Suggestions for improving the Plex interface and highlighting problems with the current one

General Discussions Plex Features
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1

It’s probably wrong to suggest anything as I’ve seen posts dating back over 8 years and brilliant though the ideas are - nothing has happened and no explanation given as to why. (shame)

#1 Problems with the user interface. When the left side menu is minimised it causes problems with obscuring albums in the main window because the menu expands making it impossible to view or select an album that is obscured.

The Fix: If the menu is minimised LEAVE IT MINIMISED (Do not automatically expand it on hover!) The ‘burger’ icon is the ONLY thing that should toggle the menu expansion/contraction

#2 Viewing music albums has major problems compared to viewing Films and TV. I’m trying to look at my Collections and instead I’m getting a list of all the albums. This is caused by the menu underneath (that really shouldn’t be there) “All, Albums, By Title” these menu items shouldn’t exist when viewing a collection as it’s forcing a filter into the process and because of that it fails to display the Collections properly.

The Fix: Get rid of forcing a filter selection when viewing Collections. It shouldn’t be there anyway. This works fine on one of my music collections but is broken in another. (Bug)??

Also this is fine on plex.tv but is broken when using the Windows client app.

#3 Another glaring problem is that all Album Covers since the beginning of time have been square. This is because records and CD’s are round. However when viewing any image of anything in a ‘Collection’ all images are displayed in a rectangular format (the same as a movie poster)

The Fix: Display images for music ‘Collections’ correctly in a square format.

#4 Another broken system with collections is using the option Advanced>Hide items in this collection. This option simply doesn’t work. It’s fine with films and tv, but totally broken when it comes to music and audiobooks. Eg. I have added all my Harry Potter audiobooks to a collection, told Plex to ‘Hide items in this collection’… and nothing happens - all the items get displayed regardless.

The Fix: Again I suspect this is to do with the ‘forced filters’ All, Albums, By title etc ignoring the Collections logic. This is probably not a bug in the code, just an over-site in the logic.

#5 Another, this time fatal problem is playing back anything using the ‘Select Player’ icon in the top right of the screen. Only 2 of the available 8 Sonos devices I have are shown for playback (however this it a moot point) because any other device I select for playback (other than my laptop) causes ‘Playback Error - An error occurred trying to play this item.’

The Fix: No idea, there’s clearly some funny business going on because it stops the currently playing audio on the selected Sonos device but then throws the above error.

Thank you for your time and consideration. As a professional software developer I would be only too happy to help make Plex the best media app out there. I have several more suggestions, please feel free to ask.

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Firstly, please note the Plex Media Player is not really supported anymore. However, since it shares code with Plex Web, if these issues occur on Plex Web, any fixes may just trickle down to PMP. So my responses are based on using Plex Web.

1 - I’m unclear on your comment. The sidebar should only expand when you hover over the icon. Your albums are not near this so I don’t see how being near your album covers would cause the sidebar to expand.

2 - You can have Collections for Artist, Albums, or Tracks. When viewing the collection, you will see whatever was for that Collection. It is not a filter, it is a view of what is in that specific collection. If you see albums, then it’s a Collection of albums.

3 - That’s a known issue. Not sure if/when this will be addressed.

4 - Correct. Items are only hidden when Collections are shown in-line with the rest of the media. Music collections are not shown with the media. I don’t have info on if this may change in the future.

5 - I don’t have Sonos devices to check but I do have Chromcast devices and using the Chrome browser I am able to playback to my Chromecast devices. Please make a new thread for this issue and provide logs from the server and from the Web client. I’d be happy to take a look.

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Thanks MovieFan.Plex for the reply.

“Plex Media Player is not really supported anymore” WOW! This is a huge mistake.

It’s almost as though you’re saying watching films on a TV is no longer supported.

The whole point of having a personal media collection is so one doesn’t have to be connected to the internet. For example I wouldn’t want to be in a log cabin in Canada with 2,000 films and be unable to watch any of them because I don’t have an Internet connection.

Similarly when I read a book from my bookshelf I don’t see why there needs to be a billion dollars worth of IT infrastructure to allow me to do so.

  1. “The sidebar should only expand when you hover over the icon.” That’s my point. Exactly. Remove the code that expands on hover! If this forum allowed images to be posted I could show you how glaringly obvious this problem is.

Expanding on hover covers over the films! They can’t be seen. The names are no longer visible. How much clearer can I make this?

DELETE THE LINE OF CODE THAT EXPANDS ON HOVER.

  1. No. Collections are completely broken for music and need to be re-thought.

  2. Ok, thanks but I’m not sure that a “Known issue” when or if it will ever be fixed is the best policy to adopt. Are there any programmers at Plex? If not there really should be.

  3. “Correct. Items are only hidden when Collections are shown in-line with the rest of the media.” No. This is a bug. It works fine for films and doesn’t work for Audiobook or Music. So broken and might never be fixed?

