Echo & Alexa Forums

General Category => Amazon Echo Discussion => Topic started by: mike27oct on January 05, 2018, 11:28:32 pm

Title: Alexa and Plex working together to play music and video
Post by: mike27oct on January 05, 2018, 11:28:32 pm
(Edited post) 
NOTE:  This has become a rather long thread as I turned it into a log of my experiences, helped others to set it up, and added new features as they came along.  Worth the read if you are wanting to set this up for yourself.
 
I have been working on getting Plex to play music and video from my NAS server to a Fire TV by using an Alexa voice command.  No luck so far, BUT, I was able to use Alexa command via an Echo to cause Plex to stream (music and video) to my Roku.  Fire TV (actually, no Alexa device) is listed as a possible Plex default player I can select from. 

Anybody know how the Alexa devices can be made to do the same?.  They are supposed to have the capability.
Title: Re: Alexa and Plex working together to play music and video
Post by: Dell on January 06, 2018, 03:39:08 am
Hi mike27oct
If you google Plex with Alexa you will find a video.
Dell
Title: Re: Alexa and Plex working together to play music and video
Post by: mike27oct on January 06, 2018, 03:09:25 pm
@Dell
Thank you for your wonderful non-answer.  How do you think I got Plex and Alexa to work with Roku as I described above? I GOOGLED!  Telling someone to google for a video and nothing else (not even a link to video) is useless.  Have YOU got any Amazon device (e.g. Fire TV) to play via Alexa/Plex?
Title: Re: Alexa and Plex working together to play music and video
Post by: mike27oct on January 06, 2018, 04:42:11 pm
I said that earlier last evening I got Plex to play to the Roku,some music (even got it to shuffle an artist's albums) and play a video.  Today, nothing happens; Alexa tells me it is playing the music I requested, but all is silent.  I could still play a move, though.

Later. . . .breakthrough.  I deleted Alexa Plex skill and tried again.  This time when Plex skill was started it told me it set my Roku as the default player, and added "next time just ask Plex to play (title) on the Roku"So I did that; asked Alexa to open Plex and for a test asked, "play Let it Be on Roku: and it worked,  Then asked Plex to "shuffle artist X on Roku": and is doing that now.

So, have Roku/Alexa/Plex working fine together, but still can not get the Fire TV to work with Alexa/Plex  (New word for dictionary: "Plexa")
Title: Re: Alexa and Plex working together to play music and video
Post by: mike27oct on January 07, 2018, 03:34:03 pm
I have learned that the Fire TV (although I had given it a name) has a generic name of AFTT, and Plexa has difficulty with this and can't find it.  This week I will contact both Alexa and Plex support lines and see how to get the Fire TV recognized and working as well as working on the Alexa devices like Dot, etc.

Meanwhile, I am enjoying it all on the Roku.  The Roku also has a better user display screen than tha AFTY, and other things like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, etc..
Title: Re: Alexa and Plex working together to play music and video
Post by: mike27oct on January 09, 2018, 09:58:09 pm
Apparently, I am the only one here interested in this.  Whatever, I will continue to log any progress I have had here, and I have some significant progres. since I last posted.  About this later.

First, I want to mention I got some "assistance" from Amazon. but assistance is in quotes because none of the three Amazon support assistant folks I spoke with had any knowledge about getting "Plexa" to work with Fire TV stick, although the last guy from Fire Stick div. showed enough interest and we struck up a conversation for over an hour.  He searched and googling while I tried different things.  We ended conversation with he would call me back if he had obtained any valuable info.

The young man was in Costa Rico, and it's a country that cannot fully operate the Alexa gadgets like we can in US.  Come on Amazon, base your support team in a country that has full capability to test the Alexa platform! I received no return call since we spoke. 

