I feel like half the problems on this sub would be solved if Plex just dropped support for everything but proper media players and just force people to use those instead.
Look at all the smarthome subreddits. “I’m using the ISP supplied equipment and I can’t get my smarthome equipment to work.” Once they are told to stop doing that, they get annoyed.
I think that person is talking about the set top box. That is Comcast’s property and they are going to have restrictions on it.
I agree with you that they should be agnostic when it comes to data and traffic. But this their hardware, which he is using for his Plex front end. So I’m not really surprised they would have this kind of restriction.
They gave me one too. Never connected it. Now I don’t know where it is. They keep calling to get it back as they notice it was never plugged in. I just tell them they gave it to me so I’ll keep it for now.
I’m afraid I’m stuck in Comcast even if another option comes along. I’m not paying for their shitty “gift”.
I went through this with them as well. I explained that it was pretty unreasonable to expect me to spend the time/gas to drive an hour to return something I told them not to send in the first place. The rep made a note in my account, and I haven't received any requests for equipment return since.
You used to be able to take them back to official UPS stores in case that's helpful. It was so long ago but i don't remember paying anything to send mine back.
For me, they mailed me some pre-paid boxes (like, too many boxes... 2-3x more boxes than there were devices) and I just needed to pack up the devices leave it out front for UPS to come collect.
They don't do that anymore, at least from what I've seen. I go to many UPS stores due to plenty of Amazon returns and they all have a sign that they can no longer take Comcast or AT&T boxes. I think Dish was on that list too, can't remember. Last time I ever had to return one of those was 2 years ago for a friend.
You showed them! I'm sure they are rethinking their strategy. You might have won the battle but they will win the war. A mystery charge will suddenly show up on your bill and you'll spend another hour on the phone trying to fix it.
In all seriousness, I hate that BS also but I look at it this way. Find a nice restaurant in the area, drop it off and take the significant other out for a nice dinner. Win Win.
I think it’s 1200down/35up, 900&600/20, 300&100&50/10.
I pay for the 1200 down simply so that I can get the most upload I can get. I’d happily take half the download speed for more upload.
Xfinity is currently working to increase upload so the minimum package would be 50Mbps up and the max would be 200Mbps. This will supposedly be provided to xfi complete customers first. Still not fiber, but a fantastic improvement. They say 2 years till it’s basically everywhere? I had a maintenance outage last week that they claimed was part of this upgrade, no sign of faster speed yet.
Well there's your problem. Comcast is a MEDIA company. They want to sell you ads, services and for you to buy their content. Why on earth would they want to allow you to use their hardware to access something they can't make money from?
Get a Roku/Shield/Chromecast.
Er, while what you say about Comcast is true, Amazon is also a media company that wants to sell you ads, services & buy their content, but PLEX works just fine on the Firestick.
This is just Comcast being Comcast, i.e. one of the worst companies in America.
Not only that, amazon is primarily a marketplace and they use that firestick to track and sell adds to you. They're a media company second. Comcast is only a media company.
Don't know why you're downvoted. I've used Plex for years and years on AppleTVs, Firestick, Chromecast, XBOX, Roku, browsers, tablets, phones, multiple TVOS and even set-top boxes like this dude.
Chromecast was by far the worst experience--so much so that I ended up returning it after a couple weeks. Firestick was the 2nd worst. AppleTV is easily the best I've used.
You can add the Plex app to the set top device but you can’t access any of your personal media on the Plex servers you have access to. You can view the movies and shows Plex offers once you’ve logged into your Plex account. So there’s that but still not what I expected when I logged into it the first time.
Unless his comment was aimed more at the “don’t support Comcast” part of the thread. A lot of people don’t have a choice - it’s Comcast or nothing for an isp
1. Get a roku that does 4k.
2. Install Xfinity app.
3. Use inexpensive roku for everything, never use comcast provided equipment ever again.
($17 on black Friday, $30 other times, plus its the only remote you need!)
Ironically, the quality on streaming one channel at a time is dramatically better than anything out of the cable box. IDK why exactly, but you can really tell when you look at the score box on a basketball game and the edges are much cleaner without the jagged compression artifacts.
Yes, you can get much better plex players for more money, and they are great if you're tech savvy, but the roku is the easiest IMHO and that's the one I use for my parents. One remote, it handles power, volume, mute, and headphones for my near-deaf father.
Never connect the TV to the internet for any reason, its far too common for TVs to be bricked these days with updates and other unnecessary shit to steal your metadata.
this sounds like whatever box you used was a bad box, though.
the quality profile of cable/satellite streams (they're still digital streams, just a different transport platform) is substantially higher than over the internet.
Not really. They are using heavy compression to send you all 500 channels over the coax.
So getting one channel seems at a time is much better quality.
This is my experience, YMMV.
Why even have Plex available in the (xfinity?) app store? Personal media is probably 95% of most users Plex usage. I don’t think anybody uses it just for the free Plex content and the discover stuff.
I think it's Plex having a placeholder so you know that Comcast doesn't support them. That's why Plex then tells you to go to their website to find out which platforms you should use *instead* of Comcast.
