Raspberry Pi 4 - Client (Rasplex etc)

Plex Players Desktop Players
1

Hi,

Been using Plex for a number of years now and have been supporting Plex with the Plex Pass even though I dont use any of the paid features really, and have been using Rasplex on a number of Tv’s, currently Using the Pi3 and it overall works really well.
The development for Rasplex has somewhat slowed though, the Pi 3B+ is only supported in a buggy Beta, and the Pi4 isn’t even on the radar it seems.

I know you can use Kodi, and Plex or the Connect plugins, but frankly those are horrendous in comparison to Rasplex. Ive just spent half a day playing around with them and the Pi4 I just got, and yeah - yuck. Hate it, like totally hate it.

Rasplex is awesome, fluid, smooth, fast, etc etc. However with the performance benefits of the 3B+ or 4 it would be so much better, not to mention the bandwidth improvements, but support is lacking and there only seems to be one developer who does it for free, on his own time, has a life, yadda yadda = slow updates.
The beta for the 3B+ came out about a year ago, and really hasn’t progressed since then, and its buggy as hell, crashes and corrupts, its not pretty. The official release for Pi3 and below though works really well and hands down beats Kodi etc for Plex. Did I mention the whole Kodi solution is just horrible???

Now I know Plex has their own version (in Downloads, under Embedded), but this seems to be stuck on Pi2, updates are old, there is some nightly type releases but these are still for the Pi2, and so really thats not an option either. That simply doesnt work on the latest Pi’s.

Why is it that the Pi3/3B+/4 does not have a dedicated supported platform from Plex directly, without having to use things like Rasplex or Kodi with plugins etc.

Is there some way to officially request Plex get involved in the development of Rasplex or something, or make their own, which is as good if not better than Rasplex, that works on the Pi4?

Thanks

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2

I think because there is not a huge market for selling Pi’s to the public as an computer replacement/alternate. Just not a demand for them.

3

What do you mean? The Raspberry Pi is hugely popular. I dont understand your statement

4

Yes, as a project. A novelty if you will. Let’s remove phones from the conversation.

Would you give a Pi to your significant other so you two could Skype, or would you just buy some type of small notebook/ultrabook, or even a small desktop for them?

I mean, the Pi is a great “mini computer”. I even have two of them myself and may get the Pi4 and install Windows 10 IoT Core to play with but it’s not for the average person.

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5

But i’m talking about a Pi as a Plex Client. I’m not talking about using it as a computer replacement or mobile device. I have 7 of them on various TV’s at home and work, and my extended family also use them for the same purpose. Not everyone has a smart TV (I have none), nor does everyone want to watch a movie on a tablet or phone…

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It doesn’t get much easier than getting a Pi, plugging in HDMI and power, and putting on a distribution like Rasplex, and you are online in 5 minutes getting Plex content to your TV…

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The ‘nightly’ release which is labeled as ‘2’ is also compatible with the Pi3.

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Doesnt seem to be compatible with the 3B+ or 4 though. The 3 is based on the 2 if I am not mistaken

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I know you were.

Nor do I.

Nor do I.

For who? You, me, the next tech savvy person… You bet. It’s in no way easier than a smartTV or Roku, etc, and require more equipment. Most TV’s will come with power cord, some type of video cable, and a remote. I’m just saying that the average user either does not know what a Pi is or has no idea how to use it. Plex is idea for the novice user. It’s only slightly more complicated than setting up an email account.

And as you stated before, there only seems to be one developer who does it for free, on his own time.
And Dale seems to not like AppleTV and wants to kill it(his words, not mine).

The Pi is a great Plex client but not many people use it(for that anyways).
I could see a shift in priorities if 50% of plex users started to use the Pi. But, until then, it’s gonna be low on the totem pole.

1 Like
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@WanaGo
This might interest you.

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Well my parents and my in laws both managed to do it without problems, and they are about as far from technical as you can get.

Seen that already. I have tried the LibreELEC yesterday and ran the Plex addon - but its just horrible to use. It has nothing on Rasplex.

I am going to get a spare Pi2 and try the official nightlie and see what that is like, and if its good I hope the developers will extend this out to Pi3B+ and Pi4, and I guess that is what we will have to live with unless Dale finds some time.

12

Haha… No way. I don’t even know your parents and in-laws and I can tell you they are more than the average person. I could buy and give a Pi to anyone in my family or friends and I guarantee you they would not know what to do. Only one may be able to pull it off. I believe after a few days of research he’ll probably be able to.

13

I have a Raspberry Pi 3 and a 3B+ which both work just fine with Rasplex. Way beyond any alternatives I’ve seen around short of Plex for Android TV.

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14

can u direct play x265 content when using rasplex?..i couldn’t

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I hope Plex reconsider once the Rasp pi 4 is mature software wise. It’s sad to see plex reluctant to be the pioneer and at the forefront of media technology, but if they want to leave it to the libreelec and raspberry pi teams to do the work, and then create a client when the solid base is there, that’s fine too. Just please, don’t abandon the future of media playback, you’ll become old news fast.

The pi 4 could easily be the best, most convenient client yet. With support it will easily outgrow the Nvidia shield. It supports direct play for everything up to 4k hdr 60fps, is cheap, and easy to configure. With Raspberry pi4 support, the pi4 could be easily turned into an easy to use appliance for plex - like libreelec. Instead of trying to shoehorn clients into products with limited media playback capabilities, please consider clients like the pi4 that is actually designed for situations like this in mind.

While smart TVs are convenient - they are not a good plex client for direct play. Text subtitles cause transcoding, most have limited audio codec support, and with 100mbps ports even the high end models buffer when playing high bitrate 4k content. Then you run into support issues trying to use ARC to pass audio through to a receiver. Absolutely terrible experience.

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Disappointing… Was hoping for a option/compatible client for the Pinebook Pro… as an inexpensive portable client…cheap arm based linux laptop that can support h264

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You need one application, and one download link to get a Rasp pi working with Libreelec. It’s a two step process, even my grandparents who hardly ever touch a pc could get it working. .
All you do is write the image to a Sd card, plug the sdcard into the pi and power it on. Woola - you’re now in Kodi. From there it’s just clicking install on the plex addon, and you’ve got yourself a plex set top box. It is not as difficult as you make it out to be…

A few instructions on what settings to tick, like you’d have to give for any other media playback device on earth, and then they’re set.

18

It’s good to read this.
I tested Plex client on Android TV, roku, Amazon fire stick… Rasplex is definitely my best choice and it’s still running on my PI 2 for years now.

Hope some dev will help on a more recent PI version because this project may be old but remains the most friendly client to watch content on a TV

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19

There used to be an official plex client for PI, I run it on my PI, but it seems to be gone now.

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To what I can see Plex has discontinued the PI version of the software

1 Like