Plex Launches 'Discover' and 'Universal Watchlist' Features to Help Users Find and Watch Content Across Streaming Services

[Marbles1]

so just like justwatch.com ?

 

[sinsin07]

I love this… I wonder what their privacy policy is, and how they got Netflix to work with them, yet Apple can not. This is one of my favorite features of Apple TV, the Watch Now area. I think this Plex offering is a much-needed service now that there are so many streaming options.

Issue with Apples access to user data.
Probably why Netflix is gimped on Apple TV.
No menu option for Surprise Me, New and Popular and no ability to set reminders on shows in Netflix on Apple TV.

Why Netflix Won’t Be Part of Apple TV (Published 2019)

The first skirmishes have already been fought in what could turn into a tech cold war. “The game is on,” said the Netflix chief executive, Reed Hastings.

www.nytimes.com

 

[Jim Lahey]

Plex still cannot play 4K content locally, without buffering, this involves no streaming over internet. SSD drive inside iMac running Plex on that same iMac.

I heard Plex is not designed to do this, Plex is maybe intentionally not focused on playing 4K content.

Just hoping against hope that one day, Plex will suddenly add “plays 4K content“ as a brand new feature.

Yes it can.

 

[sinsin07]

Plex still cannot play 4K content locally, without buffering, this involves no streaming over internet. SSD drive inside iMac running Plex on that same iMac.

I heard Plex is not designed to do this, Plex is maybe intentionally not focused on playing 4K content.

Just hoping against hope that one day, Plex will suddenly add “plays 4K content“ as a brand new feature.

A little bit of research would of helped you instead of "I heard".
Tell your corner shop pizza man he has no idea of what he's talking about.

What media formats are supported on Smart TVs?

General Media Support Tip!: This article is about our Smart TV app. It does not apply to the Plex app...

support.plex.tv

The Step-by-Step Guide to Plex 4K Streaming — RapidSeedbox

For a smooth 4K Plex streaming, you'll need to take care of the following: compatability and network speed. Check our guide to know more...

www.rapidseedbox.com

 

[gcmexico]

DRM content? No, it won't play. It will play anything without DRM. Plex doesn't play content from streaming services. It lets you search through plex, in one place, but when you go to play something from a streaming service it will launch that service to play it.

yeah DRM content...still a pass for me...Apple should just let everything play their content, they never will though

 

[archer75]

yeah DRM content...still a pass for me...Apple should just let everything play their content, they never will though

neither does anyone else. Best you can do from streaming services where you purchase movies is movies anywhere.

 

[one more]

All the current video streaming services is just one fragmented mess, IMO. We need something similar to music streaming, where the catalogues are pretty much identical, at least for the most popular and well known tracks. I am subscribed to Netflix and found their initial model of having as many titles as possible very useful, yet now they also started focusing on creating their own “exclusive” contents while pulling some previously available titles off.

 

[mbeckman16]

X

 

[mbeckman16]

enjoyed plex years ago, can you still not play Apple Content on it? my whole media library is through apple (I stream everything)...I gave up ripping dvd's and trying to find movies over the internet years ago

Same, all of my media is either bought through apple or saved in Google Drive. I gave up on Plex after they removed the connections to cloud services.

I moved to infuse after that as that is their core feature but end of the day I’d rather but the movie when it’s on sale and get the Dolby Atmos and Vision capabilities. Couldn’t get that from ripping anything.

 

[archer75]

I moved to infuse after that as that is their core feature but end of the day I’d rather but the movie when it’s on sale and get the Dolby Atmos and Vision capabilities. Couldn’t get that from ripping anything.

You can get dolby vision and atmos from rips....I have hundreds if not thousands of such rips on my server. Streaming movies don't have lossless audio. I can't imagine google drive has much storage which would mean highly compressed movies. There's reasons to make your own rips and store locally, if you want the best quality.

 

[Macative]

Plex still cannot play 4K content locally, without buffering, this involves no streaming over internet. SSD drive inside iMac running Plex on that same iMac.

I heard Plex is not designed to do this, Plex is maybe intentionally not focused on playing 4K content.

Just hoping against hope that one day, Plex will suddenly add “plays 4K content“ as a brand new feature.

Depends on the content. Some play just fine. Other's don't.

 

[gcmexico]

neither does anyone else. Best you can do from streaming services where you purchase movies is movies anywhere.

use to use movies anywhere, didn't like it...I just want to buy from Apple and play it anywhere..till then apple tv's

 

[tharitm]

I play 4K content via Plex every weekend. Works just fine for me. Streams from a NUC pulling the media files of a NAS... and plays on Apple TV's throughout my house over WiFi. 4K content does need quite a bit more CPU than 1080 content does though.

I am even able to stream it over the internet when I travel... though that is heavily dependent on wherever I am having a fast enough download bandwidth to handle it.... which is rare.

Same experience with me as well. I have both setups for Plex, a local server running as well as an external server. Local one hosts frequent ones so it can easily stream without much delay.