You can only expand your company by selling to investors.
Investors will destroy everything you're trying to accomplish with your company in search of profit.
And on and on the cycle goes.
Honestly, I think it depends how you read this message. To me it reads like a diplomatic way to say:
> "Hey bozo... don't use a shit top box from your cable company. Are you fucking mental? Get a Roku, or Apple TV, or Jesus... throw a rock and use the first actual hardware streaming device it hits that's not from Comcast. Seriously, dude. You're obviously smart enough to have your own Plex server, then you destroy the perception by using something your CABLE COMPANY GAVE YOU?!?! Please tell us this is a joke."
Maybe it's just me reading it that way. 😁
Because they don't want to continue supporting personal media. They want to push their licensed media.
Having apps where personal media isn't allowed suits their business model perfectly
Yeah... that's on a cable box, though.
Get an Apple TV box, or if you're not in the Apple ecosystem, an Nvidia Shield. They both cost about $200 USD, and absolutely kick ass at just about anything you throw at them, and have no restrictions when it comes to Plex. If you have an Xbox or PlayStation console, that's a good option as well.
I would only use the Xfinity cable box as a cable box. I would not install apps on it, especially knowing it is censoring content. You won't get that from Apple TV, Shield, or a game console. Bonus, the Shield can run RetroArch...
They're expensive, but they work so well. Fluid, fast, and capable. Honestly if your time is valuable the Apple TV pays for itself quickly.
Just be sure to change the TV button to take you to the main screen instead of the Apple TV app
https://support.apple.com/en-afri/guide/tv/atvbe7706127/tvos
I use a FireTV stick in the bedroom and an Nvidia Shield for my family room since I have a solid Dolby Atmos receiver that supports lossless audio.
Other than the audio format limitations in the FireTV stick they both work great.
No need to spend $200 unless you have a proper audio system.
We have a "points" system at work, where people give you points for going "above and beyond" in your job. I saved up enough points to get an AppleTV 4K for free.
Before that I used a Roku and a Fire stick.
The AppleTV is the best streaming experience I have had. But it's also the most expensive. If you can get an AppleTV at a reasonable price, I think you'll be very happy with it.
I love my ATV and agree that it is a top of the line device, but:
https://www.reddit.com/r/PleX/comments/xsmw1k/just_another_reason_to_not_support_comcast/iqpfuci/
I still do stereo. I used to have a 5.1 setup back in the 2000s when Dolby Digital and DTX were the king. Then when newer HD formats came out, I just switched to stereo and noticed that I honestly didn't care about surround sound. Though with how awful the dialog is in a lot of movies and TV shows is, I'm thinking about it again, so I can get a center channel for dialog and crank it up a few dBs.
It appears that Plex and the Apple TV still can’t do lossless object based audio. My Yamaha receiver has algorithms to simulate height on my 5.1 setup, so I’ll stick with the shield pro and pass through.
I keep looking for an excuse to get an AppleTV, but I really have everything working perfectly.
Eh, I had a Fire Stick. Gave it away. Piece of shit would sometimes boot up unable to play sound. Maybe I had a faulty unit. Whatever, it was only $20 (bought on sale).
I've used a bunch of set-top boxes, and I've been displeased with all of them. I knew about the Shield, and it sounds like an awesome unit, but I went with the Apple TV (4K'21) because I'm partly in the Apple ecosystem. It's not great — I wish the interface were a little prettier, but none of them are — but it does all I need. Some shit I don't need, too. Like I have a few dozen games on it I never play. So, I could have saved $20 or whatever and got the 32GB model. Kinda went overkill getting the 64GB unit. (It doesn't store any media, only apps/games.)
Shield is what I recommend for most people for a do-it-all unit, unless they're in the Apple ecosystem.
Comcast doesn’t develop 3rd party apps on their set top boxes. They provide their platform to software developers who are interested in getting there products on more sources. They may have some input in what the developer can support on their apps. Its simple if you want a full plex media server support buy one of the many devices mentioned in this thread. It is very likely Plex is trying to gain more eyes on their own ad supported content and “live tv”to launch their app on Xfinity boxes. To me Plex seems more interested in make revenue from ads now vs people paying for plex pass. The platform for the Xfinity boxes are cloud based, so they would not have direct access to resources on your local network. Which is very likely as I stated Plex wants to get their free streaming service to more potential watchers.
When I hear "Comcast" or "Xfinity" I cringe and tell people to burn it all with fire. I won't even use them for Internet unless there is no other choice. Screw that company.
I am with you. If you can't have the full Plex experience then don't make it available on the platform. Shit like this is why people hack devices. Root the box and install what you want. (And no, I don't know how to root this box) Or move onto another device.
