The Windows app is paid/subscription only now?

General Discussions
1

I’ve been away from Plex for a while, as my server CPU failed and I never got round to replacing it.

So now I return only to find that not only are the Android/iOS apps paid (which seems fair, the justification given at the time always seemed to be that they were extras and cost more to produce), but also the Windows app and Kodi Add-on?

I understand that you’re a business and need to make money, but to actively take away things that were free seems a little far. Again, I see the point of having premium benefits, but this very much seems like core functionality. More importantly, it feels like money grabbing.

So I guess you can keep the money I spent on the Android and iOS apps previously, while I migrate to Emby, who’s Kodi app is free. Ironic that you provided a better service back before you had any real competition.

2

The good thing is The Windows Store app blows anyway.
Another good thing is that Plex Media Player is far superior and that’s now free:
Top of the Forum/Download/Get an App.

3

Slightly off-topic question.

What’s the differences between the Windows App, the Media Player, and a plain 'ole browser.

Cheers.

4

@EddieA said:
What’s the differences between the Windows App, the Media Player, and a plain 'ole browser.

Each is built onto a different media player foundation. And so each of these apps has different abilities to Direct Play the various media file formats.
The more formats an app can Direct Play - the less transcoding is required on the Plex Server.

The loser in this regard is the Web app, since it only runs in a web browser. As such it is restricted to a web browser’s media playback abilities.

Then in the middle is the Windows Store app, which is built onto the UWP media foundation (from Microsoft).

The winner is PMP, which brings its own media player engine, (which in turn is based off mpv ).
It Direct Plays virtually everything, including VC-1 encoded videos with PGS or Vobsub subtitles (i.e. BluRay ‘remuxes’)

5

So translated means the best client for your PC is available for free. :slight_smile:

It really is outstanding and if you haven’t tried it lately you don’t know what your missing. It even has to “views”. It can have a 10 foot interface or mimic the web interface. So if you like the web interface but wanted more codec support then PMP is the clear cut client you should be using or trying.

Carlo