[pecinko]

Thanks puithove and pecinko for the replies. The use case is to combine my local media which is on Plex with streaming sources like Netflix, Amazon, and Vudu.

In that case I'm not sure where the problem is since you have access to all XBMC add ons when in GoPlex mode. You can even make your own add on shelf by assigning your fav add ons to it in skin settings?

[jumblekn]

Sorry it has taken me so long to get back on this. I have been having some stability issues with PlexBMC and I have been trying to figure out what is causing it. I didn't sleep much last night, but I learned some fairly interesting things about my network, like the fact that the wireless extender I have my HTPC hooked up to is assigning it a virtual MAC address.

Just browse to whatever node in the PleXBMC add-on you want (must be in Go XBMC mode), open the context menu, and add it to Favorites. Then in the Amber skin settings, you can add that favorite in as one of the empty Home Menu entry items - only Favorites can be added in this way.

For some reason, when I pull up the context menu on a Plex Library in XBMC mode I do not get the option to add to favorites. This could be related to my previously mentioned PlexBMC stability issues, or it could be user error. Either way, not a big deal because I got the alternative working.

As already mentioned, you can either add XBMC or Plex sections as a custom menu items in skin settings via favorites...

I was able to add a upnp source (Netflix via PlayOn) as a favorite in XBMC, add this to the skin home menu open slot, and have it show up in the menu in Plex mode. Thanks for the suggestion. I honestly had not tried this before because I made an assumption when the "Movies" menu item from XBMC did not show up in Plex mode, that none of them would. You know what they say about assumptions.

In that case I'm not sure where the problem is since you have access to all XBMC add ons when in GoPlex mode. You can even make your own add on shelf by assigning your fav add ons to it in skin settings?

I will have to attempt making an add on shelf next.

Thanks again to all for all the help!

[cpaowner]

First off thanks for the great skin. I use it on all my boxes around the house! Unfortunately I'm having one small issue. I use the latest PleXBMC beta with SPMC + Amber on the Fire TV. I'm having an issue with the recently added/recently aired menus from the main menu. The first time i load this menu it will load fine and will be up to date. However, after adding more content to my library and going back to this menu it seems like its cached with old data. I can get to the updated recently added by clicking on Movies then going to recently added, however the main menu recently added is still the same old cached version. I've been trying to figure it out, but I am unable to do so. Is this by design or is it some type of bug? This happens on both my fire TV and ouya so it may be an issue with the skin with android.
The "shelf" recently added items and on deck items are always correctly up to date and they update every once in a while, however the recently added from the main menu seems to be cached forever. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks a bunch!

EDIT:
Also just wanted to note that I'm using the latest SPMC gotham version.

EDIT2:
Did a bit more testing. It seems this bug happens on my ATV2 as well, so this is not related to android. My ATV2 runs on frodo 12.3 so it can't be gotham or frodo related. I'm guessing there is a bug in the skin or plexbmc.

Also have tested multiple versions of PMS and there is no change.

EDIT3:
Just to be thorough I wanted to note that this DOES NOT occur on my windows/mac based xbmc clients and the recently added section refreshes as it should.

[pecinko]

Thanks for the kind words

As for the problem - it is not skin related so there's little I can do to help. IMHO, bug is somewhere in XBMC as it looks like your Win/Mac is performing differently than ATV & FTV. Plexbmc can be forced into non-caching mode which will theoretically work around this problem but with a speed penalty as ALL sections will be loading without caching of any kind.

[cpaowner]

It's a very strange issue. I've also noticed that if you go from recently added -> recently viewed -> recently added on the main menu it still has "recently viewed shows" at the top with the same old cached version of recently added. I tried from your old quartz skin and it always refreshes properly, but then again theres no button for recently added on the main menu. As for disabling caching it doesn't seem to make a difference, and since I can replicate the issue across both frodo and gotham I feel like it may be a plugin issue and/or skin issue. I've tried the XBM3C plugin for some media browser 3 skins and they seem to update properly, so perhaps there is a regression somewhere. I'm poking around with the skin and seeing if I can figure it out, thanks for your insights into the issue . If you have an atv/android device would be great to hear if you can replicate this issue. Thanks!

[pecinko]

You are probably wasting your time as this is not a skin issue. As for disabling cache, it has to be done in script code, script settings cache is used for something different than your issue here.

[mezger]

Yeah, combining XBMC and Plex library is not very common use case

As already mentioned, you can either add XBMC or Plex sections as a custom menu items in skin settings via favorites or you can make 2 switchable profiles and keep XBMC sections in one while using GoPlex in another profiles.

With favorites you will lose the shelf for items that were added as favorites while with profiles you should be able to keep them, but at expense of few extra clicks to switch profile.

If you still want to hardcode XBMC links I can have a look at a code sometime next week and post more info.

Hi pecinko,

First of all, thanks for all your hard work, combining the plex library with an xbmc frontend is really the best of both worlds, you've really made an impact in my home entertainment

I'm one of the (probably) few who need to use both the plex and the xbmc library. The reason for this is a clever function of a certain streaming addon (which will remain nameless) that adds items in the XBMC library as .strm files that when clicked play through that addon. This saves precious navigation time in the RPi as you deal only with the library and not some slow-ish addon menu.

