Tonight on Plex

Inspiration

Annie Margaret's talk inspired us to find shared experiences across social divides to foster a healthy online community. Our group started reminiscing about the times where we could rely on a sense of community based on our shared love for common TV channels. Knowing that the person next to you on the bus probably saw the same episode you did was an exciting shared experience.

What it does

Tonight On Plex introduces a new Plex interface that allows curators to create full tv-channel-like blocks of ongoing programming. With a drag and drop interface, it lets anybody build their dream tv channel that hundreds can subscribe to. By subscribing to a channel, Plex will play the curated content at the exact same time as everybody else who is tuned in. During this shared content, watchers will periodically answer polls that reveal the community's diversity and surprising areas of divergence.

How we built it

Using the Python API library for Plex, we were able to query the user's plex activity, retrieve media information from the server, generate programming schedules using json, and determine exact playback times for syncing the viewer to the community channel. For the prototyping and brainstorming, we used extensive pencil and paper sketching, which evolved into beautiful Figma diagrams that show the workflow and interface.

Challenges we ran into

The Python library's documentation was lacking in ways that prevented us from directly manipulating the user's playback. We worked closely with Dick Dickey to work through this limitation, but it was a task too difficult for the hackathon timeframe.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

For such a short time period, we have a wide array of artifacts we are proud of. We have an impressive Python framework with solid organization, we have beautiful Figma diagrams, and a comprehensive presentation that we wish we could give more of.

What we learned

Our work with the API taught us a great deal about docker containerized development, the Plex architecture, and object-oriented design. We gained a greater understanding of Figma's components system for prototyping.

What's next for Tonight on Plex

Tomorrow on Plex ;) After we implement the control methodology for synching playback, we can move to the schedule-crafting, and then the backend will be complete! The UI will need to be implemented through a browser extension, but we should be able to insert the interface that we dreamed up!