Beta Test: Plex (Feature now publicly available)

[GimmeShelter]

 

[azoriusmage]

My app is 2 weeks old (and up to date) and is working pro Mini, Pro, and Amp

 

[donjulien]

I am a little late to the party. Just want to +1 on the full Wiim as a full Plexamp renderer implementation, because:

• Gapless, gapless, gapless. Wiim already does for the other services. Plex can Chromecast to Wiim, sure. But not gaplessly.
• Sweet fades! Plex does crossfades like no one else, AFAIK.
• All the autoDJ candy available from Plexamp.

 

[azoriusmage]

I am a little late to the party. Just want to +1 on the full Wiim as a full Plexamp renderer implementation, because:

• Gapless, gapless, gapless. Wiim already does for the other services. Plex can Chromecast to Wiim, sure. But not gaplessly.
• Sweet fades! Plex does crossfades like no one else, AFAIK.
• All the autoDJ candy available from Plexamp.

This is why it has to be Plexamp client the fades are unreal and the DJ's are so very good.

 

[Popal]

I've got Beta access for a few days on my Pro Plus.

I must say I'm disappointed :

• I was expecting Plexamp support, I have no value for Plex standalone. DLNA was enough for my local use.
• I experienced some random jump. For instance, I played Telepgraph Road by Dire Straits (14min track, FLAC) and it randomly jumped to the next track. It reiterated once more and I stopped playing
• The track played doesn't show on Plex Dash.

 

[azoriusmage]

I've got Beta access for a few days on my Pro Plus.

I must say I'm disappointed :

• I was expecting Plexamp support, I have no value for Plex standalone. DLNA was enough for my local use.
• I experienced some random jump. For instance, I played Telepgraph Road by Dire Straits (14min track, FLAC) and it randomly jumped to the next track. It reiterated once more and I stopped playing
• The track played doesn't show on Plex Dash.

Screams of an implementation planned by someone who doesn’t understand Plex.

 

[Burnside]

Well, WiiM have said they’ve reached out directly to Plex so hopefully that bears fruit…

 

[thechez]

Screams of an implementation planned by someone who doesn’t understand Plex.

I agree with the both of you. I think it might have benefited them to reach out to the community first. I feel it's basically just an improved version of the DLNA portion of the app. If they reworked it as an endpoint we would have all the functionality that Plexamp is known for and what we are used to using. After a week with this I find we are using the Chromecast again and not using the Plex implementation unless all we want to do is play an album. But, if we want to use a DJ setting or radio functionality we are back to using Chromecast because it's like an endpoint implementation.
I was getting some stalling of the app and it struggled at times on my Pixel 8 to search. Most times the search function didn't work at all. Otherwise, it seems to work like the DLNA function.

 

[Smartplug]

Wiim has so many beta that they couldn’t keep up. I think they should do one beta at a time and focus all of their engineering team to get it done to avoid taking longer like many months instead of weeks. Dlna cast beta been out for months now and we haven’t heard on what’s going on. The same can be said on plex.

 

[azoriusmage]

I agree with the both of you. I think it might have benefited them to reach out to the community first. I feel it's basically just an improved version of the DLNA portion of the app. If they reworked it as an endpoint we would have all the functionality that Plexamp is known for and what we are used to using. After a week with this I find we are using the Chromecast again and not using the Plex implementation unless all we want to do is play an album. But, if we want to use a DJ setting or radio functionality we are back to using Chromecast because it's like an endpoint implementation.
I was getting some stalling of the app and it struggled at times on my Pixel 8 to search. Most times the search function didn't work at all. Otherwise, it seems to work like the DLNA function.

Yes Plex being a slightly better version of DLNA is pretty disappointing it feels driven by an obsession to make one app for everything which is a rod for their own back. Spotify by contrast they stuck with just implementing Spotify connect lets hope Plex gets the same treatment.

 

[Burnside]

Yes Plex being a slightly better version of DLNA is pretty disappointing it feels driven by an obsession to make one app for everything which is a rod for their own back. Spotify by contrast they stuck with just implementing Spotify connect lets hope Plex gets the same treatment.

I don’t think Spotify is a good example as most Spotify implementations seem to be for Spotify Connect - I don’t think I’ve personally come across a third party implementation of Spotify although I do recall it being said that Onkyo AVRs used to have one.

And re the obsession for one app for everything, I feel there’s a considerable end user push for that although personally I’m not a fan. On the plus side, it did provide access for WiiM Mini users who I doubt will ever get a Plexamp implementation due to lack of device cpu and ram resources.

 

[vdp]

I agree with the both of you. I think it might have benefited them to reach out to the community first. I feel it's basically just an improved version of the DLNA portion of the app. If they reworked it as an endpoint we would have all the functionality that Plexamp is known for and what we are used to using. After a week with this I find we are using the Chromecast again and not using the Plex implementation unless all we want to do is play an album. But, if we want to use a DJ setting or radio functionality we are back to using Chromecast because it's like an endpoint implementation.
I was getting some stalling of the app and it struggled at times on my Pixel 8 to search. Most times the search function didn't work at all. Otherwise, it seems to work like the DLNA function.

Even then. For listening to albums I want ratings functionality available.

Agree. Hoping for some communication coming weeks giving status updates. That's what the community wants. And it shortens feedback loops. @RyanWithWiim could be that bridge?

This is a nice example.
Maybe WiiM went for this Plex Beta solution design approach because they did their market research homework and want to reach Plex mainly video audience with the HDMI ARC as a step up from soundbars. Having "supports Plex" on the descriptions page helps and having music lightweight and with WiiM typical Spotify integrating might then be an understandable strategy.

But then you tell your forum audience which seems mostly music enthousiasts/audiophiles what your target is with this and acknowledge much more quickly that this isn't for them.

 

[azoriusmage]

Even then. For listening to albums I want ratings functionality available.

Agree. Hoping for some communication coming weeks giving status updates. That's what the community wants. And it shortens feedback loops. @RyanWithWiim could be that bridge?

This is a nice example.
Maybe WiiM went for this Plex Beta solution design approach because they did their market research homework and want to reach Plex mainly video audience with the HDMI ARC as a step up from soundbars. Having "supports Plex" on the descriptions page helps and having music lightweight and with WiiM typical Spotify integrating might then be an understandable strategy.

But then you tell your forum audience which seems mostly music enthousiasts/audiophiles what your target is with this and acknowledge much more quickly that this isn't for them.

Communcation on the roadmap beyond a one liner would help a lot