There is a thread out there that was opened back in September 2019 that starts the discussion of requesting Plex Support to add a feature to Plex that would truly make the app the best DVR application out there.
For the past 22 months Plex users (mostly Plex Pass users) have been asking Plex for an enhancement to the DVR/Live TV function that would include the capability to add the ability to watch/record the TV Everywhere (TVE) content they have access to via the Live TV streaming service they are using.
I have yet to see a response from Plex Support on whether or not they have any plans to develop and add the capability into Plex that would allow for this.
Many of us Plex users are using an app called Channel Plus that allows us to record and/or watch live TV using TVE and a subscription to a Live TV service. TVE is something I would have expected the developers of Plex to have done some time ago, but they decided to let Channels take the lead instead. With that said, maybe it’s time for Plex to put on their big boy/girl pants and focus on something their users would really like to see instead of some of the crap they’ve added that I can get with Amazon or Netflix.
Plex, be a leader and come up with a TVE solution that will really enhance the Live TV/DVR function of Plex. It would also be nice if someone would at least acknowledge whether or not they have plans to implement something like this, and if they do, what the timeline will be.
Due to the volume of requests it is difficult to respond to many so we generally only respond unless we are looking for clarity on the request. Or we absolutely know the answer is no. Or we absolutely know that the feature implementation is done or nearly complete.
@Freway_01 You’re right, this is something we are striving to get much better at. My philosophy is an answer you don’t like is better then no answer. As @BigWheel said, it’s tough given the volume to address every request unless we have specific information, or need more information.
It’s not a great answer, but it’s usually the case that we are looking at these types of requests and discussing internally - but are just failing to provide feedback in the forums.
My goal, is for us to get quite a bit faster in responding - even when we have no useful information, other then we hear you. In this case - that’s the best I can say - We have heard this feedback, and are having internal discussions about what’s possible. I don’t have any more information than that right now.
So should I assume that Plex really doesn’t care what its user base wants? If the thread I mentioned has been active (Feature Request: Add TV Everywhere to Live TV Dvr) for 22 months with a ton of support for the request, shouldn’t someone from Plex at least have the decency to respond to the 22 months of requests?
I can’t control what you assume - but we have a 25M user base, and its a small (but useful) percentage that participates in the forums. Of course we want to do everything we can to support and deliver the best possible product to our biggest fans, but that doesn’t always represent the wants and needs of the significant % outside the forums.
As I said above - the time to respond does suck, and is a key part of what the team is focused on improving. Determining what the “user base wants” - goes way beyond the posts in this forum. While the features you care about do matter to us, we also have to consider the other 25M users and the business needs of the company that allow us to continue to deliver anything.
That being said you’re right - we have to be much better at responding - quickly - even when we don’t have an answer. That’s the issue you raise that I strongly agree with.
Why not do a survey of Plex Pass users to see if this is something they want? As a long time Plex user and Plex Pass member, I’ve seen a lot of changes to Plex over the years, most of which I don’t use and I’m sure others also don’t use.
A few years ago, Plex offered a streaming service that when combined with the OTA Live TV/DVR, provided many of the Live TV services that are offered today by YouTube TV, Sling, Pluto, Vidgo, etc. Adding this capability to Plex for Plex Pass members would not only answer the calls from Plex Pass members for the capability, but incentive regular Plex users to upgrade.
Thank you for your reply. I appreciate what you guys are doing and respect how you are approaching this thread.
I agree with OP that I was shocked that there was no response for so long on this topic. I too use Channels Plus because of its TVE integration and DVR. It just works great so by default word of mouth typically points people in that direction.
Plex employees care. There’s a lot of users and a lot of requests. I think users of the forums can overreact some times and users don’t work together on requesting things. They get tunnel vision. We need to search for previous suggestions and vote if they match ours.
So the response was no response to the actual question?
Regarding the 25m users I guess you picked up many of them with the new “free” content?
Why not work out the bugs in the DVR for us lifers? I originally started using Plex for the ability to scrape & serve my movie collection throughout the house and to a couple of friends. I became a lifer just using it for that. I was stoked on having an app on my Roku that could passthrough original content formats to my receiver. I didn’t want a Kodi experience I loved the simplicity and useability of Plex in comparison.
I also didn’t want to be forced to use only certain devices which has not happened with Plex so kudos for that not changing!
I also should be still pissed off about what happened to our Plex Media Center. There where many of us that used and really enjoyed the Plex Media Center and built little Nuc’s or other computers for it then first you change it then disowned it. It was awesome for programmable remote controls. Simple .json file edits and you could have ff/rew and chapter skip forward & backward just to name one many options. Anyone want an Intel Nuc i3 that can hardware transcode everything?
Now that the app looks & acts the same on all devices I really can’t complain about this now. But, when support dropped I was pissed. And, yes I know there is still development going on for the dedicated players, but that is not the point or the same.
I remember years ago we at least were able use web apps (the basis of TVE) to watch some of our cable channels. What happened to that feature?
That was ways better than the web shows feature we have now.
Podcasts are good, but pretty ubiquitous
The inclusion of Tidal is great for me, but I used to be a Spotify user so what about those people.
There are several additions that have happened in the past couple of years I really don’t understand. All the “free” TV & Movie stuff.
So in your anticipation of what “We” want what’s your next move?
Improving the DVR it’s commercial algorithm, It’s h.264 transcoding maybe some clearer setting control for it. I’ve had it set to slow, and I run an I9-9900K (all cores at 5K) with 64GBs or RAM and an RTX-2080, the file comes out bigger than the original mpg2 how does that work, the TV Guide info for Cable and OTA? Other replay issues like when I fast forward and the audio sync is off or it starts and stops between direct play and server transcoding…
Sorry guys I know it looks like I’m venting all my gripes it’s more I am pointing out the flaws in their no response response. Many of us want things they introduced quite some time ago to be fixed before we see “new & shiny” objects…
TOUCHE.Also a lifer here, TVE would definitely be one of the top 5 things to making Plex truly hands down the best. Until then https://getchannels.com/ will suffice