  4. Again, so broken and might never be fixed?
    I really think that Plex need to bring in the programmer/s and work though the many, many software glitches and bugs. Inside a week these problems could all be solved, the trouble is you and I both know they won’t be and possibly never will.

There have been problems where the entire codec folder needs to be deleted on the server on a regular basis. This problem has been reported numerous times year after year and never gets fixed. Does anyone know why this is?

It seems to me as though 1,000’s of people need to complain for decades before the simplest of problems gets fixed. It’s almost as though there aren’t any in-house software developers at Plex, and if there are what are they doing all day?

Collections are broken. They’ll play on my Windows laptop, but on the TV I get “Media Not Found” and on my iPhone the app just freezes and plays nothing.

If there are any programmers at Plex I really think they need to sit down and work through a massive ‘To Do’ list fixing all the bugs, oversights and flaws. It’s a huge list. I’d be happy to help bug test.

Thanks for your time.

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It sounds to me that you have a misconception about what the term “Plex Media Player” is referring to.
Plex Media Player is a plex client for Windows, Mac, and Linux.
None of the other plex clients for the other platforms like smart TV, Roku, Android, iOS etc.pp. are called “Plex Media Player”.

And Plex Media Player itself on Windows and Mac is being replaced by both “Plex for Windows/Mac” and “Plex HTPC”.

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Thanks Otto,

I think I’m more confused than ever, but whatever the clients that play the films from the media server are called the bugs remain. Please replace PMP with ‘client’ or whatever they need to be called.

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That is not possible. You must name the client type you are using, because other Plex client might behave differently.

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I did.

There have been bugs in all clients that play films from the Plex server that date back years.
I am using the Plex Client for Windows - many of the bugs are listed above (not an exhaustive list)
I am using the Plex app for IOS again with many bugs/problems/

All the clients (or what ever you want to call them) are the latest version on their various platforms. The problem doesn’t lie with me the problem lies your buggy software that hasn’t been fixed.

Why did MovieFan.Plex say Plex media player isn’t supported any more? Suggesting that only plex.tv is?

Surely it would be easier to fix bugs than have 1,000’s of people discuss them online for years and years.

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As mentioned. “Plex Media Player” is the name of the specific program that runs on Windows, Mac, and Linux. It is not the name of all Plex programs. Plex has 2 other programs that run on Windows and Mac, called Plex for Windows/Mac and Plex HTPC (this is a brand new program introduced recently). If you are accessing your server through a web browser then you are using Plex Web. If you use the Plex program on an Android phone, that is Plex for Android. Each Plex program has it’s own specific name. They do perform differently so using the correct name is important so we know where the problem is.

You don’t need an internet connection to use Plex. There are certain features that do require an internet connection. If you don’t use those feature, you don’t need an internet connection. Simple solution is to NOT sign into your server or into any Plex clients. Then the client can access the server without internet.

Yes, when the sidebar expands, it covers the first poster, but if you move the cursor past the sidebar, it goes away again and you can select the first poster. There should not be any issues trying to select the first poster when the sidebar is collapsed, the hover area is left of the first poster.

The forum does allow posting images so please include one if there is something I am not understanding. Just drag the image into the reply window.

What is broken? As mentioned you can have collections for artist, albums, or tracks. You cannot mix types so each collection has to be for a specific type.

I don’t set the policy on when things get fixed nor do I know ahead of time. Plex doesn’t announce what is being worked on, only when it is done. When a fix is made, it will be announced as part of the release notes.

This is an inconsistency in the way the feature works but hiding music has never been a thing. Doing this would be a feature change or feature parity if you want to call it that way. Things like that take time.

We have a team for the Sonos devices and we are checking that it works. I an not aware of any specific problems so you’ll need to provide more details if something isn’t working for you.

We have a team dedicated to testing and these are not issues we have reproduced in-house to know that they are broken. I just tested on My LG Smart TV and an iPad and both play collections properly for me.

If you are having issues, we (my especially as that’s my role here at Plex) are here to help but we need details. Just saying something is broken for you doesn’t mean it’s broken for everyone or that it’s something we are aware of as being a problem.

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Firstly, I can appreciate that nomenclature is essential with Plex as you’re dealing with literally thousands of devices and multiple software versions for that device…

However, I have made some perfectly valid and important points and you come back with…

“You don’t need an internet connection to use Plex.”

YES YOU DO!!!

The Plex app on an LG TV doesn’t even load!

Why do you not understand this? I’m not making it up! Would you like me to upload a video to my YouTube channel to demonstrate this fact? Please stop spreading misinformation. Grrr.

Maybe I should do a full-on review highlighting all the bugs/glitches/flaws/oversights and other issues. Please stop justifying bugs and design flaws as though they’re some sort of wonderful feature.