 

[archer75]

use to use movies anywhere, didn't like it...I just want to buy from Apple and play it anywhere..till then apple tv's

didn't like the movies you paid for available on other platforms for free? I can't understand what's not to like? You can't buy from amazon or vudu or others and play in other software. You are locked to their apps. It's the same on all of them. None of that content will ever be in plex. It will always require their apps.

 

[gcmexico]

Same, all of my media is either bought through apple or saved in Google Drive. I gave up on Plex after they removed the connections to cloud services.

I moved to infuse after that as that is their core feature but end of the day I’d rather but the movie when it’s on sale and get the Dolby Atmos and Vision capabilities. Couldn’t get that from ripping anything.

exactly...in the end Apple ecosystem is top notch, I've tread many others but nothing comes close to their seamless integration across devices and slick UI...I was going to try some FireTV's but reviews says UI is crab

 

[jhollington]

so just like justwatch.com ?

I actually suspect it's at least partially powered by Justwatch under the hood. The links to other services from the Plex web app go to "click.justwatch.com" ?

 

[gcmexico]

didn't like the movies you paid for available on other platforms for free? I can't understand what's not to like? You can't buy from amazon or vudu or others and play in other software. You are locked to their apps. It's the same on all of them. None of that content will ever be in plex. It will always require their apps.

you made my point...they all do the same and Apple just does it way better, that's why I don't bother with Plex or other platforms...that being said, Plex was awesome when I ripped DVD's but hated that it had no access to my itunes media library (that is what I am referring to)... years ago I said, fck it I'm all in with Apple and I haven't been happier (save tons of time)...the appletv app is amazing and their integrated channels like AMC+, Paramount+ are steller, wish everything was like that...that being said, it would be nice to have Netflix and other intergration...seems Plex can now do that, but without full Itunes Media Library integration then forget it...and again it's the same with other streaming services and Plex, that why I don't use it and don't use other streaming devices

 

[groove-agent]

I was thinking that we needed something like this. I can't tell you how many times I've wanted to continue watching a show but couldn't remember where to find it. Even searching it via the Apple TV wouldn't work a lot and attempt to sell it to you/ rent it to you. You would think IMDB would have something that would tell you but I haven't found it yet.

 

[archer75]

you made my point...they all do the same and Apple just does it way better, that's why I don't bother with Plex or other platforms...that being said, Plex was awesome when I ripped DVD's but hated that it had no access to my itunes media library (that is what I am referring to)... years ago I said, fck it I'm all in with Apple and I haven't been happier (save tons of time)...the appletv app is amazing and their integrated channels like AMC+, Paramount+ are steller, wish everything was like that...that being said, it would be nice to have Netflix and other intergration...seems Plex can now do that, but without full Itunes Media Library integration then forget it...and again it's the same with other streaming services and Plex, that why I don't use it and don't use other streaming devices

well plex is for local content primarily. So if you're purchasing movies/tv from a service then you wouldn't use it. It's not the tool for that job.
I am all in with apple too, and I have 3 apple tv's(amongst many other streamers) but I don't purchase any TV or movies from apple. I have my own collection and systems that handle that(much of it automated). As I want better quality video and lossless audio that streaming services don't offer. Honestly not a fan of the appletv app as it's a mess.

 

[6787872]

i'll just stick to my usenet and sail the high seas rather than subscribe to 10 different services.

 

[jhollington]

seems Plex can now do that, but without full Itunes Media Library integration then forget it...

It actually does sort of have this... If you add "Apple TV" to the list of your services (not just "Apple TV+"), you'll get a Buy/Rent button for any content that's available on the iTunes Store.

To be clear, it won't show whether that content is actually in your own iTunes library, but since clicking on that button simply opens Apple's TV app, you'll be able to play it from there if you already own it (and buy or rent it otherwise).

 

[jhollington]

So it doesnt seem to track it. I let an episode play... and went back to Plex and it does not indicate "watched" you have a button where you can Mark it "Watched" in Plex. Unless I am missing something... it doesnt appear to Sync. Which is a Major bummer for Binge watchers.

Yup, although it's still in beta, and it doesn't even work for content from your own Plex library right now. It sounds like they're working on it, though.

Currently, the Universal Watchlist and Discover source do not sync the view state of content from a Plex Media Server or external streaming service content. It will only automatically track content from Plex’s own Movies & Shows streaming or when you manually mark something as watched in the Discover source.

(From https://support.plex.tv/articles/universal-watchlist-beta/)

 

[LV426]

This looks very interesting... and something I will never use. I refuse to subscribe to multiple streaming channels (and apps) because I like to have a healthy bank balance at the end of each month! Just think of the money you poor suckers are wasting.

 

[archer75]

This looks very interesting... and something I will never use. I refuse to subscribe to multiple streaming channels (and apps) because I like to have a healthy bank balance at the end of each month! Just think of the money you poor suckers are wasting.

lots of ways to get free services. I get netflix and paramount+ free with t-mobile. Amazon prime because i'm going to have a prime sub anyways just for shipping. So I only really pay for disney+ and ATV+ is part of a bundle so it's only a few bucks. Depending on cell carrier, they all have streaming service promos or bundles of some sort.

 

[IllinoisCorn]

Lovely tool for piracy.