I know that this has been previously asked, but as desktop players have changed completely since this was first asked, it really needs asking again.
Why is there no Linux Desktop Player like macOS and Windows get? With PMP being kneecapped soon with no desktop view, it’s really annoying not being able to have a proper hardware accelerated desktop player like macOS and Windows get.
I believe that the desktop players use a combination of FFMPEG, MPV and QT underneath them anyway, which all started life on Linux and are still natively supported to this day. As cool as the Plex MPV shim is, it’s just not as good, nor as neat as and simple as a fully supported desktop application for standard desktop playback.
What about a Linux version? Right now, we’re focusing our resources on macOS and Windows to ensure they receive the best experience they can. It’s certainly possible that we could expand to support Linux in the future, but for now it’ll be Windows and macOS.
and
Future Considerations
We’re listening to user feedback and discussing the following topics. We’ll share more information when available.
Plex for Linux
I’m not aware of any subsequent updates / statements
Yeah I saw those posts when I was trying to find some answers.
My main problem really is that PMP is going to lose it’s desktop support soon. So we Linux users have gone from having a working client to none at all. While I appreciate that the original PMP on Linux was a community effort (much like the very impressive MPV shim), it’s frustrating and problematic for people who use Plex on Linux everyday. What is particularly irksome is that Linux has, as far as I can tell, all of the dependencies available natively for it to be achievable. I suspect it could be packaged up neatly in an AppImage without too much of a headache (though I do appreciate it’s not as simple as just “compile, oh look it’s done”.)
If PMP was going to keep it’s desktop support for the forseeable future, then maybe I’d be a little more ok with it, but at the moment it’s a pretty major problem for me and a fair few others.
I don’t know enough about software development or the licensing involved really to say anything with any real conviction here; but is it possible that a solution similar to how Plex Media Player was released for Linux could be picked up for the desktop player on Linux, until it’s released by the team officially? I’m not sure what was involved, but that would be a great stop-gap until it’s picked up officially. That’s also not really any different to how I and many others using Plex Media Player already.
Not having the ability for proper video playback (particularly of things like HEVC/H265) on Linux is problematic enough for me to potentially need to look into other solutions, as I have to use Linux for my job.
I totally get that the original solution that everyone already uses on Linux was never officially supported (as it was built by the community), but it’s left a bit of a sour taste in my mouth that I’ve gone from having something working to nothing at all (and transcoding videos live to play in the browser is not an option). Given the developments in AppImage, snap and flatpak (please flatpak or appimage) nowadays I hope that developing a version for is now significantly less problematic.
It’d be dope to have a proper Linux desktop player.
This is referring to Plex Media Player, not the desktop player like MacOS and Windows get.
There is already a Plex Media Player build for Linux. However as PMP is soon to lose one of it’s key features: the desktop view (plex-web), there is a need for a real desktop player for Linux.
I feel like it’s important for me to point out, that I believe PMP should lose the desktop view, it makes no sense having it there in a home theatre style application, however before that happens there should be a fully fledged desktop player for Linux. As without it Linux is losing out quite substancially.
Yeah indeed, Plex with Kodi works well and Plexamp is great for as a minimalist audio player (it’s been my goto background music player for a while now). But neither really get close to the full desktop experience. Kodi with Plex (and PMP for that matter) are not fun to use with a keyboard and mouse at all, particularly if you want to use it in a windowed mode.
Absolutley worth pointing out for people are a bit stuck at the moment though!
But for anyone else reading, please do bear in mind that none of these things even get close to a full desktop experience.
Both Kore or Yatse for android are nice alternatives to keyboard/mouse control.
I don’t know about iphone.
For windowed Kodi on linux, use backslash key “\” to toggle fullscreen mode, then use standard window management to get it resized to your liking.
It’s all good, at least something to hack around to pass the time.
I’m recent enough to this ballgame that I’ve never run PMP myself so there’s that, I don’t even know what I’m comparing this to this thing that everyone seems to miss.
Great info for other people still hunting down workarounds!
Doesn’t really work well for me though unfortunatley, the Kodi cursor replacement isn’t much fun and the GUI is great for TVs, not so much desktops. There’s also no media management at all (which is understandable, given that Kodi and Plex Media Player are designed to be used on TVa from a distance).
The main thing that’s missing in case you’ve not used it, is that the true desktop player that MacOS and Windows has runs the fully fledged plex-web interface with advanced decoders. So you can have your full media management with proper codec support etc. Honestly, it’s pretty great and I’m loving it on my no Linux machines. Unfortunatley for me though, my most used machine is Linux.
Frankly, I’m still not clear on what you’re talking about. PMP IS a desktop player. It just happens to ALSO have TV mode. If you don’t use that option, don’t. It’s not stopping you from doing anything else and it still works great in Windows at least. The “new” Plex app is ONLY for a desktop and it LOSES a bunch of advanced features like pass-through audio etc.
