@MikeG6.5 said:
Noticed one thing here, guys… Most of those that think us “power users” are whining in this thread are either new in the last year users, or have under 500 posts to their name.
These are the guys that haven’t seen a lot of the issues most of the rest of us have been dealing with for quite a while now. So since they haven’t had the issues cropping up, they are taking Plex as it is. All of it’s shortcoming and great things combined. (Plex does have a lot of great things about it, no denying that at all. But it could have a lot MORE great things if the Team works on many of these Feature Requests.)
These guys aren’t likely to need Server Side Per User Speed Limits, as they may only have the immediate members of their households as their only shared users. And none of these users are likely to stream from outside the house. (Wait until the kids are teens and going over to friend’s houses and streaming, though.)
I said whinging not whining. There is a big difference.
I suspect that the overwhelming majority of Plex users do not stream outside the home & the only people who do are in the 1% of power users. That’s not to say that Plex shouldn’t implement these features if it makes business sense but it surely cannot be a high priority compared to player features or grabbing metadata.
@foghat said:
Please tell me where Plex is ‘streets’ ahead of Emby. Granted I have just started using plex again after a long hiatus (of using Emby), but I am having a hard time identifying many feature sets where Plex is leaps ahead of Emby. The only one that really comes to mind is the reason I am giving Plex another go in the first place - the Plex app on the Shield can pass-through HD audio, where Emby shield app cannot yet.
Actually I don’t think Plex is ‘streets’ ahead of Emby mainly because Emby is so obviously a Plex rip-off both in design & business model. I haven’t installed Emby in over a year but last time I did it was a bit rougher round the edges than Plex.
Plex is street ahead of Kodi unless your major use is stealing content.
Rip of plex design? Because Emby uses a client server model? Rip of plex business model? Because they have monthly/yearly/lifetime payment options for ‘premium’ features? Or because they are trying to support as many devices as possible?
Is Kia a rip off of Ford because they both sell vehicles out of dealerships?
As a pure player, library browser, or for add-ons (not just the streaming ones) Plex (or anything else) can’t touch kodi.
If you are suggesting that plex is streets ahead because kodi doesn’t have a server component - fair enough. I agree that not having one severly limits how/where it can used. That said, I think it speaks volumes to kodi’s popularity/power that both emby and plex have plugins that work with kodi.
Who wants a working Collections system? Who wants working per user Server side bandwidth limits? Who wants PlexPy or similar integrated into Plex’s Web App? Who wants sync on the desktop client? Who wants LIVE OTA streaming within the Plex suite?
If even one of you reading this answers “Me” then this entire thread is aimed at YOU! And not the device you run Plex on… Because if you see any of these important to your environment you aren’t using a client device or network infrastructure device to run Plex Media Server on… you are using a device that has the nuts to do the job!
NVidia Shield isn’t ready for prime time as a server. You are wasting your time in this thread. The Netgear X10 router isn’t ready for prime time. Again, more wasted time… You aren’t part of the whole Plex Infrastructure and don’t understand Plex’s requirements to even contribute to the discussion.
It is PAST TIME for the loyal users of Plex on MAIN LINE HARD CORE systems to say ENOUGH! We want our FEATURES! You asked for our input, and we gave it. Where the H! are the features we have requested?!?!
I have been bewildered by all the blog posts over the last few years. Why are they focusing on all these useless features that no one wants. Do they track the adoption of these features? The Plex team needs to focus on what customers want, investors should understand that if you give the people what they want then they will eventually make a return on their investment. People are passionate about Plex, they tell their friends and families, they scream from the mountain tops and spread the word. If you ignore your loyal base for too long, that base will no longer be loyal and over time someone will come out with the solution they have been begging for and move off the platform. That is a lose lose scenario. My enthusiasm for Plex is not what it once was. I have singlehandedly “sold” over 50 Plex passes. I no longer even try. Had I known where their focus would be, I would never have tried.
I am very surprised on how short sighted the Plex leadership has been. I do not use Plex Photos, or Plex Music, nor will I ever, there are hundred different apps better suited for those purposes. I do not run my PMS on a NAS or Shield or Router, I run it on a proper Mac Mini i7 that can handle 20 transcodes at a time. I have no interest in uploading all my content to the cloud for obvious reason. All these user uploading their 30TB libraries to the cloud…something is going to give. I think it is an interesting concept but a bad idea for reasons discussed thoroughly in other threads.That being said the cloud feature is probably the one I am least upset about. Don’t get me started on photo tagging. I hope they borrowed the FB code and didn’t create it from scratch.
