We’re hearing you loud and clearly! Just to second the sentiment, please stay civil and kind to each other 
1. You can create multiple users, then restrict which content those users can see.
Yeah, how do I do this? So the client will allow me to login, and based on Login that will determine what content I can see?
I am not saying this feature doesn't exist. But how do I do this?
2. If someone can sit down at your computer and your computer is unlocked, they can already kill any running process for the account, access any file that account has permissions to, semi-permanently delete any files that user has permissions to. And you're worried about them opening up Plex?
Yes, you are correct. But as I said before. This is a "Server App". I don't know what you do for a living. But I have been a software engineer for over 13 years. Anytime I need to access a "server". I have to be authenicated. This isn't a complicated feature to add.
Since they are using most likely XAML or HTML with javascript for the UI. This should not be that hard to add.3. You're coming off as whiny because you immediately assume Plex isn't capable of doing things that it is capable of and express disdain for what many people have found to be an amazing piece of software. A few minutes of searching through the forums or support info would have answered your questions. And if they didn't, you could politely ask, rather than complaining about how the app doesn't work exactly the way you want it to.
It isn't whiny when you create software yourself for a living. I see things from a different perspective then a lot of people when it comes to apps. When creating an app such as this. Security rights of the server and client is a no brainer that should have been thought of "up front".
You might disagree and I am ok with that. I will never call you names like whiny. I just might have a different level of expectations than you do.
string userName = "auxilio"
if(userName.ToUpper() == "AUXILIO")
MessageBox.Show("It will be ok dude, we are just having a discussion");
Even though I don't have kids, I agree somehow that there should be parental control on Plex in general and in the long run it would be nice if there is a way where we can link the xbox account with the plex account. So this way on the xbox you can only use a certain xbox account (the parents account) when entered a password and then you have access to all its media and games.
When the kids log into the xbox then they get their media and games and plex loads the childrens profile...
This would be the best solution in the long run IMO
Just make an option that the server admin could turn on.
The server admin than can create logins which will point to folder groups.
This is an "abstract" way of thinking.
What if Microsoft sends out an update that changes the way the user xbox login works?
This could "break" plex code if they have to program against something that could be changed by Microsoft.
If they did their own authenication system. There is less likely chance to have code breakage.They could easily package a SQL Server "Express" database to do this. Even MongoDB could work as well.
1. You can create multiple users, then restrict which content those users can see.
Yeah, how do I do this? So the client will allow me to login, and based on Login that will determine what content I can see?
I am not saying this feature doesn't exist. But how do I do this?
2. If someone can sit down at your computer and your computer is unlocked, they can already kill any running process for the account, access any file that account has permissions to, semi-permanently delete any files that user has permissions to. And you're worried about them opening up Plex?
Yes, you are correct. But as I said before. This is a "Server App". I don't know what you do for a living. But I have been a software engineer for over 13 years. Anytime I need to access a "server". I have to be authenicated. This isn't a complicated feature to add.
Since they are using most likely XAML or HTML with javascript for the UI. This should not be that hard to add.3. You're coming off as whiny because you immediately assume Plex isn't capable of doing things that it is capable of and express disdain for what many people have found to be an amazing piece of software. A few minutes of searching through the forums or support info would have answered your questions. And if they didn't, you could politely ask, rather than complaining about how the app doesn't work exactly the way you want it to.
It isn't whiny when you create software yourself for a living. I see things from a different perspective then a lot of people when it comes to apps. When creating an app such as this. Security rights of the server and client is a no brainer that should have been thought of "up front".
You might disagree and I am ok with that. I will never call you names like whiny. I just might have a different level of expectations than you do.
string userName = "auxilio"
if(userName.ToUpper() == "AUXILIO")
MessageBox.Show("It will be ok dude, we are just having a discussion");
1. Create an account for nephew. Grant his account access to only the libraries you want. This has the added advantage that the "watched status" doesn't affect yours.
2. You're in luck. I develop software too. And you almost never see special authentication to access applications running on a server. Instead, it's controlled based on the logged in account. Which is why several others suggested you lock your computer (Win +L if you're on a Windows device) and then switch to another account if you want your network use a computer. I have domain admin rights at work. I can guarantee you that nobody except me is allowed to use my account when logged in. If for some reason someone needed my computer, I would log off. That's our company policy, and it's the policy of every company I've ever worked for. The language/technology used doesn't really affect whether this is possible or not.
