“Plex is designed for users with large libraries of digital content on their hard drives. It will work with movies, TV shows, music, pictures: basically any kind of video or audio file. But it’s core usage is playing back video files obtained legally or otherwise,” Alexander Fox writes for Apple Gazette. “There’s a Plex client for every meaningful platform, so you’ll be able to stream your Plex content from your server device to just about anything with a screen. You could probably stream it to your fridge’s LCD screen, if you were sufficiently creative.”
Fox writes, “That’s the power of Plex: it’s an omnivorous input for content and a non-discriminating output, streaming your media to any device in the Nine Realms.”
“The open secret about Plex is that it’s really made for people with massive libraries of illegally obtained content… If you get your media exclusively through streaming platforms like iTunes, Amazon, VOD, Netflix, Hulu or other legitimate streaming platforms, Plex won’t be as helpful to you,” Fox writes. “Now, if you’ve got an enormous library of video content that fell off the back of a truck, Plex really shines. By automatically and silently associating the files with the correct metadata, Plex pairs cryptic filenames like “Jurassic World Fallen Kingdom 2018 1080p HC HDRip x264 AAC ESub” with the correct metadata, producing an attractive and navigable media library. Plex turns your shady library of grey market video into something much more like Netflix.”
Much more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Depending on your type of media library, Plex just might be for you.
SEE ALSO:
Plex grid view of live TV guide now available on Apple TV – July 13, 2018
Plex launches Live TV and DVR for Plex Pass subscribers, supports all over-the-air broadcast channels – June 1, 2017
Plex. The solution for digital hoarders and content thieves.
I installed a Plex server over a year ago when I got a Roku instead of an Apple TV so I could stream my iTunes content: music, home videos, ripped DVDs, etc. Not illegal. At the time I needed to purchase a new Apple TV in order to run Playstation Vue but the 4th gen that just came out that would run the PSVue app didn’t support 4K, had that crappy touch remote, and cost twice as much as the Roku. So it was either wait a year to get a decent Apple TV (couldn’t do that) that would run PSVue and support 4K, or get a Roku now. Then it was just a matter of moving my media to Plex so the Roku could use it with it’s Plex app.
I forgot to say my Plex server is a $25 PC I got from Goodwill and installed Linux Mint on it. I just had to drop in a 1TB drive that I had laying around to give me plenty of room for the media (the PC came with a 160GB drive).
I have an Apple TV, not cable, and subs to Hulu+Showtime, HBO Now, Netflix, and Amazon Prime. I’ve subbed-in to CBS to watch Star Trek Discovery and The Good Fight. But there are still a couple networks, looking at you AMC, that don’t make it possible for people to sub to their networks without a cable sub, therefore PirateBay+Plex it is.
I run Plex server on my Synology clone and Plex client on my Apple TV 4. Everything works great!!!
Plex: another solution for the vacuum caused by Apple abandoning Front Row.
I run Plex on a MacMini 2012 i7 as my main entertainment server. It runs iTunes as well, for Airplay to simulcast to all my airplay receiving devices.
My content is all purchased content either ripped from purchased blu-ray (handbrake) or DRM stripped / re-encoded (m4vgear) from iTunes purchased content.
IMHO, The Plex interface on Apple TV v4 (My main viewing client) is about 1000x better than the Apple home sharing / computer client…plus it does live TV and DVR with a Silicon Dust tuner. Plex is what Apple’s interface should be. Also, I can stream from anywhere from mobile/iOS devices. I’m mostly Apple eco-system with my devices, but I do have some Android tablets (Nexus 7 FHD…what the iPad Mini should’ve been), and Amazon and Roku sticks. Plex also interfaces with Amazon Alexa quite well for voice control.
I have about 15TB of content so far and don’t have to worry about anything being online to the internet when at home…it is local. I have a 30TB NAS also running a Plex backup server, which also keeps my content backed up from the main MacMini Server.
I’ve spent thousands of dollars on content over the last many years, and see no ethical problem at all making that content accessible to all my devices. Movies Anywhere digital locker is essentially doing the same thing, and is also “the right idea”.
Plex has it right, and (IMHO) does it right. Apple TV + Plex has passed the spouse test, which Apple’s clients do not. That alone is enough for me to want to implement it over the Apple alternative interface solution.