That’s what I wrote above.
can you be a bit more specific? i’d like to at least understand what i’m being accused of making empty promises about.
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Hi @elan.
No accusations from me, but I think there could still be a fair few people who still wonder what may be happening with PMP.
Now I know I was pretty vocal back in the big “bang” thread when it all kicked off back in mid '19, but PMP is still my primary player, even now.
And I have to say, it really stung when I had no choice but to spend £200 in December on a Shield, because I decided to make the jump to 4K, and as we all know, PMP doesn’t really support HDR and definitely doesn’t support Dolby Vision.
But what stung even more, was to find out that even after spending the £200 (on top of the £3.4K I spent on a new big-ass TV and high flying Denon AVR) was to find out how bad the Shield is at playing plain ole music!
So it appears that it might be Android TV that down samples Hi-Res audio, which OK, won’t be the fault of Plex, but I also find that the player display stays static when playing music, which WILL cause damage to OLED TV’s - I’ve created a thread here if you might want to take a look…
Now we all know that ultimately Plex doesn’t want to throw the money at development of the app that you deem “less important” than others, because far fewer users use it nowadays, but when Plex then tout the “ultimate client” as being the Shield, when in fact its actually fundamentally flawed, also stings a bit.
You see, you have a piece of software called PMP, that can do things that your “ultimate client” cannot, and all it needs to be literally perfect, is true HDR and Dolby Vision support, followed by a little TLC…
I know I am highly unlikely to change your mind on this, but from the point of view of many users, the Shield is absolutely not the ultimate client, as it may never support Hi-Res audio, due to the current OS limitations. And lets not mention that Android TV will shortly be replaced for Google TV, and who only knows what that will support!
But you know what OS has always supported everything? Windows!!
Would it really break the bank to put some love back into PMP? Really?
EDIT: I knew there was summit else… The dangling carrot that was PMPv3… Which then never happened… So what’s that all about??
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A basic bump of the PMP to include latest Web-client will likely keep 90% of folks who still use PMP happy. This should be a low development cost and high positive customer impact for those who use PMP.
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@axemanuk666 actually, it’s because Plex doesn’t do passthru of music. I just let loose a pretty massive screed in another thread about how music is basically just ignored by the plex team at this point. But the issue is that it simply doesn’t correctly detect the HDMI capabilities for passthru of music. I made sure to tag several employees about it on my thread because I also just paid a shitload for a new Receiver, ShieldTV Pro, cabling, speakers, etc, only to find out that what plex could do on my buggy-ass Roku, the much much more expensive and capable streamer, the ShieldTV, cannot.
And this isn’t the fault of Android TV. Other apps on it play back music at both the original bit depth and sample rate, as well as gasp multichannel… AND… double gasp ATMOS. In fact, I signed up for Tidal several months ago, through Plex, only to find out that the Plex integration with Tidal doesn’t support Atmos or MQA. Now, I’ve since learned a lot about MQA and why nobody should want it, or for Plex to support it (hint: big time licensing fees and all sorts of shady business practices and outright lies by the MQA corporation), but it is pretty freaking hilarious that if I open the Tidal app, it plays back correctly, with atmos. And Tidal’s UI is way better. And yet, somehow I canceled Tidal and not my Plex Pass. What am I even doing?
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The 3.0 version was released in October 2019. It was just a preview, intended to test the use of updated code libraries. It has since been superseded by regular updates of the 2.x branch.
However, there currently is no ongoing development of PMP. The latest released build of PMP is 2.58.0.1076 which was released on .May 19, 2020
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PMP is simply put the best option for me personally to use Plex. Works nicely on a large computer screen. Even has remote control options in iOS app, alternatively BetterTouchTool remote app can be used - or - if they do not have their mobile around, users can just take their bluetooth keyboard to the couch.
Maximum control and usability. Any other Plex solution has been lacking the same comfort and why anybody would switch to the web wrapper Plex app is unclear to me. I do not see the point as it is unusable.
Things currently missing or broken in PMP:
- latest plex web
- PMP 2 kernel panics on old iMac
- Plex VOD missing
- PMP 2 lacks dark mode support, PMP 3 has that due to newer build environment, but it is lacking behind PMP 2
- Keyboard shortcuts to jump back / forth in music not working
Still believe the decision to drop PMP development was a mistake. But I am not the one to make the calls so will have to accept and find a workaround or alternative.
@elan i am glad to see the CTO react because that states he cares.
And lately i really got the feeling that Plex Inc. does what Plex Inc. wants and doesn’t care about their daily users.
So let’s be honest Plex Inc. isn’t investigating how they will be supporting their HTPC’s as a platform. Plex Inc. is just doing what Plex Inc. always wanted to do and that’s “Killing PMP” by not maintaining and developing it.
In Dutch we say “geen woorden maar daden” (actions rather than words) and there are no actions taken since aug. '19 to prove otherwise.
