I’m a long time plex pass holder and run many movies and DVR programming I gather with it very happily. It helps me organize my personal collection and has for years.
I’m not into the ‘free movies & TV’ part of it, turned it off, not what I use plex for… especially since I already have Netflix, Amazon, Disney, HBO, Youtube, and Hulu.
I think it looks really ugly to have the ‘free movies & tv’ on every icon on my TV, web and Roku systems. This addition on the icon makes me NOT want to use plex at all.
And the Smart TV App and the Apple TV App, the famous Plex iconic icon changed to a cheap version of it on all mediums. It’s obviously a cheap marketing effort to upsell other products while damaging your core brand.
Please let me know when we can resume the original graphics.
A reasonable option would be to have the ‘Default’ icon whatever Plex decides that month, while allowing an override option to a series of approved logos. That way you protect the brand of Plex while allowing it’s users a customizable look to suit their home setups.
Please pass along the fact that I paid for an ad-free experience with Plex and this is essentially an ad for your other services. I believe this violates some sort of agreement.
Nope. Plex’s user agreement, like most others, pretty much gives them the right to do as they please while limiting the user’s rights. That is the agreement is one sided and says “you must do as we dictate” and “we can do as we please.”
Paying/not paying has nothing to do with it. You pay for additional features not for extra support or for immunity from immunity from ads or really anything else. A Plex pass gives you no additional rights or abilities except access to a few extra features.
Actually I believe that Plex is a decent product. My complaint with them is that they moved in a different direction than I believe is best for me.
I still use Plex but I use Emby much more than I do Plex because of Plex’s overburdening the product with fluff.
Plex does exactly what it says it does and does it pretty well but the interface is bad for me and something as simple as playing the next episode in my On Deck list after one has played requires extra keystrokes when it should be a matter of simply hitting play after an episode completes. Not everyone wants to play a series of episodes from the same show. Binge watching one show is not what I want but it is what Plex forces on everyone unless they jump through the hoops of extra keystrokes.
It is good to have choice and I wish the choice was within one app but Plex usually chooses to make it, “The Plex way or the highway.” Emby is better but there is still not enough choice even there.
Plex has never shown any responsiveness to user desires. They just push what Plex believes is right on everyone and what they believe is right seems to work for enough people so that Plex remains extremely profitable and profit is all that matters to Plex.
I share my library with a few people, and it’s used several times daily by these people.
I obviously don’t charge my users, so from their perspective, the content I provide them with is indeed free. But the ‘Free Movies and TV’ text suggests that the content I have provided them with is not only free for them to access (it is), but that it has been obtained without cost (it has not).
The cost (financial and time) of providing and maintaining a Plex server is not insignificant. All of the which is invisible to the users I share my library with, so it’s understandable they don’t appreciate the effort. But I feel that the ‘Free Movies and Tv’ text really devalues the financial and effort\time cost.
So changing the logo on my own devices isn’t sufficient - I’d like the logo to return to it’s original on all devices automatically.
Once again someone who thinks just because they share content with someone else that they should be able to choose what that person sees (logo, free content). Go create your own app if you want control. (I do agree I think the logo on the app is ugly as well but such a tiny little problem as I click the icon and I am in). Heck I kinda like the icon somewhat because it seems to make Plex a little more legal with less questions from people.
Luckily the Plex logo hasn’t changed on the shield or phone for me yet. I haven’t seen the new one, but it sounds…cheap. Its one of those I would definitely scroll right past in the app store.
And the people saying Emby is better, there is certainly some things that are better such as their “up next” screen that actually triggers at the credits of the current episode so you can push a button to get right into the next episode as well as they are starting to implement HEVC ENCODING which is a huge bandwidth saver and yet the threads I could find on these forums the plex staff sounded like they thought that would be a waste of resources to work on.
And yet there is a big feature Plex has that Emby doesn’t yet - smart streaming or the streaming brain whatever its called - Emby won’t change bitrate on the fly as more users start streaming if bandwidth is becoming used up. Theres pluses and minuses to both, I’m not a fan of commercialization though. Emby is probably a better local streaming platform but Plex excels at remote streaming. If plex added a more functional up-next interface like Emby and HEVC encoding I wouldn’t need to switch back and forth at all.
I paid for the plex pass, so I do own a bit of it… and I did it many years ago basically participating in the formation of the company and enabling it to continue to where it is today. I think they have pulled a fast one with charging me for a product but then using that platform on my media devices as a ad platform and I’m just not ok with that. You can be a slave to ad beast if you want to ‘just click past it’ but where does it stop? it’s ugly (and you might not care) but I like a clean interface on my personal devices.
Emby pops up the “up next” screen during the video right at the credits? That is completely intrusive just like Netflix does. Some people like myself actually enjoy the credits and don’t want them interrupted at all. Thanks for pointing that out, for this reason alone I’ll NEVER use Emby. The app has no right to pop up anything over your videos as they play especially if it is forced and you can’t turn it off. If Plex ever starts doing this I’ll stop using it immediately, it’s a total deal breaker. I’m tired of apps ruining the ending of videos just to cater to attention deficit people who can’t wait to get to the next episode while ruining the ending of videos for people that just want it to finish undisturbed.
You are quite uninformed about Emby. That "intrusiveness you so hate and others like is easily turned off in the settings. If you had asked in their forums I am quite sure you would have been told how to turn off. I have it off as well as auto play next and most other intrusions.
You should at least be informed before you condemn an app.
There is MUCH more user choice in Emby than Plex ever even considered. In most cases in Plex it is “The Plex way or the highway.”
Thanks for the information, my emotional reaction is based on my frustrating experience with apps like Netflix and Disney+ which force features like this with no option to turn it off. I am glad Emby is doing it correctly, that is very refreshing.
Whoa now, you are a bit over excited. 1st of all, it can be turned off. 2nd of all, its a transparent button on the bottom which doesn’t obscure your credit viewing. 3rd, i’m willing to bet 90-95% of people don’t care about the credits anyways as for TV shows they’re usually the same aside from any guest stars which often time popup in the beginning of the episode. So Plex offering the option would be great, and I’m pretty sure the majority of people would use it. How many people stand up soon as the credits hit at the movie theatre? Unless its a marvel/DC/yada yada big franchise those people are out as soon as fade to black hits. Working at a theatre when I was younger, there is occasionally an exception to the rule with someone sitting through the entire credits looking for I’m not sure what.