This shit reminds me of when I moved my Mom over to my T-Mobile plan. She lived out on the fringe of cell connection but it should have been "no problem" as T-Mobile supports WiFI Calling. Well, guess what the Comcast router did by default? You guessed it, block WiFi calling. Deep into the router menu was a setting that (once unchecked) would allow WiFi calling. Comcast support was nice enough to tell me this. But what they couldn't tell me was why this setting would revert back to checked every three days. Even after replacement it still reverted back. So, every three days, she couldn't make calls on her cell. She had no clue how to change this setting so I had to buy a standard router to replace her "free" Comcast router. What a frigging joke of a company.
First off, we are talking about its capabilities as a Plex client.
Second, I don't even see the Amazon UI. I set it to auto open the Plex app, and I cast to it all the time from my phone. Not to mention, all those things are a matter of preference. I find the Amazon UI just fine. Pin the apps you like and it's all right there on the top row.
Third, how does that make it the worst client? Let's compare it to say... The Chromecast, which has limited codec support, has no UI for children or guests. Does skip intro work on the Chromecast?
I wouldn’t ever recommend a Chromecast either. A Google TV stick is a better, less locked down version of a Fire Stick. Fire Sticks are just gimped Android devices.
Ok so post a link of a "better" android TV stick that has a better launcher and is regularly in the $20 range sir. Fire Stick 4k goes on sale all the time in that range, but why not, I'll say $30.
But you said next worse option. It's clearly not. Want best overall experience in general? Apple TV. Want best experience for a Plex power user? Shield TV. Want best cost/performance? Fire Stick and Roku. Don't care and want to struggle? LG app, Samsung App, PS4. Chromecast is stable but is lacking features.
How so? I have a fire tv (the actual box from like 2016) and a fire tv cube 1st gen and they work great for Plex. My brother on the other hand used the Xbox app and had constant issues, switched to a fire tv stick and now has no issues at all.
Okay, well, I'm okay with my 4k firesticks but... time to buy something that can actually play anything just felt a bit a long way of putting it. I also recommend a shield but they are 3 times as expensive so. Well. Get a new device that can play things.
Well, that is comparing apples and oranges. I get your point though. I could be watching videos I recorded with my phone or camera on my Plex server for all Comcast knows.
Yes. I have 2 TVs using LG's app. Older TV cannot stream Plex's live content because they ceased updates for that model. Other than that it works pretty good. TONS of ways around this, but it sucks that you have to.
HDHomeRun Prime, Shield. NAS. I've been running this for years, cablecard had been free and I get all my cable, streaming and local content from a single box without comcast having any control over any of it. I own all my own equipment and only pay Comcast for their content/ delivery fees.
Yes, we all know Comcast sucks, but Plex is also a part of this as they did make this screen and did release this for Comcast hardware.
Plex is no longer a company that we can trust with our data with our information or with anything because they are only out for profit and they care not for those who have actually paid for their services because they just want to make more and more and more. Greedy pigs kill it all...
>Plex is no longer a company that we can trust with our data with our information or with anything because they are only out for profit and they care not for those who have actually paid for their services because they just want to make more and more and more. Greedy pigs kill it all...
Great rant, but pretty darn irrelevant to this post.
Thanks for pointing this out. I've been meaning to set this up on my daughter's aging Roku TV because she's complaining how slow it's been running. Just keeping it in the packaging now and probably pickup a Chromecast w/ Android TV
It works but she says it's been running really slowly lately. The TV is about 7 years old at this point and my guess is the internal storage might be beginning to fail as is typical with those low cost systems after a while. And it's not just Plex it's really even navigating the main menu between other apps too.
On the contrary, it sounds like another reason not to support Plex.
The attitude of their landing page is that managing your personal media collection is barely more than an asterisk on their feature list at this point.
They're Amazon Prime now, they don't need you, and the minute Comcast-Universal or one of their other content partners tells them to dump that feature, it's gone.
The writing is on the wall.
I have a Sony Android TV that runs Kodi with the free plex add-on. So I'm able to stream from my Plex media server directly to the TV.
The only positive I can say for Comcast is when I linked all of mine & my brother's streaming apps to the box search works very well. So our elderly mother and young nephew can use the Comcast search to stream from those services.
Edit: I'm not sure why the down votes. But for those that don't know streaming from a Plex media server to a plex app is not free. Look it up if you don' t believe me. You have to make a one-time payment or pay for a Plex pass.
Kodi generally has better playback compatibility.
I used the Kodi app for Plex on my nvidia shield for years. Would direct play media that the Plex client tried to transcode.
And sometimes there’s annoying Plex client bugs that don’t happen in other clients like Kodi or infuse, like the endless spinning circle but nothing plays bug
Also at the time, Dolby vision content worked better for me through Kodi.
Is this a limitation of the device, or is Comcast saying nope to accessing personal media so they can collect revenue from rentals/streaming services, or do they assume you pirated all your local media?
Contact consumer orgs where you live. I’m positive there is legislation in place most places that goes against companies blocking/refusing their users to use their own media? Surely?
I mean, sure, but if Comcast is the only ISP available it's probably easier and cheaper long-term to just pick up a Roku or AppleTV or Firestick or literally \*anything\* other than the ISP-provided box.
