# Plex update today



## jcthorne (Jan 28, 2002)

Plex updated the app for Tivo today. Version 2.4.19

Adds channels, filters and sorting and a bunch of other updates.

Alas still supports only 720p and 4mbit bit rate.


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## Thunderclap (Nov 28, 2005)

How is the speed? Has it improved at all, or is the interface still a little sluggish?


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## saeba (Oct 12, 2004)

jcthorne said:


> Alas still supports only 720p and 4mbit bit rate.


Plex team member posted this on their forums:

The current platform is capped at 720p. We can't change this at the moment as the TiVo playback stack we use too easily runs out of memory while streaming videos.


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## Thunderclap (Nov 28, 2005)

The GUI is still a bit slugglish for my tastes. If Netflix and Amazon can produce a pretty responsive interface on Tivo I would think Plex could. Maybe cut some of the background images and whatnot? We don't need all the flashy design.


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## jcthorne (Jan 28, 2002)

The trouble with plex is the Tivo opera browser limitations. Limited memory, 720p etc. Plex is not a native app on tivo. Its running nearly the same opera based version running on many smart tvs. Many of those outperform the tivo implementation.


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## waynomo (Nov 9, 2002)

saeba said:


> Plex team member posted this on their forums:
> 
> The current platform is capped at 720p. We can't change this at the moment as the *TiVo playback stack we use too easily runs out of memory while streaming videos.*


Anybody care to clarify the bold part? I assume they're talking about system RAM. Is this limitation on the Roamio platform that Plex will never be able to overcome?


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## jcthorne (Jan 28, 2002)

waynomo said:


> Anybody care to clarify the bold part? I assume they're talking about system RAM. Is this limitation on the Roamio platform that Plex will never be able to overcome?


Plex also posted this:

Technically they need to be able to handle larger HLS segment sizes and/or generally support a larger memory buffer for caching video segments.


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## moyekj (Jan 24, 2006)

jcthorne said:


> Plex also posted this:
> 
> Technically they need to be able to handle larger HLS segment sizes and/or generally support a larger memory buffer for caching video segments.


 My guess is the reason HLS segment size is limited is because of TiVo Mini which doesn't have any hard drive and only has userDiskSize=0.11 GB. TiVo has to support the least common denominator of all devices supporting Plex when setting Opera build limits.


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## HDRyder9 (Aug 2, 2007)

Once I rebooted my Plex server the speed picked up noticeably. I like the pause toggle, too.


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## windracer (Jan 3, 2003)

I can't find any filtering or sorting options. Are those new features only available if you have a pay account (i.e., Plex Pass)?


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## jcthorne (Jan 28, 2002)

windracer said:


> I can't find any filtering or sorting options. Are those new features only available if you have a pay account (i.e., Plex Pass)?


They are available to me and I do not have plex pass. On the left, select movies or tv, then all movies, then at the top of the screen there is a tab labeled all movies. select that and a selection of filters shows up. Same for the sort order tab.

The menus and selections are decidedly not tivo like.


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## windracer (Jan 3, 2003)

jcthorne said:


> They are available to me and I do not have plex pass. On the left, select movies or tv, then all movies, then at the top of the screen there is a tab labeled all movies. select that and a selection of filters shows up. Same for the sort order tab.


Thanks!

I'm an idiot ... I didn't realize the "All Movies" text after selecting Movies from the home screen was a button.   That's so much better ...


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## jcthorne (Jan 28, 2002)

A new version of Plex released today 2.4.30 which is reported to fix signin issues for non plex pass users. I never had a problem with that so cannot report fixed or not. It does seem to load and run faster on my Bolt.


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## siratfus (Oct 3, 2008)

jcthorne said:


> A new version of Plex released today 2.4.30 which is reported to fix signin issues for non plex pass users. I never had a problem with that so cannot report fixed or not. It does seem to load and run faster on my Bolt.


During playback if you pause the movie, you can scroll to the settings, and now you can choose 1080p. However, in the main setting, you can sill only choose 720p.

But I tested a few movies, and I don't think its really 1080p. Or, the tivo does not have enough muscle for Plex? There are pixelations in certain scenes that do not show up if I use the xbox or fire tv.

I hope this isn't the 1080p they were talking about, and that there will be more improvements. But yeah, 2.4.30 is zippier on my Roamio.


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## waynomo (Nov 9, 2002)

siratfus said:


> Or, the tivo does not have enough muscle for Plex?


I don't think it takes much muscle on the TiVo end to play Plex. I believe transcoding is done on the server


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## jcthorne (Jan 28, 2002)

siratfus said:


> During playback if you pause the movie, you can scroll to the settings, and now you can choose 1080p. However, in the main setting, you can sill only choose 720p.
> 
> But I tested a few movies, and I don't think its really 1080p. Or, the tivo does not have enough muscle for Plex? There are pixelations in certain scenes that do not show up if I use the xbox or fire tv.
> 
> I hope this isn't the 1080p they were talking about, and that there will be more improvements. But yeah, 2.4.30 is zippier on my Roamio.


1080p is not supported by Plex on Roamio. Does not have sufficient memory to do so in the opera browser. It works great on the Bolt at full original bitrate and resolution.


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## [email protected] (Sep 4, 2014)

Wouldn't it be a miracle if you could use navigate Plex menus and then pull the movie with pytivo from a single button. And it could all work great from a mini. We can only dream.


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## siratfus (Oct 3, 2008)

BTW, even without 1080p, I'm loving the Plex integration because our Tivo has truly turned into THE ONE for my family. If you have children, and you keep all their cartoons and animations with plex, this tivo integration is awesome. Grandma, grandpa, wife and kids only know how to use the tivo, and teaching them to access the plex is simple as well. They don't care about av systems, harmony remotes, rokus, fire tvs, 1080p, 4k etc. LOL! 