Nevertheless, I got "Plexa" working on one of my Fire TVs today!  My gen1 FireTV can now play music and movies from Plex via an Alexa command! I can ask to shuffle an artist and it plays songs untill they run out.  I cannot get it to play a specific song as I can with the Roku. I am still trying to get the gen2 FireTV to do the same.
To be continued . . .
Title: Re: Alexa and Plex working together to play music and video
Post by: 5js on February 15, 2018, 01:03:42 pm
Apparently, I am the only one here interested in this.  Whatever, I will continue to log any progress I have had here, and I have some significant progres. since I last posted.  About this later.

Nevertheless, I got "Plexa" working on one of my Fire TVs today!  My gen1 FireTV can now play music and movies from Plex via an Alexa command! I can ask to shuffle an artist and it plays songs untill they run out.  I cannot get it to play a specific song as I can with the Roku. I am still trying to get the gen2 FireTV to do the same.
To be continued . . .
Mike - I am interested in this.  Well, primarily the Alexa / Plex / Roku.

My quest started with trying to figure out a simple way to stream my mp3s from my computer to my stereo using Alexa voice commands (Echo Dot).  The simplest method seemed to be to plug my Echo into the receiver then install My Media on the PC.  But, this has limitations.

Further researching brought my to this thread.  I have not used Plex, but the thought of streaming video/music to the entertainment system sounds even better. 

I have an Echo Dot and a Roku 3 which is connected to the entertainment system (TV, DVD, Onkyo receiver, etc).  Oh, I also picked up a Harmony Hub at Christmas but have not installed yet - likely do this this weekend.

From the research I have done this seems to be the best method for the equipment I have.  Install Plex on my PC and install the Plex channel on the Roku and I should be able to stream from my PC to my TV/Stereo via Plex/Roku and control with voice commands using the Echo Dot. 

Not wanting to hi-jack your thread - but if this sounds like the best method for me - and you can point me to a thread that may be of benefit I'd much appreciate.  Looking for pro's/con's, better options, limitations, etc.
Title: Re: Alexa and Plex working together to play music and video
Post by: mike27oct on February 15, 2018, 07:05:36 pm
Hi, finally someone who is interested in this responded!  There is no way you are hijacking my monologue!  You did what you should do at a forum -- make a comment!

I will be glad to help, but not until tomorrow.  We are going out for dinner and LIVE music soon.
So, watch this space for a reply from me tomorrow.

Meanwhile, you are on the right track.
Title: Re: Alexa and Plex working together to play music and video
Post by: mike27oct on February 16, 2018, 06:44:07 pm
@5js
Hi, to continue on . . .

You first need to install the Plex server program on your PC which you obtain from www.plex.tv/ site, unless you have a better and more appropriate device to install it on.  (I say this because I do not have it installed on a PC, I have it installed on my Western Digital WD MyCloud DL2100 NAS.  It was designed to handle the speed, computing horsepower, and storage capacity necessary for optimal operation.  Nevertheless, many people have it installed on their PC.  Plex is a Media Server in the way My Media is, but more robust.

I have LOTS of ways to stream media files within my home as well as remotely.  All the ways are useful depending upon the features they have. Plex has some unique features  and I use it for that, but it is not my favorite way to stream.  One uniqueness is the ability to stream music and video to Roku and Fire TV, tablets phones; even without also using Alexa voice commands and the addition of Alexa makes it even more useful.

So you will also need to install Plex channel on your Roku and after this all done you can stream media to Roku without needing Alexa.  And, to add Alexa to the mix you need to install the Plex SKILL in your Alexa app. Before you incorporate Alexa into the fray, be sure that Plex and Roku play together as they should, Then add Alexa to the gang.

To use with Plexa, ask a nearby Alexa device the following kinds of questions and statements:

Alexa, ask Plex to tell me my devices (one you should here is name of your Roku; mine is named Family Room Roku.)

Alexa, ask Plex to set {Family Room} Roku as my preferred player).

