I don’t suggest to fully move away from Plex. My idea was to use Serviio just for online streams it supports.
I agree. What a terrible idea to remove one of the best features in my opinion. Having access to the channels was the main reason I paid for a lifetime subscription and now its gone. I’m disappointed that this was removed without giving us some way of being able to use that feature if we still wanted to. It would be in Plexs’ best interest to add that feature back in. Very unfortunate!
Have you tried it yet or explored the actual content they have available?
Dear @elan,
I’m afraid the decision on removal plugins support was really wrong. Not because you disappoint Plex users. The point is, with that you disrupt Plex as a platform. No large software product serving a huge audience can sufficíently scale in functionality without an ecosystem of partners and/or ISVs. Believe me, as a chief architect at a large software company I know what I’m talking about. Remember the story of Google Wave? They closed the project because it was conceptioned as a closed box, not as a platform, missing any openness towards developer community, notably API. I can imagine that Plex’ story won’t be so sad, because it an established product with a broad user base, but it will suffer badly from lacking speed of innovation comparing to its competitors like Emby. I understand that you are trying to discover new business cases and to do that you probably have to optimize the bottom line. Fair enough. But optimizing costs by cutting the plugins line is definitely a wrong move. You may save something now, but loose much more long term. Again, in the end it is not as bad for the end users as for Plex itself.
Still – good luck!
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I was about to purchase a lifetime Plex Pass after working with the Phlex plugin for Google Home until I read this. Sorry to hear plug-ins will not be supported.
too bad! before buying plex pass - i make tests with plugin i needed - kinopoisk. what can we do to ask plex left some plugins to work?
Plex - Please live up to your published Terms-of-Service.
1.5. Plex Solution Updates. Plex may, but is not obligated to, update the Plex Solution with updates, upgrades, enhancements, improvements, additions, new or incremental features or functionality of and generally made available through the Plex Solution (as determined by Plex in its sole discretion), or modifications that are provided as part of product support and any other support or maintenance services that Plex provides as part of or otherwise in connection with the Plex Solution (collectively, “Plex Solution Updates”). In some instances, you may be required to consent to or to agree to use and implement an applicable Plex Solution Update in a timely manner, including, without limitation, as a means to protect the Plex Solution from unauthorized use, content, or data. If you decline a Plex Solution Update, you may not be able to use or access the Plex Solution (in whole or in part), and Plex shall have no responsibility or liability for any continued use. Unless otherwise indicated, references to the Plex Solution include any Plex Solution Updates.
You have NOT included your right to remove functionality. Where it is ADA related (vision issues for myself) or tools that others depend on, you need to walk fine line. YES, removal of an “illegal” app or plug-in is allowed since that app does not met the terms-of-service, but wholesale destruction of even useful tool is not.
Consider starting a “walled-garden” where PLEX has and supports a PLEX store, plug-in signed by Plex, meeting terms of service, allowable additions to PLEX Solution. Make the store part of the server addition, so the clients do not get bigger. Look to ROKU, Amazon, & Google as a design model for features and functions needed in this new Channel / Plug-in / …
This way:
- “Plug-ins” are supported. so no loss of functionality
- You can remove the offending plug-is.
- Secure a possible new revue stream
- Allow for new features by PLEX, a method to quickly add to ALL Clients - like Tidal - without added bulk to the clients. with 3) then the subscription payments are method supported.
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Wow, that brings back memories. I used it for a day and thought “this is sort of terrible” and then never went back.
Neither of those were the reasons for removing plugins.
- They were built on “ancient” tech/API which made it harder for us to move the platform forward generally, especially with the number of clients we have.
- They required a server, which is a silly limitation in this day and age.
- We have been solidifying a replacement API, which we’ve been “dog-fooding” for things e.g. like Podcasts.
I’ve always loved community having the ability to extend our platform. I hope we can make the new improved API available, and I regret that we weren’t able to “overlap” the two.
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Both possibly suffer the same issue that the server admin can’t control the content and it becomes a free for all on the client and distracts from the server owners content.
Nothing wrong with allowing a client to play back content from the web vs going through the server but that isn’t always the preferred way to access content. The admin may want to control what content is available or use a VPN to retrieve content which is better done going through the server.
It all depends on admin requirements what is better.
Wow. Just… wow. I almost spit my drink out on this.
Let me get this clear for my understanding - the whole reason I invested money (PlexPass), many (and continued) hours of file and folder maintenance, storage and backing up my discs, and brought (currently) 18 users to Plex was because I run a server. I thought it great Plex as the service allowed video bookmarking, user access control, and pointers for dynamic IP (oh yeah, SSL too!).
