Keep voting for this everyone. Merging with helix, optimizing the current features in PHT/PMS to function flawlessly (not just work) should be # 1 priority. Everyone should agree if they want the absolute best home theatre experiences across the board. I'll happily wait a while if this is what happens next.
+1 from me as well - client disparity would really make things a lot better
I totally agree, bringing most cients to the same level would and stability is a big plus.
I agree with this on principle. A feature freeze would allow for some refactoring providing the basis for the next years of feature-development. My impression is that a lot has changed and the feature-addition has been quite aggressive. Rethinking the concepts and refactoring code would be something that users actually would notice. it is not only the improvement of consistency across clients, but also across media-sources would benefit from this. For example: extra’s are only available for movies (why not series, where DVD’s also provide deleted scene’s), and age restrictions can’t be applied to channels. It is small stuff on the surface, but making certain concepts universal (media types, restrictions) to the server could make future development easier.
Jaap
100% argree!
We need a fast and stabile Plex PMS and Clients and no new Features.
Agreed here as well....
I believe that there are some (maybe a lot) Plex developers that work on only one platform. From what I am reading here it seems that many people seem to believe that those developers should just sit on their butts and wait for the rest of the crowd to catch up. I do NOT think that should be the case.
I really see no reason why developers that are better, faster or are just working on a platform that better facilitates developing new features should be held back from progressing. That kind of thinking just does not work. It fails in schools, governments, businesses and even families.
While I understand the desire for a more unified appearing code set I really do not see stopping development in areas and/or on devices as a way to facilitate that.
Yes the SERVERS should all move forward together as they must continue to be usable by all devices but the clients should be allowed to develop and expand features at whatever speed that the developers can handle. If one device becomes even far more capable that others that is NOT a bad thing rather it is an incentive for developers on other platforms to do more and, if it is a device/SDK limitation it is an incentive for the device manufactures to move their device forward or for people to move to the better platform.
So, as I have said before, I support the idea of trying to, as close as possible, get all the servers to the same level of functionality but the clients should be able to advance as fast and as far as the platforms and developers can push them and Plex should not tie the hands of the better developers just because some others can't keep up. Doing that would be a good recipe for mediocrity and nearly assure stagnation.
[climbs into flame resistant suit]...
Dear Ford, Please do not release the new 500+ horsepower GT 500 until it is available in the new Ford Focus.
Dear Chevy, Please do not increase the handling capability of the Corvette until the Silverado catches up.
Dear Dodge, hold off on the 700+ horsepower in the Challenger Hellcat until....
Ok, so I'm no expert on programming and although I agree with the OP on many of his 6 concerns, I'm just not sure I want innovation to be disrupted just because some areas of productivity have fallen behind. Instead, perhaps some restructuring of existing Plex assets (employees) to assist in those areas that are falling behind?
I'm sure it's not where he/she would aspire to be, long term, but imagine if the guy responsible for Corvette suspension was put on the Chevy Impala design team for a while... what would evolve... a new police cruiser perhaps?
[Ok, flame on... I sparked it...]
I think my original intent may have gotten lost or poorly communicated a bit. I am in no way saying Plex should stop innovating (read: I'll take a Ford GT, please. Blue is my favorite), but rather saying that WITHIN THE SAME APP/SYSTEM parity needs to be met with what's offered and code bases merged. I know you can't put all the features everywhere...it's stupid to think about camera upload from a Roku, and it's not possible to do offline Sync to a Fire Stick.
What I do want, though, is to clean up what's offered. If you can't put feature X in app B, then don't put it in there...but in several cases we have apps where features don't work as well as they should, but work fine on other apps, or features that are semi-rolled out and exist in some apps with others "TBD" (ex: Plex Home). I want them to take the time to TBD it and shore everything up that can be shored up (Plex Home, merge Helix into PHT, etc.), and cut everything that can't (will cinema/pre-roll trailers not be coming to Roku? fine...document it as such and move on).
