Plex HTPC feedback

Plex Players Desktop Players
64

Hi @gbooker02 …

So I had a look at the logs, and after a few attempts to figure out what was happening with the “Back” input key on my Wireless media remote, it appears that it is receiving absolutely nothing!

I launched the app, and waited a few moments, and then…

@18.53 - Did a few right, left, up, down’s, then waited…
@18.54 - Pressed the back button 10 times, then waited…
@18.55 - Hit the escape key on actual keyboard and then clicked on Exit with the mouse.

NOTE: I am also remotely controlling the HTPC using TightVNC!

Here are the logs …

Mar 24, 2021 18:53:11.245 [10920] INFO - [Web] [AppSplash] Destroying splash screen.
Mar 24, 2021 18:53:17.550 [10920] DEBUG - [InputManager] Input received: source: Keyboard keycode: Right:3
Mar 24, 2021 18:53:17.550 [10920] DEBUG - [InputManager] Emit input action: ["right"]
Mar 24, 2021 18:53:17.550 [10920] INFO - [InputManager] [InputConnector] Sending actions to UI: ["right"]
Mar 24, 2021 18:53:17.553 [10920] INFO - [Web] 02/03/2021 18:53:17:552 [axemanuk666:] DEBUG [QWebChannel(input.onKeyReceived)] [["right"]]
Mar 24, 2021 18:53:17.555 [10920] DEBUG - [InputManager] Input received: source: Keyboard keycode: Right:1
Mar 24, 2021 18:53:18.243 [10920] DEBUG - [InputManager] Input received: source: Keyboard keycode: Left:3
Mar 24, 2021 18:53:18.243 [10920] DEBUG - [InputManager] Emit input action: ["left"]
Mar 24, 2021 18:53:18.243 [10920] INFO - [InputManager] [InputConnector] Sending actions to UI: ["left"]
Mar 24, 2021 18:53:18.245 [10920] INFO - [Web] 02/03/2021 18:53:18:243 [axemanuk666:] DEBUG [QWebChannel(input.onKeyReceived)] [["left"]]
Mar 24, 2021 18:53:18.418 [10920] DEBUG - [InputManager] Input received: source: Keyboard keycode: Left:1
Mar 24, 2021 18:53:19.099 [10920] DEBUG - [InputManager] Input received: source: Keyboard keycode: Down:3
Mar 24, 2021 18:53:19.099 [10920] DEBUG - [InputManager] Emit input action: ["down"]
Mar 24, 2021 18:53:19.099 [10920] INFO - [InputManager] [InputConnector] Sending actions to UI: ["down"]
Mar 24, 2021 18:53:19.101 [10920] INFO - [Web] 02/03/2021 18:53:19:100 [axemanuk666:] DEBUG [QWebChannel(input.onKeyReceived)] [["down"]]
Mar 24, 2021 18:53:19.259 [10920] DEBUG - [InputManager] Input received: source: Keyboard keycode: Down:1
Mar 24, 2021 18:53:19.604 [10920] INFO - [Web] 02/03/2021 18:53:19:603 [axemanuk666:] INFO Clearing all screens!
Mar 24, 2021 18:53:19.637 [10920] INFO - [Web] 02/03/2021 18:53:19:636 [axemanuk666:] INFO Navigating to screen: SourceTabbedScreen
Mar 24, 2021 18:53:19.640 [10920] INFO - [Web] 02/03/2021 18:53:19:640 [axemanuk666:] INFO Navigated to screen: SourceTabbedScreen
Mar 24, 2021 18:53:19.914 [10920] DEBUG - [InputManager] Input received: source: Keyboard keycode: Up:3
Mar 24, 2021 18:53:19.915 [10920] DEBUG - [InputManager] Emit input action: ["up"]
Mar 24, 2021 18:53:19.915 [10920] INFO - [InputManager] [InputConnector] Sending actions to UI: ["up"]
Mar 24, 2021 18:53:19.931 [10920] INFO - [Web] 02/03/2021 18:53:19:916 [axemanuk666:] DEBUG [QWebChannel(input.onKeyReceived)] [["up"]]
Mar 24, 2021 18:53:20.074 [10920] DEBUG - [InputManager] Input received: source: Keyboard keycode: Up:1
Mar 24, 2021 18:53:20.421 [10920] INFO - [Web] 02/03/2021 18:53:20:419 [axemanuk666:] INFO Clearing all screens!
Mar 24, 2021 18:53:20.440 [10920] INFO - [Web] 02/03/2021 18:53:20:439 [axemanuk666:] INFO Navigating to screen: HomeScreen
Mar 24, 2021 18:53:20.470 [10920] INFO - [Web] 02/03/2021 18:53:20:446 [axemanuk666:] INFO Navigated to screen: HomeScreen

