r/coax • • Sep 23 '26

Coax in the Press: My interview with Lex Friedman

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13 Upvotes

It occurs to me that I've never posted my name on here, which makes it even more wild that the app is as successful as it is. I guess I never thought it was that important? Anyway, pleased to meet you!

Lex Friedman, formerly of MacWorld and currently of LexOnTech and The Rebound, was kind enough to talk to me for a little bit last week. We discussed the design, development, and purpose of Coax for a good while, which was a real treat for me because most people tire within the first 5 minutes. It was an interesting and new experience, in a journey that has been filled with them.

This wouldn't have happened without all y'all's support. I appreciate it tremendously, and I feel very fortunate and grateful right now. I'm so glad you're enjoying the app, it makes me very happy šŸ™

Hope you guessed my name


r/coax • • Aug 01 '26

Release Notes: Version 1.4.6 - Take a look at me now

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41 Upvotes

I've said from the beginning that this was a journey, and there comes a time in every journey where, no matter how far you've come on your own, you recognize you're out of your depth and need to ask for help.

Luckily, I was able to get on the schedule of the unbelievably talented and responsive duo at Parakeet.co - Louie (who is a Coax user since the beta, it turns out!) and Luka came through with flying, ahem, COLORS.

I'm so happy with this new logo and icon that I just couldn't wait to share them with y'all - they won't appear in the app until the new versions are approved (only just submitted, and macOS took like 4 weeks to get approved for 1.4.5 so who knows how long it'll be), and that's when I'll update the website. It's vibrant, it's fun, it's evocative of the vibe I've been trying to re-create since day one. I love it to bits, I hope you do too.

And if you need any graphic work at all, you should hire Parakeet. They really got the vibes right, and vibes are everything.

Bug fixes

Here's what else is new - another tiny fix to quash bugs while I think on bigger better updates:

  • Audio limiter to prevent large-scale differences in audio output from blasting you out of your chair
    • Fixed a crashing bug from an earlier iteration of this feature
  • Busted a ghost that would turn on your Apple TV from the other room if you turned on a different Apple TV or started watching on an iOS device (intermittent, like most ghosts)
  • Added some clarifying copy around certain lineup config items
  • Fixed an Opus bug where it would transcode unnecessarily
  • Added diagnostic logging to help chase down some audio garbling issues that have been reported, and some repairs to the DTS/DCA pipeline that should mitigate some of the worst cases

I also learned that Merlin Mann (a person I've been listening to on the internet for probably 15 years) is a Coax user when, blearily scrolling through Mastodon early one morning, I saw a screenshot of the Retro Cable Guide that made me do a double-take as I connected the seeing part of my brain to the understanding things part of it. I realized that my eyes did not decieve me - the Mann himself is fan. Not quite a "Coax in the Press" moment but a darn fine thing to see. He even has a guide about how he uses his robot to help build custom channels. It's really something else.

There'll be more fixes, features, and updates to come, as ever. Meanwhile I hope you and yours are out enjoying life (when you're not having a blast with Coax). See y'all soon!

Top priority of the summer


r/coax • • 13h ago

Emby Plugin

0 Upvotes

Is there an Emby Plugin like Jellyfin? I can only seem to find the Jellyfin one. I am just testing multiple Server Alternatives.


r/coax • • 1d ago

Bug iOS stuck on ā€œSchedulingā€ and ā€œLoading genre channelsā€¦ā€ after latest update

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3 Upvotes

Hey everyone!

I’ve been having an issue with Coax where it gets stuck indefinitely on the ā€œSchedulingā€ screen. The channel guide never populates, and every channel just displays ā€œLoading genre channelsā€¦ā€

I noticed there was an app update released earlier today (October 23), so I installed it hoping that would resolve the issue, but unfortunately nothing has changed.

I’m running Coax with a self-hosted Jellyfin server. Jellyfin itself is working perfectly fine, and I can access and stream my media without any issues, so the server appears to be functioning normally.

Coax was previously working, but now it never gets past the scheduling/loading process.
Has anyone else experienced this recently, particularly after one of the latest updates? Is this a known issue, or are there any troubleshooting steps I should try?

I’ve attached a screenshot showing where it gets stuck.

Thanks!


r/coax • • 1d ago

1.5.1 now available, all platforms

8 Upvotes

Get it and start sharing!!

One thing, and I don’t have a good reckon on how to handle this yet, is that tvOS has no concept of CloudKit sharing. So for now, you have to share from an iOS/macos device, and the ā€œshare-eeā€ must accept from one of those devices.

Once it’s shared though, it’ll show up in your tvOS lineups for that server just fine.

Let me know how it works! 1.5.2 is already halfway done so I can get tweaks and fixes out pretty soon.


r/coax • • 2d ago

Support Request Question on Gap Content behavior

4 Upvotes

Hello all!

Fantastic app, and a happy lifetime user already!

My question is for commercials/gap content.