The reasoning behind this is simple: if someone is able to gain physical access to your server and it's logged in as an admin, then they can already do absolutely anything to that PC. Delete system files, inspect the contents of the system memory, close running processes at will. Therefore it's important to prevent someone from accessing it by locking the computer and never allowing a non-trusted user to use an account they shouldn't have access to.
3. Regardless of your experience, your post came across to me (and it appears like a few others) as whiny. And trying to say "I know better because I'm a software developer" isn't doing much to improve that image. Like I said, you will find a much more positive reception from others if you come in here with a positive attitude. That means presenting your points as questions or feature requests, rather than complaints. Please note that I did not call you whiny- I'm sure you're a stand-up guy or girl. I am saying that how you came across with your posts was whiny. I'd love to continue the discussion with you, but it's not fun to talk to (or help) someone that comes across that way. Let's keep it civil and kind like elan said.
Just make an option that the server admin could turn on.
The server admin than can create logins which will point to folder groups.
What you (and I) need are user accounts. You would then have login box on your server and on your client, regardless of the platform. It was talked about and planned AFAIK, just not available yet.
Can I have a feature request too? Please stop coloring your posts :)
I did read the docs dude. You seem to be taking what I am requesting personally.
1. Plex does not allow us to restrict what content shows up when I open up Plex on the Xbox One.
To me, this is a "common sense" feature that is missing from the Xbox client.
Plex does allow you to share to specific users and have those users have different views (libraries) that they can see. If you want to be logged in on your xbox one with your plex account and not show specific content on the opening screen but still have access to it? Then I suggest you click the checkbox on the libraries you dont want to show up 'include in dashboard' then they shouldn't show up there.
https://support.plex.tv/hc/en-us/articles/200288926-Creating-Libraries
if this is not working, instead of complaining about non existant parental control features (of which there are many threads already about), you could make a thread about include in dashboard not being respected on the xbox one, which I imagine would give you a better chance of getting that fixed (if its broken, I'm not sure as I havent tried it myself)
make a thread about include in dashboard not being respected on the xbox one, which I imagine would give you a better chance of getting that fixed
I'm pretty sure we respect that preference for all the home screen hubs.
1. Create an account for nephew. Grant his account access to only the libraries you want. This has the added advantage that the "watched status" doesn't affect yours.
It's simple, I just want a quick feature. If the plex app is launched on my xbox one. I don't want any content displayed unless I specify I don't want any type of authenication. if I want authenication, I would like to enter in a simple username and password. Then based on that. Certain folders will show. This is pretty simple.
2. You're in luck. I develop software too. And you almost never see special authentication to access applications running on a server. Instead, it's controlled based on the logged in account. Which is why several others suggested you lock your computer (Win +L if you're on a Windows device) and then switch to another account if you want your network use a computer. I have domain admin rights at work. I can guarantee you that nobody except me is allowed to use my account when logged in. If for some reason someone needed my computer, I would log off. That's our company policy, and it's the policy of every company I've ever worked for. The language/technology used doesn't really affect whether this is possible or not.
The reasoning behind this is simple: if someone is able to gain physical access to your server and it's logged in as an admin, then they can already do absolutely anything to that PC. Delete system files, inspect the contents of the system memory, close running processes at will. Therefore it's important to prevent someone from accessing it by locking the computer and never allowing a non-trusted user to use an account they shouldn't have access to.
I am not at work here when I use plex. I leave my PC on freely. I just think it would be great to have an "option" to secure the media manger.
I am less worried about this option. I am in the process of getting a new pc that will be a deciated server for stuff like this. Instead of using my main PC. So I have a fix for this in the future.
3. Regardless of your experience, your post came across to me (and it appears like a few others) as whiny. And trying to say "I know better because I'm a software developer" isn't doing much to improve that image. Like I said, you will find a much more positive reception from others if you come in here with a positive attitude. That means presenting your points as questions or feature requests, rather than complaints. Please note that I did not call you whiny- I'm sure you're a stand-up guy or girl. I am saying that how you came across with your posts was whiny. I'd love to continue the discussion with you, but it's not fun to talk to (or help) someone that comes across that way. Let's keep it civil and kind like elan said.
Why is expressing displeasure with something whiny? If you go back to anything I said. I personally never called anyone names or said anything personal to anyone. I never said something like "Hey guys, I think those Plex devs aren't smart". That's whiny and personal.
This is an app we are talking about. I was extremely excited about this xbox release. I patiently waited for days until the release.
Now that I actually have the app. I am very disappointed with it. So I wanted to express my frustrations towards the "app". Not towards anyone personally. You say you are a dev. I am sure you worked with other devs who are more blunt about things they don't like.
I am one of those devs that tends to speak up about things I feel passionate about.