------

Mar 24, 2021 18:54:03.284 [10920] DEBUG - [Updater] It has gone 60 seconds since last update check.
Mar 24, 2021 18:54:03.284 [10920] INFO - [Updater] Checking update channel: 0
Mar 24, 2021 18:54:03.284 [10920] INFO - [Updater] Checking for updates at: Plex-Update-URL
Mar 24, 2021 18:54:03.452 [10920] INFO - [Updater] No updates found!

------

Mar 24, 2021 18:55:08.025 [10920] DEBUG - [InputManager] Input received: source: Keyboard keycode: Esc:3
Mar 24, 2021 18:55:08.144 [10920] DEBUG - [InputManager] Input received: source: Keyboard keycode: Esc:1
Mar 24, 2021 18:55:08.144 [10920] DEBUG - [InputManager] Emit input action (short):back
Mar 24, 2021 18:55:08.144 [10920] INFO - [InputManager] [InputConnector] Sending actions to UI: ["back"]
65

…works great except the lack of a “full-screen” TV setting…the upper & lower browser bars can’t be removed as in PMP.

66

You can set that in Settings > General > Visibility

1 Like
67

It doesn’t move to background tasks in Task Manager. Rather it appears to launch as a background task, then disappears.

68

Back button doesn’t work.

69

I’ve had a day to use it now and there’s two things I’ve noticed about the Mac version:

  1. It inserts itself to run at startup without asking and without using the proper way of doing so where the user has control (via asking to be put in the Startup items list). This is… annoying and invasive.

  2. It doesn’t elegantly quit if you restart the computer. It hangs and then has to be force quit and brings the restarting of the computer to a grinding halt.

70

I shouldn’t laugh but this is funny. Maybe because the application fires up an OpenGL context using a newer version of OpenGL? It does this because the UI is rendered in WebGL and that’s responsible for much of the performance improvement over PMP.

Yeah, I notice this happens in a few apps, including older versions of Filebot, so it’s not just Plex HTPC. But unfortunately, makes HTPC moot for me if that’s there so I guess I’ll keep using PMP unless Nvidia can fix it.

71

I was able to verify your 2nd issue.
Apparently Plex does not respond well to another process (like the system) shutting the machine down while it’s running. Worked great though if I triggered the restart from Plex HTPC in full screen mode.

As for your 1st issue:

I’ve never seen that behavior nor can I reproduce it. Mind sharing some more details about your system setup / configuration?

Edit: I’ve only experienced this once after shutting down / rebooting the Mac from within the full-screen Plex HTPC app – which is kind of what I would want it to do if I’m connecting it to a big screen / TV.

72

This is awesome! I’m very excited to give this a try. At first glance and first spin through the interface it looks very nice!

73

Back is expected to work when the Harmony is configured to talk to a Windows/Mac computer or a when setup to speak to Plex: Harmony and Plex.

1 Like
74

try ALT+ENTER to toggle between windowed mode and full screen (no border)

most games also support alt-enter

on windows, you can also do
WINDOWS KEY+UP-ARROW to maximize
WINDOWS KEY+DOWN-ARROW to return to windowed mode (from maximized) or to minimize (from windowed mode)

most windows app also support these hotkeys (they are system hotkeys)

75

Hey @TeknoJunky yep, Alt+Enter, F11, and \ should all toggle fullscreen on Windows. ~I’ll look into user reports that \ only toggles during playback.~ For me \ toggles fullscreen on Windows inside and outside playback.