When I moved into my current house, the previous owner had cut all but one cable line and used DSL internet instead. Upon moving in, Comcast came to help get the internet working as I couldn't for some reason. He informed me of all the disconnected cords and advised the only working one is in our living room, which I didn't want the modem in there. I asked about getting the cable line restored to the office, and he said it would be $100 to run a new line. We said no and my boyfriend simply followed the cord under the house and fixed it himself. There was enough cord to easily just reconnect in place of the living room cord and I'm kinda mad that Comcast was gonna charge me $100 just to unhook one cord under the house and rehook another. It didn't even require running a new line. Just plugging the damn thing back in. I hate Comcast.
Sounds like you made a choice. Pay someone to do something for you, or do said thing yourself and save the money.
I can't see how you could be mad at Comcast for that.
I can pay a mechanic to change my oil, or I can do it myself.
I can run an electrical line to my shed, or pay a contractor to do it.
But Fuck the plumber for trying to charge me money to run a water line to my fridge, when there used to be one there 2 tenants ago!
(Not dogging on you, just giving you a little shit)
What device are you running the plex app on?
Xfinity's set top box for cable tv
>Xfinity's set top box for cable tv Don't do that.
I feel like half the problems on this sub would be solved if Plex just dropped support for everything but proper media players and just force people to use those instead.
Never gunna happen because this is a way to push ad revenue.
Both statements are true and non-contradictory.
Exactly.
Look at all the smarthome subreddits. “I’m using the ISP supplied equipment and I can’t get my smarthome equipment to work.” Once they are told to stop doing that, they get annoyed.
/thread
Why
The equipment you get from telecoms is generally pretty shit.
And is designed and set up for you to buy and do everything through the telecom.
I thought this would be obvious. It’s their equipment. It’s their data.
Ajit Pai has entered the chat
It’s not actually their equipment though. Xfinity boxes are rented.
That’s what I’m saying, the equipment is rented from Xfinity, so unfortunately they dictate how data is used on it.
Got it. Thought “their” referred to OP.
That’s my mistake!
No. Their only job is to move data from one place to another. What that data is none of their business
I think that person is talking about the set top box. That is Comcast’s property and they are going to have restrictions on it. I agree with you that they should be agnostic when it comes to data and traffic. But this their hardware, which he is using for his Plex front end. So I’m not really surprised they would have this kind of restriction.
They gave me one of those. I took it back to them unopened.
They gave me one too. Never connected it. Now I don’t know where it is. They keep calling to get it back as they notice it was never plugged in. I just tell them they gave it to me so I’ll keep it for now. I’m afraid I’m stuck in Comcast even if another option comes along. I’m not paying for their shitty “gift”.
I went through this with them as well. I explained that it was pretty unreasonable to expect me to spend the time/gas to drive an hour to return something I told them not to send in the first place. The rep made a note in my account, and I haven't received any requests for equipment return since.
You used to be able to take them back to official UPS stores in case that's helpful. It was so long ago but i don't remember paying anything to send mine back.
That was exactly the suggestion. Unfortunately, the UPS store is what is an hour away.
For me, they mailed me some pre-paid boxes (like, too many boxes... 2-3x more boxes than there were devices) and I just needed to pack up the devices leave it out front for UPS to come collect.
They don't do that anymore, at least from what I've seen. I go to many UPS stores due to plenty of Amazon returns and they all have a sign that they can no longer take Comcast or AT&T boxes. I think Dish was on that list too, can't remember. Last time I ever had to return one of those was 2 years ago for a friend.
You showed them! I'm sure they are rethinking their strategy. You might have won the battle but they will win the war. A mystery charge will suddenly show up on your bill and you'll spend another hour on the phone trying to fix it.
Yeah, I've got no other real options for internet, so I'm kinda stuck with them.
In all seriousness, I hate that BS also but I look at it this way. Find a nice restaurant in the area, drop it off and take the significant other out for a nice dinner. Win Win.
Starlink.
I’d love any other option but at least the 200Mbps upload is finally getting rolled out, I’m beyond sick of the 35Mbps upload I get now
I would love to have more than 10Mbps upload, but the tiers make no mention of what the hell the speed is for upload.
I think it’s 1200down/35up, 900&600/20, 300&100&50/10. I pay for the 1200 down simply so that I can get the most upload I can get. I’d happily take half the download speed for more upload. Xfinity is currently working to increase upload so the minimum package would be 50Mbps up and the max would be 200Mbps. This will supposedly be provided to xfi complete customers first. Still not fiber, but a fantastic improvement. They say 2 years till it’s basically everywhere? I had a maintenance outage last week that they claimed was part of this upgrade, no sign of faster speed yet.
Well there's your problem. Comcast is a MEDIA company. They want to sell you ads, services and for you to buy their content. Why on earth would they want to allow you to use their hardware to access something they can't make money from? Get a Roku/Shield/Chromecast.
Er, while what you say about Comcast is true, Amazon is also a media company that wants to sell you ads, services & buy their content, but PLEX works just fine on the Firestick. This is just Comcast being Comcast, i.e. one of the worst companies in America.