I’ve been a professional video games programmer for 14 years. I suggest your company should listen to the opinions of it’s users (especially the knowledgeable ones). You’re clearly not listening and aren’t interested in fixing anything as there are still bugs that were reported OVER 6 YEARS AGO that haven’t been fixed. Also you make it sound as though a feature request is some sort of impossible dream of unbelievable magnitude - just get on with it.

I call it a bug, you call it an ‘inconsistency’ please stop this. It’s a bug.

You have an entire ‘team’ working on Sonos devices - Oh please, and yet nothing works. I simply don’t believe it.

“We have a team dedicated to testing and these are not issues we have reproduced in-house to know that they are broken.”

How can an entire team not find any of these bugs when I can point them out in literally seconds? And what about the 1,000’s of other Plex users that have numerous issues? Are all of them making it up too?

“I don’t set the policy on when things get fixed nor do I know ahead of time. Plex doesn’t announce what is being worked on, only when it is done. When a fix is made, it will be announced as part of the release notes.”

^THIS^ This is probably the worst example of how to run a company I’ve ever heard of. This is why there are so many problems! The left hand doesn’t even know what the right is doing perfectly explains why there are so many problems with Plex.

The title of this post is “Suggestions for improving the Plex interface…” and for pointing a few things out I have Plex employees suggesting I’m mad, stupid or just ignorant.

To point out something else - YOU are the problem. You’re not in touch with the programmers, you have no clue what they’re working on or trying to fix. You deny points I’m making that I can prove as fact and you blame your users for even making suggestions or pointing things out.

The reason Plex isn’t improving is because of you. Not because of us.

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That is how the apps on a Smart TV work. This is a limitation of the TV not Plex. This is not something Plex can fix.

You haven’t really explained what is broken. If this is a continuation of your issues without internet access, then yes, this will also break. Sonos devices need to be connected to the internet to stream from another device. Again, this is how the device works, and not something Plex can fix.

I did not suggest any of those things.

What I know and what I can share are different things.

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How many lines of code have you contributed?

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So FINALLY you admit that Plex on an LG TV NEEDS an internet connection. It wasn’t that hard to tell the truth in the end was it?

I’m sick of discussing things with you. You don’t provide any solutions, you don’t listen or care. This whole conversation is just a waste of time.

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Mind your own business. What exactly are you contributing to this conversation? I’ve pointed out numerous bugs and flaws, and all I get in return are smarmy comments from people like you.

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Let’s curb it down a notch.
I suppose your input is appreciated – however please refrain from misquoting the replies you get as well as attacking other users.
https://forums.plex.tv/guidelines

Thank you!!

If this thread thread continues to go down insulting each other, I’ll close it.

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Yes, that’s why I asked what client you were talking about in the beginning. To be clear, it’s a Smart TV limitation that an internet connection is needed to load any app, not just Plex. The only exception are apps that come pre-installed on the TV. Any other app that comes from the App Store has this limitation.

Once the Plex app is loaded, an internet connection is not needed to use the app and connect to your server.

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In my opening post I listed some “Suggestions for improving the Plex interface” and all I get is a little man like you grinding everything down to the bitter end.

If I’ve learned anything wasting my time discussing things with you, is how much I now hate Plex.

Making any suggestion whatsoever to Plex is a waste of time. Never point out any bug or problem, as their dedicated staff will spend the rest of their lives grinding you down explaining how it’s all your fault.

Here’s another post from a user who also dared to make a suggestion, and the abuse he got in reply… It seems to be a common theme at Plex.

https://forums.plex.tv/t/gripes-and-suggestions-to-plex-engineers/713626

I see you’ve come back, closed the comments and then deleted my last post. Which is just the sort of behaviour I have now come to expect from Plex, so I have come back to a previous post and added this comment here…

“You made 1 suggestion which is to hide the hover-over expansion. I’m trying to understand why you need this”

There are #5 suggestions (for those of us that can count above 1). Please read my original post. Also fixing bugs and fatal flaws are not a “Feature Request”

“You comment makes it sound like it was causing an issue when the sidebar expands and it’s my job to investigate issues.”

IT DOES CAUSE AN ISSUE. The films in the left column are covered over! The titles can’t be seen! How can you see this as a feature?

Your job would appear to be to defend Plex at all costs and explain at length to your users how stupid and wrong they are.

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You made 1 suggestion which is to hide the hover-over expansion. I’m trying to understand why you need this. You said it covers the first poster making it hard to click, but it doesn’t, so I don’t see what this will provide except to not expand the sidebar. You comment makes it sound like it was causing an issue when the sidebar expands and it’s my job to investigate issues. If there is no issue and you just want to make a feature request, you can do so by creating a post for that request in Feature Suggestions - Plex Forum. Then Plex can judge how many other users think the feature is useful.

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