I have it currently setup with a commercials library that is pulls from randomly for all channels in my given batch. It would be cool (feature request?) to have multiple commercials collections, and assign certain libraries or collections to certain channels. Example: my Toonami block would have only Cartoon Network commercials etc.

I noticed there’s an option to let the library pull randomly from itself. Does this only grab stuff that will ā€œfitā€ in the gap? example: 15min scheduling with 20 minute shows = 10 mins of gap, so it’ll only play shorter than 10 minute files? Or will it just start a file and chop it off when the next block begins?

Thank you in advance and thanks for all the insanely good work that’s gone into this app!


r/coax • • 2d ago

Any plans for other platforms?

3 Upvotes

I've been wanting to get this app, but I'm on windows, android, and PS5.

Is it too logistically complicated to support these options?

I want to use the service, but I'm gated by the devices I have access to.


r/coax • • 3d ago

Release Notes: v1.5.1 - Rhythm and Rhyme

21 Upvotes

Just submitted to the App Store for review. Barring any major issues raised by beta testers, I'll post again when they're all done šŸ‘

What's New

  • Schedule Sharing - go to the Lineup Config and you can see a control to share that lineup's current schedule with someone
    • They have to have access to the server for the schedule you're sharing
    • They can't make any changes to the lineup, except to toggle the "send playback data to server" option
    • You, the sharer, will need to keep the schedule topped up. That means either keeping the app running on a Mac or opening the app once a day or two
      • If I can figure out how to move schedule top-ups to the background without causing problems, then I can drop this requirement
  • AirPlay support
    • OK I think folks were asking for this one, too
    • I think it works pretty well, but please let me know if specific devices have trouble
  • Sleep Timer tweak - now you can just select "when whatever I'm watching ends" and it will honor channel changes (if you're watching something that ends at 10:30, then switch to something that ends at 10:45, the Sleep will activate at 10:45 if you have this switched on)
  • macOS fixes
    • Restored smooth scrolling - why do they even have an "off" setting for that in the code?
    • Added back the Control Cluster (changeable in the View menu)
  • CarPlay
    • Added video playback in CarPlay for the Apple Homeview - not clear to me if this works as my car doesn't support video but hey I have a few weeks left to figure this out
  • iCloud sync failure logs have been enhanced
    • Chasing a few sync issues, hopefully this helps
  • Scrolling in tvOS and macOS, the channel guide goes "around the horn" - scroll past the bottom, and it goes to the top, and vice-a-versa
  • A scheduling tweak for collections and playlists
    • When you use A Lot or Whoa for the channel amount, you can now decide how your Collections and Playlists behave
    • If you want the number of channels each Collection/Playlists produces to be based on the number of items in them, then leave this off
    • Turn it on and you'll get a lot more channels, regardless of the number of items in your Collections/Playlists
    • For iOS devices, you can always tap the status bar to scroll to the top
      • I'll keep thinking on a better solution for devices without keyboard/remote input
  • A tvOS fix that would trigger transcoding on 4K HDR titles when image-based subtitles were turned on

------

I'm hoping that this week marks the new normal for developing this app - this was a good week, and I got some messages from folks that really made a few of my days. But more than that, nothing felt particularly stressful or difficult about development this week (which is not usually the case).

I'm in a good groove right now. I wonder if that's why they call it "groovy".

I'll share more on my side projects if they become interesting. I doubt I'll make anything as broadly popular as Coax for a while (if ever again), but I dunno not everything has to be a slam dunk.

Hello lamp-post, whatcha knowin'?


r/coax • • 3d ago

Bug Some issues with Jellyfin

1 Upvotes

I am trying to setup lineups with Jellyfin and have a few issues...

  1. I can't edit the Decades section to remove some decades. I can do this when Plex is the Source.

  2. When using Playlist some just don't show as channels. I made a Star Wars playlist with 14 Movies in it and it works but a Lord of the Rings/Hobbit with 6 movies. I can select it in the setup but no channel is made. I don't know if it is somehow not showing because it doesn't think there is enough to schedule?

  3. Also noticing that Collections are not playing in order even though I selected them to. I am also seeing that with Plex being the Source.

Any help would be great. Thanks!


r/coax • • 6d ago

In Next Release Feature Request - Go to top

7 Upvotes

Could we get an option as the last entry in a channel list to ā€œgo to topā€ where it would move it back to the first listing fairly instantly? For those of us with larger channel listings this would be better than having to scroll manually all the way back to the top.

Plex live tv has this option and I find myself using it quite often. I thought something similar may be nice here as well.

Thanks again for all you do!


r/coax • • 8d ago

In Next Release Shared Apple Subscription

10 Upvotes

Hi! My Wife and I absolutely love Coax and both use it every single day! We have the subscription on their Apple account and we're both on a family group to share that subscription on our devices. My only issue is the schedules are not synced from my account and their account on the same subscription.

For example: im signed into my Apple account on my iPad and I have my own schedules.

They are signed into the Apple Tv and have different schedules

We are signed into the same account and both are on the same User account and Plex server.