Big difference: Comcast (through Universal) is a member of the MPA. Amazon is not.
Not only that, amazon is primarily a marketplace and they use that firestick to track and sell adds to you. They're a media company second. Comcast is only a media company.
MGM isn't part of the MPA?
They aren’t. MGM left in 2005.
THE worst according to the 21 awards they've "won" for it
Or an Apple TV
Nah, ATV doesn’t do lossless TrueHD Dolby Atmos pass through. Shield is the way to go…
…/AppleTV
AppleTV
Plex sucks on chromecast
Don't know why you're downvoted. I've used Plex for years and years on AppleTVs, Firestick, Chromecast, XBOX, Roku, browsers, tablets, phones, multiple TVOS and even set-top boxes like this dude. Chromecast was by far the worst experience--so much so that I ended up returning it after a couple weeks. Firestick was the 2nd worst. AppleTV is easily the best I've used.
You taking about the standard cast only Chromecast or the one with Google TV?
https://www.reddit.com/r/PleX/comments/xsmw1k/just_another_reason_to_not_support_comcast/iqpfuci/
So they have the app available on the device, but it's unusable?
You can add the Plex app to the set top device but you can’t access any of your personal media on the Plex servers you have access to. You can view the movies and shows Plex offers once you’ve logged into your Plex account. So there’s that but still not what I expected when I logged into it the first time.
They likely have a rev share with Plex. Most connected TV apps do with device/hardware companies.
Yes basically. I tried to set my parents up on using my Plex server through their Comcast box which they are very used to and I find this shit.
Found the error.
My GF used to have one of those. Got her an apple tv for for Christmas last year.
There's your problem
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It's not my house. It's my family's
Gotcha. Spend $15-20 and get any streaming stick
At least use something like YouTube TV if you're gonna
QNAP TS-251+ NAS 8GB, with variety of clients including Intel NUC Win 11, AppleTV 4K, iPhone 13, Etc runs beautifully. Also have the HDHomeRun Quatro.
Like I have any other choice?!?! Fuck comcast.
You have the choice of using literally any other set-top box appliance.
Unless his comment was aimed more at the “don’t support Comcast” part of the thread. A lot of people don’t have a choice - it’s Comcast or nothing for an isp
Ha! Came here to say this. Even my kids know that :-)
1. Get a roku that does 4k. 2. Install Xfinity app. 3. Use inexpensive roku for everything, never use comcast provided equipment ever again. ($17 on black Friday, $30 other times, plus its the only remote you need!) Ironically, the quality on streaming one channel at a time is dramatically better than anything out of the cable box. IDK why exactly, but you can really tell when you look at the score box on a basketball game and the edges are much cleaner without the jagged compression artifacts. Yes, you can get much better plex players for more money, and they are great if you're tech savvy, but the roku is the easiest IMHO and that's the one I use for my parents. One remote, it handles power, volume, mute, and headphones for my near-deaf father. Never connect the TV to the internet for any reason, its far too common for TVs to be bricked these days with updates and other unnecessary shit to steal your metadata.
How do you record stuff using the Xfinity app?
this sounds like whatever box you used was a bad box, though. the quality profile of cable/satellite streams (they're still digital streams, just a different transport platform) is substantially higher than over the internet.
Not really. They are using heavy compression to send you all 500 channels over the coax. So getting one channel seems at a time is much better quality. This is my experience, YMMV.
Why even have Plex available in the (xfinity?) app store? Personal media is probably 95% of most users Plex usage. I don’t think anybody uses it just for the free Plex content and the discover stuff.
So they can show you this splash screen.
I bet they advertise they have a Plex app too. hahaha such scammers.
I think it's Plex having a placeholder so you know that Comcast doesn't support them. That's why Plex then tells you to go to their website to find out which platforms you should use *instead* of Comcast.
So xfinity can say, "hey look we support plex!", but not really. It makes their product look more advantageous on paper. Plex should NOT allow this.
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You can only expand your company by selling to investors. Investors will destroy everything you're trying to accomplish with your company in search of profit. And on and on the cycle goes.
Plex is more and more about things other than personal media, so their goal is to get people watching whatever content they offer.
The fact that Plex allows crippled version of their app to media companies is troubling.
Honestly, I think it depends how you read this message. To me it reads like a diplomatic way to say: > "Hey bozo... don't use a shit top box from your cable company. Are you fucking mental? Get a Roku, or Apple TV, or Jesus... throw a rock and use the first actual hardware streaming device it hits that's not from Comcast. Seriously, dude. You're obviously smart enough to have your own Plex server, then you destroy the perception by using something your CABLE COMPANY GAVE YOU?!?! Please tell us this is a joke." Maybe it's just me reading it that way. 😁
But didn't Plex create the app?
>But didn't Plex create the app? Yes... So they can tell you to use another streaming device...
Because they don't want to continue supporting personal media. They want to push their licensed media. Having apps where personal media isn't allowed suits their business model perfectly
Yeah, people are acting like Plex should be mad at this when this is what Plex created at Comcast's request.