I will give some credit, I think “McStreamy and the Brain” is a step in the right direction. We need more like this. If I see another blog update on a feature that no one asked for and no one wants I will go back into silent protest mode.
I am so glad for the thoughtful posts in this thread. It made me want to chime in.
The limitation I see for Emby has nothing, or almost nothing, to do with the “advanced” features that others keep harping on. But rather the limitation is in the UI.
As bad as Plex’s UI can be at times it make EMBY’s look like it was designed by a ten year old who has raided his or hers daddy’s booze stash before each programming session.
On the Roku they have not even bothered to use the advanced screens and the lack of feature access is the poorest of any app I have seen on the Roku.
Everybody finds value differently in the apps but for me, so far, there is nothing even close to Plex but EMBY is at or near the bottom in usability.
I REALLY wish EMBY or Kodi or someone would develop an app that is truly a Plex competitor but, for now, competition in the UI is non existent.
BTW: Plex on Kodi is just Plex and using Kodi to access Plex’s database is no good either. Kodi, with the right skin, might be a good UI but so far I have not found a skin that I can easily navigate to simply view my shows. Again Plex has absolutely no real competition but I wish they did.
@Elijah_Baley said:
The limitation I see for Emby has nothing, or almost nothing, to do with the “advanced” features that others keep harping on. But rather the limitation is in the UI.
As bad as Plex’s UI can be at times it make EMBY’s look like it was designed by a ten year old who has raided his or hers daddy’s booze stash before each programming session.
On the Roku they have not even bothered to use the advanced screens and the lack of feature access is the poorest of any app I have seen on the Roku.
Everybody finds value differently in the apps but for me, so far, there is nothing even close to Plex but EMBY is at or near the bottom in usability.
I REALLY wish EMBY or Kodi or someone would develop an app that is truly a Plex competitor but, for now, competition in the UI is non existent.
BTW: Plex on Kodi is just Plex and using Kodi to access Plex’s database is no good either. Kodi, with the right skin, might be a good UI but so far I have not found a skin that I can easily navigate to simply view my shows. Again Plex has absolutely no real competition but I wish they did.
Just for the heck of it, have you tried Kodi v17 with the new beautiful skin together with the Emby for Kodi or PlexKodiconnect plugins?
The syncing part is a bit of a bummer when you start it, but otherwise it’s a great UI with the benifits of Plex and/or Emby’s server options.
Perhaps Emby’s more powerful server options, including GPU transcoding, used with Kodi’s frontend is what you’d like?
@Elijah_Baley said:
The limitation I see for Emby has nothing, or almost nothing, to do with the “advanced” features that others keep harping on. But rather the limitation is in the UI.
As bad as Plex’s UI can be at times it make EMBY’s look like it was designed by a ten year old who has raided his or hers daddy’s booze stash before each programming session.
On the Roku they have not even bothered to use the advanced screens and the lack of feature access is the poorest of any app I have seen on the Roku.
Everybody finds value differently in the apps but for me, so far, there is nothing even close to Plex but EMBY is at or near the bottom in usability.
I REALLY wish EMBY or Kodi or someone would develop an app that is truly a Plex competitor but, for now, competition in the UI is non existent.
BTW: Plex on Kodi is just Plex and using Kodi to access Plex’s database is no good either. Kodi, with the right skin, might be a good UI but so far I have not found a skin that I can easily navigate to simply view my shows. Again Plex has absolutely no real competition but I wish they did.
I can’t speak to the Roku app, but the windows htpc program, the iphone app, the shield app and the web browser interface, I feel, from a UI perspective, are easily equal to anything Plex offers. And the fact that Emby properly does collections is a significant UI advantage, imo.
I am genuinely curious where you feel, outside of the roku shortcomings, Emby is lacking from a UI perspective vs. plex.
I also wonder when the last time you used Emby? I know their iphone app has significantly improved over the past year or so. I will admit their first iphone app was a bit of a disaster.
@PowerTowerPro_ - thank you for chiming in; even with the supposedly bad ‘less than 500 posts’ another here referred to.