I am seriously thinking about creating my own app for the xbox.
Luckly I know javascript, C# and XAML :)
Harder than you think
With the xbox I don't see a local login coming, that would be the whole point of different xbox live profiles. After the plex pass preview is over and normal accounts can be used, I plan to have my wife's xbox live account connect to her own plex.tv account so I can hide my audiobooks library from her or whatever (not really, but for the sake of explaination).
So for this, your nephew should have a different account on your xbox (his own gamertag) and his own plex.tv account that only has the libraries that he should be able to see. I don't know why plex should have user switching inside of an application on the xbox that already has a very good setup for user switching.
As to your issues with your nephew on your main box, this comes again from sharing a login. This is part of why we have separate accounts for people, so each have their own settings and related accounts set up, this has been the ways the windows operating systems have been going since 8 with the integrated accounts for Windows Live, Facebook, etc.
I don't know, I can see your point on some parts and not on others. Anyway, that's my thoughts on it, being a software dev (and systems admin) as well. :)
Harder than you think
It won't be easy doing it by myself. But having others to help could make it work :)
With the xbox I don't see a local login coming, that would be the whole point of different xbox live profiles. After the plex pass preview is over and normal accounts can be used, I plan to have my wife's xbox live account connect to her own plex.tv account so I can hide my audiobooks library from her or whatever (not really, but for the sake of explaination).
So for this, your nephew should have a different account on your xbox (his own gamertag) and his own plex.tv account that only has the libraries that he should be able to see. I don't know why plex should have user switching inside of an application on the xbox that already has a very good setup for user switching.
As to your issues with your nephew on your main box, this comes again from sharing a login. This is part of why we have separate accounts for people, so each have their own settings and related accounts set up, this has been the ways the windows operating systems have been going since 8 with the integrated accounts for Windows Live, Facebook, etc.
I don't know, I can see your point on some parts and not on others. Anyway, that's my thoughts on it, being a software dev (and systems admin) as well. :)
Fair enough.
What about having guest over who don't have xbox accounts setup because they are guest.
What if I leave the room and they are browsing my apps. They see this plex little app and wonder what it is. Bam!!!, they could see all my content. I am not talking about porn here lol. But people do have personal content pieces that they want to share with certain people. All I am saying here is give the app an "option" for something like this.
What about having 3 options here.
1. Authentication Type - Xbox One - Using existing account.
2. Authentication Type - Local - Which allows me to create my own usernames and passwords.
3. Authentication Type - None - Which most of you probably would want. This means that you open up the plex app and it works like it does now.
It won't be easy doing it by myself. But having others to help could make it work :)
Why would you do that, rather than just making suggestions to the team? I'll give you some reasons why not:
1. You have no control over Plex server. Any change the Plex team makes to the server could break your app. And Microsoft isn't going to be happy if your app breaks.
2. Microsoft would have to approve you just to start development. They're unlikely to do so unless you can demonstrate serious credentials
3. Microsoft has to approve every up date you make to the app
4. It's a lot of hard work, which would be better spent enjoying watching videos on the official Plex app for Xbox One.
Don't get me wrong, competition is great. But the Xbox isn't an open platform where competition is viable.
Fair enough.
What about having guest over who don't have xbox accounts setup because they are guest.What if I leave the room and they are browsing my apps. They see this plex little app and wonder what it is. Bam!!!, they could see all my content. I am not talking about porn here lol. But people do have personal content pieces that they want to share with certain people. All I am saying here is give the app an "option" for something like this.
First, could you just type normal and not bold everything, or red text, or whatever. It's unneccessary and really is again general forum etiquette.
If you are worried about this, are you not worried that they could just as easily go to the MS store on the xbox and purchase the exact same movie from there if they are on your account? As stated, if this is such a large worry, then you need to log out before you go out of the room.
As for having a guest over, make a guest account for them to use. I can't stand having people I don't know logged into my profile, if they open a game they can mess up my saved games and what not.
Why would you do that, rather than just making suggestions to the team? I'll give you some reasons why not:
1. You have no control over Plex server. Any change the Plex team makes to the server could break your app. And Microsoft isn't going to be happy if your app breaks.
Because none of us work for Plex. They could listen to our suggestions and decide they will never implement all of them.
These missing features is a show stopper for me. You might disagree, I am cool with that.2. Microsoft would have to approve you just to start development. They're unlikely to do so unless you can demonstrate serious credentials.
Have you heard of BizSpark? I am already a member of the Microsoft's BizSpark program. It gets you a free MSDN subscription for 3 years.
