Anyone using PLEX?
Discussion
Yes, I'm using it on a roku and on my pc plus iPad as clients
Have a hp microsever as the server. Works well on the pc as it handles all codecs natively, the iPad and roku can suffer buffering issues but I think that is mostly my server not being powerful enough to real time transcode.
It also acts as a dlna client for the ps3.
I love that I can control it from the iPad, playback directly or push the content to a player. I can start watching on one device and finish on a different one. The auto tagging of new content works well but you need good disciplin with the naming convention.
Want to try it on the ATV next.
I find the whole experience better than xbmc but the help isn't quite so comprehensive and I didn't find the community as friendly, felt more geeky with a higher level of base knowledge needed. It's pretty easy to set up and get running though you'll only need help if you get problems.
Have a hp microsever as the server. Works well on the pc as it handles all codecs natively, the iPad and roku can suffer buffering issues but I think that is mostly my server not being powerful enough to real time transcode.
It also acts as a dlna client for the ps3.
I love that I can control it from the iPad, playback directly or push the content to a player. I can start watching on one device and finish on a different one. The auto tagging of new content works well but you need good disciplin with the naming convention.
Want to try it on the ATV next.
I find the whole experience better than xbmc but the help isn't quite so comprehensive and I didn't find the community as friendly, felt more geeky with a higher level of base knowledge needed. It's pretty easy to set up and get running though you'll only need help if you get problems.
No problem.
My biggest problem with the Roku is that it's not as responsive as some other devices. Could be my connection could be the device. I've just moved house so not in a position to play at the moment. It would be interesting to see how responsive the Samsung is when running plex.
P.S. Did you see my reply about the Pioneer media cable? I really need one and you thought some of your suppliers could help.
My biggest problem with the Roku is that it's not as responsive as some other devices. Could be my connection could be the device. I've just moved house so not in a position to play at the moment. It would be interesting to see how responsive the Samsung is when running plex.
P.S. Did you see my reply about the Pioneer media cable? I really need one and you thought some of your suppliers could help.
I run Plex at home and am very happy with it.
I've found that the Samsung app runs a lower resolution image than running Plex on a computer hooked up to the TV.
I run Plex on a Mac Mini connected via DVI to the Samsung. It gives me a perfect 1080p picture. If I run the Plex app on the TV instead (served from the same source), it looks more like 480p.
I've found that the Samsung app runs a lower resolution image than running Plex on a computer hooked up to the TV.
I run Plex on a Mac Mini connected via DVI to the Samsung. It gives me a perfect 1080p picture. If I run the Plex app on the TV instead (served from the same source), it looks more like 480p.
Edited by poprock on Wednesday 26th September 16:47
I built a server this week (HP Microserver - £100 cash back offer still on, it's the bargain of the century) and installed Windows Server 2012 Essentials. The media streaming functionality is a bit pants in it, so I've installed Plex instead. Must say it's early days but I'm very impressed so far.
Bullett said:
Yes, I'm using it on a roku and on my pc plus iPad as clients
Have a hp microsever as the server. Works well on the pc as it handles all codecs natively, the iPad and roku can suffer buffering issues but I think that is mostly my server not being powerful enough to real time transcode.
It also acts as a dlna client for the ps3.
I love that I can control it from the iPad, playback directly or push the content to a player. I can start watching on one device and finish on a different one. The auto tagging of new content works well but you need good disciplin with the naming convention.
Want to try it on the ATV next.
I find the whole experience better than xbmc but the help isn't quite so comprehensive and I didn't find the community as friendly, felt more geeky with a higher level of base knowledge needed. It's pretty easy to set up and get running though you'll only need help if you get problems.
Id say Bullett was spot on with the above. Have a hp microsever as the server. Works well on the pc as it handles all codecs natively, the iPad and roku can suffer buffering issues but I think that is mostly my server not being powerful enough to real time transcode.
It also acts as a dlna client for the ps3.
I love that I can control it from the iPad, playback directly or push the content to a player. I can start watching on one device and finish on a different one. The auto tagging of new content works well but you need good disciplin with the naming convention.
Want to try it on the ATV next.
I find the whole experience better than xbmc but the help isn't quite so comprehensive and I didn't find the community as friendly, felt more geeky with a higher level of base knowledge needed. It's pretty easy to set up and get running though you'll only need help if you get problems.
There is a lot to love about Plex in terms of features but from my experience it isnt for every set up. I tried to get it set up and running over a period of a few weeks but have now given up and uninstalled it.
My streaming solution relies on a Synology DS411J NAS, Plex supply an app for this and what little documentation I could find suggested that I should *just* about be able to run this. Plex seems quite CPU intensive and as such the low powered ARM processor based NAS's are maybe not man enough for the job. With an HTPC or similar running a meatier CPU I am sure it would be fine. I found that Plex was killing the CPU on the NAS and was also constantly running a lot of services to attempt to retrieve metadata which had the RAM usage sat at 80% + the combination of these things made the NAS as a whole slower and less responsive.
In attempting to fix these issues I ran into the support community and lack of documentation that Bullett described.
The decision to uninstall was based on the above, plus the following:
1) The metadata and additional features of Plex dont really translate to my main viewing room which uses a PS3 to stream films. The DLNA client on the PS3 only picks up the nice file structure and the cover art (no metadata, review figures, IMDB listing etc etc), both of which i can emulate manually without much trouble. The advanced features will need something running a plex client to realise the benefit of.
2) The iOS devices in the house werent really getting the benefit either - sure they could see the metadata properly, but using Plex meant i couldnt transcode on the fly and the Ipads would struggle to run 720p mkv files. Again this is a fault of a low power ARM processor rather than Plex,*but* the media server Synology provide with the NAS does seem to manage this without fault which confuses me.
3) Any 720p/1080p movie played through Plex on any device had a much longer buffering period than using the standard Synology Media Server for some reason.
So - long story short, Plex looks lovely and i would definitely like to use it - but certainly for the current application release level, be sure to check the firepower of whatever your client is hosting the Plex Server on - ARM processors just dont seem to cope.
Regards,
R.
I'm running Plex on an HP Microserver, with UnRaid installed.
Clients are an iPad, various iPhones and an AppleTV. All work well, although I do tend to use XBMC on the AppleTV as it supports multichannel DTS output, which Plex does not (on the AppleTV at least).
The latest version has an excellent web interface for sorting metadata and the client interfaces are really nice.
Clients are an iPad, various iPhones and an AppleTV. All work well, although I do tend to use XBMC on the AppleTV as it supports multichannel DTS output, which Plex does not (on the AppleTV at least).
The latest version has an excellent web interface for sorting metadata and the client interfaces are really nice.
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