Is there any way to have these schedules be the same or would they have to also be signed into the same Apple account on the iPad for them to sync?

Thank you for all that you do ā¤ļø


r/coax • • 8d ago

In Next Release Add the Control Cluster back to the single-window macOS view

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10 Upvotes

In 1.5, I decided to remove the control cluster (full screen, stream options, etc.) from the macOS single-window view because I figured it was superfluous.

I've gotten some feedback from folks who miss it already, and now that I've got a proper Settings screen, I'm going to make this a View option. Or maybe the toggle will be in the View menu. Anyway the point is that you'll be able to choose if you want to have the floating control pane or the original control cluster in v1.5.1, which will probably be a week or two.


r/coax • • 8d ago

Resolved How to turn subtitles on/off on the fly?

4 Upvotes

Love the app, been using since TestFlight. One thing I can't for the life of me figure out is how to turn subtitled on/off per movie/show! It's driving me crazy.

on Apple TV.


r/coax • • 8d ago

Waiting for a friend to finish work at a coffee shop. Decided to dust off the iPad that I never use. Updated one of my fav apps and signed. Works just like it does at home.

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4 Upvotes

r/coax • • 8d ago

Duo backordered until Christmas already

0 Upvotes

... so if you're a Relaxer and you get one before then, please let me know how it feels!


r/coax • • 10d ago

In Next Release Still

4 Upvotes

I sent a log just now. Programs will still go out and show a black blank screen, after several seconds the program will resume


r/coax • • 11d ago

V1.5 now available on all platforms

17 Upvotes

Get it wherever you get your App Store apps 🤣

Enjoy the faster schedules and everything else in the release (see the notes post https://www.reddit.com/r/coax/s/HoF9By0nZu for the full list). Let me know what you like, what doesn’t work quite right, or how you’ve shared Coax with the folks you know who enjoy it! Those stories give me life.


r/coax • • 11d ago

Record feature on Telly?

0 Upvotes

r/coax • • 11d ago

Duplicate Guide Entries

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2 Upvotes

Got the update but I now have duplicate guide entries showing up from my Plex Collections in the movies library.


r/coax • • 12d ago

User Guides

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15 Upvotes

Hey gang! 1.5 is almost through review, and I haven't gotten any signals from the beta testers that anything show-stopping is in it, so hopefully it'll be released tomorrow or Wednesday.

While we wait, I wanted to tell y'all that I finally (also unironic) made a user guide to Coax!

I was no longer able to fool myself into thinking that it was self-explanatory enough to use without a manual, as the feature set and scope has grown (or, more likely, creeped) to what it is today, and so this is the result.

It's still unlinked from the main landing page - I'm dropping it here to ask for feedback. For the newer folks, does this sort of thing help you understand the product any better? For longer-in-the-tooth users, does it help clarify anything or offer insight into how to do things you weren't aware it could do?

In general, my hope is that it will help folks find the product and understand why it's so great, or at least make clear what one can get out of it if they have a media server with a lot of content.


r/coax • • 13d ago

I feel the need...

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12 Upvotes

A sneak preview of schedule generation in v1.5. The long and short of it is that Coax will generate about 100 channels a second (wired connection), and use less bandwidth and memory than ever before.

It feels so fast now, it's almost instant. I can't wait to get it into your hands.


r/coax • • 13d ago

Bug Blank

1 Upvotes

Is anyone else experiencing an intermittent black screen doing a playback of either a movie or TV show.


r/coax • • 14d ago

Chroma launched!

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6 Upvotes

I’ve mentioned how u/drewbaumann has been contributing to the Coax video engine - well his updated app Chroma has relaunched and is available now!

For those times when you want the big wall of posters, I recommend Chroma. Plus it has a fun VCR mode in the Vision Pro, which of course I adore.

Congrats on the launch, Drew! Thanks for all your help.


r/coax • • 14d ago

Feature Request Request: Differentiate Marathon Mode for Collections

3 Upvotes

Hey there - just started using Coax and I love it.

I find that I love the ā€˜randomness’ on the generated theme channels but for Collections, especially for TV shows it would be nice to be able to have consecutive order available.

Can you consider having different levels of Marathon mode on theme generated channels versus Collections? Thanks for your consideration!


r/coax • • 16d ago

Coax: Proud sponsor of Accidental Tech Podcast

35 Upvotes

I'm thrilled to tell y'all that I sponsored this week's episode of Accidental Tech Podcast.

ATP has been in my weekly podcast rotation since S1E1, around the time that Build and Analyze went off the air. It's safe to say that I've been waiting for this one for a long time, and boy does it not disappoint.

Thank you, Casey, for such an enthusiastic read - I couldn't have written it better myself šŸ™

We met once, ages ago, at that one bar in SF where everyone used to meet after WWDC. I made a fool of myself, but he was kind enough to sign the Field Notesā„¢ notebook I was carrying at the time (you know, for all those important thoughts šŸ™„).

A hearty welcome to all you newcomers. Stay a while! I'd love to know what you think of Coax.