I have to agree. No idea how this new UI was tested but it’s absolutely atrocious. Completely off the rails compared to past experience with Plex. That all changed today when I loaded up the Plex app on my Xbox One.
yeah I was just playing a game on my xb180 and just got an ominous notification that plex was update… uh oh. this scares me because there have already been many frustrated/mad/sad Amazon FireTV users, who have been going through the same helpless horror for the last month or two. no chance to choose, no chance to downgrade.
on top of that, the new “improved”???!? UI is not just horrific, it’s completely different from the horrible new FireTV one, just horrible in many different ways! (and so much for feature-parity lol.)
yes, its just plain out bad, I hate to offer up such a huge complaint as I like the service, but they have it right on Roku, added live tv, kept the familiar and very intuitive useful interface.
sometimes I think companies just feel they have to make a change to show others they are keeping up with being modern, this was not the case here, the interface was beautiful, it beat every single paid online tv, movie and radio service hands down.
DVR support prompted me to install an outdoor antenna.
I built about a 7000 server to do this, and many other things too to run it, 7 rokus can stream from it at the same time, no quality lost.
it was the best thing that was offered to the computer gurus who can figure it out (its not rocket science) but your average joe has no idea what to do with it.
I pay the monthly fee so they get 80 bucks from me every year for basically 2 things, software updates / bug fixes, and a form of dynamic DNS.
They screwed us this time, I love plex, I really do, always have, had it for a long time, it beats all the amateur kodi and next pvr crap hands down with reliability and a clean professional look
I will however be seeking alternatives if I see it continue to loose ease an functionality. I will probably keep it, but I wont pay for the service (I already pay for dynamic DNS for other things and only use this in house) I could have easily just paid for the apps and use this free, I offered up 5 dollars a month just to support them since I felt the service was so great.
their time would have better been spent expanding the tv tuners supported, ny backup server has an older Hauppauge that isn’t supported and I have an ati all in wonder that is in a third pc, not supported, its ok because they grandfathered my 2250 hauppage in, but heck if you want to write code you know lol. also they could have made use of the internal FM tuners in these cards, allowed you to stream AV input (this would be handy as PC upscales SD much better and one VCR could supply the whole house with the ability to watch a legacy collection etc, just add more, don’t change what you have right.
lets face it, you wont get new customers from this, period, we plex users are techies, we have this because of what it can do, not how colorful it is!
Moussa, I think there is only one real solution here, from the outpour of complaints like mine, even after using it a couple days or so, its still bad, your going to make ALOT of people unhappy with this, and honestly the only people I see this making happy are the ones who someone else pays for plex, set it up on their server, and set it up for them, and it wont be many of them, this is a losing battle and will cost you guys customers and not gain any, the people who pay for this are the ones speaking here, the ones who built the systems and networks to use it, the ones who populate the libraries, not the kids in the next room who log in to watch spongebob.
Solution, completely trash this new UI, seriously, don’t try to mod it, don’t try to make it more palatable, just go back, please. Roku, currently is a shining example of what plex UI should be
@Moussa said:
Hi there.I have 2 tv libraries, one for dvr recordings and one for other shows
What exactly is the issue here. You can access your TV libraries by navigating up from the top navigation bar on the dashboard to switch between them.
playlists are gone
Switch to the library that playlist is comprised of and you’ll see the playlists in a hub on that dashboard.
Please let us know what the pain points you have with the app are, feedback is always useful.
@AshTray900 said:
Moussa, I think there is only one real solution here, from the outpour of complaints like mine, even after using it a couple days or so, its still bad, your going to make ALOT of people unhappy with this, and honestly the only people I see this making happy are the ones who someone else pays for plex, set it up on their server, and set it up for them, and it wont be many of them, this is a losing battle and will cost you guys customers and not gain any, the people who pay for this are the ones speaking here, the ones who built the systems and networks to use it, the ones who populate the libraries, not the kids in the next room who log in to watch spongebob.Solution, completely trash this new UI, seriously, don’t try to mod it, don’t try to make it more palatable, just go back, please. Roku, currently is a shining example of what plex UI should be
@Moussa said:
Hi there.I have 2 tv libraries, one for dvr recordings and one for other shows
What exactly is the issue here. You can access your TV libraries by navigating up from the top navigation bar on the dashboard to switch between them.
playlists are gone
Switch to the library that playlist is comprised of and you’ll see the playlists in a hub on that dashboard.
