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Plex Is Coming To Apple TV
sfcrazy writes: Apple announced that it is turning Apple TV into a platform, opening it up for third party developers. They have already published the beta of tvOS and tvOS SDK, which developers can play with. Which means Plex is now a possibility on Apple TV. The founder of Plex said, "There is no question we will be able to offer Plex on the platform. There are multiple ways to go about it, based on the tvOS SDK we now have access to. We are now evaluating the best path for Plex and will begin work in earnest once we have evaluated the options. The ability to access great and proven iOS frameworks on the device is great for developers like us — we know the stuff is solid and will perform really well. Our goal is to enable people to enjoy Plex on the hardware platforms of their choice, and there is no doubt this will be a top platform for us."
Never heard of it, but now you will be able to get on an apple tv. Isn't it exciting!!!!!
Plex is a home media server, forked from XBMC.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plex_(software)
Wikipedia says the server is "freemium" so I guess it's free but you can buy upgrades. There are apps for iOS and Android; the apps aren't free either. And there is some kind of cloud account you can get, and use for syncing your content across the Internet.
I've never heard of this before, but it seems worth checking out if you don't already have a media center solution.
Plex web site:
https://plex.tv/
Breakdown of what you can get for free vs. what costs:
https://support.plex.tv/hc/en-us/articles/202526943-Plex-Free-vs-Paid
Reddit discussion of cost of Plex:
https://www.reddit.com/r/Chromecast/comments/2f9f0k/what_is_the_true_cost_of_plex/
lf(1): it's like ls(1) but sorts filenames by extension, tersely
Yeah - any iTunes library worked. Music, Movies, Photos - any content you could load onto a machine. A $150 headless win machine could do it.
The only problem was auto-loading of content. I use sabnzbd/usenet to load serial content (TV shows), and that doesn't play well with iTunes. Also, I can get Plex served when I'm not at home and iTunes isn't good at that either.
Is it just my observation, or are there way too many stupid people in the world?
I had never heard of it before getting a Samsung Smart TV and since I didn't actually get the 51" Plasma to watch broadcast television, I had to find a way to stream my media from a server, without actually having a laptop next to the TV. Anyway, I looked up possible technologies and DLNA that the TV supported seemed the best solution. After I painfully found out DLNA in practice is riddled with problems, I went back to google and Plex came up. A free Plex Media Sever was installed on the Mac Pro, an also free client was installed on the Smart TV, et voila, streaming with full support of any format I had, multiple audio & subtitle streams, plus excellent library organization (it recognizes your media, shows covers/meta data, even downloads subtitles automatically with the proper plugin).
I also got a chromecast dongle at some point and I use it to send some browser video streams to the TV, but for two years now Plex has served me very well. If you have a platform, like a Smart TV/Smart Bluray etc where the Plex client is free, definitely give it a try.
Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent. Polar Scope Align for iOS
I'm not getting all the hate for Plex. Plex is amazing.
It's not just a media server. It's a full-blown server and media management and distribution system akin to running your own Netflix. I paid the one-time lifetime pass and it's been totally worth it. We stream to many Rokus, computers and Android devices amongst my household and immediate family.
Having paid for the PlexPass, all the clients I add to my Plex Home group are free so users don't have to pay for each client. I run it on a 6-disc FreeNAS RAIDZ2 system that has enough CPU horsepower to run Plex Server right on the NAS itself. The system is beautiful and amazingly capable. Just drop any old video file on, and Plex handles everything else: metadata, posters, trailers, organization, and any necessary transcoding to play any type of video file onto any client regardless of its capabilities.
I know Emby is popular because it's open-source, and perhaps some parts of it are better than Plex (I've never used Emby). But the reviews I've seen put them pretty close to each other, with often Plex having a slight edge overall. But probably ultimately depends on what you're doing with it and what features matter to you.
Anyone who flat out hates Plex probably doesn't understand how it's really supposed to be used and what needs it's meant to address. It's easy to hate the perfect screwdriver if you're trying to use it as a hammer.