Plex adds Live TV support for Plex Pass subscribers on Apple's iPhone & iPad
Plex on Thursday introduced a Live TV feature for Plex Pass subscribers with antennas, letting them watch shows as they air in addition to taking advantage of existing DVR features.
Viewers must have a compatible tuner, Plex said, but the list has been expanded beyond HDHomeRun models to include ones from brands like Hauppauge and AVerMedia. Live streaming is limited to the company's apps for iPhone/iPad and Android TV, which can now browse a program guide and manage recordings as well. More platforms are promised in the future.
The developer has meanwhile improved its DVR engine, making it possible to watch and record simultaneously, while also better dealing with overlapping recordings on the same channel. Plex noted while that while most U.S. networks and many international ones are supported, its technology doesn't allow access to encrypted channels.
A Plex Pass costs $4.99 per month, $39.99 per year, or $119.99 permanently. The company reserves new and advanced features for Pass subscribers, such as support for parental controls and multiple users.
The Live TV technology should eventually come to the Plex Apple TV app. All Plex clients require a connection to a device running as a Plex Media Server, typically a Mac or Windows PC.
Viewers must have a compatible tuner, Plex said, but the list has been expanded beyond HDHomeRun models to include ones from brands like Hauppauge and AVerMedia. Live streaming is limited to the company's apps for iPhone/iPad and Android TV, which can now browse a program guide and manage recordings as well. More platforms are promised in the future.
The developer has meanwhile improved its DVR engine, making it possible to watch and record simultaneously, while also better dealing with overlapping recordings on the same channel. Plex noted while that while most U.S. networks and many international ones are supported, its technology doesn't allow access to encrypted channels.
A Plex Pass costs $4.99 per month, $39.99 per year, or $119.99 permanently. The company reserves new and advanced features for Pass subscribers, such as support for parental controls and multiple users.
The Live TV technology should eventually come to the Plex Apple TV app. All Plex clients require a connection to a device running as a Plex Media Server, typically a Mac or Windows PC.
Comments
I'll get really excited when ATV has a coax port and a couple of OTA tuners added to it. Not holding my breath on that though.
This update really completes the puzzle of Plex.
Now I just need to get an antenna and a HD Home Run.
And, I'm not sure what you mean by "clean up."
I've tried a signal booster but it didn't seem to do much. As a result I haven't turned on th TV in over a year, and consume media online.
I would be interested in the local channels for sports, but only if the signal improved.
Still...competition is good, all new products are good. Choices are good.
Think of PLEX kind of like your own personal Netflix type service. So the Plex Server software needs to be running on something, Windows, Mac, Linux, in my case my Upgraded ReadyNAS 516.
So this is like running iTunes as a server to play back movies on your Apple TV, that way. PLEX is far, far more open and flexible. So you setup the Plex Media Server on whatever device. Configure it, have say a Movie Section, a TV Section and a Music Section. You can then tell it what directory's you want to give them access to. My Movies and TV content are both in a couple folders. PLEX will list everything on however many folders you give it. Each of my movies for example are in their own folders in the main Movie Folder. Then I have a bunch of others in another Folder.
As a Plex Pass subscriber, or in my Case Lifetime Member for years, you can create User Accounts. So each person can have their own. You can also create Friends Accounts. More on that in a second. So as you add more new Content, it's all marked with a Orange mark in the corner of the pictures. It' also shows up in the Unwatched listing. When you watch something, the mark disappears, and the content is now shown in the watched section. Anything you maybe watched only half way, will show up in a section of content you haven't finished watching. So that you can continue at a later date. When someone else logs in. The new content still shows as Unwatched to them. You can also create Friends accounts. Where then can log into your Plex Server at their own house and stream your content. Other then the Admin person, everyone else you can set what you want to allow them access to. For example, say you have a Adult section, and of course you don't want your kids to have access. So you don't allow access to their accounts. They don't even see that it exists. Maybe you only want your young kids to have access to G rated movies. Put all your G rated movies into a folder , create a Kids Movie section and allow them access to only that part of Plex. You can do that!!!