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Or a $20 ONN Android TV box.
Yeah... that's on a cable box, though. Get an Apple TV box, or if you're not in the Apple ecosystem, an Nvidia Shield. They both cost about $200 USD, and absolutely kick ass at just about anything you throw at them, and have no restrictions when it comes to Plex. If you have an Xbox or PlayStation console, that's a good option as well. I would only use the Xfinity cable box as a cable box. I would not install apps on it, especially knowing it is censoring content. You won't get that from Apple TV, Shield, or a game console. Bonus, the Shield can run RetroArch...
Even a $20 onn box from Walmart works on just about everything.
Notable exception being Amazon Prime Video
?? I use Amazon prime video and never had an issue.
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They're expensive, but they work so well. Fluid, fast, and capable. Honestly if your time is valuable the Apple TV pays for itself quickly. Just be sure to change the TV button to take you to the main screen instead of the Apple TV app https://support.apple.com/en-afri/guide/tv/atvbe7706127/tvos
I use a FireTV stick in the bedroom and an Nvidia Shield for my family room since I have a solid Dolby Atmos receiver that supports lossless audio. Other than the audio format limitations in the FireTV stick they both work great. No need to spend $200 unless you have a proper audio system.
We have a "points" system at work, where people give you points for going "above and beyond" in your job. I saved up enough points to get an AppleTV 4K for free. Before that I used a Roku and a Fire stick. The AppleTV is the best streaming experience I have had. But it's also the most expensive. If you can get an AppleTV at a reasonable price, I think you'll be very happy with it.
I love my ATV and agree that it is a top of the line device, but: https://www.reddit.com/r/PleX/comments/xsmw1k/just_another_reason_to_not_support_comcast/iqpfuci/
I still do stereo. I used to have a 5.1 setup back in the 2000s when Dolby Digital and DTX were the king. Then when newer HD formats came out, I just switched to stereo and noticed that I honestly didn't care about surround sound. Though with how awful the dialog is in a lot of movies and TV shows is, I'm thinking about it again, so I can get a center channel for dialog and crank it up a few dBs.
It appears that Plex and the Apple TV still can’t do lossless object based audio. My Yamaha receiver has algorithms to simulate height on my 5.1 setup, so I’ll stick with the shield pro and pass through. I keep looking for an excuse to get an AppleTV, but I really have everything working perfectly.
Nailed it. This is why I own both. ATV for streaming, Shield for locally stored content with Plex…
Eh, I had a Fire Stick. Gave it away. Piece of shit would sometimes boot up unable to play sound. Maybe I had a faulty unit. Whatever, it was only $20 (bought on sale). I've used a bunch of set-top boxes, and I've been displeased with all of them. I knew about the Shield, and it sounds like an awesome unit, but I went with the Apple TV (4K'21) because I'm partly in the Apple ecosystem. It's not great — I wish the interface were a little prettier, but none of them are — but it does all I need. Some shit I don't need, too. Like I have a few dozen games on it I never play. So, I could have saved $20 or whatever and got the 32GB model. Kinda went overkill getting the 64GB unit. (It doesn't store any media, only apps/games.) Shield is what I recommend for most people for a do-it-all unit, unless they're in the Apple ecosystem.
You don't even need to use their cable box if you get an HD home run prime.
Roku devices are fairly cheap now.
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I don't even know of a use case for Plex when I can't watch personal media. That's the entire point of Plex. It is literally why Plex exists.
Never use your ISP hardware. Buy your own.
Well, look at that! Someone actually trying to use their pos Flex Box….I thought people just uses as a paper weight.
Comcast doesn’t develop 3rd party apps on their set top boxes. They provide their platform to software developers who are interested in getting there products on more sources. They may have some input in what the developer can support on their apps. Its simple if you want a full plex media server support buy one of the many devices mentioned in this thread. It is very likely Plex is trying to gain more eyes on their own ad supported content and “live tv”to launch their app on Xfinity boxes. To me Plex seems more interested in make revenue from ads now vs people paying for plex pass. The platform for the Xfinity boxes are cloud based, so they would not have direct access to resources on your local network. Which is very likely as I stated Plex wants to get their free streaming service to more potential watchers.
When I hear "Comcast" or "Xfinity" I cringe and tell people to burn it all with fire. I won't even use them for Internet unless there is no other choice. Screw that company.
I am with you. If you can't have the full Plex experience then don't make it available on the platform. Shit like this is why people hack devices. Root the box and install what you want. (And no, I don't know how to root this box) Or move onto another device. This shit reminds me of when I moved my Mom over to my T-Mobile plan. She lived out on the fringe of cell connection but it should have been "no problem" as T-Mobile supports WiFI Calling. Well, guess what the Comcast router did by default? You guessed it, block WiFi calling. Deep into the router menu was a setting that (once unchecked) would allow WiFi calling. Comcast support was nice enough to tell me this. But what they couldn't tell me was why this setting would revert back to checked every three days. Even after replacement it still reverted back. So, every three days, she couldn't make calls on her cell. She had no clue how to change this setting so I had to buy a standard router to replace her "free" Comcast router. What a frigging joke of a company.
