In the last few days, my PLEX app exhibits new startup behavior on my Roku Ultra. Basically it very quickly goes back to exactly where it was when I closed it. In many cases, that’s great, as it goes back to the home screen quickly. However, if I closed it by hitting the Home button on my roku remote, it actually goes back into playing whatever show I was playing when I hit the home button. That is very jarring and not at all what I want. I would like the PLEX app to go back to the home screen every time I enter it. How can I restore this behavior? I have looked in all of the menus available on the app and can’t find anything. I have restarted my Roku box several times with no effect.
2 Likes
AFAIk we did not make any change like that. Still behaves the old way on my Roku Premiere. What Roku firmware is your ultra on? It is in Settings>About>Software Version.
Thanks, I will check and get back to you with the firmware version. At first I thought it was a great new feature -“fast startup” or something, but it’s actually really annoying so I hope it’s something that can be fixed.
I’m seeing this too; if I was watching Live TV when I clicked ‘Home’ on the remote, and then enter the Plex channel again, it tries to tune back to that channel (which of course takes 5+ seconds). I’m using the Preview channel, also on a Roku Ultra.
To clarify, if I choose “Exit” in PLEX, and then go back into PLEX, the behavior is normal (it takes a few seconds to start up and then puts me on the HOME screen). If I instead hit the HOME button on my Roku remote, and then go back into PLEX, it starts up instantly and puts me back on whatever screen I was on before. If I was watching a show/movie, it starts playing that show/movie where I left off.
Roku Ultra 4660x Software version 9.4.0 build 4174-46
Plex version 6.6.12.662-64d4a08ac
The Roku system update screen says it was updated October 16, and I am almost certain that’s when the behavior started.
OK I on 9.3 and don’t see it so must be a new Roku feature. Sounds like it is just pausing the app when hitting home. Does it happen with other apps like Youtube?
YouTube and Spotify are the only other apps I have on my Roku, and they do not display this behavior. When I start playing something, hit Home and then go back in, both Spotify and YouTube start up as normal - they do not continue where I left off.
I am also seeing this new behaviour but more annoyingly it is also coupled with some new timeout behaviour.
If I leave plex running on my roku streaming stick (either paused watching a video or on the home screen etc.) after a period of time the roku will go back to the home screen and display the roku screensaver.
At first I thought the plex app was crashing as that’s the only time I had seen this before but in fact it hasn’t crashed, if you select the plex app it will take you straight to where you were before almost instantly, if the video was paused it will resume playing immediately without showing any plex screens.
It seems the app has not crashed but has been put into the background so the roku home screen can be displayed (my guess is so they can show more adverts)
Roku streaming stick+ running 9.4.0 build 4176-50 firmware
After experiencing more strange issues, it does indeed appear that returning to the Home screen from inside the Plex app does not stop the app, but puts it into some sort of background state.
Even if the app wasn’t in Live TV mode, it still has weird behavior. Typically I’ll return to the app and it either displays ‘old’ lists of shows (even if some have been deleted using another client), or it is unable to display the guide (progress spinner just spins forever). The only fix is to press ‘back’ enough times to get the app menu which offers the option to ‘Exit’, do that, and then re-open it… and then it’s fine.
I’m using a Roku Ultra (4660X) with software 9.4.0 (4176-46), with Plex app preview version 6.6 build 12.
We can confirm this behavior is new, as a result of the 9.4 firmware. We will be submitting an update to better handle auto-resuming content when you exit (pressing home) while playback was active. Currently it would auto resume playback if you opened the channel less than 24 hours after exiting. We are decreasing that to 5 minutes. This will preserve the fast start, but fix the confusion of opening the app much later with playback starting up.
This is not expected. The standard Plex screen saver should start. I’m curious if you have your screen saver timeout set very low, maybe 1 minute?
That feature is still pretty annoying, even at 5 minutes.
2 Likes
We’d love to hear more details about the annoyance. As outlined above, there are some kinks to work out, however this should make the Plex channel startup almost instantly. Is this specific to resuming content? which will only happen if you press the home during playback and then re-enter the channel in less than 5 minutes.
