Problems in Plexland?

General Discussions
1

Apologies if this is in the wrong forum. I’m kind of at a loss for where it really belongs.

I am a firm believer in the Plex project. I’ve been with you guys for a very long time, and I want this relationship to continue. Lately, I’ve seen an AWFUL lot of noise that’s getting hard to tune out. In fact, I kind of feel the need to add to it based on a recent experience.

Since 2012, I have used these Samsung TV’s, supported by Orca’s Smart Hub client - and for the most part, it worked really darned well. Lately though, one of my sets started behaving erratically with wifi randomly not working and what not. Also, both of my 1080p sets from 2012 were no longer supported for software updates by Samsung proper, making upgrades to the plex client a bit of a chore requiring USB sticks and what not. Aside from the now ancient smart-tv functionality, the sets work just fine otherwise for display purposes. So I figured with the prevalence of HDMI Roku sticks, FireTV sticks and chromecast devices, I had plenty of options moving forward.

Yesterday I saw on slickdeals that the FireTV stick was on sale at Target. I figured this would be a good opportunity to “upgrade” my aging Samsung SmartTV’s to what I thought might be a well-tested platform that’s relatively modern. I guess I should have done some research before making that assumption… me being an IT guy and all.

Since getting this FireTV device, I’ve posted on three bug threads in under 24 hours of getting it. These bugs are so glaringly obvious, I wonder how they EVER got past any kind of QA testing, assuming there was any. I have no idea if this is the result of the Android device market being so diverse that effective QA testing can’t really happen or whatever. But it makes me ask myself, “is there a platform that is both reasonably well updated and tested somewhat thoroughly?” Maybe someone can actually answer that question - but I’m starting to get the feeling that maybe all plex client platforms are suffering from the same issues lately.

I commend the effort for delivering solutions for such a diverse range of products. I can’t imagine the android platform being an easy one to code for. But I don’t want to hand the remote to my wife and kids and have to educate them on the nuances of Bug Workarounds. Believe me, they aren’t interested. Explaining to my wife that videos won’t start regularly without backing out and trying again, or that it might randomly skip to the end and start counting down to the next episode when she hasn’t even watched the CURRENT episode, that’s not going to fly.

If it’s plex employees coding the android app, then I gotta tell you - between the problems with this client, and the noise being generated on the server side, you guys might have a serious problem should this Emby thing become a real alternative. Some might argue that time is now, though I won’t - but I do acknowledge they’re WAY closer than they were a year ago.

I can’t imagine a project of Plex’s magnitude being easy to manage - but I can’t help but think that some regrouping/re-prioritization might be in order.

Years ago, you got my plexpass money, and I don’t regret giving it to you one bit. Your project could go belly-up tomorrow and I would still consider it “money well spent”. Still, I am concerned for Plex overall based on what I’m reading on your own forums, the r/plex subreddit, and various plex/plex-related channels on IRC. So - I have to ask, is everything ok in Plex-land? Communication outside of the usual dog-festooned blog posts seems extremely limited.

Thanks for listening, I’ll go burn this soapbox now.

2

I have been pointing out “bugs” for quite a while and Plex has four responses:

  1. Plex says that is not a bug but it is by design and it is proper operation.
  2. Plex fixes the bug and introduces new bugs.
  3. Plex fixes the bugs and the problem actually goes away.
  4. Plex acknowledges the bug and says it will be fixed but nothing ever happens.

I have mostly given up reporting bugs because #2 and #4 are entirely too common.

My biggest problem with Plex is not the bugs or the response to them but rather it is the constant introduction of new “Features” without apparent proper testing and them leaving the “features” in a broken or partially broken state while moving on to new “features.”

Fortunately for me the new “features” rarely impact me directly as I mostly only use Plex’s core functionality. But this rush to have the newest features does impact me indirectly because it means that each developer must spend time testing the new feature thereby neglecting time that could be spent making the core better and they must be sure that the new feature does not cause unwanted side effects.

Plex has lost their direction and do not seem to realize that the trail they have deviated to leads to a big ugly cliff sometime in the future.

BTW: Was your username inspired by an author named “Kurt?”

3

@Elijah_Baley said:

BTW: Was your username inspired by an author named “Kurt?”

See the cat? See the cradle? =)

4

I completely agree

5

@Elijah_Baley said:
Plex has lost their direction and do not seem to realize that the trail they have deviated to leads to a big ugly cliff sometime in the future.

Fully agree!!!

6

I think we can all agree that the loyal plex userbase is frustrated from the lack of communication regarding the issues we’re all collectively seeing. But the more important question is “What can we do to help?”

I love this product. I want things to get better. But the Plex folks need to chime in and tell us how we can help matters and not simply dismiss our complaints out of hand. Communication is key.

The emby noise is getting louder, and it’s a product that appears to be nearing maturity. But having been with Plex for this long, I don’t want to feel that we’ve been abandoned. So if there’s anything that I can personally do to make things better, I certainly want to do that thing. Maybe giving them my money in the form of a lifetime plex pass wasn’t enough. Is there anything else I can do to improve things? I’m here and wanting to help.

But the silence from the Plex folks is deafening. And we are supposed to be the plex loyal.