When I'm watching, I turn on the AV system, I switch to the Fire Tv or the Xbox for Plex, etc. But I'm loving that the tivo alone and its remote takes care of the rest of the family.


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## jcthorne (Jan 28, 2002)

Updated requirements to stream 4k video to Bolt (and other Plex devices that support 4K). Perhaps this might lend some hints on what the tivo can accept....



Some 4K (ultra high definition) devices are recognized by the Plex app. We're working to bring 4K playback support to other devices, too. 4K/UHD content matching the following will Direct Play on supported devices:
Container: MP4
Resolution: 3840x2160 or smaller
Video Encoding: HEVC (H.265)
Video Frame Rate: 30fps
Video Bit Depth: 8


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## jcthorne (Jan 28, 2002)

It was just confirmed (and tested by me) that the latest Plex client version now includes folder view so you can display items according to the folder architecture on your server. Many have been asking for this.


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## jcthorne (Jan 28, 2002)

New plex update today with several items of interest to Tivo users:

May 5, 2016, 2.6.3
We've added and improved several features while adding some device specific changes and fixes.
NEW:
Mobile server support. Access videos and photos stored on your iOS, Android, and Windows Phone mobile devices on your Smart TV.
Cloud Sync support. Access media hosted on a variety of cloud hosting providers.
At long last, video and photo playlists are playable.
An optional 12-hour or 24-hour clock can be enabled in the Settings > Main dialog.
Reworked search integration for easier navigation into and out of Search.
Users with only Watch Later and Recommended online content can use the application without a server of their own.
FIXES:
General: Improved handling of marking movies/shows/seasons/episodes watched or unwatched
General: Fixed empty screens displaying when viewing movie extras
General: TV devices will show up as available for casting from more mobile devices.
LG/General: We think squashed a bug which wreaked performance havoc on some devices.
PSX/General: Users with non-video-transcoding servers (NAS) can play transcoded music tracks.
PSX: Prevent application crashes viewing some premium music content.
PS4: Updated reaction to app being backgrounded.
TiVo: Remove the web optimized requirement for MP4 files. User feedback overwhelmingly suggests the change was - problematic for many users.
TiVo: Limit Series 5 Roamio and Mini running Opera SDK 4 TiVo devices to 720p.
Vizio: CNP safely accesses IP directly from Vizio system info.
KNOWN ISSUES:
TiVo: We're working with TiVo on several playback issues on Series 5 and 6 boxes. Including:

Series 5/6: out of sync audio after seeking a transcode or direct stream.
Series 5/6: inability to direct play all MKV videos.
Series 6: inability to play UHD content.
Vizio: Some televisions have trouble playing videos hosted on Google Drive.
While many mobile device videos play well we have run into issues with portrait videos played landscape and some videos recordings which aren't compatible with some televisions.

May 5, 2016, 2.6.4
FIXES:
TiVo: Series 5 and 6 boxes running system software version 20.5.9 are presented a constrained video direct play profile. This system software is expected to support MKV direct playback although it is not. Additionally this system software is not supporting UHD video playback on Series 6 Bolt boxes. The Plex app now detects this system software and will avoid direct playing MKV and UHD videos. MKV videos which would have Direct Played on Series 5 and 6 will now Direct Stream. UHD videos which would have direct played on a Series 6 Bolt will now Transcode to 1080p. We've confirmed the next TiVo system software update addresses these playback issues. The Plex app automatically detects newer system softwares and re-enables MKV and UHD playback.


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## moyekj (Jan 24, 2006)

These Plex updates made things worse on Roamio IMO. Direct play of 1080p H.264 which was working fine before no longer does now. Looks like anything above 720p resolution now transcodes to 720p, regardless if it's compatible codec or not. As it was before I could limit local resolution to 720p for mpeg2 and still direct play H.264, but now that's no longer possible. Pretty much cements streambaby as the better option for local streaming to TiVo at least for series 5 and below.

But net, net, for the average user it's probably better as it gets closer to the goal of playing anything without having to tweak client settings, though transcodes way more than it needs to.


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## jcthorne (Jan 28, 2002)

moyekj said:


> These Plex updates made things worse on Roamio IMO. Direct play of 1080p H.264 which was working fine before no longer does now. Looks like anything above 720p resolution now transcodes to 720p, regardless if it's compatible codec or not. As it was before I could limit local resolution to 720p for mpeg2 and still direct play H.264, but now that's no longer possible. Pretty much cements streambaby as the better option for local streaming to TiVo at least for series 5 and below.
> 
> But net, net, for the average user it's probably better as it gets closer to the goal of playing anything without having to tweak client settings, though transcodes way more than it needs to.


Its unfortunate that they took away the 1080p streaming that actually did work on Roamio.


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## jcthorne (Jan 28, 2002)

Update 2.6.5 released

June 2, 2016, 2.6.5
NEW:
Music browsing got easier with the ability to view your music by Artist, Album, and Track.
Our new season view shows episodes in a vertical list format.
FIXES:
TiVo: Allow Direct Play of HTTPS hosted MP4 on system software 20.6.1 and higher.
TiVo: Change our Direct Stream and Transcode protocol to work around extreme A/V desync issues when seeking Direct Stream and Transcode streams.
General: Continuous play of video to video no longer sometimes results in audio but no video.
General: Restore section filters when navigating back to section browsing screen.
General: Performance improvements in our section browsing screens
General: Multiple fixes to our Plex Companion support to better handle communication errors with your media server.


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