This problem has been going on for years now and I can’t believe that the Plex team still hasn’t paid attention to it and us subscribers.
One of the main reasons why I chose Plex is the direct support for LG and Samsung TVs so that I don’t have to buy another piece of hardware just for that. And the Plex client worked wonderfully and quickly until one of the updates brought it back to the stone age. And that situation has been going on for over three years now, if not more?
Please optimize the Plex client for webOS and Tizen or just go back to that old software base that worked nice and fast. I don’t care about a fancy GUI if it’s going to be this slow.
We are actively working on this at the moment. There will be more info in the future, but this is my current number one priority and all my time is actively being spent on this, along with some others.
I’ve been a loyal Plex user since the very beginning. I am also a Plex evangelist and I promote Plex to everyone as the ideal solution. However, after showing my friends how slow it is now (and I have a really high-end 86" LG TV) it creates a doubt. It’s even more confusing that the very old Plex Client version on Samsung TV, which is already seven years old, works faster than this new one with “advanced GUI”.
Please, do something - or just add some option for a “spartan GUI” that would be reasonably fast.
TVs use poor hardware, something closer to a pocket calculator than a computer, which is a shame in 2024.
But I also use other apps, e.g. Apple TV, which is very smooth. Plex App seems overloaded with JavaScript but it also doesn’t do a good job of preloading the offscreen content. With Apple TV I never see any images loading, like in a web browser, the app always preloads everything that “surrounds” the viewport in the background, so whenever I scroll the content is already there. I think this has a big impact on the UI performance too.
It’s not about “poor hardware” because before it worked very smooth on the same hardware, so the problem is obviously how the code is written. I hope Plex will fix this finally.
Hey @sLumpy is there any timeframe we’ll see anything? Is there an easy way to republish the old version as maybe “Plex Light” so that at least we have something usable till we wait?
It’s not Plex fault it’s the TV manufacturers using underpowered hardware. My old LG c2 was slow as described with Plex Disney and all other mainstream apps. The only outlyer was netflix which was faster but their R&D budget eclipses others. My new LG G3 is lightening on Plex and others.
Sorry Josh, but IT IS. You see, I work in a multimedia production studio and we have a dozen of TVs for preview and demonstration. Both Samsung and LG of different generations. LG I use is a high-end 86" (2020 model) that worked super smooth with Plex until that GUI updated version. In other room we have an old Samsung 75" (2018 model) with far slower CPU, but with an old Plex app (pre-GUI update) and it works super smooth even on that older CPU. So, it is completely clear that it depends on how the application is written.
I would prefer to go back to the old version on the LG TV if it were possible. All Plex needs to do now is add an option to do things the old way for those users who want it - or, of course, the better scenario is to write the app from scratch in some faster programming language. Also note that the processor in the old Apple TV is nothing special, nor is it faster than the quad-core processor in these televisions - and everything runs super smoothly. So - it can be done.
If nothing else, let Plex add a “legacy” mode and make the app behave like it used to. I don’t care about the aesthetics of the GUI if everything runs so slowly.
The speed of the Plex Smart TV app is very importantr for all Plex customers.
@sLumpy, more then 3 months passed since you mentionesd that the Plex team is actively working on the problem. Please provide a status update on when we can expect a resolution.
We (the Plex customers) spend our free time to test and report problems with the Plex application. As a result, we expect the Plex Employees to handle the problems with respect.
Three months without a single word from the Plex team regarding a major problem (like the one here) builds frustration and makes the Plex team looks weak.
Please provide a status update, and if needed, please ask a Plex dev team member to help you.
I agree, there should be some feedback and some plan? It’s really sad to see such a good and mature project like Plex fall due to technical failures like this.
I chose Plex a long time ago precisely because it had great apps for LG and Samsung, and now that’s no longer true and I can’t “wholeheartedly” recommend anyone to use Plex. And that’s a shame because everyone in that ecosystem would benefit from Plex working well, not necessarily lightning fast, but at least reasonably fast.