I also wouldn’t be too concerned with losing desktop mode in PMP. It hasn’t happened yet despite the fact the last 5 releases have said it would be the last offering a desktop mode. It still works either way and like when they said PMP would completely go away, Plex Inc backpedaled and said it would continue to support it indefinitely. I wouldn’t be surprised if they did the same thing with the desktop capabilities of PMP instead of forcing people to the “new” Plex player. There’s just still too much demand for it and many folks use their PC in both modes.
All that being said, I could still be completely missing what you’re looking for. However, the link I posted earlier seems to be a Linux client for PMP…at least on a Pi.
Again:
You’re looking for the “new” player, but that does nothing I’m aware of that that PMP doesn’t also do…PLUS it has the ability to flip into a 10 foot interface and richer audio controls. If you don’t use those so what? It will still fulfill the desktop player requirement wouldn’t it?
I am well aware that there’s a PMP build for Linux, as I mentioned in my first post, but that’s not the problem I’ve got at the moment.
PMP is indeed a desktop player, at the moment. It is clear that it’s being transitioned into a dedicated Home Theatre app.
Plex have said that desktop view is going away from PMP, so I am going to carry on operating under that informaiton. Given that’s the interface I use, I’m going to be concerned that it’s going away, with no alternative currently on the table. I’m aware of the backpedalling, which I actually give Plex some credit for, they heard their users and did something about it. But the direction is clear, there will be distinct and up to date desktop players, that Linux currently does not have.
Also as the PMP build is not maintainted by Plex directly, there are a few issues, like plex-web occasionally being more out of date compared to their desktop players.
I am aware of the benefits that PMP has over it’s currently very young desktop counterpart, however they’re features that are irrelevant to me in my desktop use case (I’m referring more to playback on laptops while mobile for example). So things like audio passthrough are not important (for me).
As I’ve mentioned previously, if PMP was confirmed as to never lose the desktop interface and it being supported with the desktop interface forever, I’d be more than happy with that and honestly not care about the new desktop app not being on Linux yet. But that’s not what Plex is telling us, so I am concerned.
Informative thanks, I won’t waste my time with a linux desktop media player. It would be nice to see development of the Linux new client soon, because I have a very linux heavy ecosystem and it’s very jarring to plug windows into my bedroom. It seems to make sense to get the client for windows and mac so it can be shared so easily, but Linux will kinda need one for the homes run by the people who host servers.
There are probably not enough people using Linux desktop as playback device, so Plex cannot waste resources on it. Take the community PMP builds as long as they last and if it doesn’t work anymore, look around for alternatives. Currently, PMP should work fine for most people.
Indeed and I appreciate that entirely, but there is still a userbase of Linux users that should be acknowledged. At the very least it’d be great for the community to get a hold of what they need to make community builds of Plex desktop, at least to start with.
Ideally it’d be something that we’d want Plex to support directly though, either through their repos, or more ideally in the form of an AppImage/Flatpak/Snap. (I presonally prefer AppImage).
Again, I totally appreciate that Linux is currently in the minority. But it’s a userbase that’s growing rapidly and it’d be amazing to see them supported.
I don’t think so. As much as I support your hopes (Linux user myself), so far Linux has gotten nowhere as a desktop OS. Its market share is somewhere near 2 % and lately I have the feeling that Plex even does not have the resources to fix and do everything for the more frequently used platforms.
So in summary I wouldn’t hold my breath that something like that is coming. Plex simply will not be able to attract a significant amount of new customers to earn more money with a new Linux client and therefore it won’t happen in my opinion.
Honestly, I can’t really agree with you there. Linux has never been easier to use or get a hold of. It’s now available preinstalled as Fedora on some ThinkPads and as Ubuntu on Dell XPS machines.
A significant portion of the people I work with have moved away from Windows to Linux/MacOS, primarily because of the increase in web and development work.
If we come back around to the consumer level, ChromeOS is wildly popular and of course is Linux. Having a Linux desktop player would even allow ChromeOS users to get a proper Plex experience. Linux use as a desktop has never been stronger.
Oh I didn’t doubt your numbers. Sorry that isn’t what I meant.
I’ve anecdotally never seen support for Linux desktop stronger than it is now. Even things like mainstream password managers have dedicated Linux clients now. Is it ever going to be a true desktop contender to the contemporaries with Windows/MacOS, probably not. But usage is definitley up.
I’d also argue that among Plex users, the percentage would probably be higher, given that I suspect Plex has a particularly technically interested user base. The mainstream lies with streaming services that aren’t self-hosted like Plex. The moment you’re self-hosting things, you’re already targeting a more techie crowd, who I suspect are much more likely to be using Linux on the desktop.
(which is understandable, given that Kodi and Plex Media Player are designed to be used on TVa from a distance).