Still hope Plex Inc. will see PMP for what’s worth and start developing it again and make PMP the best mediaplayer in the field.
It would be great to just let the PMP call and external player, or integrate with something like madvr as the video render. The UNO interface helps keep the home eco system uniform with our Roku and Shield TV in various rooms, but for the home theater it is all about video and sound quality, which is not something as of today that PMP can deliver when compared to other solutions, where these other solution lack is the simplicity and elegance of the UNO gui. this really is the only pain point for myself, this is only meant to share constructive feedback on what myself with a dedicated HTPC setup is looking for.
Thanks
I was hoping for a real PMP because I (used to) play pass through audio on a NUC (foobar etc). Finally switched to Nvidia shield because PMP was buggy on the NUC no HDR DolbyVision etc. Plex for video is indeed working as expected on the Shield. Audio is a big disappointment everything is resampled to 48kHz. I now must use Kodi for audio because Kodi plays everything properly.
Since the combination Plex and Nvidia Shield is a working solution for DTS and Dolby pass through for video, I don’t understand why audio is not supported by Plex.
Alternatives for Plex (Kodi and Emby) fail on functions and usage. Kodi does it all but it’s a real PITA.
we always said Plex Media Player (TV) / Plex (desktop) were the future. we’re actively working on bringing over some PMP features/code into the new apps.
understood, and just realize that just because you don’t see the actions doesn’t mean they’re not happening.
Thanks for the correction @AXington.
In all fairness, I did test my Hi-Res FLAC audio using VLC on both the TV and the Shield, and indeed both were down sampled to 48KHz, and that was why I came to the conclusion that it was the Android TV OS that was at fault. However if you say that other apps work, then I’ll take your word on that.
In which case, is this something that can eventually be fixed on the Shield?
@elan - No comments on any of my points raised ? And I do have to ask you… Do you ever actually play music via the Shield at all? I can only assume you don’t or it would have been fixed long ago!
I don’t understand this statement… If Plex Media Player (TV) is the future, why has nothing happened to it in months?
And it also contradicts what Otto said a few days ago…
So which is it?
Just seen this from another topic…
So if this really is the case, then the Nvidia Shield TV can never really be the ultimate Plex client.
This only reinforces the idea that building on the King of Plex apps (PMP) make so much sense!
@elan i have to agree with @axemanuk666.
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True and i really hope Plex Inc. will proof us wrong in the near future and show us!
Will be looking forward to that.
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Plex Media Player (TV) / Plex (desktop) were the future
Think that translates to PMP on Smart TVs and Plex app on computers. I still find that a fascinating decision UX wise as plex app on computers is very difficult to use. Probably business / marketing arguments behind this.
I maybe wrong to assume the market place for Videophile and Audiophile is minimal compared to the mass usage like Smart TV, Roku, Apple and Android (Shield or Google) for Plex Inc.
I can only speak for myself, but I would pay, donate, crowdfund, etc for the Plex interface that gives excellent user control for Video and Audio via Win10, it doesn’t mean that i don’t think there are other pathways like plex app via Panasonic ub1000 or 820 that would be great, but i think the HTPC path is one that give users the most control, if Plex can give us a configurable app in regards to rendering method for Video and Audio.
maybe one day, but until then it is the 3rd party kodi with the plex app, interface is really old, but playing with external player (mpc-hc) give the best movie experiences for us.
Fwiw the new Plex for Windows can never replace PMP untill it has a proper fullscreen mode and can be navigated with arrow keys on either a remote or a keyboard.
I like the new app on my desktop PC, but on my HTPC the experience is absolute garbage.
Recently bought a Mac Mini 2018 for better transcoding (support H265 etc). For Plex Media Server this is great. Been using PHT on my Mac Mini 2011 as a HTPC since the age of dawn (of Plex) which was fast and I had a great experience with.
As of November 2020 I switched from the non-supported PHT to PMP (v2 and v3) on MacOS to have the client and server on the same machine as I did with PHT and PMS.
Because of the Wife Acceptance Factor (WAF) I used PHT with a Harmony One remote using IR and not the Desktop App or the web interface. I’ve got a FLIRC to mimic the situation with PMP. This is not possible with the Desktop App and I do not want to buy a whole new TV to get a supported Plex App. I’ve bought a lifetime license for transcoding but always prefer Direct Play.
It saddens me to see PMP in a state of confusion (UI not-so-smooth, load times worsened) and as I read that bug fixes might come, I did not see any update for a long time. I hope there will be a future update which smoothens the UI on MacOS Big Sur and returns my experience as it was with PHT back in the day.
(Pretty please anyone?)
Same here with the WAF!! we also have Harmony remote via FLIRC, just on Win instead of Mac.
I wish Plex would collaborate with some users here to help drive this towards something better with PMP.
