Plex

JoePoulson · Nov 20, 2015

Plex is awesome. Used it for a couple years now and bought the PlexPass when it was $75. I have Plex installed on our media/storage server (PC running Windows) and from it we stream to 4 Roku's, 3 phones, 3 tablets, our other PCs, etc. I love the GUI and most importantly, it's super-easy for my wife and 11-year-old to use.

Plex is still free I believe (PlexPass gives you a few more features but nothing must-have) so definitely try it out. I'll answer any questions that I can.

SumnerH · Nov 21, 2015

Not my first choice for a media server. Kodi is a simpler UI and easier to set up for most cases, and mediatomb is more flexible for complex stuff. But plex is probably #3 or #4.

AlNipper49 · Nov 21, 2015

wibi said:
I've been reading a lot about PleX lately and am wondering if it would fit my needs. We do a ton of media streaming both to tablets and the two TVs (one via a PS4 the other via Amazon FireTV stick) through HBONow, Netflix and HULU+ but I have a ton of old movies sitting on a network drive that I use for storage but then move them over to a tablet to watch.

Is Plex worth getting? Does Plex really make media integration that much easier/better?

Plea works perfectly fine. You'll have it running quickly and it's stable and simple

SeoulSoxFan · Nov 21, 2015

wibi said:
I've been reading a lot about PleX lately and am wondering if it would fit my needs. We do a ton of media streaming both to tablets and the two TVs (one via a PS4 the other via Amazon FireTV stick) through HBONow, Netflix and HULU+ but I have a ton of old movies sitting on a network drive that I use for storage but then move them over to a tablet to watch.

Is Plex worth getting? Does Plex really make media integration that much easier/better?

We have a ton of media and Plex is our absolute favorite way of streaming content. It's very easy to do if you're running a media server/PC (not sure of Macs). It connects easily to smart TVs, and the $5 they ask for the Android and iPad apps are more than fair.

We have a second NAS running just to run all the media stuff, and QNAP (and others) offer Plex as part of its apps.

I say everything is as easy as Nap & others are saying here. The only "geeky" thing you may need to do is to forward the Plex port on your routers, but that's something you may know how to do already.

Highly recommended.

jayhoz · Nov 21, 2015

Another vote for plex. In addition to streaming within your network, you can access your library when travelling. You can also share your library with friends and family as long as your machine has the processing power to handle multiple concurrent streams.

AlNipper49 · Nov 21, 2015

You need Plex Pass for this but if you have the app for iPhone or whatever you can also selectively cache movies locally.

I bought Plex Pass instead of a $3300 entertainment system in my car. Both kids have iPads so when we travel we just open the app while we are still home and the kids just pick a few movies, clack the 'local' button and give it a minute or two.

Omar's Wacky Neighbor · Nov 21, 2015

Love Plex on ATV, Roku, and iPads, altho one of the recent updates was putting some TV Shows and some Movies under the wrong tab on the UI. It appears to be fixed, and only reason I mention it is because it's the only issue I've ever had with Plex, it's that stable.

repole · Nov 21, 2015

Plex is great, but worth bringing Emby into the discussion. Very similar offering, integrates better with Kodi/XBMC if you're already running that set up, and is open source. Plex has more polished client apps, though I like the Emby web player a lot more, and on the whole like the direction Emby is heading in.

Decent article comparing the two: http://www.htpcbeginner.com/plex-vs-emby-comparison-with-kodi/

You'll probably want to go with Plex since it has better PS4 integration at the moment, though Emby does work as a DLNA server which PS4 now has support for.

SumnerH · Nov 21, 2015

repole said:
Plex is great, but worth bringing Emby into the discussion. Very similar offering, integrates better with Kodi/XBMC if you're already running that set up, and is open source.

Kodi already has a built-in DLNA server and web media server, as well as a bunch of add-ons for various features. If you're already running it as a client interface, it's trivial to flip those switches on in settings and avoid managing another piece of software--I stream to my WDTV Live all the time no problem, as well as to a secondary Kodi installation. And it's much easier to handle library management/scraping of show info/etc than it is with Plex.

It doesn't handle transcoding, but that's generally worth avoiding anyway.

The web streaming interface is pretty slick if you install the Chorus plugin (it'll stream files or act as a remote control for the kodi install, either one).

From my Android phone, selecting a show:

Selecting an episode:

repole · Nov 21, 2015

SumnerH said:
Kodi already has a built-in DLNA server and web media server, as well as a bunch of add-ons for various features. If you're already running it as a client interface, it's trivial to flip those switches on in settings and avoid managing another piece of software--I stream to my WDTV Live all the time no problem, as well as to a secondary Kodi installation. And it's much easier to handle library management/scraping of show info/etc than it is with Plex.

It doesn't handle transcoding, but that's generally worth avoiding anyway.]

If you're just trying to stream over your home network, totally agreed. And in that case I'd recommend Kodi over anything else.

If you want to be able to watch your media while away from home, then you'll need something like Plex or Emby to handle transcoding.

SumnerH · Nov 21, 2015

repole said:
If you're just trying to stream over your home network, totally agreed. And in that case I'd recommend Kodi over anything else.

If you want to be able to watch your media while away from home, then you'll need something like Plex or Emby to handle transcoding.

I'm not sure why you need transcoding because you're away from home--those seem like orthogonal issues to me (and personally I have kodi sync the next few unwatched episodes to my phone when I'm on wifi so I can avoid streaming entirely in the common case)--but yeah like I said I'd go with mediatomb (or ps3mediaserver) for a more complex setup where you need to transcode.

SumnerH · Nov 21, 2015

Kodi's the easiest to use. Mediatomb's the hardest by far. Plex is in between, though much closer to the former than the latter.

Marceline · Nov 21, 2015

I've been copying media files back and forth via USB drives between laptops, phones, tablets, and my Htpc for years now. Not sure why I never looked into this stuff before.

This is great info - sounds like kodi will be the one to check out. Just to be clear, with kodi, I can sync files to my phone or tablet to watch when I'm not on my home network?

Would I need to use one machine (probably the htpc) as a central server that would host all the media, or can I have different devices share stuff? How does that work?

Again, thanks for the info, and sorry for the dumb questions. I've been operating on a 2005-era setup for way too long now.

SumnerH · Nov 22, 2015

wibi said:
Except Kodi cant do my PS4 which is the main streaming device we use. Plus Kodi requires a jailbreak to install on our iPads and I dont have the time or desire to go through that process again. Plex might cost me a little more out of pocket but it has apps for everything I use on the network

PS4 can stream DLNA now, which Kodi does. If you want to run the server on your ipad it's not a good choice, but as a server it'll stream to plenty of DLNA clients on the ipad.

What it won't do is transcode. Which is generally a horrible idea, but if you need it then ps3mediaserver or plex is a better server choice. Mediatomb sounds like a poor fit for you.

Omar's Wacky Neighbor · Nov 25, 2015

Another reason to hate Apple: Plex is finally on ATV, but only for the 4th gen ATVs (sounds like it's only available in the App Store, and gen 1-3 dont have the store available).

My son has an ATV gen3, and I had no idea that Plex was NOT available until just now. Probably wouldnt have bought him the ATV if I'd known that......

HriniakPosterChild · Nov 25, 2015

Yeah, another reason to hate 'em. There's support now on their current hardware for a program you like, but not on obsolete hardware.

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