Yeah some time ago Plex started adding their own content or pushing you to streaming services, probably in an attempt to be more legitimate. I use Plex currently and I remember this being frustrating. With some configuration you can basically remove those options though. I mainly consume Plex through the Apple TV app and the UX (once configured) is above average.

> probably in an attempt to be more legitimate.

I think you're correct, and this is why I forgive Plex its annoying transgressions.

Yeah, there are probably ways to mostly get it back to what it once was. The problem really is that a) these ways weren't obvious to me at the time, and b) I don't trust Plex to keep those ways. Enshittification is sadly a one-way street.

If Plex kept my content frond-and-center and added useful features on top (e.g. Prime Videos additional information while pausing) I could even have seen myself subscribing to their service. But making the software annoying to use for its main purpose ensures I'll never spend a cent on it.

The streaming integration is pretty handy, helps answer the "what service is this on" question.

I don't think it's pushing you to them at all, if you're looking at a show or movie that's available to you via Plex, they're listed first.

Imho the issue is you need to configure this for every user, and as plex is local account hostile it means walking family through this/checking it’s been done vs local accounts that you can disable it via admin.

They show their hosted media first thing now, and hide your media behind some clicks.

This is exactly the issue. I’m sure most people who installed Plex did it to stream their own self-hosted media, but now Plex by default shoves in a bunch of streaming BS that they want you to watch, while hiding your own media behind a few clicks.

Plex has always had some minor frustrations, but this is probably enough to make me switch.

You shouldn't have to, but you can hide those panes and sections on the menu on first run and never see them again. I was forced to find out whe, an unseen update (on either system) made the Jellyfin app on my Sony TV incompatible with the Jellyfin server on my LAN, and I have never taken the time to fix it.

When you’re setting up a new server, it shows you a bunch of default Libraries for their own media. Unselecting them then should remove them from your list. You can also edit your Libraries list later. Managing Libraries is a pretty import part of Plex UI (and Jellyfin for that matter)

If you don’t know which library on the list to click on or drag around, maybe you’ll have a hard time in general.

> When you’re setting up a new server, it shows you a bunch of default Libraries for their own media. Unselecting them then should remove them from your list.

It's been a while since I last tried setting it up, but I can't remember anything during the setup talking about external streaming libraries. I tried setting it up in the way I expected it to work based on my previous knowledge.

> If you don’t know which library on the list to click on or drag around, maybe you’ll have a hard time in general.

I didn't see anything in the UI on my TV mentioning different libraries, or giving me the option to switch from the external Plex library to my own. At a certain point these things stop being user problems and become UX problems.

“Libraries” is what Plex calls “collections” I think Emby/Jellyfin use the same terminology, but don’t quote me on that.

After you create a Plex instance, you still need to go and create a “Movies” library, a “TV Shows” library, maybe a “Music” library, an “Audiobooks” Library and so on. Those are the ones that show on the left panel in the Web UI, TV App etc. It’s how you manage your media in general

During initial setup, Plex will show you a list of “Default Libraries” that have names like “Discover”, “Web”, etc. You can unselect them. You can also remove them from your Library list later on.

I would have loved to go through the setup again and see where exactly I got confused. For this purpose I uninstalled Plex and re-installed it. Sadly for the last 20 minutes it only shows:

<Response code="503" title="Maintenance" status="Plex Media Server is currently running startup maintenance tasks."/>

> You can unselect them. You can also remove them from your Library list later on.

They respawn.

I just looked this up in the iOS app, and you can just un-pin all libraries except your own in the hamburger menu.

They come back eventually. I’ve deleted the crap dozens of times.