Thanks for the heads up re the Windows+Arrow shortcuts. Confirmed those are working for me as well.

76

Is there a “deinterlace” setting on the new HTPC? If there is, I haven’t found it yet.

77

Interlaced content should be deinterlaced automatically.

1 Like
78

Thank you Plex! I had almost given up on a 10 foot interface. So far so good. Just a few things could be better:

  1. System volume OSD not visible
  2. Lack of FF and Rewind for playback. (useful for recorded sports)
  3. Seems to be unable to start recording in progress - goes right to playing it
79

Thanks for all your feedback on our HTPC preview! We’ll keep this post updated as a sort of FAQ for our roadmap. It’s marked as a solution so that it sticks to the thread’s top.

In progress:

  • Proper HDR support, of course.

Update 1.3.0

  • Loss of full screen state when changing monitor or switching inputs on an AVR.

Update 1.2.0

  • Investigate missing back button handling for some users.
  • Add a global aspect ratio setting, as was in PMP, primarily as an assist for 21:9 users.
  • Investigate why the Windows system volume control doesn’t render above HTPC when fullscreen.

Update 1.1.0

  • Revising the playback on screen display look and interaction.
  • Pressing ArrowUp or ArrowDown during playback will perform 10m jumps. After much discussion we won’t be restoring this PMP behavior. We’re instead retaining the current behavior for consistency with our other Plex players.
  • Automatically selecting the highest render resolution at startup based on the current screen, of course you’ll be able to pick one of the specific resolutions.
  • Investigating why HTPC being open during system shutdown on Mac creates problems. We believe this to be addressed but would appreciate additional feedback.

21:9 support? We’re expecting video playback to fill the screen while maintaining the aspect ratio of the video. Pressing z toggles different zoom settings in case your video has letter boxing baked in. We will follow-up to see if mpv.conf tweaks improve screen fill during playback. We’re planning to maintain a 16:9 aspect ratio for the UI itself.

Improved mouse support? This is firmly a lower priority maybe. The application intends for usage on a 10’ device with remote control (Harmony, Flirc, etc) or gamepad (XB1, XBX, PS4, PS5) input.

14 Likes
80

@deactivated - Several users including myself have reported the back button not working on our remotes… Could that please be added to the list as it’s a bit of a show stopper!

81

@axemanuk666 Good catch, added We really need Plex HTPC.log files to understand what (if any) information we’re receiving when the back button is pressed.

For everyone:

  • Restart HTPC, press the back button (confirm it was ignored), quit HTPC.
  • Attach Plex HTPC.log from %LOCALAPPDATA%\Plex HTPC\ on Windows and ~/Library/Application Support/Plex HTPC/ on Mac.

Are you using a Harmony? If so, please describe how the Harmony device is configured. Did you add an “Apple” or “Windows” device with “PLEX” as the model? If not, please let us know how the Harmony software is configured (is it an entertainment device? is it configured as a PC device?).

82

Great, thanks matt.

Not the harmony no… I’ll provide some logs and more info on the device shortly.

1 Like
83

So far I really like this. I didn’t know this was being developed so this was a fortunate surprise for me as it addresses some issues I was having on other players! I’m running this on Windows 10.

Is there a way to have the audio settings not change to “auto select device” when I remote desktop to the HTPC? Or a way to have it revert back to “AV Receiver (Intel® Display Audio)" after the remote desktop ends?

One improvement I noticed over the Plex for Windows is that changing certain audio settings doesn’t require a restart of the program for them to take effect. And also that the audio settings don’t automatically change when the displayport / hdmi cable is unplugged.

Note for possible fix: I unplugged the displayport to hdmi cable during 1080p playback and it caused the program to crash but unplugging when at the menu interface did not cause a crash.