5?
@bsheperis said:
This thread really isn’t a feature request and probably belongs in the general discussions section. I also disagree with the notion that Plex should exclusively focus on what you classify as its “core” features (i.e. playing/recording videos on TV). The software was originally built as a way for users to create their own home theater systems, and I believe Plex has done an excellent job keeping pace with what customers want and expect.
I agree. The DVR functionality has only been around a relatively short time. While it’s a spectular features (along with Live TV) to encourage more people to save money by cancelling their cable or satellite services, I don’t think it can yet be considered one of the core features.
The reason I started using Plex was because of the ability to rip all of my DVDs/BluRays and watch them on my Apple TV without any hassle, and with a beautiful interface.
I do agree that all of the things mentioned need attention, though. There have been a lot of new features added in the last year and it does seem like they all need attention to stabilize and complete the features rather than adding new features/functions to Plex.
@PilotC150 my comments where Plex should do a pole and allow people to vote whats important. Everyone has their requests, video, series, films, music are all top, but we can’t forget many people want to include tv / recorded tv, tv is all part of the modern media centre. I was ripping DVD’s with Windows Media Centre, but there isn’t anything to replace WMC is there, hence lots of people like DVR.