Now you are ready to demonstrate and enjoy the power of this setup by saying something like,

Alexa, ask Plex to play (or shuffle) Dave Brubeck (any artist) to Roku. and if you have more albums than one they all will be shuffled up to around 20 tracks.

I do not have to specify Family Room, just say Roku, but we HAVE to specify the player otherwise it will play on Dot and not to Roku.
Use Roku remote to navigate using buttons at screen bottom.

Another example, right now I have Plexa playing artist Ken Emerson on Roku (I have four albums) and they are being shuffled and played.  I said,

Alexa, ask Plex to play Ken Emerson on Roku....... and Plexa did the rest, including shuffle the albums and tracks to Roku and onto TV and stereo in glorious sound quality.

That's it, so get it all up and running and be sure to use the Roku buttons to see what each can do; last button shows the list of what is playing.  Cool.

Once you have the music mastered, ask me how to play videos, movies and I can explain that. 

BTW, all the music on my server is from a COPY of my iTunes Media database on PC and movies on my server are mp4/m4v files I made from DVDs with free Handbrake program.

HAVE FUN with this!




Title: Re: Alexa and Plex working together to play music and video
Post by: tthoben on February 17, 2018, 02:31:27 am
I got the PMS installed on a Debian Linux based device and Plex client app installed on my android TV box.

Also enabled the Plex skill for Alexa and was able to use voice commands to stream videos and music to the android TV without problems but somehow playlist doesn't seem to work well when playing mp3 files on the echo dot.

Dot will not play the entire playlist from start to end, i.e. it stops after every song. I had to say "Alexa, next" or "Alexa, skip" for it to play the next track on the playlist.

Tried searching in Plex forums and noticed lots of people with somewhat similar issues but till date developers weren't able to fully fix the bug. Somehow it seems to affect only certain types of mp3 tracks.

Have you encountered anything like this?
Title: Re: Alexa and Plex working together to play music and video
Post by: mike27oct on February 17, 2018, 03:38:02 am
@tthoben

I use a Windows platform, Not Linux.nor other things you mention.  I just use the "standard stuff" anyone can use and understand.  As I mentioned in other threads on this forum, I have it all working as it should using the Roku as the Plex player, but just limited success on one of two Amazon Fire TVs as Plex player connected to standard TVs.  It works mostly on the Gen1 FTV but can't get it work well at all on a newer Gen2 FTV w/mic.  And, as far as getting any of this to play to a Dot or Echo like it is supposed to do, it won't.  But, I don't care; I didn't put this together to play my music to a lousy sounding tin can of a Dot, nor the table radio sound of an Echo!  I want and have the music playing this way to the TV and stereo that looks and sounds great.

I do not have issues like you do with the tracks stopping.  They go right along playing fine. My TVs atr not smart ones nor are they Android.  They are basic modern wide TVs that end up being smarter than smart TVs because of all the devices connected to them!
Title: Re: Alexa and Plex working together to play music and video
Post by: tthoben on February 17, 2018, 11:11:50 am
...And, as far as getting any of this to play to a Dot or Echo like it is supposed to do, it won't.  But, I don't care; I didn't put this together to play my music to a lousy sounding tin can of a Dot, nor the table radio sound of an Echo!  I want ad have the music playing this way to the TV and stereo that looks and sounds great...

LOL well noted...  ;D

for me I need the output on the dot in my young daughter's bedroom for bedtime lullabies
Title: Re: Alexa and Plex working together to play music and video
Post by: mike27oct on February 17, 2018, 05:53:15 pm
OKm so help ME.  I told you I cannot get plex to play on a Dot or Wcho, only a Roku, so what are the magic words to say to get this to happe?.  <y wake word for Echo is Alexa, and wake word for Dots is Echo.  In addition each has a unique name (Echo is Lamed Living Room and a Dot is named Befroom.
Title: Re: Alexa and Plex working together to play music and video
Post by: tthoben on February 17, 2018, 10:09:44 pm
I'm able to play on the dot that's listening to my command. For your case, what's the error msg when the playback fails?

