Watchlists: What changed, what exactly are they for?

Plex Players
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1

I just went into my watchlist and clicked on a movie to watch, luckily caught myself from clicking remove from watchlist which was the default button. When before I’d just click to play.

So, now I’m just really confused. Why is the first thing that I’m going to click on is removing something from a watchlist? Which begs the next question, what exactly are they for… because I’m obviously using it wrong.

I’ve been using them to favorite movies I like to watch over and over… now I almost removed movies… Alright. that’s a change, but now it’s another click to where to watch (still don’t get that) then my media server then the movie page, the watch.

Why are things moving away from useful… why is everything turning into more clicks. Is there another feature I should be using to favorite movies I watch over and over again, where I can easily add them with a click of a button?

2

What version of the Plex app for Roku are you running? I just did a quick test here (version 9.9.12, preview channel) and after selecting an item in my watchlist, “Watch Now” was the default selection.

[Edit]
After additional testing, it appears the behavior differs based on whether or not the item is available on Plex’s VOD or live TV services.

  • If available via Plex VOD, Watch Now is the default selection.
  • If not available via Plex VOD, but is available via Plex Live TV, Where To Watch is the default selection.
  • If not available via Plex VOD or Live TV, Remove From Watchlist is the default selection (even if it’s available on your PMS).

That’s definitely neither intuitive, nor desirable, in my opinion,

3

Thanks for looking into the changes… it was certainly confusing.
I also did some spot checking and can confirm the VOD behavior.
Not a fan of these changes, but I’m glad I wasn’t clicky like I usually am.

Might need to start spending time manually managing playlists for my favorite movies instead. Looks like watchlists are becoming something else instead of simple bookmarks.

4

I’d definitely recommend this. Actually, I’d create it as a collection; they can then be published to your Home Screen as a hub for quick access.

5

The primary action for titles on Discover is Add to Watchlist. So that button remains but due to the state change it is changed to Remove while it’s in your Watchlist. It does feel odd. Thanks for the feedback.