Please let us know what the pain points you have with the app are, feedback is always useful.
@AshTray900 said:
Moussa, I think there is only one real solution here, from the outpour of complaints like mine, even after using it a couple days or so, its still bad, your going to make ALOT of people unhappy with this, and honestly the only people I see this making happy are the ones who someone else pays for plex, set it up on their server, and set it up for them, and it wont be many of them, this is a losing battle and will cost you guys customers and not gain any, the people who pay for this are the ones speaking here, the ones who built the systems and networks to use it, the ones who populate the libraries, not the kids in the next room who log in to watch spongebob.Solution, completely trash this new UI, seriously, don’t try to mod it, don’t try to make it more palatable, just go back, please. Roku, currently is a shining example of what plex UI should be
@Moussa said:
Hi there.I have 2 tv libraries, one for dvr recordings and one for other shows
What exactly is the issue here. You can access your TV libraries by navigating up from the top navigation bar on the dashboard to switch between them.
playlists are gone
Switch to the library that playlist is comprised of and you’ll see the playlists in a hub on that dashboard.
Please let us know what the pain points you have with the app are, feedback is always useful.
There are some people that like it, and there are benefits to the new approach as @cayars pointed out. Trashing it isn’t necessary. There are tweaks that can be made to satisfy just about everyone.
@Moussa said:
@KeiffG If you follow the instructions in that first run message it will populate your dashboard after with your expected On Deck, recently added hubs etc. That message should only show up the first time you run the app. If you press up when focused on a type icon on the dashboard it should reveal a library source picker that shows all the libraries available in that type.
There were no instructions. It said the app needed an update, and then next time I opened it I had to sign in, and go to plex.tv/link. Afterwards you get that blank home page screen. How do you fix this? Populate it with the Recents, and or anything else?
I agree with pretty much everything said above. This is a UX nightmare and the lack of control over the skin and interaction changes would have someone even in EDU space, much less corporate, fired.
Even more pointedly, my nephew said:
“Wow, it’s like a CS major decided to half-ass replicate Netflix and not think about different user interfaces because it worked on their single dev environment. Might as well just swap to Netflix instead.”
I had to drastically turn down the backlight in a big room due to the horrible gradient background change alone, which is awful for actual accessibility and sight issues (I work in that field).
I’m a lifetime Plex Pass member, and hope they revert/quickly change this mess. All the recs I’ve given would quickly change otherwise.
To provide more direct feedback, the issues regarding jumping between shows and seasons, properly listing the correct next episode, having to manually specify IPs for servers and make https optional in many cases to NOT force a double out-and-back in of your network feed, etc all need fixing. As well as more actual customization of the interface. Including bringing back an option for the slide out left menu that is much more intuitive. You don’t mix modes of up for one action, left right for another, and force full screen scrolls to get to the options. You can’t treat a TV interface like a tablet or phone, and that’s whats been done.
This UI is absolute junk… Whoever, approved this should be fired. Their judgement is horrible. No one in their right mind can look at this and say that it is an improvement over the previous version. There is nothing intuitive about it.
Trash it, roll everyone back and start over. First thing is first… Force the responsible person to resign.
Now I am going to have to deal with my wife and kids complaining about Plex for who knows how long…
I cant believe I logged in and found this crap on my xbox, its disturbing really
How do I get the old Xbox 360 PLEX application back. This XBOX ONE version SUCKS!
This is freaking terrible. Who designed and approved this new UI? Helen Keller?
First off, scrolling up to select the library is not intuitive. Once you select a library and scroll back down, there’s no indication as to which library or server you’re using. This information needs to be visible SOMEWHERE. The old app had the right idea because not only was this information displayed, but you used that menu to switch between them. Easy and intuitive.
Second, having to select/click the media type (TV shows, movies, etc) to show ALL media is beyond idiotic. Again there’s absolutely NO indication anywhere that this needs to be done. I needed to search online to find out how. If users need to use the internet to figure out your UI, you’ve failed.
I’ve been in software development for 15 years, in case that adds credibility to my comments. The user interface/experience on the updated xbox app is a remarkable step backwards. There are countless specific issues, but at the highest level, the updated app is very un-intuitive and not very pleasing to look at. I also seem to be getting more playback errors, but I’ll need more time to identify the cause of those.
I have always admired Plex and their efforts to bring more to the enjoyment of digital media assets. Today, I sense that something has changed, and I am very disappointed.
Absolutely bloody awful interface.
