I know I’m in the minority in this forum, but our family actually really likes the new Plex user interface for Roku. I would like to take a moment to acknowledge the Plex Development Team’s hard work on this new UI and express my gratitude for their efforts. My one complaint…I miss my theme songs, but I know they are working on it, so I’m okay to wait!
As both my wife and I are in IT/UX, we understand the challenges of ensuring everyone’s satisfaction, and I believe this Plex transition, which is like several we have done for our own clients, is part of what my wife and I affectionately refer to as “The Big Switch”. The transition from a scrolling UI to a clicking UI is a common experience for many companies. Our studies show a roughly 50/50 split between who prefers each type; personally, I lean more towards clicking over scrolling which is why I probably like the new interface.
In addition to a very clean look, the new user interface provides Plex users with numerous customizable permissions and viewing settings. Some are located on your Plex Server, while others are on your Roku Device’s Plex app. This allows for Plex to be customized to the device. Many of the complaints I’ve seen in this thread can be adjusted via the new user controls and reverted to their original state by simply switching some toggles.
Give this new interface a chance and recognize that UX changes are usually carefully thought through, tested, and focus-grouped before implementation. The fact that Plex is standing firm on this release suggests they’ve done their homework, and despite some hiccups and threats of Plex Pass cancellations, their data must indicate that this is what the majority of their users and future users want out of their platform.
The changes to the playlists is complete bullshit. You nested them under the library (folders) that store media, unlinked them centrally, so that the playlists the contain objects in that library only show up in playlists…UNDER THAT LIBRARY. This makes playlists completely non-functional. This feature needs rolled back ASAP.
If you think they’ve done their homework and come up with the answer that this is what the majority of their users and future users want out of the platform then they’re shortly going to be failing this class. It’s amazing how they have a whole forum set up for people to express how they feel about the changes and yet ignore the massive majority of users that are upset. This isn’t anywhere close to a 50/50 split. It’s more like a 97/3 split.
The OLD interface had numerous customizable settings. The new experience removed and crippled most customization settings though.
Do you have an example of what you think would be a new option on the app, that wasn’t there before?
Important remark though: As I don’t know the old Roku interface very well, I don’t know if the old interface on Roku was worse than on Android TV. So I compare old (and still current) interface on Android TV to new interface on Roku.
Forget the focus groups being what “their users and future users want….” My suspicion is that this is all about increasing the advertising revenue for the growing streaming content Plex now offers. Think about it – all that money they collected from us lifetime Plex users is now dust in the past. They’re not getting any more money from us when we watch from our own libraries. However, they can monetize the live and other streamed content.
Net result? Plex has zero interest in doing anything to accommodate those who use Plex to manage their personal libraries. However, they have every incentive ($$$) to push and promote material streamed from their end of the pipeline. Guess which side won and is the focus of their software upgrade?
Perhaps another controversial opinion of mine… but I’d be TOTALLY ok with them listing “Movies & TV on Plex” at the top of the list in a left hand nav menu if it meant I got the rest of it in the order that I wanted. If it were a single entry first on the list, I’d happily not complain about the extra click to get back to an experience that I used to enjoy.
”IF” that’s what they’re truly after, I’d give it to them.
I think it’s clear that they want to get rid of us and instead chase a whole different set of users that want their lame ad supported content. They already got our money, we’re no use to them now.
Just wanted to state for anyone who is interested. I’ve lost faith in Plex entirely. Been trialing Emby and Jellyfin.
Jellyfin had too many small problems for me to love. Nothing massive or worth stating individually, just workflow friction that I may have gotten over with a learning curve.
Emby has been very quickly winning my love.
I don’t have to walk them through an ordeal about handing their email to another company, then having to send an invite, then check their email. Then walk them through how to remove the ad supported streaming service. Then explain to them no you don’t need Plex pass despite good Plex makes it seem.
God I got so sick of it. And the whole “why am I seeing ads on your server? Do I need to give them money?” Conversation. Happened a few times, one was too many. Especially when it was content I got for them specifically.
I can’t overstate how nice it was on Emby to simply make my users (yeah, MY users) an account, tell them how to access it, and it’s done. Just like that.
When the price hikes went live people kept saying handling SSL certificates were a huge challenge and we should be grateful that Plex does it for us. In reality it was as easy as I expected it to be. Plus Emby has a guide that’s very easy to follow just in case you have never done this before.
I have a few holder over users that I’m springing for Plex Pass on, but I expect them to make the move soon.
I know a lot of people in these threads constantly say “you’ll be back!” And “people keep complaining but they never leave.”
Well, hopefully soon the little Plex Pass badge will vanish from my name and you’ll know I made good on getting gone. Just spent all this money on a home server, sure as hell am not walking away from the hobby.
I think this is an under considered factor in a lot of complaints around here. Plex/media management is probably my #1 hobby, and as such, I have a considerable amount of $$$ tied into a server and drives.
It’s a bit upsetting that I’ve put hours in organizing and making things just right, spent some funds on some equipment to make sure there’s enough space/power to deliver it…. and to trust Plex to put a front end on it that’s easy and pleasing to use.
Having no influence over the “storefront” that puts it all together in a package is frustrating, to say the least.
I switched to Emby as well. My Plex pass badge won’t disappear because I am a lifetime pass holder but I’m now a lifetime Emby Premier pass holder because I was that committed to leaving Plex behind.
I actually agree 100% with this but since every person saying how they hate the new update has been completely ignored I thought the only way to show Plex how disappointed I am was to drop the 10-15 users. Like I’ve said in the past, it’s a drop in the bucket and I’ve already come to the realization that Plex doesn’t care. They’re headed in a direction that I can’t stand behind so even though I actually prefer them for almost everything I felt powerless to do anything else. My only hope now is that Emby manages to catch up to Plex without all the bloat that shouldn’t be in a self hosted media application to begin with.
I don’t like it at all. I wish I could revert to the old UI. Not only that, a third of my movies cannot load/play. It loads to 33% and the tries again several times and it shows an error message. That’s a bug!