Plex does on the fly Transcoding. Which means, no matter what format the file is in, it should play on the device you want to watch it on. For example, I want to limit the bandwidth a friend is streaming my content is using. So I have it set for 720P 3Mbps. So even though the content may be in 1080P and say a 20Mbps file, Plex can reduce it down in real time. It requires a lot of CPU. Which means a Intel processor. You can also do things like transcode a video down into the proper format to dump it onto your iPad so you can watch later without having a Internet connection. Though I stream Online on my Lunch break to my iPad. There's transcoding for both Video and Audio. It all depends on the hardware being used if it needs any transcoding or it's a simple Direct Play. Nothing needs to be done. Say it's a Direct Play movie, but you want to watch English Sub titles also, well PLEX now has to transcode as it had to embed the text into that Video. So transcoding needs to be done. Or maybe the Audio is in a format like 5.1 or TrueHD and you're only playing in a Stereo setup. Now the audio needs to be transcoded into a format that'll work for the setup you're playing on.
Company's like Netflix will just have several versions of the same movie and play the one needed. HDD space is not as Important.
I have a LARGE collection of DVD's, HD DVD's and Blu-Rays, and so I've ripped most of that and it's on my NAS. No need to hunt for discs anymore. I can watch any of it in any room in my house with a TV, or on a iPad or iPhone. I've AirPlayed to a Apple TV3 at my brothers house before, though now there's a Native PLEX App on the Apple TV4 which is really nice.
I can go on and on. How about Streaming your Music from home as you're driving down the road!!! You can do that! No need to waste space on your iPhone for music. Of course you can even have pictures.
Any Movies or TV programs it gets, it'll automatically grab all the Metadata for it. So you get the box art and description, and on and on.
PLEX really isn't that hard to use. It may take some time to learn how it really works, like any new thing. It is a Client/Server type program. Maybe it's more then what some people need. Maybe all someone needs is a program to play the Movie content they have stored someplace and that's it, but still auto gets all the Metadata. Infuse 4 is pretty nice. (I guess there's a Infuse 5 version now) Not free, but it's all you need. No Media server required. It's much more limited then PLEX, but works good. Then a step down from that would be VLC Player. which is good.
It all really depends on what you want to do. But again think of PLEX as your own personal NETFLIX type service. it works similar. Does the same type of things. Has no problem handling my almost 12TB of Data and growing.
Remember back in the day of the 100 Disc, maybe more Player's. Big round drum you stick all your discs in. These days it seems so silly. I used to want one many years ago. PLEX, far better. You can even set Plex up to show Movie Previews if you want. Have it show upcoming Blu-Ray releases. Or have it show Movie Previews on movies you haven't watched on PLEX yet. You can set it for 1, 2, 3, or just NONE. You can watch a Movie PreView. Or can watch clips. Plex will find all that content you can click on and it'll stream from places like youtube. You have no idea where it's playing that data from, It's all just part of the Plex interface.
I really can go on and on.
I agree Plex is awesome.
I have a NAS system on my network that stores and hosts my content for my Plex server.
Here is one problem that I have noticed, even with iTunes enabled, you can play your purchased videos and movies, but the problem is the playback quality and sound is crap compared to playing from the original source on Apple TV directly, Unlike music, there is DRM protection on movies and TV shows, would be nice if you get just add the shows and movies directly to your Plex server so you can view them at full quality and sound, but you can't because of the DRM protection which Plex will not play, Any solutions to this? Also say you actually own the show or movie, you can use programs to remove the DRM & convert iTunes M4V to MP4, but is that actually legal, if you have actually purchased it and own it I wonder, I can see this not being true for rented shows, but for content you already own? Also if you have any good links for custom channels feel free to post them.
Thanks!
Also is this a one time purchase?
Thanks!