I have the resources from BizSpark to actually help me get this started. Seriously, check out BizSpark.3. Microsoft has to approve every up date you make to the app
Yes I know. This why I would go through BizSpark for this.
4. It's a lot of hard work, which would be better spent enjoying watching videos on the official Plex app for Xbox One.
I code for fun and I am very patient. I wouldn't care if it took me year to do something like this.
It's another thing to add to my resume. Check out NightDevelopers.com. That's my side project.Don't get me wrong, competition is great. But the Xbox isn't an open platform where competition is viable.
Why would you do that, rather than just making suggestions to the team? I'll give you some reasons why not:
1. You have no control over Plex server. Any change the Plex team makes to the server could break your app. And Microsoft isn't going to be happy if your app breaks.
Because none of us work for Plex. They could listen to our suggestions and decide they will never implement all of them.
These missing features is a show stopper for me. You might disagree, I am cool with that.2. Microsoft would have to approve you just to start development. They're unlikely to do so unless you can demonstrate serious credentials.
Have you heard of BizSpark? I am already a member of the Microsoft's BizSpark program. It gets you a free MSDN subscription for 3 years.
I have the resources from BizSpark to actually help me get this started. Seriously, check out BizSpark.3. Microsoft has to approve every up date you make to the app
Yes I know. This why I would go through BizSpark for this.
4. It's a lot of hard work, which would be better spent enjoying watching videos on the official Plex app for Xbox One.
I code for fun and I am very patient. I wouldn't care if it took me year to do something like this.
It's another thing to add to my resume. Check out NightDevelopers.com. That's my side project.Don't get me wrong, competition is great. But the Xbox isn't an open platform where competition is viable.
1. If your idea is valuable, it's likely to be picked up and added to the app. However, you haven't really made a viable use case for the ideas you've presented. They're highly contrived scenarios that already have clear and established solutions.
2. Yes, I have heard of BizSpark. Entrance to the program requires that you have a valid website, an actual business, and that the business be engaged in software development. Those requirements are absurdly easy to hit. Getting into BizSpark is simple. However, Microsoft's certification process just to begin development for the Xbox platform is much more tightly controlled. It's like showing up at NASA and saying "I have a valid driver's license, when will you let me fly the space shuttle?"
3. BizSpark is a great program, but it's not a magic side step around Microsoft's approval process.
4. Do you honestly think Microsoft is going to allow you into their program if you can't demonstrate a clear time table for release? Programming for the Xbox isn't a hobby. Saying that it'll be ready in "years" won't cut it. It's not like the Windows Store. It's not like the Apple App Store. Not only are app releases carefully controlled, but even the tools to begin development are tightly held.
I signed up for the $4.99 per month plan.
Some important features this app just doesn't have.
1. Anyone, and I mean anyone who opens the plex app on my TV will be able to see all content I have mapped on the server. This means my little nephew who is pretty tech savoy will be able to see things that aren't for kids. Yes, I am a horror movie fan. I regret purchasing the ipad app as well.
I immediately uninstalled it because of how open my content was to anyone who picked up my ipad.
The developers have family/parental controls on the road map as it is an often requested feature. It isn't however a feature that's currently advertised, so I'm not sure why you expected it to there.
2. This goes on the same point as number one. The media manager is freely open as well.
Yes, it's running on a non routable local internal IP address. So this means that no one from the outside can access it. That's a good thing.
But, if you go into the media manager now. Of course I could see and play all movies I have mapped. Once again, I can picture my nephew seeing the plex icon in the task bar. Then wondering what that is and then open up the media manager. He will be able to see things I don't want him seeing. On top of this, he could delete folders and do things I don't want him to.
The simple solution to this is to create an account on your computer for your nephew, and switch accounts when he comes over. If he's this tech savvy he could easily find the video files on the computer regardless of Plex being there. You have to take some responsibility to secure your media yourself.
3. I am probably in the minority here. But I don't really like the idea of horizontal screening to pick the content I want to watch. Horizontal screwing is good for tablets. not for a 60 inch TV.
This should work like the windows file explorer. The user should have the ability to switch from different views. For me, I would choose a vertical listing of files when a thumbnail view located to the right side. So when I scroll "down" from content to content. The thumbnail view would show a small screenshot of the picture / video.
This is the design language of the Xbox One. There are multiple viewing options for your content with Plex Home Theatre if you want to setup a personal media computer near your TV, but I think the idea of Plex on Xbox One is to provide a simple and unified experience for users familiar with the Xbox One.
