When I looked at it I could only see what I would call the TV layout format which looked horrible on my monitor and the keyboard navigation along with mouse was not working well. It worked but was messy IMO.
But to be honest I did not spend to much time beyond that initial look. Maybe I need to spend a bit more time playing around with it. Really wish I could use the browser layout like I have today in the plex media player.
I agree, Plex-htpc is definitely the app for consuming media on the TV with the respective navigation concept that does not require a mouse. But Plex Media Player was basically the same or very similar with respect to user interface concept.
And this is exactly what I was looking for. I mean, the browser based UI is still there and I use it if I want to manage the collection, but for consuming the media I find this htpc UI quite good.
The good thing is that both are just an Alt-Tab away from each other on a linux driven media center PC.
Sure but you could always select to use a browser layout with PMP (upper righthand corner). Didnāt see that option with htpc when I looked at it.
You are of course right about that. However, I was already using PMP only in the TV mode (or however you call that) for watching and all management of media I did in the web browser. That is what I meant by saying it is only an Alt-Tab away. I mean, the two modes are not technically in the same program for me. But they are still somehow available and switching between them is still easy.
But I do not want to convince you of my style of using. All I say is that the plex-htpc software with Linux support is the single most positive development of Plex I have seen in years. They seem to finally care about basics again. If they keep going with it and develop a stable and supported media player on Linux in the Plex infrastructure, I will be the Plex fanboy again I was in the early daysā¦
I am very sensitive to changes in tools that disrupt my established, efficient workflow, and which leaves me stranded and forces me into some less efficient ways of usage. Sometimes, new is good, and I get more efficiency out of it. I love progress that provides new opportunities, but very often forced change is just a pain. For example, the idea that on a PC, nobody needs a TV mode did make me crazy. I think this was the kind of thinking that did lead to Plex abandoning PMP.
I must also say that snap or not is not important to me, because when I actually use it, I do not see a difference. I am very opportunistic about that, and I like what works. I get of course the discussions regarding packet and software management, but I rather have a snap version that meets my needs than a different format that gets crazy and breaks all the time. If snap is easier for the developer to control and keep stable, that is an advantage. It delivers the user experience I want.
I was already on the way to abandon Plex for good, and Emby is a very capable alternative. The reason I am still here and why I was still using the slowly dying PMP is actually that my wife is used to PMP and liked it better than Emby Theater. Now that PMP seems to be broken for good, I am very happy that Plex-htpc is around already. And I will judge Plex mainly on how they proceed with it.
Finally, I want to thank everybody, who has spent countless hours in creating and maintaining the unofficial version of PMP for such a long time and keep supporting complaining users like me. You are my heroes.
Thank you so much @joergniemoeller, it works great! I had the same issue with Ubuntu 22.04 and couldnāt find a fix for the last few days. I never used HTPC before but itās perfect for my needs, even better than PMP actually. Director and film rating appear on the movie page, the UI is very nice and access to settings while playing is also better (quick access to subtitles selection and search as well as streaming quality), etc.
I had an issue when creating my custom .desktop though, so I modified the actual plex-htpc_htpc.desktop located in ~/.local/share/applications (probably not the cleanest solution, but it works with the snap installed application). I just added DISABLE_WAYLAND=1 to the exec script as such:
Exec=env BAMF_DESKTOP_FILE_HINT=/var/lib/snapd/desktop/applications/plex-htpc_plex-htpc.desktop DISABLE_WAYLAND=1 /snap/bin/plex-htpc
Works like a charm and no need for a second .desktop file and launch script.
Thank you to the HTPC developers, you rule!
After getting some time today to give the plex-htpc client a more detailed look I stand corrected on it being a viable alternative to PMP as my PC client. Yes, Iād rather have the WEB view I can configure today with PMP but the new htpc client works well when just using a keyboard for navigation.
I just have to resist reaching for my mouse 
On the Plex HTPC main thread, it was teased that āPlexā (on windows called āPlex for Windowsā) will come to Linux in the near futureā¦
Out of the blue today plex released Plex for Linux ā Media Server Downloads | Plex Media Server for Windows, Mac, Linux, FreeBSD and More.
Had been using the Linux HTPC client but now they have a fully fledged linux plex client.
Tis a snap install so sudo snap install plex-desktop.
I hope they release the clients in AppImage format.
I donāt want to install snapd or flatpak just to run one app.
Agreed. Time to resurrect this meme:
I havenāt used that since the Ubuntu Facebook page blocked me.
They produce linux binaries of their Media Server.
Iād imagine they could run their clients through a similar build process. Binaries would probably be ideal vs AppImage.
Thereās been several threads on this.
Itās not trivial to build the applications in another format just because they build their server binaries in other formats. The desktop applications are very different with other dependencies.
However, I maintain an AUR package for plex-htpc, and will get the plex-for-linux app on the AUR as well as soon as possible. So if youāre on an arch-based system, thatās your best bet for avoiding snap (or flatpak).
I have also been working a bit on an unofficial flatpak build for plex-htpc, so hopefully thatās ready soon. If someone is willing to help, feel free, since I donāt have much experience with flatpaks. Since plex for linux should be pretty much identical that should also be trivial once the htpc version works.
I think those two packaging options are the best at the moment. If you want an AppImage someone could also look at the PKGBUILD from the AUR on how I build it there, and you should be able to build an AppImage quite easily following the same steps and ideas.
But holy, I have been waiting for this for sooo long! Finally a feature complete client for Linux (if it can do downloads). This is awesome regardless of the whole snap deal!
I use arch so Iāll look into your AUR packages. Thank you for generating/maintaining these!
Iām too am glad that thereās finally a centrally maintained linux build of the clients.
This thread appears to be no longer about plex-media-player. Itās also gotten unwieldily long.
With @Knapsu agreeing, I will close this one here.
Iād like give a big Thank You to @Knapsu for his initiative and excellent work in caring for Linux users!
Everyone in here: if youād like to discuss the new official āPlex for Linuxā and/or Plex HTPC on Linux, please create a new thread in the Players - Desktop subforum and tag it with player-linux or plex-htpc respectively.
If there is still something to discuss specifically to @Knapsu 's builds of Plex Media Player, please open a new and dedicated thread for this as well.
I can set a link from here to this new thread. Just send me a PM.
