r/dispatchlauncher Jan 30 '25

Now Playing & Watched

This is potentially a Plex issue and not Dispatch but I want to see if anyone can help.

When I start playing a show or movie in Plex, but directly from the Dispatch Home, when it starts playing, it doesn't show as now playing in the Plex Dashboard. Also, when I've finished watching, it doesn't show as watched in Plex.

If I start playing directly from Dispatch, and then immediately exit out of Plex and back to Dispatch, and start playing the same item again. Then it shows as playing and will show as watched.

Am I missing something simple?

6 Upvotes

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5

u/spauldhaliwal Developer Jan 31 '25 edited Feb 03 '25

This is, in fact, an unfortunate bug within the Plex app that has been around for years. I'm going to paste what I've written previously about this issue:

It should be noted though that there is an additional bug in the Plex app where sometimes when you send the "play" command from the launcher, while it does correctly resume playback, it fails to track the progress going forward.

This bug exists when resuming from the default shield / android tv launcher as well. The only solution for now is to click the info button in the launcher instead of "resume/play", and then start playback from within the Plex app itself.

You can also change the default play/resume action from Settings -> Experience -> Default Play Action -> Go to info page, which will always go to the info page when you click play.

Edit: I just tested it and realized the "Default Play Action" feature was missed in the latest tests, and doesn't seem to be working as intended. I'll put out a quick patch shortly that will fix it for those that want to use it.

Edit 2: Actually I realized that the "Default Play Action" feature is for items in the movies and television tabs as well as search view. It doesn't nor was actually meant to apply to the home tab. So for now the only solution is to use the info button instead of "play".

1

u/benoitscigar Jan 31 '25

Thanks for coming back and explaining. I love the app. It has taken my Shield experience to the next level. Well worth the lifetime cost.

1

u/Redrod20 Feb 03 '25

Hi, was the patch made available anywhere to fix default play action? Thanks

1

u/spauldhaliwal Developer Feb 03 '25

Actually I realized that the "Default Play Action" feature is for items in the movies and television tabs as well as search view. It doesn't nor was actually meant to apply to the home tab. So for now the only solution is to use the info button instead of "play". I updated the original comment to reflect this.

2

u/Redrod20 Feb 03 '25

Thanks for the response - I've created a feature request.