I too have been quiet overall, keeping myself to threads related to about 4 or 5 releases I like and support.
I no longer review the main index of some of the other sections of the forums because of some frustration in both user views and apparent company release direction.
I have a feeling we’re becoming more of a collection than Plex board would like to believe or admit.
@JamminR Long time no see… you updated your title… Plexhibitionist.
I had that one tucked away for a while… but given the current flow of things… I’m still debating on the change to Plexasperated.
There are two side here. Plex thinks they are right and we think we are right.
I have a feeling no matter what we argue Plex will just simply say “Ain’t So”
We all feel we deserve a reasonably Bug free and stable product, especially those of us who pay for it.
Plex is the immovable wall and we keep banging our heads against it expecting a different result.
In my humble opinion, it appears to me that the problem is Plex’s lack of focus and trying to be all things to all people. The other issue I see is no apparent SDLC methodology in place driving New Features, Product Development, Product Maintenance, and Product testing.
Until Plex comes to grips with that… nothing WILL change.
Hence Perplexed… Why does Plex not act like a software company and not just a bunch of guys playing with gadgets and gizmos.
I have seen many companies during my career who have stellar products but the lack of focus and methodology cause them to either crash and burn or just fade away while becoming outpaced by much more focused and organized groups.
There (eventually) will be a competitor from some major player and we will have a real option to switch… and when that day comes, there will be a mass exodus and Plex will be a footnote in history. A ‘I remember when all we had was Plex’ horror stories. It’s been clear to me forever that Elan has no plans to listen to his users. He has his own plan and he can’t be swayed. He wants us to do everything his way. They are going to do what they want when they want and think of all of us as nobody’s.
I can’t wait till the true option comes to witness the fallout.
To dismiss a user like cayars so easily, whose helped more people than I can count with his scripts and setup articles and advice get our libraries to be perfect for Plex amazes me. It’s guys like that who keep us masses using Plex bc we can use his stuff to make it work right. When he and the others like him speak, Plex should be listening. He knows what we are all dealing with, bc he’s the one solving our issues. It doesn’t surprise me Elan so easily dismissed him and the other superusers here. He probably doesn’t even know who they are in this community.
P.s. Any sql dev could add the sorting/collections stuff w/ ease. I did waaaay more complicated programming for my old (major telecom) company back in the late 90’s. Trust me, there is nothing difficult about this ask. If you’ve designed it in such a way as this is not possible, which would have taken some real effort on your part to make it so, then I would probably call you a liar. The truth is, again, they are going to make it the way they want, users be dammed.
I know this all sounds extremely harsh, so I truly apologize… but am frustrated they apparently haven’t even considered our top 10 list we voted on… except when it coincidentally overlaps. How utterly frustrating.
It was mentioned earlier, but I agree, they need to hire a REAL project manager asap.
To dismiss a user like cayars so easily, whose helped more people than I can count with his scripts and setup advice get our libraries to be perfect for Plex amazes me. It’s guys like that who keep us masses using Plex bc we can use his stuff to make it work right. When he and the others like him speak, Plex should be listening. He knows what we are all dealing with, bc he’s the one solving our issues. It doesn’t surprise me Elan so easily dismissed him and the other superusers here. He probably doesn’t even know who they are in this community.
Trust me, @elan knows exactly who @cayars and @Elijah_Baley, myself and a few others are here. He’s come face to face with us on more than one occasion on these forums. And I’ve actually SEEN his face in a video conference, so he can put my ugly mug to the name. (As has @Elijah_Baley, for that matter.)
But see, he’s justified ignoring us by the link he posted, that those that are the most vocal only represent about 1% of the ENTIRE Plex community. and there’s no way us 1% could possibly know the wants or needs of the other 99%. But the link another user here posted, basically blasted that 1% theory into dust. (The 80%/20% rule.) For every opinion someone has, there’s someone else got the opposite opinion and evidence to back it up as well. So who’s right?
Would that be @elan with his link? Saying those of us in this thread are a bunch of lunatics that can’t let a dead dog lie? Or us lunatics that think @elan and Team are hardheaded imbeciles for not listening to us? Time is going to tell, I suppose. Because now @elan has dug his teeth in and nothing anyone can do or say is likely to change his opinion. He’s given us his opinion and then bailed on the discussion after he said working on our requests would be boring… The change is going to have to be forced on him by a change in bottom line, or from those that work on the Team. It’s pretty obvious it’s not going to come from those of us here.