Mostly I just want all the apps to be the best they can be, and perhaps even more importantly, be what they're expected to be. They don't have to deliver everything, but they should deliver what they say they do, and be clear about what they don't. And I feel that doing so means taking the time to clean up what's there before adding to it. If Plex is a house, I'm basically asking if we can handle the to-do list we have now before we add on a new deck...
No flame retardant suit needed ;) I may have just improperly worded something. Now about that Ford GT...
[climbs into flame resistant suit]...
Dear Ford, Please do not release the new 500+ horsepower GT 500 until it is available in the new Ford Focus.
Dear Chevy, Please do not increase the handling capability of the Corvette until the Silverado catches up.
Dear Dodge, hold off on the 700+ horsepower in the Challenger Hellcat until....
Ok, so I'm no expert on programming and although I agree with the OP on many of his 6 concerns, I'm just not sure I want innovation to be disrupted just because some areas of productivity have fallen behind. Instead, perhaps some restructuring of existing Plex assets (employees) to assist in those areas that are falling behind?
I'm sure it's not where he/she would aspire to be, long term, but imagine if the guy responsible for Corvette suspension was put on the Chevy Impala design team for a while... what would evolve... a new police cruiser perhaps?
[Ok, flame on... I sparked it...]
I think you misunderstood the OP just a tad. I'll use computers as my example here :)
Let's say you know your hard drive is failing, and could fail at any moment. Would it make sense to go upgrade your RAM and add a new Graphics Card to that computer without first fixing/replacing the hard drive??
If your Car has a bad engine, would it make sense to go get a brand new shiny paint job and some new tires first, or fix the current engine troubles so your car runs correctly?
How I understood the OP was that he wasn't saying "Don't work on PHT until PMS and other apps catch up", but rather don't add XYZ to PHT when ABCD doesn't work correctly as is inside PHT. Piling on more code before fixing and optimizing existing code and features is a good way for developers to have to backtrack over old features that they should've fixed first, before adding new features. That's what I got from what the OP was saying.
Each and every client (or at least clients that are on the same OS) should be developed independently of the others with the only proviso that they should look similar. I do not even think that the actual user interfaces need to be held to the same "Look and Feel" as some platforms are much more able in the user interface department and others are much better in the actual functionality and neither client should be held to the same standards as the other.
If a client is buggy then the bugs should be fixed generally before more forward movement but that should never limit the idea of moving forward. If a code set for a given client is being worked on by multiple developers say A, B and C and the part of code that A wrote has bugs then that should not prevent B and C from moving their parts forward. If A cannot fix their code then they should be removed from that section and B or C tasked with fixing or rewriting it. If the code sections overlap then the overlapping parts should be frozen until the bugs are fixed but not the entire code set.
Freezing an entire code set because a subset of that code has bugs only makes any sense if only one developer is working on that code set.
If you are not moving forward in as many areas as possible then you are doomed to fall behind.
If a given developer cannot fix their bugs then move that developer somewhere else or replace them but don't hamstring the other developers just to have one save face.
Mostly I just want all the apps to be the best they can be, and perhaps even more importantly, be what they're expected to be. They don't have to deliver everything, but they should deliver what they say they do, and be clear about what they don't. And I feel that doing so means taking the time to clean up what's there before adding to it. If Plex is a house, I'm basically asking if we can handle the to-do list we have now before we add on a new deck...
Completely agree.
Setting the customer/consumers expectations should be foremost. In business, I was taught to "under-promise" and "over-deliver." There are many (heated) threads on here about how Plex advertises their apps on this and that platform, and that X, Y and Z manufacturer have Plex logos on their product boxes, yet this sets an expectation that Plex does not appear to be meeting (at least in the eyes of those posters).
If someone's expectation is that their Samsung TV, should have the same capabilities as a full blown HTPC running PHT, then that's unreasonable. But I agree it's time to get things caught up, and reset some expectations.
This "I have a Plex Pass and am entitled to..." mentality sets Plex up for misguided expectations.