First of all to log in I had to use a seperate device, this had to be a laptop as the link page crashes the iPhone. So I’ve gone from enjoying a film on my Xbox is having to boot up a computer just to log in, asking myself if I’m having to dig out my laptop why don’t I just watch it there instead since the whole point of the Xbox was ease and covinience (apparently the arch enemies of the Plex developers). Are there really people out there who were struggling to type their name and password in and if so, why am I being punished for their inability and/or lack of opposable thumbs?
Once into the app it looks terrible, navigates like you’re wading through syrup. Loads of functionality gone and to top it all off, it now just does whatever the hell it likes. Went into a movie, clicked to change the resolution…decided I was happy with it as was, intuitively pressed ‘b’ the universal cancel or go back button on Xbox only to be thrown out of the app entirely and then have to start the whole bloody process again.
In summary, thanks for nothing guys
I hate the new plex app for the Xbox one and I’m a lifetime member. I’m getting tired of all the problems that keep coming up with plex. I still can’t add any more movies to my phone because the app can’t deal with you deleting some movies and adding others… I get the null error that everyone keeps having… Hey… I’ve got an idea how about leaving the working stuff alone and fixing what’s broken before you mess with your bread and butter? I’m really disappointed and am looking at other options. Plex is making it very easy for other software company’s to take the market. I’m sad that I wasted my money. It’s as if the people writing the code don’t even like it enough to use it them selves. Or be straight with everyone and tell us that it has to be this way due to security requirements or for speed. The UGI is like, guess what this does… Read our minds and you’ll figure it out… What a bunch of poor programming… A total hack and slash job… I program for a living and I would be out of a job if I turned in work of this quality…
#PleXbox One App.
I installed the new Plex version before it was rolled out automatically as I was excited to see and try it, and after watching 1 show, reverted back to the old version. Unfortunately, I was forced to update to the new version. I wanted to list my thoughts about the new UI. Some have been stated a lot already, but I want the Plex folks to know how widespread the disappointment is. I love Plex, and have loved Plex since introduced to it and subsequently purchased a lifetime membership. I will continue to use Plex as I like the functionality across my devices and my library organization. But I do not love this update.
##Pros:
*Clock: Like the options to have the clock on the home screen at the top. Thank you for 24 hour option.
*Looks: nice, sort of, I like the bigger tiles.
*Media handling: Still plays my media, most of it
*Error handling?: Has a feature where I get a message telling me this certain type of media can not be played. In the old UI, I just got a black screen and when I tried to fast forward/rewind, there was no time code. I still haven’t looked into why a certain show downloaded in 1080p won’t play, suspect it has to do with the codec and/or audio format used. Surprised there are files out there Plex can’t play or at least not paly on Xbox One.
*Home button: Like being able to go straight to the Home screen by pushing the View button on controller or media remote. This is handy.
*Screen Saver: sort of cool, will disable as having to select which user each time is annoying.
*Search feature: nice addition and nice to be able to search across all media or search movies or TV only
##Cons:
*Top Menu Bump: Dislike very much how accessing the top menu bumps the entire screen down. Not fluid, not intuitive, very… jarring. This was one of the first things I had to interact with other than the visual aspects when I first linked the app, and I must say it started my relationship with this new UI off on the very wrong foot.
*Brightness: screen background is too bright. Watching shows or movies in the dark and then having it end and popping back out is hard on the eyes. Selectable background or theme colours maybe?
*Screen Area: Screen area is not adjusted properly, at least for my TV, it seems to be stretched a bit far outside the edges. Would be nice as currently the top menu bar is a bit cut off and left edge is a well. The up arrows are partially cut off. Need to implement a screen area size setup much like when first launching some games? I have since read that it displays only in 720p rather than 1080p; which I’m not sure really matters to me, just that I want it to fit my screen properly
*Server Selection/Grouping: I dislike that I have to select between servers for each library. I preferred having an overall server selection drop down. I do appreciate that it saves my last selected server though.
*Library Grouping: I prefer having my libraries listed separately as I did before, despite that it remembers my previously selected TV library from which server. I have specific libraries set up for the kids so they don’t see the PG-13 and up stuff, or the scary demented American Horror Story posters that pop up on the screen. If I’m able to create and customize different types of libraries on my PMS, why disallow me to option to see them individually. If I wanted everything grouped, I would have grouped them myself when I created the library.