To play on the dot itself, command would be: "Alexa, ask Plex to play children's songs" (that's the playlist name)

To cast on my Android TV, command would be: "Alexa, ask Plex to play children's songs on Android shield TV" (that's the Android device name)
Title: Re: Alexa and Plex working together to play music and video
Post by: mike27oct on February 18, 2018, 02:01:28 am
Thanks for the help.

OK, commands are what I have tried before and they did not work on Dots.  Tonight, I had limited success on one Dot - the first one I tried.  Five other Dots and an Echo did not play what I asked, although it said it would but then all was silent.  Somehow it sees one Dot as a default player but none of the others.  I will screw around with it all later.  Frustrating app.
Title: Re: Alexa and Plex working together to play music and video
Post by: tthoben on February 18, 2018, 02:12:43 am
Thanks for the help.

OK, commands are what I have tried before and they did not work on Dots.  Tonight, I had limited success on one Dot - the first one I tried.  Five other Dots and an Echo did not play what I asked, although it said it would but then all was silent.  Somehow it sees one Dot as a default player but none of the others.  I will screw around with it all later.  Frustrating app.

Try logging into your Plex account on the web and see if all your devices were detected properly. Maybe also there will be settings for default devices that you can try configuring.
Title: Re: Alexa and Plex working together to play music and video
Post by: mike27oct on February 18, 2018, 03:54:39 pm
OK, go figure , , , ,  something must have happened overnight.

I asked each Dot and Echo this morning to "Ask Plex to play (artist name)" and it did.  For extra credit, I also got Plex to play on my two Taps, and right now one of them is playing as I write this.  Plex on the Taps is more important to me than on Dots and Echos.

For even more extra credit I had a Dot play a different artist from Plex at same time while Tap played, and it did.  But, a problem appeared after a while:  Twice, the Tap started playing the artist playing on the Dot.  Well, minus some credit; that is an issue that needs work.

I also find it useful to ask an Alexa device to "opem Plex" and it responds with asking me what I want to play.  This is good.

Overall, these features of Plex and Alexa work well now, and make both more valuable than before the Plexa addition.

BTW, the Plex web settings were useless to find various players listed, but then I find the  administration of the Plex settings incomplete and confusing at times.

OK, on to other things now.
Title: Re: Alexa and Plex working together to play music and video
Post by: mike27oct on February 21, 2018, 04:10:10 pm
I just want to say that after a few days of living with sending my music to Alexa devices this way, it works real well and is very cool.  I now just ask Plex to play my music on a Dot that's audio out goes directly into stereo, and for the most part skip the Roku and TV step. If I want to SEE a list of what's playing I can always use Roku and TV again any time.
Title: Re: Alexa and Plex working together to play music and video
Post by: tthoben on February 22, 2018, 04:11:55 am
I just want to say that after a few days of living with sending my music to Alexa devices this way, it works real well and is very cool.  I now just ask Plex to play my music on a Dot that's audio out goes directly into stereo, and for the most part skip the Roku and TV step. If I want to SEE a list of what's playing I can always use Roku and TV again any time.

yeah music should be heard not seen  ;D
Title: Re: Alexa and Plex working together to play music and video
Post by: mike27oct on February 22, 2018, 02:19:47 pm
More inportantly why turn on TV if not necessary to hear music well!
Title: Re: Alexa and Plex working together to play music and video
Post by: 5js on February 24, 2018, 08:37:08 am
Thx for the info Mike.  I had Plex installed on my laptop and the Plex Channel installed on my Roku (which is connected to my stereo system and controlled via Harmony hub)

Everything worked via remote - however, when I asked Plex to play something via Alexa, it would always play to my Dot. 

I see that I need to specify to play to Roku - for example “Alexa, ask Plex to play Pink Floyd to Roku” - I am away for the weekend but will try this when I return home.

