PMP on Windows 10 disables audio in other applications, and other issues

Plex Players Desktop Players
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Server Version#: 1.15.4.994-107756f7e
Player Version#: 3.83.2 (From Authorized Devices page)
Web Client Version 3.95.2 (From Web Client General page)

I’ve started using Plex and having some difficulties. I’m hoping the experienced users can point me in the right direction.

(1) When I am playing a movie in the PMP, all other audio on my Windows 10 computer is silenced. No other application I have does this (e.g., I can watch youtube with sound and a movie with vlc and hear sound from both). How can I make it so PMP doesn’t “hijack” the audio? I WANT to have multiple sources of audio going on at once. And sometimes, after exiting the PMP, I have to restart the other apps for them to regain audible sound.

The online guide for PMP Configuration lists an article to configure PMP’s audio. It says you can configure the settings under Settings->Audio. It talks about Device type, Channels, etc. (https://support.plex.tv/articles/212072167-audio-configuration-guide-plex-media-player/) I don’t see any “Audio” section in PMP’s settings page. I’ve gone through every section listed and displayed advanced on all of them.

(2) Why do I have to keep switching to the TV mode client on a desktop (I believe this is called the “mobile” layout) to configure things. Especially something as basic as toggling display of subtitles, player settings, etc? This seems to be an ongoing issue. Is it the standard use case to have to switch to the TV layout to do basic stuff (I’m trying to use this on a computer, not a TV or phone, at the moment).

(3) The Dashboard tab in Firefox (from double-clicking the Plex server icon in the system tray) shows a movie running in Firefox – but there aren’t any. After a time, it seems to realize that nothing’s playing. Is there a way to get that to refresh more frequently?

I really like the idea of Plex but I’m finding basic use to be complicated, unnecessary, or absent. When I look up support articles, I find they are referring to things I can’t find in the application. Is there a guide that I can read to help me understand better?

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You may have activated the ‘Exclusive mode’

It is there, when you switch to the TV mode

Audio_settings
Audio_settings829×603 92.8 KB

You don’t need to switch to TV mode to toggle subtitles or audio streams.

playback_settings_desktop
playback_settings_desktop829×603 91.3 KB

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@OttoKerner – Thank you so much for your excellent and speedy help!!

My settings page looked a bit different from your screen capture, but I didn’t have Exclusive Mode selected. After playing around with some other settings, I was able to get several applications along with PMP with audible audio. My device type wasn’t set to Basic, and that may have been where I went wrong. After setting it to Basic, my screen matches yours. So I guess I didn’t understand the effects of the various options adequately.

I also was able to configure subtitles with the help you provided.

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If you had it set to HDMI, then there is no other choice than to use it exclusively.
Because HDMI enables “bitstreaming” surround sound formats to your TV or AVR.
And you can’t “mix-in” other sounds when bitstreaming the e.g. DTS track of a movie.

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