*Tiles too big: When browsing libraries, I dislike how I can’t see more than 1 full row in the center of the screen, would like to see at least 2 full rows. I do recognize a lot of my movie/show posters but would prefer to see the whole thing as well as the title of each. Bottom of the bottom row is cut off and top of the top row is cut off. I would like to see the whole poster of three rows, I don’t think scaling it down a little to see this would affect the new UI to much.
*Getting kicked out: When in a show, I can see other shows from the season at the bottom, when I delete a show I expect to be kept in the screen, much like I could delete a show from the season screen before. Now I get kicked back out to the home screen. I want to be able to then just select the next show in the season. Gasp, I know, I don’t keep every show that I’ve watched already.
*Ghost/Missing Cursor: after a show ends when I go to try and select the next show or anything, the cursor seems to have disappeared. I don’t know if it’s off the screen or just invisible, I can hear it moving around when I push my arrow keys. Not sure where the cursor starts after a show ends but I can eventually get it on screen of to show up when I keep pressing it
*FF and REW missing: can not seem to use FF or REW anymore, only Skip. I personally prefer skip but I think FF and REW should still be useable/available.
*Screen saver: with SS active when I push a button, I’m back to my profiles log in screen and not just back on the screen where I left off. If I was paused on a show or looking at a season, I now have to go back into it. Don’t want to have to change the setting to sing in automatically, because I have a profile set specifically for the kids shows for when Plex first starts. Will be disabling this “feature”
*No bumpers: can’t skip through your library very fast, old version you could use the left and right bumpers to page over left or right. No way I have found to quickly go up or down, except I can only see 1 full row at a time.
*Subtitles: not showing up for foreign languages, even Klingon!, have to choose full subtitles and then select just the one that only shows non-English. Forced SRT or normal SRT, forget what the actual setting is. I know this is being looked into.
*Search Feature: wish it was accessible from the Home screen or the jarring bump down menu. I don’t want to have to dig down to a library to find the search feature.
*UI Speed: I don’t see any speed improvement when loading libraries or tiles images, or at least not noticeable., and my Xbox One is on hard wired ethernet along with my PMS.
*my Samsung TV Plex app: much easier to navigate. Not sure if Orca is still around and working on it, but kudos to him for working on it for so long.
Playlists: I don’t use playlists for much other than music, so I have not experienced issues like others have. Most of my playlist only have a few albums, and my largest is only maybe 90 songs so I haven’t noticed if it only shuffles through a portion or not.
Also my wife hates it.
##Additions:
A couple points since I got home and was able to play around with some fixes/work arounds in other threads. I was able to change my Samsung TV from a 16:9 aspect ratio to Fit while running the Xbox screen calibration. Now I can see the whole Plex screen, no menu buttons are being cropped. But now I think the menu bottoms and library labels are too big. I really only use my X1 on this TV so for me changing the aspect won’t affect anything else I have hooked up. Maybe my OTA channels but I barely use those.
The library last location looked at does not always save the last location you looked at. I have found my music library reverts back to one I set up on a PMS for my Dad. When I switched Plex profiles to my Kids one I created, them back to mine, my libraries are back to not being saved. Same as if I quit the Plex app and start it up again. If I didn’t only have the 3 servers I have linked, it would drive me nuts having to go select which library from which server in a long list I needed. This is why I call for having the server selection drop down restored and having the app remember my preferred server. Not which one is alphabetically first or however it decides to pick first up.
@podick said:
Also my wife hates it.
This trumps all! Its the problem I have.
This is horrible 
Overscan issues, content is virtually impossible to find. Please revert back…
Same ugly interface implemented in PMPv2 preview. Even Plex for Kodi has better one.Why reinventing wheel again?
exactly, I am back to using my Roku ultra, its interface is perfect, it will do live tv from my tuner, all in all the interface did not need reinvented at all, it is perfect, xbox one, forced update, no live tv added, UI is so bad I switched devices, but to top it all off it was a forced update, I still have “plex classic” also on my Roku, this works for the original Roku with rca output and my old floor tv in my spare room. I got the new version but was allowed to continue to use the old one and still am years later.
let us use the old version. some people may like it, but seriously if we took a poll, are we looking at 95% disapproval?? probably if not worse.
roll it back, or keep both versions, let me use the old one and eventually move to the new one once you have reinvented it all over again and its actually worth using!
if this is the path for plex on every device, I would be open to competitors, as before I would not even think about using anything else even if I was paid 5 dollars a month vs paying for plex
