After a few months (on & off) of trying to figure out the menus & options, I’ve arrived at this evaluation;
It’s great app if you want to be prompted three times with the same username & password to log in then it says ‘Sorry there is a problem with your log in’.
Then you delete Plex then reinstall it with a different username and the same issue happened.
It’s great app if you want to be inundated with so many options that you have to learn and remember what they do.
It’s great app if you want it to shove crap in your face you in various screens that you find annoying and will never use.
It’s great app if you want convoluted options that you may not want but cannot delete or hide. Just trying to get it to consistently show all your videos & songs in a list rather than in tile
mode is a PITA.
It’s great app if you want Plex to reset everything back to default, after you’ve spent a lot of time customizing your screens.
It’s great app if you like it to display stand alone movies in the folders of certain TV Shows that you have all the episodes saved for.
But when you view those movies in Windows Explorer they ARE in their own folder.
I’m going back to my ‘never fails me’ Raspberry Pi with OSMC installed that I simply attach to the back of my flatscreen TV (thru HDMI) with double stick velcro tape and completely controllable with an OSMC proprietary remote control to play my music and videos
I just copied all the various format movies and OSMC play’s them without an issue.
Bottom line… It’s still just a media player, and the world has enough of them. We shouldn’t have to re-invent the process to watch our of library of movies.
Plex isn’t just a media player, it is a client/server application pair for streaming media over a LAN or even WAN. A media player cannot play media on a network without an operating system file share or web server dishing out the files to it from another machine.
NX6, First, your narrow-mindedness is being taken into consideration. How about I call Plex, a software based audio\video listening\viewing delivery platform? Then what would your response be? MY POINT is, all the issues I mentioned in my posting were what I experienced when trying to get it up & running. There is no negating that! Second, don’t reply. Members of the jury, these are the facts and they are Indisputable.
I differ in your opinion and I agree mostly with @nx6 apart from the sarcasm. Unfortunately, it just sounds like you had a bad experience and now you think that that’s par for the course. What you hate others might love so you really should say that this was the complexity of Plex to you and ask how others might feel because I don’t feel the way you do.
Yes, I was sarcastic. But it is quite indicative of me dislike of Plex. So you see, I gave Plex more than a fair chance to win me over over many months. But for my needs, I found that pretty much everything you need to do in Plex requires reading lots of webpages and ‘how to’s’ to MERELY watch videos and listen to music, as explained I can do easily in Linux on my RaspBerry Pi.
I JUST FEEL the developers should go talk to some average computer users for their impression of getting their Plex up & running to determine if the OOBE installation of Plex is too complex.
Thanks
Plex is not for everyone and does require some understanding of computers and client server operations. Some people can easily learn this and some have harder times to learn the same thing. Everyone learns at different levels and some just can’t grasp the concept. Just because you may have issues with getting it to work correctly does not mean you should dis the product. There are many videos online that show you how to setup Plex but there is also hardware considerations that need to be taken in to account for the Pex Server as well as the devices the clients will be running on.
I have been using Plex for years and other than a bug here and there I can stream anything to my TVs and remote clients without any issues.
first of all, folks, take it down a notch and keep it civil and on point, please.
second, plex is not perfect, nor is every use case covered by its functionality or default options.
the OP’s comments and experience may be completely valid for them, and they have every right to express them, ideally in a constructive and non-confrontational manner, assuming they want anyone to take them seriously.
the user has desires that don’t align with plex’s functionality, that is entirely OK, everyone is free to vote with their wallet and use whatever best options are available to them.
I agree plex is great app! Just read then documents on setup. You are having this issue, not everyone, so it’s not plex sadly, more than likely this is all user error. I log in once np, all media plays and the menus are very easy to navigate.
Could ask for help instead of complaining about how you can’t get it working right.
I’ve been gainfully employed working in a Windows environment for many years for companies like Cisco & WebEx, the insurance industry and medical to name a few in the AD, Exchange & Network side of the house. The issues I’ve explained are from an OOBE installation. The computer it’s on as an Optiplex 7010 - I7. 8GB RAM & 1TB drive. I can watch movies on it on the devices in my home as well as my cell phone when I am away from the house. In addition, my buddy on the east coast can watch it too… And I have watched his. That being said, the interface and plethora of functions are a LOT! Possibly the definition of overkill. So like I said, it’s too bad we cannot add options thus customizing Plex to our own preferences. And then have the option to roll the change back if we don’t like it. No offense meant to anyone. Perhaps my comments would be better suited for the website of customer reviews.
This is the only topic the OP has created (with this account at least), and his posts within are the only posts he has made on this forum, which according the Plex is the official channel for support.
He seems to be having some sort of issue with his Plex account and the server keeping track of it. Also there is an issue with his client app (or apps, we don’t know what we’re even using here) not saving hub management or filter settings. Is there any evidence he seeked any assistance here for his issues?
He made some vague complaints about “convoluted options you may not want but cannot hide” and how Plex will “shove crap in your face in your various screens that you fine annoying and will never use”. Is this another person not happy with the Plex ad-supported content (which you can disable)? Is it the suggested (related) content on pre-play screens? Note that none of his post is specific enough for us to tell wtf he’s talking about. It’s just empty bashing.
He doesn’t like that Plex is not following his preconceived directory-based media organization plan when the point of Plex is you set up the files so it can understand what the content is, and it organizes your media for you, and then lets you filter/change views, create collections, playlists, etc. Wanting to stick a movie in a TV series is entirely possible (it gets listed as a Special) but that’s kinda up to theTVDB if the metadata will come in for it.
“Why is settings up a webserver more complicated than VLC?”
So, to summarize: “Area man struggles with Plex setup and the software not reading his mind. Seeks no help. Makes ragequit post and leaves. Film at 11.”
Most ragequits/i’m leaving/rants are cries for help, smothered in sarcasm and hyperbole.
If the op (or anyone/everyone else) actually wants help, new topic, appropriate section, with specific details, versions, screenshots if necessary, and of course logs reproducing the problem.
There’s where your problems are.
Plex is not just a media player. It’s a media management system. If you want that type of system then you have to learn how to use it. It’s the same for Plex competitors like Emby or Jellyfin.
If OSMC is working for you then stick with it.
I use Plex for most stuff and Kodi for situations where Plex isn’t the right solution.
If you want help getting Plex working let us know.
You can’t believe that every Plex user is experiencing the problems that you are. Plex would have closed the doors years sgo.