I’ve noticed this “feature” three times now that I can specifically recall. One of the instances will be fixed by removing the 24 hour period. I was surprised when I finished a movie last night, to be taken back to the play screen for it this afternoon. I have no need to resume the credits.
The other two instances are perhaps just in the way that I use Plex, as I frequently use the Home button on the Roku to exit the app. I hop around a bit, change my mind and hop back in fully expecting to land on the home screen which should contain anything I had in progress already, right?
If you’re looking to fix the speed at which someone can get back into something they were watching, I would believe you’re only shaving seconds, as anything in progress is only a click away. Resuming live streams of TV or Plex TV seems totally awful to me, as a purposeful press of the home button for me means that I want out of whatever it is that I’m doing.
So… can I disable this?
1 Like
It’s not about getting back to the specific content, it’s about opening the channel quickly. Roku has to compile the channel on startup, which takes a few seconds before we even have access. This firmware change allows the channel to start almost instantly maintaining the last state.
So… can I disable this?
Not currently. It’s part of the build process, not runtime, however we are investigating options. I appreciate the additional info.
If you can figure out a way to get the app to “relaunch” quickly and land on the Plex home screen every time, then you might be on to something. Two points for that:
- I am primarily annoyed by being taken anywhere else other than the Home screen
- I have never once thought that Plex launched too slowly
One of my Express units has to fully re-download the app every time I go to use it (I think this is something Roku as a system is beginning to do across the board) so the time to launch never bothered me much.
2 Likes
So, I think I just managed to use it as it was intended… and I pressed the Home button during playback, and Yes, it did pick up and launch the stream again. (I’d still like to disable that, as the Home button for me is an intentional action to exit)
In other cases… if you exit the app on a movie’s play screen, it will resume back on that play screen. That’s the part I like least.
Just to be clear the plex screensaver does start as expected but after a period of time (I haven’t determined exactly how long but a few hours) the screensaver will switch to the roku screensaver and plex will be put into the background as if you have hit the home button.
I have disabled bandwidth saver so it’s not that.
Agreed on these points. The annoyance factor here is that I expect PLEX to start at the home screen when I launch it. If my wife had Season 19 of The Bachelor open and hit Home to exit, and I fire up the TV 3 minutes later (happens a lot) - I don’t want to have to then hit back/exit 3 or 4 times to get back to the home screen.
I also don’t think that PLEX takes too long to start. It takes less time than YouTube and about the same as Spotify.
Finally, ever since the change, I have been having occasional audio issues. It may or may not be related, but some media that I know works has occasional audio stutters. Exiting the app properly and then going back in seems to fix it.
So, if the audio issue was just a coincidence and there was an option to always go to the home screen when I open the app - no matter how long it has been since someone else was using it - I think it would be OK.
3 Likes
Confirming andonevris’ exact experience (on all counts) for me, as well. Roku Ultra 4660, 9.4.0 build 4176-46 (latest, based on a manual check for updates). Plex Preview v6.6 build 12. Bandwidth saver was never disabled before. Disabling it now made no difference. Issue began appearing immediately after Roku update from 9.3 to 9.4.
My Rokus are used almost exclusively for Plex, so I almost never go to Roku’s Home screen. It’s not the end of the world, obviously, but it is rather annoying to have to re-launch Plex EVERY day when I turn the TV on now. For what it’s worth, I also agree that I’ve never thought the Plex channel was slow to load and I’d prefer to just continue to go to the Plex home screen every time I launch the channel (as opposed to this new resume “feature”).
2 Likes
I have tested the new Startup behavior in the Plex Preview app, and I believe that it’s working? I am happily landing on the Plex Home page.
To make sure I am experiencing things as they should, here are the steps I have used to reproduce:
- Open Plex Preview app
- Launch either a live TV stream, or a movie
- Hit the Roku Home button to interrupt the stream and exit all the way back to the Roku menu
- Relaunch the Plex Preview app
- A brief orange load circle appears, and then the Plex Home screen
Perhaps consider some sort of launch indicator that a Quick Resume function has been enabled similar to how the Xbox Series X will do when picking up games in progress? (note the indicator in the upper right corner)