I also want to rip some of my DVD’s so I can stream those - thanks for the Handbrake suggestion.  I’ll give that a try.

Purely a Plex question - (I’m new to Plex) - are you connected to any online channels or media?
Title: Re: Alexa and Plex working together to play music and video
Post by: mike27oct on February 25, 2018, 03:44:30 pm
Nice that you got it to work.

>>>  Everything worked via remote - however, when I asked Plex to play something via Alexa, it would always play to my Dot. 

tt only works on one device at a time, so tell Alexa "Ask Plex to stop" on current device before asking another device to play.  Turn Plex off on Roku if necessary.

>>>  I see that I need to specify to play to Roku - for example “Alexa, ask Plex to play Pink Floyd to Roku”

Yes, you do.  I have stopped using the Roku almost entirely. I just use the Dot next to TV that is plugged into stereo input to say Alexa. ask Plex to play (artist) and off we go!

???  I also want to rip some of my DVD’s so I can stream those - thanks for the Handbrake suggestion.  I’ll give that a try.

I will send you a PM later so as not to clutter up this thread any more than necessary.

>>>  Purely a Plex question - (I’m new to Plex) - are you connected to any online channels or media?

I have plenty of this without needing Plex.  I have not spent a dime on Plex usage so far and do not intend to.  I have premium cable TV and all the major streaming services.  I'm all set.
Title: Re: Alexa and Plex working together to play music and video
Post by: mike27oct on March 04, 2018, 08:10:34 pm
After using this setup a while, I have decided to keep Plex turned off in my WD DL2100 NAS server because there is only one thing I find it useful enough for to use it from time to time. That use is so I can say, Alexa, ask Plex to play music by a certain artist (example: Alexa, ask Plex to play The Beatles) After which a random mix of the artist’s tracks from the My Cloud begin playing to my stereo directly from an Alexa Dot, or via the Roku if I want to see the list of tracks being played. This feature is pretty cool, although I also have other ways to play music from NAS.

I never use Plex to play videos/movies. I have better devices for that,like a WDTV (which I got in 2011 and have never needed to transcode any videos so I can play them) as well as via Amazon Fire TV with MrMC app that also plays any format of video, too.

I also can easily turn Plex back on when I want to by using the NAS Dashboard running in the Safari browser on an iPad.

I came to this conclusion after ramping down the Plex scan settings which reduced the frequency of scans, but not by enough. Plex works the NAS drives too hard constantly (the NAS drive heads click on and off every second) , but it doesn’t at all if Plex is turned off. NAS is silent until I access it.
Title: Re: Alexa and Plex working together to play music and video
Post by: tthoben on March 04, 2018, 10:24:33 pm
After using this setup a while, I have decided to keep Plex turned off in my WD DL2100 NAS server because there is only one thing I find it useful enough for to use it from time to time. That use is so I can say, Alexa, ask Plex to play music by a certain artist (example: Alexa, ask Plex to play The Beatles) After which a random mix of the artist’s tracks from the My Cloud begin playing to my stereo directly from an Alexa Dot, or via the Roku if I want to see the list of tracks being played. This feature is pretty cool, although I also have other ways to play music from NAS.

I never use Plex to play videos/movies. I have better devices for that,like a WDTV (which I got in 2011 and have never needed to transcode any videos so I can play them) as well as via Amazon Fire TV with MrMC app that also plays any format of video, too.

I also can easily turn Plex back on when I want to by using the NAS Dashboard running in the Safari browser on an iPad.