So to shave off a few seconds of my time , I've hardcoded the XBMC Movies and TV shows home menu item in the GoPlex mode.
The change is quite simple for whomever wants/needs to try it:

To add XBMC menus in Plex mode:
In file skin.amber/1080i/Includes.xml
find line 776, section <include name="Home.Main.Menu.Items">
find the item you need, e.g.

Code:

<item id="4" description="MyMovies">
      <visible>!Skin.HasSetting(plexbmc)</visible>
      <visible>!Skin.HasSetting(Movies.Hide) + Library.HasContent(Movies)</visible>
      <label fallback="20342">$VAR[MovieEntryPointLabel2]</label>
      <thumb fallback="special://skin/backgrounds/Movies.jpg">$INFO[Skin.String(Movies.Background)]</thumb>
      <onclick>$VAR[MovieEntryPoint]</onclick>
    </item>

remove <visible>!Skin.HasSetting(plexbmc)</visible> , it becomes

Code:

<item id="4" description="MyMovies">
      <visible>!Skin.HasSetting(Movies.Hide) + Library.HasContent(Movies)</visible>
      <label fallback="20342">$VAR[MovieEntryPointLabel2]</label>
      <thumb fallback="special://skin/backgrounds/Movies.jpg">$INFO[Skin.String(Movies.Background)]</thumb>
      <onclick>$VAR[MovieEntryPoint]</onclick>
    </item>

To show the respective shelves:
In file skin.amber/1080i/Includes_Horizontal_Home.xml
find line 55

Code:

<include condition="!Skin.HasSetting(Hide.RecentlyAdded) + !Skin.HasSetting(plexbmc) + SubString(Window(Home).Property(SkinWidgets_RecentItems),t,left)">Recent.Movies.List</include>
      <include condition="!Skin.HasSetting(Hide.RecentlyAdded) + !Skin.HasSetting(plexbmc) + SubString(Window(Home).Property(SkinWidgets_RecentItems),t,left)">Recent.Concerts.List</include>
      <include condition="!Skin.HasSetting(Hide.RecentlyAdded) + !Skin.HasSetting(plexbmc) + SubString(Window(Home).Property(SkinWidgets_RecentItems),t,left)">Recent.Episodes.List</include>
      <include condition="!Skin.HasSetting(Hide.RecentlyAdded) + !Skin.HasSetting(plexbmc) + SubString(Window(Home).Property(SkinWidgets_RecentItems),t,left)">Recent.Albums.List</include>
      <include condition="!Skin.HasSetting(Hide.RecentlyAdded) + !Skin.HasSetting(plexbmc) + SubString(Window(Home).Property(SkinWidgets_RecentItems),t,left)">Recent.Clips.List</include>
      <include condition="!Skin.HasSetting(Hide.RecentlyAdded) + !Skin.HasSetting(plexbmc) + [SubString(Window(Home).Property(SkinWidgets_Recommended),t,left) | SubString(Window(Home).Property(SkinWidgets_RandomItems),t,left)]">Recommended.And.Random.Movies.List</include>
      <include condition="!Skin.HasSetting(Hide.RecentlyAdded) + !Skin.HasSetting(plexbmc) + SubString(Window(Home).Property(SkinWidgets_Recommended),t,left)">Recommended.Concerts.List</include>
      <include condition="!Skin.HasSetting(Hide.RecentlyAdded) + !Skin.HasSetting(plexbmc) + SubString(Window(Home).Property(SkinWidgets_Recommended),t,left)">Recommended.Episodes.List</include>
      <include condition="!Skin.HasSetting(Hide.RecentlyAdded) + !Skin.HasSetting(plexbmc) + SubString(Window(Home).Property(SkinWidgets_Recommended),t,left)">Recommended.Albums.List</include>

Remove "!Skin.HasSetting(plexbmc) +" from the shelves you want, e.g. for Movies and TV it becomes:

Code:

<include condition="!Skin.HasSetting(Hide.RecentlyAdded) + SubString(Window(Home).Property(SkinWidgets_RecentItems),t,left)">Recent.Movies.List</include>
      <include condition="!Skin.HasSetting(Hide.RecentlyAdded) + !Skin.HasSetting(plexbmc) + SubString(Window(Home).Property(SkinWidgets_RecentItems),t,left)">Recent.Concerts.List</include>
      <include condition="!Skin.HasSetting(Hide.RecentlyAdded) + SubString(Window(Home).Property(SkinWidgets_RecentItems),t,left)">Recent.Episodes.List</include>
      <include condition="!Skin.HasSetting(Hide.RecentlyAdded) + !Skin.HasSetting(plexbmc) + SubString(Window(Home).Property(SkinWidgets_RecentItems),t,left)">Recent.Albums.List</include>
      <include condition="!Skin.HasSetting(Hide.RecentlyAdded) + !Skin.HasSetting(plexbmc) + SubString(Window(Home).Property(SkinWidgets_RecentItems),t,left)">Recent.Clips.List</include>
      <include condition="!Skin.HasSetting(Hide.RecentlyAdded) + [SubString(Window(Home).Property(SkinWidgets_Recommended),t,left) | SubString(Window(Home).Property(SkinWidgets_RandomItems),t,left)]">Recommended.And.Random.Movies.List</include>
      <include condition="!Skin.HasSetting(Hide.RecentlyAdded) + !Skin.HasSetting(plexbmc) + SubString(Window(Home).Property(SkinWidgets_Recommended),t,left)">Recommended.Concerts.List</include>
      <include condition="!Skin.HasSetting(Hide.RecentlyAdded) + SubString(Window(Home).Property(SkinWidgets_Recommended),t,left)">Recommended.Episodes.List</include>
      <include condition="!Skin.HasSetting(Hide.RecentlyAdded) + !Skin.HasSetting(plexbmc) + SubString(Window(Home).Property(SkinWidgets_Recommended),t,left)">Recommended.Albums.List</include>

It goes without saying that if you don't need the shelves, this is unnecessary and a potential source of problems, and the suggested method of adding them to favorites and then to the home menu is better.

[druiz]

Can anyone please look at my log file below. I am running PleXBMC on my firetv... it connects to an off site server running PMS through myplex. its works 90 percent of the time but 2 times or so a week it will throw a Plex script error and not load movies/tv files. Thanks for your help


http://www.xbmclogs.com/show.php?id=320827

[Semiazas]

Hi Im having a few issues that im hoping to get soem help with.

I am using Plex with Aeon Nox because I couldnt get the Amber home menu to do what I wanted (I have my home menu split into AdultTv|KidsTV|AdultMovies|KidsMovies, which point to smart lists built off my folder structure on my NAS). I am trying to group my movies in collections so that all my harry potter movies appear as 1 item when browsing, rather than 6. This works great when im using the XBMC libarary, but when I change to Plex it doesnt work.

I did see that I can manually add movies to colections, which is a chore but is something im willing to do, but when I browse my libarary the colection isnt there. I like a lot of the extra features using PleXBMC provides, but getting movies to group into sets would be a real boon.

[pecinko]

Hi Im having a few issues that im hoping to get soem help with.

I am using Plex with Aeon Nox because I couldnt get the Amber home menu to do what I wanted (I have my home menu split into AdultTv|KidsTV|AdultMovies|KidsMovies, which point to smart lists built off my folder structure on my NAS). I am trying to group my movies in collections so that all my harry potter movies appear as 1 item when browsing, rather than 6. This works great when im using the XBMC libarary, but when I change to Plex it doesnt work.

I did see that I can manually add movies to colections, which is a chore but is something im willing to do, but when I browse my libarary the colection isnt there. I like a lot of the extra features using PleXBMC provides, but getting movies to group into sets would be a real boon.

Not sure about sets/collections as I don't use them - aren't they located under "collections" filter?

Why are you using playlists when you can make additional library sections in PMS: Movies, Kids Movies, Documentaries.. ?

[Semiazas]

Sorry, I wasnt overly clear and am new to using the Plex back end so dont know all the terms. My lounge PC is still using Aeon NOX with XBMC and for that one I have smare playlists that filter on file location.

My bed room PC is the one I am trying to get PlexBMC sorted for so that I can then copy it over to my other computers once it is set up. On that PC I am using Amber. I can live without the collections/sets, but not being able to get the home menu to do what I want is a real problem. I have my PMS set up with the different folders so I can click on Kids Movies and see only them, so thats great. I can browse through the menus on XBMC to get to them, but they are burried a few layers deep.

On Aeon NOX I can customise the home menu to put my smart play lists there. With Amber it looks like I should be able to do something similar but cant get custom menu items to actually do anything. I know what I want to do, just not how to do it lol

[pecinko]

Well in Amber you press goPlex button in settings submenu on home screen

[pecinko]

https://github.com/pecinko/plugin.video....tree/amber

(my)Version 3.5.3 - https://github.com/pecinko/plugin.video..../amber.zip

Changes:
=======
Make it work with Kodi, use plain ElementTree, add most fixes from HJ's repo

[halfluck]

WOW! can't thank you enough pecinko. You have made lots of ppl happy today.

[freedom80]

Plexbmc did work ok with Kodi Alpha Nightlys but after updating to Kodi Beta 2 [and Plexbmc 3.5.3], all of a sudden my largest Plex section (1.000+ items) doesn't load any more. It stops loading returning "Plexbmc script error". All other sections do still work.

Another thing I noticed, TV Show episodes are no longer ordered by episode number.

This is with the latest "amber" build (pecinko version).

Edit: Uploaded error logs: http://xbmclogs.com/show.php?id=348616

Edit 2: Actually it wasn't the update from Kodi Alpha to the new Beta 2 that caused the problems, but the update to Plexbmc 3.5.3 that I did right after. With Plexbmc 3.4.3 everything still works good for me, only that I don't have my Plex sections in the home shelf any more (which did show up with Kodi Alpha).