I’m not really buying the “support” argument, especially since we know Plex is looking for additional revenue streams as a content provider. In fact, the reasons laid out in blogs, emails, and forums for the removal of plugins all seem like spin to hide the real reason they were axed.
I don’t particularly mind that Plex wants to grow and change, but at least have an adequate replacement for the legitimate content people are losing. Twitch is a particularly big one for me since there are very few (good) options for it on Roku. Your current selection of content is, quite frankly, terrible.
Until then, I’ll be using RarFlix, and so will many others.
I really love Plex. I greatly enjoy the new music player, and the new server build is pretty solid. But, I am worried. I don’t think their business model will work in the long term, as many others have pointed out.
In terms of their new focus, the main page of their site is pretty telling. Notice where in the list the personal media shows up?
I remember when Channels/Plugins was at the top of the list on their Roku client a few years ago. Then they buried it at the bottom of the list. Now it’s gone.
I know Plex has said they have no plans to ditch personal media / servers, but I just don’t trust them anymore.
“Your favorite web shows, podcasts, video news, recorded shows and live TV, plus your personal media, streamed to your favorite screens.”
That right there says it all. When have you seen a company put the “extras” at the top of a product feature listing?
No, they always start with what they think of as the main feature of the product, the main selling point.
Note that the first three are the client based features that do not require a Plex Media Server.
Who wants to place bets on how long it takes them to update that paragraph to include TIDAL?
How about how long before personal media is not even mentioned?
Unfortunately, Plex just wants that ‘server’ to be something in their realm of sight.
And this statement seems to emphasize my first - Plex wants us on their content servers, not ours. End user setup is now just a bonus for the clients.
I’m really not trying to put words in your mouth - I’m just stating it as I, and many others here, see it.
As eloquently described by @cayars and others here and in other topics where a semblance of civility still exists, PMS admins have little control over client features. Considering clients ONLY used to be able to access, and be controlled by, PMS admins, it’s understandable why we think this way.
Besides children seeing things they shouldn’t, you’ve (as Plex the company) actually caused family strife. My spouse’s strongly opinioned father actually called me out for this ‘news crap’ I was showing on my server. Called it extreme, blah blah. It took me an hour to explain that I was NOT the one that controlled it, and that he could disable it in his account. Another 30-45 minutes to explain how.
That is ‘NOT’ a good business model when running a PMS.
It’s actually the opposite. Plex wants users to set up serves. That’s where a Plex Pass becomes useful. Without a server, there is no need for a Plex Pass. Lets say you share your server with 10 people, and these 10 people only know about Plex from what you’ve shared with them. There is no reason for any of these 10 users to ever get a Plex Pass. However, if Plex can entice them into setting up their own server, then we have the potential to gain a Plex Pass user. What you see as features that interfere with your server, Plex hopes will be an introduction into what Plex can offer and lead to them setting up PMS. The more users with PMS servers out there, the more chances of Plex Pass users.
Plex still has a lot of work needed to educate users to this, even some existing users, but that is the goal.
The folks I share with have absolutely ZERO desire to setup/maintain a server! You will never, ever, ever, ever, ever entice them to install PMS. EVER! They install the client, pull media from me and that’s the end of it. If I was to take down my server tonight, not a single person that streams from me would setup their own server.
BTW, I’ll ask again, is there ANY chance Plex will revert the Roku client to the non-sucky version we have now? A clear, “NOPE” will put an end to all those threads.
I left about a half year ago for Emby. Once in a while I come back to the forums here … mostly just because it was a habit once.
It’s REALLY REALLY funny to see that absolutely nothing has changed over the last few years: users are complaining, Plex is answering that they are working on it and carry on as if nothing ever happened.
That’s something I found disturbing years ago, still found it disturbing when I turned my back on Plex and who would have guesses … it’s still ongoing!
What you say is true. The problem IMHO is that Plex is going about this the wrong way. I can’t quantify my next statement other then from talking to other admins but:
I’d say right now Plex is driving more people away from the platform to Emby then they are converting users to running their own servers. That’s what I see in my world but I deal with guys who run larger systems and may not be the run of the mill admins. But with that said the forums here are full of the the same sentiment.
The grief I’ve went through with the Church and other Businesses, the grief @JamminR went through with his father in law. The grief all admins go through when trying to turn off these extra features on kids accounts (and can’t) isn’t a feather in Plex’s cap.
I’ve said it before and will say it again. The way Plex has chosen to add this extra content is the problem, not the content itself. Instead of allowing the admin to add it right into their system and control access at the server level it’s forced on all users and isn’t part of the system. If done correctly a person just firing up a server could start with a few LIBRARIES right off the bat including News, Web Shows, PodCasts but right now they have an empty system but with auxiliary content they can’t control in any manner. They could have had content on “their” server out of the box even if it’s not the greatest content in the world.
@JamminR could have just removed access to things his father in law didn’t want and been done in about as long as it would have taken him to login into his server. I could have removed news for the Church while keeping PodCasts as their are some nice religious podcasts that could have been complementary to the site we were building. The company could have used Plex because they could turn off features not in line with their business to keep users from wasting company time. But due to the current implementation none of us could do this.
Nothing wrong at all with trying to get others to setup their own servers but there is a point when this attempt “feels” to aggressive. OR when the means to this end start to change the way current ADMINs have to run their systems (or can’t).
Again nothing wrong with the content per say you guys are adding but not letting us integrate it to make it part of OUR SYSTEM and allowing us to CONTROL it server side is the issue.
With that said the new UI being rolled out sucks and my way of supporting it was to move users off Plex onto Emby (since I run both systems). They then got a UI back that was very similar and where they can easily find all my libraries without having to jump through hoops or understand why like categories aren’t under the same menu (different underlying types).
The new Tidal music service has ZERO interest to me or any of my users. It’s far to expensive and there are better music services that can easily be shared among family members. Hell even Netflix and Amazon give you several logins for family members on each account.
Come on @MovieFan.Plex, if that were true then why make the new features part of the Client? Why not make them part of the server instead? Kind of how @cayars was suggesting.
People who “hang” off other people’s servers are highly unlikely to setup a server of their own just because Plex adds functionality that does not require a server or a Plex Pass. If those folks didn’t see the benefit of setting up a server of their own on its own merits (personal media, DVR, etc), then why would they do so for streaming content that doesn’t require said server installation or Plex Pass?
Edit: I reread the post and some of it might be misconstrued as me saying you are lying or are being disingenuous. I am not. I’m sure you believe what you are saying.
What I am doing is challenging you to think about how client only functionality could possibly entice existing customers who do not already have a server of their own?
It might attract brand new ones who have not otherwise used Plex before. But then again, if someone starts using plex for Tidal or Podcasts, why would they want to spend over 100 dollars for a sever they don’t even need?
It is more likely a user will install a client to try out Plex instead of the server. Just look at the users you share with. Besides accessing your server, how many of them would be willing to install PMS to see what else Plex could do, compared to trying on a client, which they already have.