I came to this conclusion after ramping down the Plex scan settings which reduced the frequency of scans, but not by enough. Plex works the NAS drives too hard constantly (the NAS drive heads click on and off every second) , but it doesn’t at all if Plex is turned off. NAS is silent until I access it.

sound logical to increase lifespan of your NAS drives
Title: Re: Alexa and Plex working together to play music and video
Post by: mike27oct on March 05, 2018, 01:05:20 am
Very logical, and last night and tonight I turned Plex on for a couple of hours during dinner prep and mealtime to listen to music and then turned Plex off again.  Two hours of use instead of being on 24/7.
Title: Re: Alexa and Plex working together to play music and video
Post by: 5js on March 07, 2018, 12:20:20 pm
I just want to say that after a few days of living with sending my music to Alexa devices this way, it works real well and is very cool.  I now just ask Plex to play my music on a Dot that's audio out goes directly into stereo, and for the most part skip the Roku and TV step. If I want to SEE a list of what's playing I can always use Roku and TV again any time.
I wanted to do this - but I didn't want to have to have my stereo on to interact with the Dot, nor did I want my responses to come through the Dot.  So that is why I have the Roku connected to the stereo and have Plex stream to the stereo via the Roku vice through the Dot.  The Dot is just used for the voice communication. 

I was hoping that the multiroom capability would help here, but there are only specific apps that can use multiroom (such as Amazon music).  My thought was to have two Dot's in the living room - one to talk to - and one that is  connected to the stereo. I would change the name/wake word of the Dot connected to the stereo to something non-standard then have tell Alexa to play to the one connected to the stereo (this way I would never be talking to the Dot connected to the stereo and therefore there would be no Alexa response played through the stereo).
Title: Re: Alexa and Plex working together to play music and video
Post by: mike27oct on March 07, 2018, 02:55:57 pm
Yes, I understand and avoid this.  I have my TV sound  (with multiple devices connected to it, i.e TV cable box audio itself, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Chromecast , and WDTV, (this requires an HDMI switch box to handle all the devices),  The analog audio out of TV goes into TAPE 1 input of stereo audio amp (audio of TV out is selected by source switch into TV).  Into TAPE 2 input of amp is the Dot on cabinet,  All I need do is switch amp source switch between the two TAPE ins.  The Dot is dedicated to supplying its audio out to amp.  There is an Amazon Echo across hallway about 10 feet away for Alexa purposes.  (We have a lot of Dots and Google Homes in house!)  Dots are cheap when on sale, so get more!
Title: Re: Alexa and Plex working together to play music and video
Post by: Ssinseeme on March 15, 2018, 11:33:54 pm
Hi mike. Thanks for referring me to this forum from WD. So I have DL2100 like you. I see that you did a lot of work. Thanks for that.
You were able to get Plex music to play on Roku. I don’t have Roku but I could play through my Apple TV or smart tv. So I see that you are still working on getting plax music to play on the Echo dot.

The stupid question may it’s! On my plex server I don’t see my music library, I added music to my plex folder on DL2100 but when I log in on my sever either using my iPhone e or pc or anything that runs plex I don’t see my music.
So again how didn’t get your music to play on Roku. Thanks for the 3rd time
....I still need MQTT server on WD but that is on a different forum. Lol.
Title: Re: Alexa and Plex working together to play music and video
Post by: mike27oct on March 16, 2018, 03:14:28 am
Hi, thanks for coming here.  First I want to clear up any confusion about my situation with the Dot, etc.  Yes I had problems at first but as I said earlier, eventually both Alexa and Plex "got it" as to what I was doing and within a couple of days of settling in, I now can ask any alexa device to "Ask Plex to play" and it plays music on that device.  I have it playing on Echo, any of our numerous Dots and a couple of Taps.  I currently asked Plex to play music on a Tap and it is doing so now.

Now, for your issue.  Do you see on the Plex configure page you see when you Run App, to the right sie of your device, WDMyCloudDL2100,  All Libraries, Movies, or Music?  Mine show All Libraries, so I see a row of recent music on top and recent Movies below the music.  This should be in the main screen.  You can also select to see just music or just movies.  The libraries should both be visible in this section, and if they are not you have a setup issue with Plex.  If you have Plex running right now, thenturn app off in Dashboard, and then after a moment or so click on Run App to refresh configure screen.  Hope you see what I described now.