7

Well, if you want to talk about the new PlexAmp app then I’m sure that the CTO is more than willing to chat with you. >:)

8

Totally agree with the thread starter

9

I have to admit - the lack of response is disappointing. But I guess this is how it’s going to be.

10

What were you expecting? Plex staff to jump on and say “yeah, it’s all ■■■■”?!

11

@“Mark Otway” said:
What were you expecting? Plex staff to jump on and say “yeah, it’s all ****”?!

No, but at lease an acknogledgement from Plex that they see the immanent problems and are working to fix them.

All we get in response to our dissatisfaction so far was:

  • Hey, we have VR!!!
  • AWSOME … News is here!
  • We’ll spy on your privacy, but nevermind, it’s no problem

That’s just the some old bullshit Plex is feeding us from day 1.

12

I think you’re misunderstanding how a corporate entity works. If they stated publicly that they acknowledged the problems, it would be all over the tech news within an hour (“Plex admits platform is flawed”, “Plex states problems, users leave in droves”). If they stated that they knew there were issues but were attempting to resolve them, there’d probably be 100 posts in the forums saying “well, they’re not fixing my issue, so it’s all lies”).

They’re a company, so they have to behave like one. They have responsibilities to their shareholders; if they’re aware of the problems, the correct thing for them to do is to get to work on fixing them, and let the results speak for themselves.

If they don’t, eventually their user-base will hit a cliff-edge, and it’ll damage the company. Users are fickle, and will switch to another platform in an instant. I’ve been using Plex for a month so far and have tried Emby twice already. If Emby clean up their UI to make it look less primitive, and produce a proper client so I don’t have to use Kodi, there’s a reasonable chance I’ll switch - particularly if they get mobile sync right. Plex almost certainly know their position isn’t guaranteed, and are working to fix the issues as quickly as possible.

13

@“Mark Otway” said:
I think you’re misunderstanding how a corporate entity works. If they stated publicly that they acknowledged the problems, it would be all over the tech news within an hour (“Plex admits platform is flawed”, “Plex states problems, users leave in droves”). If they stated that they knew there were issues but were attempting to resolve them, there’d probably be 100 posts in the forums saying “well, they’re not fixing my issue, so it’s all lies”).

They don’t have to publicly declare, but if they start bringing out releases that actually fix problems, that would be good enough.

@“Mark Otway” said:
They’re a company, so they have to behave like one. They have responsibilities to their shareholders; if they’re aware of the problems, the correct thing for them to do is to get to work on fixing them, and let the results speak for themselves.

That’s just what I said before.
Problem a currently: it’s not happening
Problem b: if your users are unhappy, so will your shareholders be soon later

@“Mark Otway” said:
If they don’t, eventually their user-base will hit a cliff-edge, and it’ll damage the company. Users are fickle, and will switch to another platform in an instant. I’ve been using Plex for a month so far and have tried Emby twice already. If Emby clean up their UI to make it look less primitive, and produce a proper client so I don’t have to use Kodi, there’s a reasonable chance I’ll switch - particularly if they get mobile sync right. Plex almost certainly know their position isn’t guaranteed, and are working to fix the issues as quickly as possible.

I switched to Emby about 1/2 year ago. Currently I’m using both, but over the last months it’s more and more Emby I’m logging on to. Emby still lacks some features, but for me it’s far less frustrating whereas every time I’m using Plex I’d want to throw my remote at the TV out of anger and frustration.

14

@“Mark Otway” said:
What were you expecting? Plex staff to jump on and say “yeah, it’s all ****”?!

No, Perhaps just an acknowledgement that we’re at least being heard. I’m disappointed, but not incredibly surprised. I didn’t really think we plexpassers really mattered… We are probably just cash-cows. I was just kind of deluding myself into thinking that maybe we did matter in some way.

15

They’re a company, so they have to behave like one. They have responsibilities to their shareholders

First of all, they’re not publicly traded, I don’t believe.

And even if they are, I don’t see how a “zero communication with its community regarding issues” ethos is going to increase confidence in their brand.

People have legitimate arguments regarding the current state of PMS, and leaving them unaddressed with ZERO communication is likely being interpreted (rightly or wrongly) as apathy on the part of Plex, Inc. I get that they have responsibilities to the people holding the purse-strings. But we threw our money into that very purse as a show of faith in the product - and now that product has some glaring issues that are being left unaddressed. You can’t blame people for feeling slighted about that, and I don’t care WHAT people say about Plex Inc’s shareholder responsibility.

16

It’s been ages since Plex was active here in their own forums. Some Plex people like Elan are more active in the Plex subreddit, but even there it’s mostly in generalities

17

Eh? I see loads of Plex people posting here all the time. ChuckPa is one of the most active in the board, and has been really helpful with the couple of issues I’ve had.

18

@“Mark Otway” said:
Eh? I see loads of Plex people posting here all the time. ChuckPa is one of the most active in the board, and has been really helpful with the couple of issues I’ve had.

Same experience here, and he sticks to the topic at hand and helps to solve problems in which he obviously has competency. And I’m sure if he could speak to the other issues that have come up, I imagine that he would.