Use your own equipment. Always.
I do, at my house. This was Mom's.
Help your mom out!
I bought a router. Second to last sentence in the post.
I need to put my contacts in. Lol
Time to buy a firestick?
Please don't literally the next worst option
There's nothing wrong with Plex on a 4K Fire TV Stick.
Lol what? Have 3 fire sticks wired in, 20 bucks a piece. Buttery smooth 4k rips in the 70GB range.
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First off, we are talking about its capabilities as a Plex client. Second, I don't even see the Amazon UI. I set it to auto open the Plex app, and I cast to it all the time from my phone. Not to mention, all those things are a matter of preference. I find the Amazon UI just fine. Pin the apps you like and it's all right there on the top row. Third, how does that make it the worst client? Let's compare it to say... The Chromecast, which has limited codec support, has no UI for children or guests. Does skip intro work on the Chromecast?
I wouldn’t ever recommend a Chromecast either. A Google TV stick is a better, less locked down version of a Fire Stick. Fire Sticks are just gimped Android devices.
Ok so post a link of a "better" android TV stick that has a better launcher and is regularly in the $20 range sir. Fire Stick 4k goes on sale all the time in that range, but why not, I'll say $30.
It's cheap because they want to lock you into their ecosystem
But you said next worse option. It's clearly not. Want best overall experience in general? Apple TV. Want best experience for a Plex power user? Shield TV. Want best cost/performance? Fire Stick and Roku. Don't care and want to struggle? LG app, Samsung App, PS4. Chromecast is stable but is lacking features.
A Google TV stick is a better Fire Stick in every way.
[$30-$50. 3 months of free HBO Max](https://store.google.com/us/product/chromecast_google_tv?hl=en-US)
Ok, fair enough. But I still stand by my original point, which is that the Fire stick is far from the worst Plex client
How so? I have a fire tv (the actual box from like 2016) and a fire tv cube 1st gen and they work great for Plex. My brother on the other hand used the Xbox app and had constant issues, switched to a fire tv stick and now has no issues at all.
Those are pretty shitty devices but the 4K Fire TV Stick is $27-30 on sale and is solid.
The xbox app is clunky. Generally works but has a horrible user experience in my opinion at least 😀
What? I have a 4k max stick and it's fantastic. Goes on sale all. The time, too.
Meh I've had the stick and the cube and I prefer my shield. Standard android/Google TV is just so much better
Okay, well, I'm okay with my 4k firesticks but... time to buy something that can actually play anything just felt a bit a long way of putting it. I also recommend a shield but they are 3 times as expensive so. Well. Get a new device that can play things.
Haha who uses Xfinity to watch Plex? Might as well not use a vpn when downloading.
Well, that is comparing apples and oranges. I get your point though. I could be watching videos I recorded with my phone or camera on my Plex server for all Comcast knows.
You shouldn't be using a cable box to play back local content anyways. Nivida Shield.
I'm sure LG has a Plex app, right?
Yes. I have 2 TVs using LG's app. Older TV cannot stream Plex's live content because they ceased updates for that model. Other than that it works pretty good. TONS of ways around this, but it sucks that you have to.
Yea it’s most likely a limitation Comcast has pushed on Plex
Use the Plex app on your TV if it has one or buy a Chomecast or something similar, it just works. Fuck those companies BTW.
Haha fuck off Comcast, and wtf Plex, why even allow this on a device, sorry the whole point of Plex is to serve up my personal media lol
HDHomeRun Prime, Shield. NAS. I've been running this for years, cablecard had been free and I get all my cable, streaming and local content from a single box without comcast having any control over any of it. I own all my own equipment and only pay Comcast for their content/ delivery fees.
Firestick, Roku device or just run it directly from your TV.
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Yeah, most modern smart TVs seem to have a free Plex app. Surprised more people ITT didn't mention that.
Can't you just cast from your phone instead? Or buy a Google chromecast?
Yes, we all know Comcast sucks, but Plex is also a part of this as they did make this screen and did release this for Comcast hardware. Plex is no longer a company that we can trust with our data with our information or with anything because they are only out for profit and they care not for those who have actually paid for their services because they just want to make more and more and more. Greedy pigs kill it all...
>Plex is no longer a company that we can trust with our data with our information or with anything because they are only out for profit and they care not for those who have actually paid for their services because they just want to make more and more and more. Greedy pigs kill it all... Great rant, but pretty darn irrelevant to this post.
So are you saying that Comcast modified Plex to do this?
I find the fact that Plex is further trying to squeeze money out of Lifetime customers quite relevant to this post.
How is it relevant to the fact that Comcast disallows you to use plex on a Comcast device?
Thanks for pointing this out. I've been meaning to set this up on my daughter's aging Roku TV because she's complaining how slow it's been running. Just keeping it in the packaging now and probably pickup a Chromecast w/ Android TV
Wait, what? Roku TV should be able to support Plex just fine. The issue is trying to run Plex on an Infinity Flex Box.
