Plex Libraries - Slow to update

General
1

Firstly I love the new Plex integration, it’s going to make things much smoother and hopefully allow me to use 1 app instead of 2 for tv shows and movies. But the only problem I’m having is that when I make any changes, eg. watched/unwatched changes outside of infuse, in the Plex app (aTV or iOS) it updates almost immediately. In Infuse, it doesn’t, sometimes it can take ages, and I can’t work out how to refresh it manually without going into settings - library - scan, which is not user friendly.

Is there something I am missing to allow this to update in real time?

Thanks

2

Updates generally take place automatically when opening the app, and you can also trigger an update manually by tapping the ‘Last Update’ text that appears at the bottom of the Library menu.

3

I didn’t see that text so I’ll look for that, but what I mean is that even the updates take ages. In Plex, if I move between screens, the updated information is just there, it doesn’t need to do a scan as such, where as infuse seems to need to rescan for every update which takes time. Is that right?

4

Infuse works a little differently than the native Plex app, so a (very quick) scan will need to take place before updates made in Plex will be available in Infuse.

5

Hello James

Thanks to Technoholic to quote this item.

Yes I’m new as member , but believe me, I was an INFUSE user from the first moment.
INFUSE is a good product but as our INFUSE library is growing and growing over years, the library scan of INFUSE rest a weak point of the app.
Please, I like to drop these few of remarks

James: If I understand correctly …
In case of a change, the Plex server sends the changes directly to the Plex players.
This does not work in this way at INFUSE.
Here INFUSE has to check itself for the update: By the INFUSE automatic scan or by means of a manual scan.

Further on ..
Point 1: At the other hand, I do not read an answer to Technoholic’s question: Why does the scan take such a slow time compared to Plex?

Point 2: Why do I see every day a long scan of items: Example: The day before 1750 item. Yesterday 157 items. Today 471 items?
Is the iCloud sync = ON the problem?

Point 3: Why does the library scan process not work in the background?
A library scan of a few days ago takes so much time that it can never be finished or you have to assist (follow) the library 100% and see that the AppleTV (or iOS unit) doesn’t goes in sleep mode. ( With other words: With the iPad & iPhone don’t switch to another app)

Thanks James to assist and to support your INFUSE users …

6

I’m sure James will be able to provide fuller answers to your questions, but I think I can answer this one …

Apple specifically limit what background processing is done, see Extending your app’s background execution time | Apple Developer Documentation

By default you get 5 seconds of background processing, but you can request for additional time.

The important bit is probably “If you do not end your tasks in a timely manner, the system terminates your app.”

7

Correct, Infuse would check for updates on the Plex server and then pull those down to the app.

  1. Generally, this is fast as after the initial scan there are usually only a handful of items that have been changed or added, but of course if you add or change a lot then this would take more time. If you are seeing slowness after Infuse has first indexed all your Plex content, then we probably want to take a look at this. The best way to get this going would be to send in a report from your device and open a support ticket as described here. Troubleshooting and Getting Support – Firecore Support

  2. Has Infuse completed its initial scan? Scanning will only take place when the app is open and not playing a video, so its possible Infuse is still scanning through items it has not seen before.

  3. Unfortunately, as remotevisitor mentioned, Apple doesn’t allow for tvOS apps to do much of anything in the background. There is a tiny bit more time on iOS, but it’s not very usable for apps like Infuse.

8

Is there any real progress on this? I use Infuse on two Apple TVs (one current/wired and one generation older wireless), iPad Pro, and an iPhone XS. I have let the library update completely, and though I have a rather large library, I feel like the scans take WAAAAAY too long.

For example, on the wireless Apple TV, I ran a scan 10 days ago. Since then, I’ve added maybe 40 episodes and 5 movies. The update scan took nearly TWO HOURS to complete while on the library screen.

My iPad, which is used less often, was scanned a few days ago, but it is still updating on the library screen and has been doing so for the past 20+ minutes.

My wired Apple TV tends to take 20-30 minutes, though I’ve not checked since this past update.

The On Deck updates first and relatively quickly compared to the rest of the process, but if I watch a show from going directly to the server (or even from searching) as opposed to the library, it often does not add it to the On Deck/Watching queue, but will update the watched status. Going to the library sections such as TV Shows, populating the list can be VERY slow (literal minutes).

I find it strange how amazingly files play, but how much of a struggle the library portion of the app has become. As this is happening across devices, wired and wirelessly, etc., I don’t feel like this a “one-off” issue but rather a flaw of the design. Unless I’ve missed something, something really needs to be changed and improved on this front.

On a related note, wouldn’t it help with general organization as well as cutting down on list population sizes and times to consolidate seasons of shows into one listing as opposed to listing every season as a separate entity? Also, multiple copies of movies act the same way (if you have a 4K version, a 3D, and a 1080p version for example, it will list the movie three times as opposed to nesting and allowing the user to choose which version to play from that movie’s screen).

9

I have several open ticket about this and have submitted a number of diagnostics.

First, if you use Plex Media Server, then you already have a centralized index. There is no need for Infuse to maintain a independent, full, client-side index (as distinct from a simple cache like the Plex Media Player). Infuse users with PMS aren’t using NFS, SMB, or a cloud service. All resume points, metadata, jacket artwork and fanart should be exclusively supplied by PMS.

Second, Infuse users using PMS reasonably expect Infuse to recognize new content and to recognize deleted content as fast as Plex Media Player. The current difference in performance is particularly evident if you use multiple Apple TV 4K’s (I have 7 for whole home video) and if you use Plex for Live TV and DVR content.