BTW, Plex is running only on my DL2100, not on a PC or anywhere else.  My DL2100 is set up as the defaults as for data storage, meaning all media files are in the subfolders in Public folder and music is all in Shared Music.  I do not have a specific or dedicated "plex folder" as you say you have.  This could be causing problems.  Plex on DL2100 reads all my folders and files and groups them in Plex.  Music is all mp3 files and movies are varied formats but it only sees the mp4/m4v video files.  Plex does not see my ISO files since they are disc image files, not video files, but since I do not watch videos from Plex other than the mp4 variety, it is all moot.

Let me know if any of this info helps solve any issues.

Title: Re: Alexa and Plex working together to play music and video
Post by: Ssinseeme on March 16, 2018, 07:17:19 pm
I don’t know man, I don’t see in the home page music. All what I see is on the left side playlist, home video, movies,tvshow. Then under that plug in, watch later ...
I don’t see music. I don’t know if we can share pictures in here.

What I meant earlier by me playing plex on the phone or pc not the server. The server is DL2100.
Title: Re: Alexa and Plex working together to play music and video
Post by: Ssinseeme on March 16, 2018, 07:52:48 pm
Oh. I get it I just add a lybrary to plex and upload my music. Once I get that done it was simple just ask Alexa to play music. Lol. Thanks
Title: Re: Alexa and Plex working together to play music and video
Post by: mike27oct on March 17, 2018, 02:43:05 pm
OK, before I reply to your msg, I want to ask you if you can ask alexa, "Alexa, ask Plex to play .... (an artist from you music on the DL2100) ?   This should be possible, even though you cannot see the music on the Plex config screen IF music files are on your NAS, I would think.

Now, for your issue.  This is a problem with the DL2100 and Plex set up, so to get you to Point A, on the Plex screen, click on the Home button in upper left corner of screen (i.e. the house icon)  You should now be at the Plex home screen and is the area I was describing to you.  Does it look like what I was describing now?

If not, we need to move our conversation back to WD forum, because that is where we need to solve this problem, not in this one.  Post a msg for me of the forum you are in there.  (send me a PM if necessary from there.)
Title: Re: Alexa and Plex working together to play music and video
Post by: Ssinseeme on March 17, 2018, 08:09:32 pm
We all good bro, no issues anymore. I get it. I can play any artist I have on my DL2100. Great conversation.
Now if you want help me further on DL2100 let me know how to get 3rd party app. Because WD sucks. Synology way better I wish if I bought Synology.
Title: Re: Alexa and Plex working together to play music and video
Post by: mike27oct on March 17, 2018, 09:09:05 pm
Glad it is all working now.  I guess my last discussion did the trick, right?

I have only installed Plex and the virus scanner apps on my DL2100.  I do recall seeing in the complete DL manual how to install 3rd party apps.  If you have not downloaded the full manual please do so.  If you still have issues post a msg for all in the DJ forum.

BTW, I really like the DL2100; it has worked flawlessly since I got it years ago.

The one thing I do not like is that Plex thrashes the NAS drives incessantly. so my solution for that is to only turn on Plex when I want to use it, as I mentioned above in my posts here.

Title: Re: Alexa and Plex working together to play music and video
Post by: mike27oct on April 20, 2018, 02:28:02 am
Has anyone other than me and a few others been using the Alexa/Plex combo to play their music from their NAS, computer, etc?

Awesome, and just recently it has become even more awesome, because Plex has introduced “Library Radio” for using with Alexa. All ya gotta say to an Alexa device is, “Alexa, ask Plex to play music.” and it responds by saying “playing Library Radio” and proceeds to play one random track after another from your NAS music library – “forever” or until you ask Alexa to stop, then ask it to close Plex. If you don’t like the selection playing, just say, “Alexa, play next song.” Overall, a killer app!