Plex's recent announcement - will i be effected

Plex Players Gaming Consoles
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1

hello,

Sorry for the stupidity but -

So i use the plex software from the website, and use it to watch content on ps4 etc, will i be affected by the recent annoucment, and will it continue to get support?

Thanks

2

Oh, please do let us know what new announcement you’re talking about - in case the announcements that have us in straight-jackets have any new companions.

We’d hate to have any give us the slip.

3

The announcement only affects the software “Plex Media Player”, which is a separate Plex client software you can install on Windows and Macintosh.

The Plex software on the PS4 is not Plex Media Player.
Therefore it doesn’t affect you at all.

4

But please enlighten us about the setup that is actually being abandoned. I understand Plex Media Player is a client that has to be installed separately. So what is this talk about tv mode in PMP? How is the tv connected to the PC in that case?
(I use PMS and a client on my --wirelessly connected-- tv, so I didn’t think I was affected, but I got confused when I read about HTPC’s connected to tv’s. That sounds like my set-up, but apparently is different and I do not know how).

Cheers,
Sando

5

No, your setup is different. Your tv is only connected to the Plex server by network wire.
The client (the one that is doing the decoding of the data and sending it to the screen and speakers) is running directly inside your TV. This is not “Plex Media Player” and therefore won’t get changed or replaced in any way.

“Plex Media Player” does not run on smart TVs, not on game consoles and not on ‘streaming devices’, like the FireTV, Android TV boxes or Apple TV and smiliar.
Therefore nothing is changing for users of these devices.

The “HTPC” use case uses a PC as the client / player, which then is connected to a screen or projector with a HDMI or DVI wire.
The HTPC itself can be a Plex client-only, but plenty of ppl also run Plex server on the same machine.

These users, who have a fully-blown computer connected to their screens by DVI or HDMI wire won’t get new, updated versions of the software “Plex Media Player” after January 2020.

These users then have to look out for a different player.
This can either be a software, like

  • Kodi with the Plex4Kodi AddOn or with PlexKodiConnect
  • the new Plex Player 4 Windows or Macintosh
    (but this one now requires a mouse for operation and doesn’t support typical HTPC features anymore, like audio pass-through, refresh-rate or resolution-switching) - this is what most of the outrage is about.
  • the web app (but this one can only be called a compromise for this use case)

Or these users switch to a different player device. Android TV, Roku, nVidia Shield, Apple TV etc.

1 Like
6

Thanks, OttoKerner, for this very clear explanation!

7

Thank you

8

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