Has Plex Client Development stalled?

[convertapple]

When you added on the mrmc-plex client about a year ago I thought it was a stoke of genius. Drop MySQL servers for a much more user-friendly plex server back-end to share data between clients. For me the original-plex client was let down by insisting on transcoding when completely unnecessary (with no way to turn it off) which meant some media didn't play at all as I use a low powered server.

However nothing much seems to have happened recently on the plex client front. I understand you are a very small dev team, so I don't understand why minimal resources are diverted into v3:-

DVD support (does anyone still use DVD's? I stopped over a decade ago, 1080p and 4k have superseded their low res)

Adding transcoding support to mrmc plex client => may as well just use the original plex client, mrmc-plex differentiating feature was that as a thick client it didn't need transcoding.

shield platform = another hardware platform is great but do that many people really have these expensive machines and would it not be better to complete one feature i.e. Plex before embarking on new ones?

v17 database compatability = if running plex client instead of MySQL which seemed the new direction of travel why would you need this? Has MrMc fork now drifted so much as to not be able to very easily inherit such changes from Kodi trunk?

Now I understand everyone has different needs, requests and it is up to the dev's to decide the direction hence why they broke away from team kodi in the first place, but I noticed on other threads that you say you are unlikely to support the new Estuary default theme from Kodi (confluence is hideous) + other stuff, so if it is indeed a total break from Kodi and Plex client is not a priority when much is still missing from MrMc-Plex (see below) I get a bit lost on what the direction of travel is.
Photos
Collections
Filters
PlayLists (Both Plex ones and MrMC pointing at plex items ones)
AddOn Alternatives (not pirate stuff, but weather etc)
Continue watching, Ondeck, Resume etc
Plex Channels
Does MrMC cache thumbs other stuff from Plex. Can it operate directly (read-only) on Plex DB's for speed?
etc...

With the addition of the Plex client I thought I had seen the future, but the future seems to have stalled. A year has passed with minimal changes over the original basic functions. Latest Kodi is a doddle to install on FireTV using the Downloader app, + seems very stable with def estuary skin, if only it had your Plex Client. I wonder if the MrMc fork would have progressed faster if it had just conditionally not compiled the add-on and other unwanted kodi stuff and so kept more closely aligned to the main Kodi source trunk.

It's hard to write this sort of critical post without coming over as rude but rest assured that is 100% not my intention. I am just a bit lost on where MrMc is heading re priorities, differentiation from alternatives etc. I'm seeing Kodi (long avoided by me due to instability) moving ahead now at pace with its new skins, add-on auto installers etc.

[davilla]

Plex Client development has not stalled. There are many things on the plate and MrMC does cater to many different styles of usage. There was a demand for Plex transcode, so we added it. For example, tvOS does not handle VC1 very well, using transcode helps over come that difficulty.

DVD (with menus) support was asked for long, long ago. It came back gradually, 1st ISO, now all. Just because some do not use a feature that MrMC supports does not mean it should be dropped. There are many non-mainstream examples of this in MrMC but that is what makes MrMC a better solution for a greater cross-section of users.

Shield support is present because a) close in nature to the Amazon FireOS and b) it is the only solution for those that want to pass HD audio to their amps for decode. Aiming for Nougut seemed a no-brainer.

Estuary looks nice BUT even now with MrMC/Confluence skin, we get associated with Kodi. Something we want to get away from. So a new, MrMC specific skin is being worked on.

What we work on is driven by a) bugs which have the highest priority. b) user demand (Plex folders, collections, etc), c) Internal focus (smarter caching, better buffering, etc). We know we can't please everyone, so we try to stick to the 80/20 rule.

Back-porting changes is never impossible, but here we get to choose what we feel is important and what is harmful. For example, in Kodi v18, support for Bob/Bob Invert GPU deinterlacers was recently dropped. I had a real WTF moment on that. That means, zero practical HD deinterlace support on embedded like iOS/tvOS and FireOS. One just does not have the ponies to do it all via CPU. Now think about it, why go and cripple three major platforms with no solution. It shows me that Kodi dev is heavily driven by desktop platforms and not much care or thought about embedded. Do you really want MrMC to bring that in ? I think not. There are several examples of changes like the above.

[logan_x50]

DVD support (does anyone still use DVD's? I stopped over a decade ago, 1080p and 4k have superseded their low res)

I do and was very grateful for the addition. The No2 most popular sport on the planet is Cricket (thanks to about 2 billion people in India). I like to re-watch great series from the past e.g the 2005 Ashes. Its only available on DVD. because the DVD structure is complex handbrake always seems to fail to rip correctly so the ability to playback video_ts folders is brilliant for me at least.

Since i moved to centralised mySQL i haven't really felt the need to use Plex to centralise the library. Personally i find Plex awkward from a library management point of view. I prefer to use MrMC library management functionality which the other clients then pick up automatically. Just goes to show Davillas point about different styles of usage.

I do think MrMC needs a new skin but its being worked so all good there. I'd like to see BBC iPlayer style. so simple even my mum can navigate but I know that the developers don't need to cater for my wish list, rather the bigger picture.

[davilla]

We are aiming for a clean, dirt simple approach for the new skin. Some settings might/might not be present. Still under construction

[Itzme1234]

I'm really liking the Plex integration. For me the main motivation to use MrMc over Plex right now is DTS sound. I'm hoping a new skin gives me more reasons. I'm also hoping for Rotten Tomatoes reviews and TV theme music, and I know they are Plex bells and whistles, but I find the former necessary now and the latter is fun.

[cosmoxl]

I'm really liking the Plex integration. For me the main motivation to use MrMc over Plex right now is DTS sound. I'm hoping a new skin gives me more reasons. I'm also hoping for Rotten Tomatoes reviews and TV theme music, and I know they are Plex bells and whistles, but I find the former necessary now and the latter is fun.

rotten tomatoes reviews or score? I'm confused on why you'd want to read reviews for a show you already "own".

[timstephens24]

I use ratings for what I want to watch next so not sure what you're getting at there by saying "own" like that. Though generally I watch it anyways if it's the last thing on my unwatched list. I only have Sing right now, so that's next with the kids regardless, but still... I like ratings and I "own" (i.e. I use my money to purchase either the Blu-Ray/4K UHD or iTunes and remove the DRM with different methods depending on where it's purchased) all my Movies and TV Shows.

[cosmoxl]

I use ratings for what I want to watch next so not sure what you're getting at there by saying "own" like that. Though generally I watch it anyways if it's the last thing on my unwatched list. I only have Sing right now, so that's next with the kids regardless, but still... I like ratings and I "own" (i.e. I use my money to purchase either the Blu-Ray/4K UHD or iTunes and remove the DRM with different methods depending on where it's purchased) all my Movies and TV Shows.

The point I was getting at was that rotten tomatoes ratings ARE available if you set your plex library to use them. Then they'll show up in MrMC. But, since he said "reviews" I was thinking he wanted to read articles in MrMC and that is confusing to me. I'd read the articles BEFORE I "own" it.

[Everbrave]

Under which conditions does the Plex transcoding kick-in?

Thanks

[cosmoxl]

Under which conditions does the Plex transcoding kick-in?

Thanks

settings>services>plex client - enable transcode is the first step because it's not enabled by default. Can you be more specific with your question otherwise?