Third, I don’t know what iCloud Sync is supposed to do but enabling it doesn’t solve anything below. It doesn’t appear that iCloud Sync impacts Infuse indexing across Infuse apps/ATVs.

My observations:

  • Each Infuse client appears to maintain its own index, each of which needs to be updated before an Infuse user can watch new content on a different TV (i.e. the whole home video use case).
  • As others have noted, updating a given Infuse index, automatically or manually, takes a minimum of a minute before new content has been fully populated (e.g. added to TV Shows and to Currently Watching).
    – In some cases, it can take several minutes to fully index.
    – So, Infuse users using PMS for DVR can’t watch a recorded show until the recording is fully completed. And, then, Infuse has reindexed locally.
    – And there appears to be a bug with regard to the size of the metadata stored on the ATV (more about that below).
  • However, deleted content on the PMS is recognized & removed from Infuse in about 3-6 seconds.
    – So, there is something different happening there.
  • Infuse does not appear to reindex/update from PMS when it isn’t the active app (i.e. when running in the background). Manually indexing may be required.
  • Infuse does not appear to reindex/update from PMS when a video is playing in Infuse (i.e. when Infuse is running in the foreground). Similarly, manually indexing may be required.
  • If you are running two PMS instances, Infuse appears to index content serially from each PMS rather than in parallel.
  • If you are running two PMS instances, Infuse only supports On Deck from a single PMS and doesn’t commingle content from both (like Continue Watching).
  • There’s a bug in Continue Watching. Sometimes, it shows only three video assets. Sometimes more. Ideally, it would always display all movies/TV shows currently in progress.
  • And, there is similar issues where Watching on the ATV’s home screen when the Infuse app is selected. It may display different or fewer shows than Continue Watching within Infuse.
  • There’s a bug wherein my Up Next list keeps getting reset from Watching Only to On every time I upgrade the Infuse app. So, I need to reset each Infuse back to Watching Only.

Finally, I see vast differences in the size of my Infuse metadata storage across ATV’s. On some ATV’s, it is 1GB, others 2GB. One was even 4GB. Logically, they should all be the same size since they are sourced from PMS. I have noticed that the bigger the Infuse metadata store, the longer it takes to index new content. For the Infuse apps with 2GB and 4GB of metadata, indexing took forever. After I cleared the metadata, Infuse proceeded to slowly reindex. However, subsequent index updates were much faster.

10

Couldn’t have put it better, this is exactly the point

11

“First, if you use Plex Media Server, then you already have a centralized index. There is no need for Infuse to maintain a independent, full, client-side index (as distinct from a simple cache like the Plex Media Player). Infuse users with PMS aren’t using NFS, SMB, or a cloud service. All resume points, metadata, jacket artwork and fanart should be exclusively supplied by PMS.“

I use Plex and SMB and I know plenty of others that also do. They are not mutually exclusive setups and there are many advantages incorporating both eg. for work I have thousands of video clip files that SMB will organise much better for me via file higharchy. It is so much easier finding these files through SMB than Plex.

12

Has there been any traction on this? I only use Infuse to play my personal and friends Plex servers and it gets really annoying to have to wait 20-30 minutes while the app updates everytime and at each ATV location. Is there a fix in the works? A solution someone has found? I should note also that my ATV’s are hard wired and receiving 1 gig down. It’s insane that anything should take 20-30 minutes.

13

I would hope that there was a way to bypass Infuse building its own index of Plex. Sure, it’s a great option to have Infuse build its own library if you’re pooling multiple sources, but for anyone I know using Infuse, we’re using it simply for a single source Plex app. In that way, Infuse should have the option to simply connect to the PMS and use its internal index (which never takes more than 2 seconds).

Simply put, please make it an option to bypass Infuse building its own database from Plex and just access it in the same way as a Plex app would. Given the updates to Plex for Pass subscribers having a much better engine (though Infuse is still superior), Infuse not indexing the same way, not having extras like trailers, and the higher cost of the app, I can’t help but feel like Infuse needs to streamline this process or risk losing customers - especially when the improved native Plex engine will be free.

14

I am in the same boat. I want to use infuse, but the unresolved issues listed here are a major pain point that seem to be falling on deaf ears.

15

I second this. Would be a great move to see. My only use for infuse is for a Plex client and the usability is sub par due to the increase loading times . Would love to see infuse hit this our of the park !

16

I’ve bought the lifetime infuse license - but this problem is so annoying that i’m using the native plex app atm… hope there’ll be a solution, but i doubt it (i thought there was a partnership between plex and firecore, why not use the system plex uses for the libraries/updates?)

17

Yep I’ve moved away from Infuse now because of this, just ruins the experience as a Plex client and is not wife friendly at all. Moved back to Plex which is much better with their latest updates and the new player they have implemented.

18

Same. I’ve got a massive plex library (like 250tb. Yes, tb) and the indexing and such makes browsing it in any way other than a direct folder structure impossible.

At the most I had the metadata setting display it being 9 gigabytes.

Is anything going to be done about this?

19

Its frustrating as all hell how nothing is being done about this.

20

Not sure why you think that nothing is being done about this but maybe the combo of 6.1.6 Infuse and tvOS 13 release with the ability for background indexing and downloading will help in your case. I’m not promising anything but it sounds like it may. Remember though, Apple controls how much time and data apps can have while in the background so it may be a learning curve for all concerned.

With Apple still having issues with tvOS 13 we may just have to wait a bit for the bumps in the road to get smoothed out.

Sometimes patience is truly a virtue.