Plex on Android TV gets Google Assistant integration

Android TV got the virtual AI integration with Google Assistant complimenting the platform a while ago and now Plex is taking advantage of it.

In the latest update, Plex version 6.9.0 provides some substantial updates and enhancements to the entertainment centre on Android TV. Despite the integration of Plex with Google Assistant, it’s only available on the NVIDIA Shield and a few Sony TVs.

The list is quite comprehensive, you can see the whole bunch of improvements below:

WHATS NEW:

• Display hardware transcoding status in video player info overlay.
• Local playback: text based ASS/SSA subtitle support.
• Local playback: support for background scanning and thumbnail generation.
• Support quality selection during Live TV playback.
• [Mobile] Improve photo timeline view interaction.
• [Mobile] News: add personalization screen.
• [Mobile] Add links to Privacy and Privacy Terms of Service in Advanced Settings screen.
• [TV] Support Google Assistant integration.

FIXES:

• Local playback: indefinite spinner could appear when trying to playback from a file explorer.
• Sync: audio qualities includes an invalid option.
• Auto: ensure search doesn’t crash when no music is available.
• Local playback: crash occurred opening files with 250mbps+ bitrates.
• [Fire TV] Improve home screen recommendations.
• [Fire TV] Improve performance on video player for Fire TV sticks.
• [Mobile] Camera Upload: very big files could not be uploaded.
• [Mobile] Theme music could play in the background after turning the screen off.
• [Mobile] Application would close when user selection dialog was closed.
• [Mobile] Camera upload: upload process could get stuck when upload fails.
• [Mobile] Remove Forgot Password link from the sign up page.
• [Mobile] Sync: photos could not be synced from timeline view.
• [Mobile] Camera Roll: would only show up to 200 photo or video items.
• [Mobile] Improve alignment in filtering options whilst browsing.
• [Mobile] Various sorting options would always show in descending order.
• [Mobile] Toggling unwatched would hide type filtering.
• [Mobile] Improve account settings screen on API 16.
• [Mobile] Show interlaced video resolution flags in preplay screens.
• [Mobile] News: crash could occur if quickly clicking items from newscast list.
• [Mobile] Sort fields in the filter panel cut off last item when selected.
• [Mobile] Camera Upload: loading initial status of the feature could freeze the app.
• [Mobile] Hide overflow menu icon on Discover section.
• [Mobile] Scrolling the grid view right after refreshing could cause endless loading.
• [Mobile] TV theme could play under music from another app.
• [Mobile] Home navigation state isn’t preserved when entering other activities.
• [Mobile] Photos from home hubs where not playing with PMS v1.9.4.
• [TV] News: show empty message if there are no clips for selected channel / category.
• [TV] Reload categories when changing preferred news location.
• [TV] News: part of the title was hidden when toggling mini player.
• [TV] Opening photo album could not load content after first time.
• [TV] News: crash could occur when searching focus whilst onboarding hint is shown.
• [TV] Chapters would not always show when selecting items from the play queue.
• [TV] News: highlight personalize button when personalization hint is showed.
• [TV] Improve refresh rate switching

It’s a huge update to Plex and great to see the app utilizing the functionality of Google Assistant to make hands-free operation from the sofa even easier.