junkboxx wrote:

Emissary35 wrote:

No need to force this feature that is unwanted by a lot of people, I too like to come back and resume whatever show I am watching on any app.  There is no need to boot me to the home screen just because some designer made this change.  I'm really sick and tired of things like this being forced and no option to disable, just check out all the nonsense on the Netflix app that you can't shut off, streaming is starting to develop a lot of annoyances.  It seems as though just because some feature can be added it must be, and without choice.

I want the feature! He's not the only one! After 3 hrs of watching a TV show marathon, why should I get back into Sling and find my channel again??!! How ignominious! There is not even a work around. By the way, if you do not survey all of the ROKU owners all over the world, regarding this feature, how can you express to us that the feature is "unwanted by allot of people?" Just like TV news telling me they show stories I want to see... They never asked, so they don't know what I want to see.

The word schmegegge comes to mind, when a company does not give it's consumers a choice on how to run their own device. There should be an option to disable "going to home screen" in any channel. I could also not find it in any "secret menu" or "secret screens."

Just fire up the new Plex Preview App.
It breaks Roku TV power saving features as well as 'Phone Home', 'cause it NEVER goes back home, at any time, for any reason.
Developers wanting to disable 'Phone Home' need only contact Plex... they've cracked the code.

DubTaylor wrote:

Just fire up the new Plex Preview App.
It breaks Roku TV power saving features as well as 'Phone Home', 'cause it NEVER goes back home, at any time, for any reason.
Developers wanting to disable 'Phone Home' need only contact Plex... they've cracked the code.

Interesting. I found a post in the Plex forum announcing the beta version with installation link, but I'm not sure I understand the purpose of this channel. The announcement doesn't really explain what this channel is for. Previews of what, exactly?  It says it replaces the Plex Pass Preview Channel, but oddly, I couldn't find a description of that that channel either. 

So are you saying that simply installing this channel will break the Roku power saving feature?  Otherwise how is this helpful to Junkboxx (Sling TV), the original poster (Amazon), or to others who binge on Netflix shows, etc?

ginahoy wrote:

DubTaylor wrote:

Just fire up the new Plex Preview App.
It breaks Roku TV power saving features as well as 'Phone Home', 'cause it NEVER goes back home, at any time, for any reason.
Developers wanting to disable 'Phone Home' need only contact Plex... they've cracked the code.

Interesting. I found a post in the Plex forum announcing the beta version with installation link, but I'm not sure I understand the purpose of this channel. The announcement doesn't really explain what this channel is for. Previews of what, exactly?  It says it replaces the Plex Pass Preview Channel, but oddly, I couldn't find a description of that that channel either. 

So are you saying that simply installing this channel will break the Roku power saving feature?  Otherwise how is this helpful to Junkboxx (Sling TV), the original poster (Amazon), or to others who binge on Netflix shows, etc?

Plex is a home/personal media server.
https://support.plex.tv/articles/200288286-what-is-plex/
If you don't have a ton of DVD/BluRay rips/Recorded TV (out the yang) you're using VLC/Roku Media Player/Etc. to play you have no need for Plex.
If you do have, say, 25 TB (or so) of same - you really do need Plex (or Emby/Other), so much so that you don't need anything else on your Roku at all... lol

The Plex App for Roku comes in two flavors:
The Public app found in the channel store and the private 'Preview' Version which is a preview of the public app before it's released. The Public or Preview Plex apps do NOT go home after a period of inactivity. Never. I can open either one of those apps and spend weeks/months in them with no fear of EVER going home during inactivity. As soon as you leave the Plex app, however, you are no longer under it's influence.

Unfortunately, now that I'm looking for 9.2, if I want to have a chance to get it I have to manually exit the Plex app and manually check for an update. Ideally, if I'm inactive, nothing is playing and the app is just sleeping - I would want it to return home to check for updates and such as is the intent of the function in the first place and one that Plex has broken along with any power saving features Roku may have in mind. <--- for Roku TV units, for instance.

DubTaylor wrote:

(Plex Preview Channel)  ...is a preview of the public app before it's released. The Public or Preview Plex apps do NOT go home after a period of inactivity. Never. I can open either one of those apps and spend weeks/months in them with no fear of EVER going home during inactivity. As soon as you leave the Plex app, however, you are no longer under it's influence.

Unfortunately, now that I'm looking for 9.2, if I want to have a chance to get it I have to manually exit the Plex app and manually check for an update. Ideally, if I'm inactive, nothing is playing and the app is just sleeping - I would want it to return home to check for updates and such as is the intent of the function in the first place and one that Plex has broken along with any power saving features Roku may have in mind. <--- for Roku TV units, for instance.

I should have clarified... I've been using Plex Media Server since 2012.  Looking back, I see where we exchanged comments about PMS auto-exit early in this thread. I recall that PMS Classic did auto-exit, but I'm aware that newer versions don't auto-exit.  However, I rarely use the app any longer and thus haven't kept up with latest developments.
So Plex Preview Channel is simply a hidden beta version of the next PMS release?  That explains why I couldn't find it on plex.tv downloads page!  What an odd name they gave it

It's not PMS (Plex Media Server) and it's not hidden. "Preview" is a Preview of the official Plex app you can load as a private channel:
https://forums.plex.tv/t/roku-previews-beta/386800 

The 'Official' app hasn't been updated in a long while (or I haven't noticed, during a manual update check) - maybe because Roku stopped approving it for not meeting Roku specifications... who knows? The point is, the Official Plex App nor the Private Preview version go home at any time. The updates 'Preview' has been receiving have done nothing to address the 'No Phone Home' problem and I can't help but think (guess) until that changes in 'Preview' we'll never see a new 'Official'. At least it's a working theory and since no one 'Official' from either camp is talking about it it's as good a theory as any other. I also have a theory that one day (perhaps soon) the Plex apps for Roku will again go home. I can almost guarantee it.

For the purposes of this thread however, Roku Channel Apps are supposed to go home after a time of inactivity. That 'requirement' hasn't changed as far as I know, nor is it likely to, if my guess is correct. 

DubTaylor wrote:

It's not PMS (Plex Media Server) and it's not hidden. "Preview" is a Preview of the official Plex app you can load as a private channel:
https://forums.plex.tv/t/roku-previews-beta/386800

I was apparently confused by the terminology, specifically the word 'app'...  To me, the word "app" is shorthand for "application software" (as opposed to an O/S, for example). So in my mind, PMS and Plex App are synonymous.  But in reviewing the plex.tv site, I see they now refer to the Plex Channel as an "App", apparently distinguishing client application software (the Plex Channel in this case) from server side software (i.e., PMS). Right? I guess I'm showing my age (I learned Fortran, Assembly 360 & Cobol in college )

ginahoy wrote:

I was apparently confused by the terminology, specifically the word 'app'...  

In the Roku world, they use the term "channel" where most other devices would say "app". Yes, PMS is an app (application) but it is quite different from the app/channel used on the Roku. Why Roku went with channel, I have no idea. I try to include both terms if I feel the person I'm addressing might not know the terminology. The Plex channel/app for Roku is solely for streaming your media. PMS of course is the full server application installed on a computer or NAS device that acts as the streaming source. The Preview channel that Dub mentions is simply a beta release of a new Plex channel for the Roku. Since I rarely use Plex unless I'm traveling with my Roku Stick, I wasn't even aware they offered a test version of the channel. The nice thing is that these test channels can be installed along side the official version, so you have access to both without issue.