Are you now saying that your core business model is no longer the server owner content, but, instead, content from non-server owners?
I mean, I and many others have been thinking it, some aloud, for months, years. I’d like more clarification.
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Wow, you are totally putting words in my mouth there 
There is no change to the core business model. Let me give a specific example as to what I’m talking about. There used to be a (pretty popular) Podcast plugin for Plex back in the day. Now there’s official Podcast support from Plex. Let’s just examine the differences:
- It uses a much newer API, so it can expose advanced features like On Deck, recommendations, etc.
- The data path is way better. With a plugin running on a server in the home, the data goes from the cloud, down to the server, and then (for a remote user) back out to the Internet. That’s super inefficient!
- Your 18 users (or whatever subset of them are interested in Podcasts) don’t have to ask you to install it.
- Your server doesn’t need the overhead of running the complete set of plugins your users are interested in (this is a big deal for low-end servers).
- If there’s a bug-fix to a plugin, it just needs to be updated in a single place, as opposed to millions of servers needing to update.
So we think that in general, decoupling plugins from servers is generally a better story. Reasonable people might have a great discussion about this, but it’s completely unrelated to our ongoing commitment to the media server.
(I’ll just point out that there were lots of people up in arms when we did the initial client/server split of OSXBMC too.)
Right - Core or not, most of what I see in those points still takes me as a PMS host out of the loop.
This would also explain why you’re placing more playback binaries on the clients, which, in my mind, was why Plex was set as a server/client system anyway - allow the server to do the heavy lifting.
Thanks for the input - my eyes are widened.
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Well, unless you really like your server burning electricity with all the transcodes! 
Otherwise it’s a universal win, but much more so for server-sourced content, which is (ahem!) found with a wide range of codecs/formats. Online content is nearly always super compatible with the stock device players (makes sense, right?)
Wow, I didn’t expect you to disclose that you’re actually working on a plugin replacement. See, these details are something that should have been posted months ago. A lot of rage posts could have been avoided, I’d wager.
I’ve mentioned it before, it’s inline with where we’d like to go, just a lot of details to be worked out, APIs to be frozen, etc… 
If I read it right, it is then rather modernization than abandoning the extension API, right? Possibly remote ones, but still available in a long run?
Interesting. Do you see cloud/serverless as a target technology for streaming, eventually with transcoding? Well, it basically makes sense, then you have to reduce the possibilities for customizing the service. Fits well to the idea of abandoning plugins. But then you also have to throw away metadata agents, if I read your FAQ right, it won’t happen. Then how should it work?
And, another question, what is about file storage then? Shall I then pay additionally for an S3 bucket with unlimited volume if your services reside in AWS (must be somewhere nearby, right?) See, many have paid a lifetime pass and their clear expectation is to get “all inclusive” model…
Phlex can run as a docker. Problem solved.
I think their 2% is more like 82%. Almost anyone who has a plex media server set up for more than a couple of years is using some form of plugin. I don’t mind they doing away with any support, but disabling the use of them in many player features were we have been using them (Like Roku) is kinda a bad move. I get it that the digital stream landscape is changing but some content is provided free by choice of the content provider (Like ABC plugin). Currently installed plugins should continue to function as they always have until the content provider changes what and how they provide it. just the thoughts of a long time user with many plugins.
The plugin architecture Elan is talking about is what is used for News, PodCasts, Webshows and Tidal. It’s for their own use. It’s not a replacement for how plugins work now. There is not even a confirmation that the API will be available to users or developers but “I hope we can make the new improved API available”. That’s not to say it won’t be, just not a confirmation by any means.
Until you see otherwise assume this is a cloud plugin architecture and not something you can run on your own server with your own scripts created by users in an unvetted plugin manner.
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Blockquote In case anyone cares, you can create a rule in your router configuration to block the IP addresses for the Roku Channel Store ( api.cs.roku.com ) to prevent the Plex Roku channel from being automatically updated. The addresses are:
34.192.143.185
34.200.18.172
52.45.134.131
52.72.204.192
Set up a rule that prevents the IP or MAC Address (recommended) of your Roku/Roku TV from accessing these four IPs and it should prevent automatic updates.
CAVEAT : This will prevent all currently installed channels from being updated (while still remaining fully functional) as well as make the channel store unusable, so you’ll need to disable this rule when you need to update a channel or install a new one.
Blockquote
Is this sufficient or do I have to also create a firewall rule in my router to block:
api.roku.com
api.rokutime.com
api.sr.roku.com
cooper.logs.roku.com
scribe.logs.roku.com
p.ads.roku.com
I just wish to keep the Plex Retro that is currently on my Roku for future use.
Thanks
