Long-term, in a pi-plentiful (or pi-facsimile-plentiful) world, I think this is a good target. Having cheap embedded devices that you can easily plug into standard wifi gear in multiple locations seems like a great model to me.
It seems like there are two short-term pain points. One is people who don’t have the expertise to flash an OS on a pi and get it configured. It is a bit geeky. The other is the current lack of pi’s available.
Someone suggested a Plex-branded embedded device. This could solve both of these pain points. You guys must have evaluated this possibility. Seems like you could contract with some Chinese OEM-supplier and get something usable at a ~$50 end-user price-point that would be a purpose-built plexamp headless player people could order and pretty much just plug and play.
Correct. I remember getting really frustrated with you about the nuances of using my existing Chromecasts, but the truth of the matter is, I was being quite stubborn for not wanting to move on from what i initially intended on using, especially spending over $600 on various devices with chromecast installed.
I’ve taken a step back to realize with the focus of Pi’s how PlexAmp is trying to incorporate all facets of its features and functionality, together as one. It’s really hard to separate ourselves from what we spent money on when it works well with other devices and our personal home network.
I will additionally say that with the current status of Alexa turning into a huge failure and the fact that chromcasts are now showing their lack of innovation and usefulness, I’m about ready to jump ship entirely and invest in pi’s.
I do however wish there were more guides, perhaps investing in paying Plex ambassadors to show what the pros of using pi’s for PlexAmp are.
What’s nice is that I could essentially purchase exactly the number of pi’s needed for my setup, all the same parts, include all the same operating system, include all the same versions of Plexamp installed and have a CONSISTENT experience with my PlexAmp usage.
I’ll take that over this constant struggle of never knowing if it’s the manufacturer of my chromecast devices or Google themselves. I’m realizing that the consistency across this ecosystem is very much needed and if it means to break away from chromecast and airplay, so be it.
I absolutely understand why you guys are doing what you do atm. The Pi’s are great for the current state of Plexamp, but it is only a solution for advanced users that are willing to deal with Pi’s. I agree with pjv’s point.
But I also believe that dealing with Pi’s has a fairly limited interest for “normal” people, unless someone are willing to manufacture pre-built “all-in-one” devices that you can just turn on and connect over WiFi to your Plex servers. I just can’t see myself using a Pi + speaker in my bathroom, or on my kitchen countertop when you have devices like the Sonos One. When I can get the full Plexamp experience on such a device I’m going to be all over it I imagine!
Just checking in and adding another vote for DLNA/UPnP client support. I’m aware that it has its limitations, but I just have one stereo system where I just want to listen to the raw music files… No sweet fades, no eq (most of the times the streamer or receiver has one built in), no syncing or anything needed.
I just got rid of my chromecast audio and raspberry pi (yes, I’m asking myself why sometimes) to get the WiiM Pro, which supports both DLNA and chromecast. They’re currently testing Roon readiness.
I know it’s a long shot probably, but it seems like a great platform for native Plexamp support. It’s definitely got the necessary power and a growing user base… And it’s readily available, unlike RBPi’s. But until then: please give us good ol’ DLNA
i’ve read that the wiim pro has 512MB DRAM … while this is significantly more than the wiim mini (128MB), note that Plexamp can use quite a bit of memory due to caching multiple full tracks (its minimum cache setting is 512MB) … just based on hardware spec, it still might be on the low end of what Plexamp needs for good overall performance
→ the perfect kind of devices seem to exist already as WiiM Mini and Pro! Based on their forums, they’re definitely willing to have a look into the implementation of Plex support.
I don’t know what kind of platform their devices are based on, but maybe it’s just a matter of handing them the necessary tools @elan
agree, 512mb is plenty for most file types and typical track durations … it does start to become a limiter with longer tracks, hi-res, uncompressed, etc.
For us non technical users who are heavily dependent on google cast, what does this all mean? There’s no way i am ever getting my head around pi or getting a dac.
This is exactly what I am facing, on my mobile devices I use Plexamp, but at home I still need Roon.
Besides, if Plexamp wants to grow their user-base there must a better solution than a Raspberry Pi.
There are a lot of non-technical users or users who don’t want to experiment with a Pi and don’t want to spend hours to get it to work.
I can find my way with a Raspberry with Roon (used it for a bunch of endpoints without any trouble) but I have trouble to get it running with Plexamp (Plexamp Raspberry Pi and Allo Digione).
I sincerely hope there will be an integration with wiim or something else.
It’s one week in with the WiiM Pro and it’s integration with Logitech Media Server has proven to be pretty unreliable. Native support is on their roadmap, but it’s probably far away still. It doesn’t look we’ll ever see Plex(amp) integration on the WiiM devices…
That’s why I’ve just picked up a Raspberry Pi again for Plexamp.
Has anybody been using it with a USB dac? Will Plexamp automatically switch to the USB dac every time I power on (reconnect) the DAC? Then I could probably do without a toslink output HAT on the RBPi.
I use plexamp on a pi with a USB dac. actually I’ve done the same with two different USB dacs. It works perfectly as you’d want it to. Once set up the first time in Plexamp’s playback settings it hasn’t needed to be fiddled with again after powerdowns, reboots, reconnects, etc.
Thanks! nice to hear! I’ll give it a try like that first. I do have one more free input in my automatic Toslink switcher though, making the switching between digital sources pretty much seamless…
I use USB DACs exclusively, because that opens things up to using non-Pi hardware (e.g. nanoPi) and also you can get good cheap ones like this one which even has SPDIF output.
