Been lurking, but wanted to post just to show my support/concern about PMP.
I still primarily use it on my HTPC, mainly because its the only option for me. I’m sad it never gets the features that the other players receive. I hope this gets updated.
First I’d like to define some terms and provide a bit of recent history to get everyone on the same page:
TV UI - This is the 10 foot interface in PMP intended to be navigated via the minimal command set (up/down/left/right/enter/back)
Desktop UI - This is the interface present in PMP and Plex for Mac/Windows which is akin to the Web interface
PMPv2 - Plex Media Player (PMP) version 2.x and the currently released version on https://www.plex.tv/media-server-downloads/
PMPv3 - Released as a forum preview and was essentially PMPv2 but with newer dependencies (Qt, FFmpeg/MPV, etc).
Plex for Mac/Windows - Similar to PMP when in the Desktop interface using MPV as the playback engine. For simplicity I’ll call this the “Desktop App” from this point on.
LibreELEC - Forked from OpenELEC which stands for Open Embedded Linux Entertainment Center. This is the Linux-based OS that runs PMP and does very little else.
PMP has both the TV UI and the Desktop UI. This two-mode aspect of PMP has been a little awkward from the beginning. The two modes have very different use cases and it’s not common to be actively switching back and forth between the two modes. Additionally, the TV mode was less discoverable when starting the app in the Desktop UI. Due to architectural reasons, it became difficult to keep updating the Desktop UI in PMP and so we encourage users of the Desktop UI to use the Desktop App instead of PMP. Eventually we intend PMP to have just the TV UI and the Desktop App have just the Desktop UI. This eliminates the confusion of the two UIs serving completely different use cases in the same app as well as potentially exposing the TV UI to users who were unaware of its existence by exposing the separate download.
We promised to keep PMP working and fix serious issues with it. To that end we merged a user-submitted PR to fix PMP for MPV 0.33 a few days ago and then very shortly afterwards made another commit that fixed where this commit broke vaapi-egl playback. It’s worth noting that PMPv2 does still function as before and still works with current media servers.
We also promised to “actively [investigate] the best way to continue supporting HTPCs as a platform.” The eagle-eyed among you may have noticed that the Desktop App recently gained support for reading an mpv.conf file (Plex for Mac and Windows). This is but the first in a line of updates coming which will bring features over from PMPv2 into the Desktop App.
We did a forum preview of PMPv3 which was essentially PMPv2 but with newer dependencies (Qt, FFmpeg/MPV, etc). This was not built for Linux because there is little need there since Linux users are building from source anyway and can update these dependencies themselves as they see fit. This work has been paused in favor of other high priority tasks such as modernizing our build infrastructure and media server support for Apple’s M1 processor.
The LibreELEC (LE) version of PMP has always been a pain to build. LE is designed around building Kodi and is not really a general purpose OS beyond that. It expects several OS-level configurations to be made through the application (Kodi) and substituting a different UI application here (such as PMP) requires that the application provide the UI for these changes. Those of you who have paired a bluetooth device or configured LIRC in LE know that this is far from a good user experience. As such, we’ve decided that we will no longer continue working on a LibreELEC version of PMP. We encourage users of LE to switch to a full Linux distribution with PMP as an app that runs there. I personally used to run LE but found it painful to do too many things and so I switched to running a full distro (Ubuntu) and running PMP as an app on top of it (my notes on setup are here for those interested: https://www.cod3r.com/2019/11/plex-media-player-appliance-using-ubuntu/).
We are actively investigating releasing a Linux version of the Desktop App however in the fractured landscape that is the large set of Linux distributions, packaging is an issue. It is even more of an issue for an application that has a UI than it is for a headless application like Plex Media Server. We will be investigating whether a snap package will meet the needs for packaging the Desktop App for Linux.
There is a new PMP coming (tentatively codenamed PMPv4) which is based on the work in the Desktop App. This will contain a new version of the TV UI only (no Desktop UI) which is the same UI that we have been updating on some smart TVs and game consoles. It is based on a new architecture and is actively developed.
HDR support is entirely dependent on the underlying OS support for outputting it but this is likely not going to be the HDR you think it is. MPV has taken the stance that they will do tone-mapping from the source to the display. This doesn’t mean it only uses tone-mapping to go to SDR; it’ll map from HDR to HDR as defined by its configuration (https://mpv.io/manual/master/). So this means that Dolby Vision will end up being tone-mapped to the output color space and you are not going to see Dolby Vision logo on your TV. In theory, this could yield the same results in terms of what is actually displayed. In many ways this is akin to audio passthrough vs the device decoding to PCM, or at least it was before Atmos/DTS:X came on the scene.
