Hi,
After a year of using PLEX (December 2018), trying out different hardware platform and testing plex out, all was well until one day Plex decided to destroy their wonderful features!
All the troubles started to come about in the early Summer, when I finally lay the foundation to having Plex on my NUC J3455 processor (same processor used in Synology 218+ & 918+), and then I also applied for permanent Plex Pass, as my testing concluded it was worth moving over from MediaPortal to PLEX. I am running PMS on Ubuntu 18.04, with NUC J3455 processor, 8GB RAM and 1TB SSD.
My main reason for moving from Mediaportal is that it no longer streams for different TV unless you have a PC per TV (and talked to a central server, which I did not want, as it’s an expensive method), also moving forward I wanted to be able to access TV on my devices abroad, but then Plex also integrates with SONOS music library, so with all this wonderful ideas, I decided to jump on the bandwagon! Also my main point is subtitling, as a deaf person this is the most essential option before any others, but Media Portal has provided me with that for over 10 years, and along with it’s reliability.
So, 12 months on, what do I think? Plex is absolutely RUBBISH and so buggy! My main reasons are as follows:-
I regularly record programmes that are either back to back on the same evening or has two new broadcast on the same day/evening - Plex cannot cope with this, except to consistently delete previous programmes that has just been recorded on that same day/evening,. Whilst this is a known issue, there was a workaround, which I did use and worked fine, but it no longer works since Plex changeover to new broadcasting programme in the summer, this happened after I became a permanent Plex Pass member. MediaPortal never had this issue, but when my workaround was removed, no one has since answered my call on the support forum as to when this will be fixed.
Then there’s SONOS, wow how unreliable is PMS handling request from SONOS, it keeps stating server don’t exist, or song don’t exist or can’t encode? Wow - Yet when I put it back on SONOS propriety library it all works fine and with no issues - so what’s going there, yet I see from the forums that Plex has quietly shied away from using SONOS. So looks like end of the chapter here.
Next issue is the straw that broke the camel back - J3455 Transcoding issue! Again this all happen after I invested in the suitable hardware to run Plex on, and then what did they do? Broke transcoder on J3455 processor - this was not an issue until Plex changed this, and here are after nearly two months there is no resolution, and in fact their last temporary fix (2155) actually broke PMS, and I had to uninstall, and reinstall the latest (which again is no fix to the transcoding issue), so another problem here, so I lost confidence in the support team in providing a fix!
So I am quite disappointed with PLEX, after a promising start, PLEX starts to break things which I wanted to use it for, and yet it seems that all they are interested is in creating new revenue streams, e.g. TIDAL and now this free movie which is ad sponsored. So they created these services which I wouldn’t really use such as TIDAL is another subscription base and Film is not ad free (yet I noted that most of the films don’t offer subtitling). So PLEX don’t seem to be supporting it’s user based especially those who pay by either Plex Pass via either monthly or lifetime for the issues that are not being fixed, and some issues are over two years old! This seems to be the case in my experience.
So, unfortunately (for PLEX) I am now moving my regular recordings back onto trusty old MediaPortal, as I cannot rely on PLEX doing my recording where it is either missed, incorrect broadcasting information, or it simply cannot transcode, or if it does, and as soon as I fast forward the recording it breaks the file, in which I can’t play it again! So I had to resort back to either BBC iplayer, ITV or All4 web site programmes to catch up! That was not why I invested in PLEX.
So looks like I have wasted 12 months of efforts, money and time, had they not messed about with their format back in the summer, it was all looking well, but now with the transcoding, and SONOS issues, it’s just not worth the effort in waiting for support, as there don’t seems to be a ticketing method to track and resolve the issues. I have tried a few times to log calls, but it don’t get answered.
So to those who are looking to pursue the avenue of using PLEX as a DVR, Media Library, SONOS - be aware! You have been warned!