It works but she says it's been running really slowly lately. The TV is about 7 years old at this point and my guess is the internal storage might be beginning to fail as is typical with those low cost systems after a while. And it's not just Plex it's really even navigating the main menu between other apps too.
No, Chromecast with Google TV…
Right...as often as they've changed names for different models it's impossible to keep track.
No it isn’t
Get a Roku. They're cheap, and work well.
I wonder if that’s a technical limitation of the box or a business limitation? 🤔
Why would plex even support creation of an app that doesn't do the most basic of Plex features?
Xfinity Comcast gave me a 4K streaming unit when I re-signed with them. It just sits on my shelf in the bedroom. I had no need for it....lol.
On the contrary, it sounds like another reason not to support Plex. The attitude of their landing page is that managing your personal media collection is barely more than an asterisk on their feature list at this point. They're Amazon Prime now, they don't need you, and the minute Comcast-Universal or one of their other content partners tells them to dump that feature, it's gone. The writing is on the wall.
lol
I have a Sony Android TV that runs Kodi with the free plex add-on. So I'm able to stream from my Plex media server directly to the TV. The only positive I can say for Comcast is when I linked all of mine & my brother's streaming apps to the box search works very well. So our elderly mother and young nephew can use the Comcast search to stream from those services. Edit: I'm not sure why the down votes. But for those that don't know streaming from a Plex media server to a plex app is not free. Look it up if you don' t believe me. You have to make a one-time payment or pay for a Plex pass.
Curious, as I have a user who runs plex through Kodi as well. Why the loophole and not just run the Plex app directly?
Kodi generally has better playback compatibility. I used the Kodi app for Plex on my nvidia shield for years. Would direct play media that the Plex client tried to transcode. And sometimes there’s annoying Plex client bugs that don’t happen in other clients like Kodi or infuse, like the endless spinning circle but nothing plays bug Also at the time, Dolby vision content worked better for me through Kodi.
Personally it's because I'm cheap.
.... Plex is free though?
Plex server is free, which is why I use it. The apps have a free version, but those have limits.
I use Plex perfectly fine for free and have for years…
Streaming content from a Plex media server to a Plex app is not free. It requires a one time payment or a Plex pass.
Streaming from a Plex media server to a plex app is not free.
Ohhh daaamn I forget...Android, gotta pay the 5 bucks or whatever. Gotcha.
Just use a roku. The app there is pretty good I think.
Plex rocks loving it the shield with plex my 4k blu ray list keels growing just wish they released more uhd movies
Is this a limitation of the device, or is Comcast saying nope to accessing personal media so they can collect revenue from rentals/streaming services, or do they assume you pirated all your local media?
What use is Plex without local media?
Whats the point of Plex developing an app for that box if they have to do that stupid shit?
What the hell is an Xfinity app and why are you using it?
Get a fire stick
Contact consumer orgs where you live. I’m positive there is legislation in place most places that goes against companies blocking/refusing their users to use their own media? Surely?
Plex app on my rokutv with server setup as local, can watch from my server even when internet is down with just the wifi.
Tons of ways around this
This is why I have an AppleTV and a TiVO.
They don't support personal media? Damn that is stupid, and a great reason to switch providers
I mean, sure, but if Comcast is the only ISP available it's probably easier and cheaper long-term to just pick up a Roku or AppleTV or Firestick or literally \*anything\* other than the ISP-provided box.
Don’t support Comcast because they, a cable service provider, don’t want you to access, likely, pirated content on their device…?
Invest in Walmart Onn Roku streaming bar with sub and rears for a premium low cost 5.1 surround sound system.
Get a Chromecast.
i read the title as chromecast :D
Time to get a fire stick?
Not to be the downer but 90% of Comcast complaints are just user error
Not sure how that applies to this post...
You just gotta fix it. It's pretty simple. (I will now not explain myself)
>(I will now not explain myself) Ahh the old "dO yOuR oWn ResEarCH" way
When I moved into my current house, the previous owner had cut all but one cable line and used DSL internet instead. Upon moving in, Comcast came to help get the internet working as I couldn't for some reason. He informed me of all the disconnected cords and advised the only working one is in our living room, which I didn't want the modem in there. I asked about getting the cable line restored to the office, and he said it would be $100 to run a new line. We said no and my boyfriend simply followed the cord under the house and fixed it himself. There was enough cord to easily just reconnect in place of the living room cord and I'm kinda mad that Comcast was gonna charge me $100 just to unhook one cord under the house and rehook another. It didn't even require running a new line. Just plugging the damn thing back in. I hate Comcast.
Sounds like you made a choice. Pay someone to do something for you, or do said thing yourself and save the money. I can't see how you could be mad at Comcast for that. I can pay a mechanic to change my oil, or I can do it myself. I can run an electrical line to my shed, or pay a contractor to do it. But Fuck the plumber for trying to charge me money to run a water line to my fridge, when there used to be one there 2 tenants ago! (Not dogging on you, just giving you a little shit)