4. When fast fowarding through the app. I have no idea how far I am going into the movie.
It's only a guess. The netflix app does a great job when you fast forward through content,
You see a frame by frame image of where you are going.
I would also enjoy this type of feature, I suspect it will show up in a future release. This is version 1.0 after all.
5. Any standard media device like the Western Digital device I had allowed me to stretch or full screen any movie that might not fit the whole screen by default. Yes I understand this does cause some picture loss. But I think some of us don't care in certain situations.
Your TV should have a zoom feature to accomplish this. I don't think it should be Plex's responsibility to add features that distort content.
I am most likely going to cancel my subscription plan here.
I still don't understand the tone of this post. Half the stuff you are upset about weren't even feature that were supposed to be in the initial release of the app. Yes, the app as it currently exists may not have some of the features you want... that's what the forum is for. Lots of room to make suggestions. But it' surety clear you didn't do any research about Plex beforehand and now you don't want to put the time in helping to make the app better, you're just here looking to complain. If that wasn't your intention, I apologize, but that's sure how it looks. Take a look around this sub-forum and see how others are reacting to features they want to see in the future.
I am seriously thinking about creating my own app for the xbox.
Luckly I know javascript, C# and XAML :)
Good luck with it! There's a section of the forums to keep us updated on your progress, I look forward to hearing about the app.
The developers have family/parental controls on the road map as it is an often requested feature. It isn't however a feature that's currently advertised, so I'm not sure why you expected it to there.
The simple solution to this is to create an account on your computer for your nephew, and switch accounts when he comes over. If he's this tech savvy he could easily find the video files on the computer regardless of Plex being there. You have to take some responsibility to secure your media yourself.Look, I have said before. Yes I could do this. BUT, that's not how I believe it should work.
It's simple. I don't care which xbox account I am logged into. I would rather be able to passcode protect the client app. Based on who logs in. Certain content will show based on user. So we will have to agree to disagree here.
This is the design language of the Xbox One. There are multiple viewing options for your content with Plex Home Theatre if you want to setup a personal media computer near your TV, but I think the idea of Plex on Xbox One is to provide a simple and unified experience for users familiar with the Xbox One.
I would also enjoy this type of feature, I suspect it will show up in a future release. This is version 1.0 after all.
Yes, I hope so to.
Your TV should have a zoom feature to accomplish this. I don't think it should be Plex's responsibility to add features that distort content.It doesn't that I am am aware of. But good point.
I still don't understand the tone of this post. Half the stuff you are upset about weren't even feature that were supposed to be in the initial release of the app. Yes, the app as it currently exists may not have some of the features you want... that's what the forum is for. Lots of room to make suggestions. But it' surety clear you didn't do any research about Plex beforehand and now you don't want to put the time in helping to make the app better, you're just here looking to complain. If that wasn't your intention, I apologize, but that's sure how it looks. Take a look around this sub-forum and see how others are reacting to features they want to see in the future.I am more frustrated about something that I looked foward to. Once again, you guys seem to be taking it more personally than I am. I am frustrated about an "App" (No Living) thing. Sometimes you are not heard if you don't speak with a little flare.
Good luck with it! There's a section of the forums to keep us updated on your progress, I look forward to hearing about the app.Thank You :)
I don't mean to sound harsh because I tell my own friends this often:
I like to show off my Plex setup (as well as other cool media things I have) to people and they often say "wow, can you set that up for me?". I say "no, if you can't set it up yourself then you won't be happy with it and I'm not going to maintain it for you". Then I tell them "if you don't have the will to learn how to do that you are better off paying for someone to do it for you (i.e. Netflix, Amazon Prime, etc.)". For someone who doesn't have the time (or patience?) to do a manual setup and live without some of the cool features you have come to expect from other services you're probably better off paying for a service. Although those services have their own limitations too, just different ones.
I don't mean to sound harsh because I tell my own friends this often:
I like to show off my Plex setup (as well as other cool media things I have) to people and they often say "wow, can you set that up for me?". I say "no, if you can't set it up yourself then you won't be happy with it and I'm not going to maintain it for you". Then I tell them "if you don't have the will to learn how to do that you are better off paying for someone to do it for you (i.e. Netflix, Amazon Prime, etc.)". For someone who doesn't have the time (or patience?) to do a manual setup and live without some of the cool features you have come to expect from other services you're probably better off paying for a service. Although those services have their own limitations too, just different ones.
So you are saying that there is a way to setup logins for the xbox client?
Then based on login. Certain content will display?So you are saying that I can put authentication on the media manager setup?
I am not talking about authentication based no other pc's on the network.
I am looking for instructions of how to do this?