In my opinion, release it when it's done, and use beta-testers for beta-testing, not guinea pigs.
I bought my Plex Pass in order to show support for the product as it was.
But a little more transparency on Plex's side would do them wonders.
(Who are they really? Is there a real company, a building, a physical presence somewhere? Are there 5 of them, 50 of them? Is there a founder, a President, a CEO? Just wondering).
Piling on more code before fixing and optimizing existing code and features is a good way for developers to have to backtrack over old features that they should've fixed first, before adding new features. That's what I got from what the OP was saying.
This makes perfect sense to me.
Thanx.
That actually is quite an issue here. There is quite an visible feature gap between the different clients, which frequently dissapoints users when seeing something on someone's phone and then trying Plex on their own phone/tablet with a different OS.Each and every client (or at least clients that are on the same OS) should be developed independently of the others with the only proviso that they should look similar. I do not even think that the actual user interfaces need to be held to the same "Look and Feel" as some platforms are much more able in the user interface department and others are much better in the actual functionality and neither client should be held to the same standards as the other.
I do not have the impression that there are many devs working on the same apps. That being said, from a practical perspective, you don't want to many people working on the same app. Too many changing parts usually mean a lot of chaos.Freezing an entire code set because a subset of that code has bugs only makes any sense if only one developer is working on that code set.
Sometimes it is very wise to "sharpen the saw", instead of keep working with a failing/degrading one. The same goes for code: if you don't refactor from time to time, productivity drops. It is sometimes wiser to take the time to redesign and rewrite pieces of code and then move forward with a solid foundation.If you are not moving forward in as many areas as possible then you are doomed to fall behind.
Jaap
I too feel like this thread is mirroring the efforts of plex; instead of promoting the main intent of this thread, people keep making feature requests on top of this one!
It's simple and it starts with this:
- Merge PHT with the Kodi/Helix codebase
- Merge PMS with the latest FFMPEG (Atmos, H.265, etc.)
Everyone needs to cease making suggestions and instead spread this thread around the forum and sub-forums that you frequent.
I hope most realize that many of the problems that clients have are based on older FFMPEG builds and XBMC Frodo limitations.
Let's get this done!
-edit
Can potentially get rid of point #6 (gasp!) as that will literally take forever (impossible for some) and cause too many panties to get tangled up in the process due to platform limitations, etc.
.......25 people want it to do XXX"...
Thought it did that now, for those that want that..... ;-)
Why do suggestions, especially suggestions as important as these, go completely un-acknowledged by Plex employees/devs?
It's been 2 weeks since this was posted, and not even something as simple as "that's a good idea", "we hear you", "working on it"... nothing. We have to constantly +1 and upvote something important to give it enough attention for someone with some authority to notice?
It makes me feel like paid Plex employees are sitting back counting their Plex Pass money (not to mention over half a million app downloads at $5 a pop), and don't really care about pressing issues, with an attitude of "we'll get to it when we feel like it". I certainly hope that's not the case, but minimal participation on their official support forums would be very nice and reassuring. It shouldn't seem like those in a position of authority are avoiding or hiding. How about some transparency?
It's disconcerting at a time when I'm considering upgrading my Plex Pass to a lifetime membership. Is this an ecosystem that will see consistent and timely updates over the course of my life (or at least the next 10 years)? I really want to hope so!
Please acknowledge that you care about your paying customers? Please? (I completely understand if you guys are super busy and have a huge workload, just say so. Participate)
...on their official support forums...
That's a good point. It's not like this is some homegrown, grass-roots, third-party forum.
How about some transparency?
Sounds familiar.
Great post. Plex is packed with features and functionality. Time to get it robust. Stick to hardening releases for a while...
Agreed. Been waiting a long time for movie extras to come to iOS and android. Hard to see other new features and supported equipment keep coming while I wait to be able to use a feature that was so widely praised and advertised! Let’s get everyone caught up!!
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