There are honestly times where I feel I made a massive mistake getting involved with Plex. My life would be so much less stressful if I had just stayed with XBMC or Kodi and didn’t worry about streaming my media out to the others stranded in Alaska with me. But I had to look for another way, and look where it’s led me…
BTW, I just got an email from Netflix about syncing movies from their services to mobile apps. I wonder where they got THAT idea from? This is a complete departure of their stance just a year or so ago. Downloading from them was one way to get banned… (Maybe their bottom line is getting hurt by Plex and Emby?)
@MikeG6.5 said:
BTW, I just got an email from Netflix about syncing movies from their services to mobile apps. I wonder where they got THAT idea from? This is a complete departure of their stance just a year or so ago. Downloading from them was one way to get banned… (Maybe their bottom line is getting hurt by Plex and Emby?)
I think it’s more because Amazon Prime Video (or whatever it is called right now) started offering this feature.
The thing is just i don’t get why “we” have a feature-request forum in the first place, when the ideas users have and we vote for have no impact in the first place. I (sadly) completely stopped voting and looking in the feature-request forum at all.
@jjrjr1 said:
Best thing for all of us to do is stay part of the community and help each other where we can… Or Not. Everyone’s individual choice…
I absolutely agree, if for no other reason that while we are doing that, someone, somewhere is improving an existing or even developing from scratch a viable alternative.
Then we will all have the option to vote with our feet and or wallets.
I think some of us (on this thread) are expressing frustration and sadness over this because we once saw Plex as that alternative solution. Now it’s a Rock Star playing for the masses,…moving further towards what we wanted to get away from…
@HitsVille said:
@jjrjr1 said:
Best thing for all of us to do is stay part of the community and help each other where we can… Or Not. Everyone’s individual choice…
I absolutely agree, if for no other reason that while we are doing that, someone, somewhere is improving an existing or even developing from scratch a viable alternative.
Then we will all have the option to vote with our feet and or wallets.
@MikeG6.5 said:
Would that be @elan with his link? Saying those of us in this thread are a bunch of lunatics that can’t let a dead dog lie? Or us lunatics that think @elan and Team are hardheaded imbeciles for not listening to us? Time is going to tell, I suppose. Because now @elan has dug his teeth in and nothing anyone can do or say is likely to change his opinion. He’s given us his opinion and then bailed on the discussion after he said working on our requests would be boring… The change is going to have to be forced on him by a change in bottom line, or from those that work on the Team. It’s pretty obvious it’s not going to come from those of us here.
There are honestly times where I feel I made a massive mistake getting involved with Plex. My life would be so much less stressful if I had just stayed with XBMC or Kodi and didn’t worry about streaming my media out to the others stranded in Alaska with me. But I had to look for another way, and look where it’s led me…
I have been following this thread closely. As someone who has used Plex since the days it was an OS X only platform, I share a lot of the sentiments echoed in this thread. The reason I felt the need to come out of the lurker shadows and post a rare comment is because of your posts, @MikeG6.5. While I agree with your premise, your execution in many of your posts comes across as a little entitled and melodramatic.
The quote bolded above is a perfect example. If you read what Elan actually said, he is right, but you took one word and have been harping on it over and over again not only in this thread but in one of the feature requests threads as well.
Elan’s original quote:
“What a boring world it would be where all we were allowed to work on were things which customers requested! Surely there’s a healthy mix, and based on initial feedback a lot of people are enjoying the photo tagging feature. Also, I know you were just being snarky, but iOS doesn’t allow editing auto-tags either, so I’m not sure what to tell you.”
All that tells me is that if a developers only job was to do everything the users wanted it would be a pretty boring job. Can’t say I disagree. Who would want to do a job where they weren’t allowed to think for themselves or come up with their own ideas on how to do things; were locked in this box of coding one feature request after another? If that were the case, we would all be in here complaining about how plex had no focus or direction, that it is just a mishmash of random ideas, trying to be everything to everyone.
Obviously, that is not to say feature requests should be ignored, but it is about balance. At this point in time, I completely agree that Plex has shifted focus a little too far to the side of ignoring feature requests. They need to bring back a little balance between new features and user feature requests.
