Beta Test: Plex

[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

 

[monkeyboy72]

Am I right in thinking that the apple app has a search function and jump list, these are the 2 things that I think the android version (which I have) really need for me to use it full time.

 

[d6jg]

Am I right in thinking that the apple app has a search function and jump list, these are the 2 things that I think the android version (which I have) really need for me to use it full time.

No. The iOS app has neither so far as Plex is concerned. Impossible to navigate if you have a large library.
In the case of both Artists and Albums views the usable space is also wasted by having large images that allow only six items on screen before scrolling is required.

 

[calebr739]

Hello,

I've been testing the beta integration of Plex on my wiim ultra and so far it's pretty good! I have 3 minor things that I would love to see fixed/integrated for the full release

1. When I search an artist, it only shows full length albums by that artist and omits EPs and singles. This is a pretty annoying to not be able to see the artist's full discography.
2. It would be nice if possible to say, have tracks from tidal or spotify playing then add songs from plex to the cue via "play next" as of now, it's either your entire cue must come from Plex or another streaming service. The ability to seamlessly link these would be awesome!
3. Even though I have my Plex linked to my lastfm account, non of the plays through the wiim are registering in last FM. This seems like a bug as other players that utilize my plex library are able to still track that the song has been played.

All in all, great product but would love to see those changes implemented if possible

Thanks!

-Caleb

 

[scoubix]

Hello to the community, first post here…

Being an avid Plex user and Plexpass lifetime user I registered for the Beta about a week ago but haven’t heard back. When I try the Plex beta login from the Wiim app it does succeed on the Plex side but I get a « Login failed » error message when returning to the Wiim app. Is it a side-effect of not being registered for the beta?
Would love to test it out especially as I’m relying on DNLA with my Plex library at the moment…

 

[monkeyboy72]

Hi my Plex page has lost some of the more interesting icons it had before such as recently played, year of release, record labels and a few others I forget now, it just shows the two shown below?, has this happened to anyone else, hope they come back.

 

[erictheperic]

Mine still shows everything.

 

[pieterv1]

Does anybody know if they are still working on the implementation as we currently know it?

I thought they were going back to the drawing board. If so, it would be a bit pointless maybe to give feedback on the current state of Plex.