Hopefully this helps answer questions you have had in this thread. I had intended to post this reply earlier but it took a while to figure out within the company which parts we wanted to mention here.
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Thank you for posting this. For me personally, this answered all the questions I had with respect to PMP’s future.
There is a new PMP coming (tentatively codenamed PMPv4) which is based on the work in the Desktop App. This will contain a new version of the TV UI only (no Desktop UI) which is the same UI that we have been updating on some smart TVs and game consoles. It is based on a new architecture and is actively developed.
I don’t know about others, but my main issue with Plex For Windows is the horrible navigational controls. You are literally forcing users to use a mouse to navigate. Is it too much to ask for Left/Right/Up/Down/ESC/Backspace navigation in this mode to make it usable?
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Appreciate the update, will keep hoping for the v4 release. at this point if it based on mpv player, then that maybe a roadblock for myself, as mpv just doesn’t currently as of today deliver the video quality I desired in the home theater, maybe in the common rooms, but they are all using roku or shield.
Many thanks @gbooker02 for the detailed update.
Indeed this has answered pretty much everything I wanted to know, primarily…
I can certainly see the logistical advantages of maintaining 2 apps for 2 use cases, and for me, the TV UI is the biggie!
Dolby Vision support certainly is available to Windows 10, however I have to admit that I haven’t yet had any app on my HTPC trigger DV yet, but the moment I do, Plex will certainly be the 1st to know 
EDIT:… Forgot the MS link…
Thanks again for the detailed update… 
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Thanks for the post. I know I’m probably in the minority of folks who want a Linux native client but could it not be a AppImage (like over at knapsu.eu/plex) ?
This would require no install as it bundled with all its requirement and is somewhat OS independent as if done right will work on most (main ones anyhow) Linux distributions.
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Thanks for the update.
Hope to see and test pmp v4 soon!
I’m not sure what you are trying to say with this comment. You quoted part of my statement talking about “PMPv4” having a new version of the TV UI and if you read my definitions, you’ll see I clearly defined the “TV UI” as a 10ft interface with exactly these controls. Did you miss this?
Perhaps you should look into the settings that can be added to the mpv.conf. There are options here that can dramatically improve quality depending on how powerful your hardware is.
Snap packages do provide a few advantages over appimage or flatpack. One notable example is they can be distributed in various “stores” in some linux distros. It also opens the possibility of someone making a minimal OS to replace LE using Ubuntu Core.
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I have no issues using PMPv2 TV UI with my Logitech Harmony remote (via FLIRC) or standard keyboard. As long as this continues into PMP v4 I’ll be happy.
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Excellent! This post was long overdue, but very appreciated. 
THANK YOU TV UI
Needs sentence so I can post this
PMP4 will have sync/download option? this is only i want.
I’m really curious as to your use-case for this.
I could think of some but they are “nice to have”:
- If server is down, PMPv4 can still play it.
- Bad internet at the PMPv4 side (not enough for stream but lets you download so you can watch later.
- If server side entry is removed but the PMPv4 side still wants to watch it.
Can’t wait for PMPv4, I am curious to see when the ETA is. Can you reveal a little bit of information about that?
Thank you for your previous response!
Netflix app allow me to download content to watch it offline Plex app for windows too, but i don´t like this app. PMP is the best for me, but i can´t sync. (Bad english, i know)
Does this version support HDR on Mac and Windows? Or does it still have issues with HDR in MPV?
My use case for this is bandwidth caps and slow internet. If you plan on watching something more than once, downloading it ahead of time helps a lot. curse you satellite internet
Thanks for the feedback, in my opinion mpv is not on the list for home theater players, it is a decent laptop player or pc monitor player, but it is to poor for video rendering to be used in our home theater.
Hi there,
I have been desperately waiting for a HTPC client that incorporates the new features such as skip intro and watch together etc.
I am still using OpenPHT as I still find this is the most feature packed install in terms of responsiveness and subtle features like Audio and Subtitle offsets.
My mother in law has an Apple TV and I love the interface and the fact it has all the features, if we could just see this ported into Windows for use with keyboard I think it would be most of the way there!
You have mentioned PMP4 is on the way, but how far is it really? Will it also include all the newer features that your other clients have?
As a LONNNG time user and lover of plex I’d love to feel recognised and have Plex circle back to their roots.
As a HTPC user, there are other things that I use my pc for on the tv, so buying an Apple TV or a shield does not fit my use case
