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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."
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
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
What this announcement shows, is that players like Roku need to be VERY afraid.
Say all you want about the fact that the new Apple TV specs wise is ho hum (and I'd agree with you), but the fact of the matter is that all those people who are familiar with Xcode development and the IOS APIs now can develop for tvOS.
What that means is that in a VERY short amount of time the number of apps will go from zero to crazy in no time at all. Roku has struggled for a LONG time to get a good set of apps for people to use. There are hardly that many games for Roku (the major ones though like Angry Birds are there) and everything else are screensavers, streaming channels or Church apps (for the most part).
Say what you want about how the Apple TV sucks, the fact that millions of Xcode developers for IOS can develop for it means it will pretty much sink companies like Roku.