No idea Plex | Mezzmo | Chromecasts and all that jazz

[Scouse]

My PC is firmly plugged into the back of my telly. I've not turned the monitor on since I moved house a few years back.

I d/l my very legal audiovisual entertainment from widely known about and definitely not-at-all-dodgy sites. Then I open up explorer, double click on them bad boys and bob is literally my mother's brother.

Alt-Tabbing between episodes of whatever highly intellectual and definitely free-to-download feminist documentary I'm watching (because I'm better than you) and whatever master-race game I'm playing at any given moment is a very useable and utilitarian joy.

I am aware of a device called an aerial - apparently some sort of antiquated over-the-air poor quality receiver system. I don't use one of them. I also understand that some people pay a regular and extortionate monthly sum to receive the same episodes of Germain Greer and the Feminist Fox Five that I watch completely for free (as Ms Greer intended).

However, I hear tales of a linked up entertainment systems and feel that I may be missing out. Having a quick browse of the Plex and Mezzmo sites I come away with one overriding impression:

What's the point?


For me it sounds like an awful lot of faff just to have a pretty interface. But 'doze seems to do the trick for me. I don't really get it.

What am I missing?

 

[Moriath]

Not having a pc plugged i to your pc is the point. Not many people do that you know

 

[old.user4556]

What am I missing?

I can only comment on Chromecast.

It's a cheap way of "throwing" what's on your phone / tablet to your TV assuming it's Chromecast enabled. It also brings SMART TV functionality to non SMART TVs for cheap.

Allow me to illustrate:

My parents were over for a coffee and I was telling them about some funny stuff on Youtube that I meant to show them. I flicked the TV on, found the video on YouTube / my phone, clicked "cast" and off it went.

 

[Scouse]

So basically, what people are saying is Chromecast is a waste of time for me as I already have the functionality of watching what I want directly / browsing etc. etc.

Meh.

 

[Raven]

My Chromecast is flaky as fuck since the last update. Its close to going in the dustbin.

 

[Edmond]

I have all my films and TV stuff on my PC, as that's where I d/l them to. I have my PS3 networked to my PC and use PlayStation media server to play it through. It's always worked fine and I have never yet had a file I can't play

The only reason I have not got the PS4 up till now is that I don't know if it can do the same as the PS3 is doing

 

[caLLous]

With Plex specifically you're missing a fantastic 10 foot interface, organisation for all of your media, an excellent server/client system (where you have a powerful server somewhere doing all the grunt work and the client plugged into the TV can be very low-specced as it's just an intermediary for the media) and lots more.

I had an actual PC plugged into the TV via a 10m HDMI cable but it's all so much better with the NUC. It has a built-in IR receiver which works flawlessly with my new Logitech Harmony 350 so, as a media device, it acts exactly as a Sky box or whatever. I can sit back and flick through my media stored on the server with the remote, with theme tunes playing, episode/movie information, individual art for every episode/movie (from thetvdb.com) etc. It's a much better and more immersive experience than faffing around loading the media files from within Windows Explorer.

With my NUC I also use Intel Remote Keyboard which gives me a full keyboard and mouse on my phone or tablet which is better than any other similar solution I've tried. It installs a little application on the HTPC Itself and the app connects to it, I don't see why it wouldn't work for any Windows box, not just Intel NUCs. The NUC boots into Windows 10 and autostarts Plex, it takes a few seconds to get to the Plex home screen from a cold boot but, waking up from sleep, it's literally instantaneous. Then, if I want to do Windows-y things, I can exit plex and use the aforementioned app (or a bluetooth/wireless/whatever keyboard ) to control the PC normally.

 

[Scouse]

Hmmm. It all sounds good but again it's faff for prettyness... :/

 

[Tom]

My PC is upstairs, the TV is downstairs. Both are connected to my router. When the PC is on, I can turn the telly on, hit the media server button, and see something called "mezzmo". I click that, and it brings up all the content in whatever folders I've set it to index. I select whatever video I want, hit play, and the pictures magically appear on the TV.

It's better that way, because while the TV can do something similar, it won't play mkv files, and certain video files it throws a wobbler at. Mezzmo isn't perfect either, sometimes it won't let you pause a film without crashing. Generally though, it's ok.

Also, I can browse YouTube on my phone, find a video I like, and "throw" it to the TV. The TV then opens its own YT app and plays whatever I've thrown at it.

 

[caLLous]

But it's so pretty that @Trem couldn't handle the prettiness. Surely that means something.

And seriously, after having just double clicked on stuff in Explorer to play it for donkeys years, it's an absolute joy to use a system like this.

Here's a pretty uninspiring video of the interface in action:



Another thing with Plex (that Kodi can't do because it doesn't have a server/client system out of the box) is remember what you have and haven't watched and also, reflect all of this across devices so, if you watch an episode of something in bed on your tablet or phone, it will come up as watched on your TV.

 

[Fweddy]

I use Kodi on a RasPi, but it works on PCs too. When I want to watch something I turn on the TV with its remote. The energy saving power strip detects this and powers up my speakers and the Pi which boots straight into Kodi. When I shut down Kodi it turns off the TV, which cuts power to everything else, or I can just turn off the TV for the same effect.

A completely legitimate add-on then scans the interweb for new episodes of my favourite shows and adds them to my library. On the home screen are two lists, one showing recently added shows and one showing the next unwatched episode in any series I'm part way through. I click on one and up comes a list of options for where to stream it from, along with what quality it is (most are HD). Then it saves a list of everything I've watched in a database on my NAS so that I don't have to remember where I'm up to, even if I watch an episode in bed on my laptop (as long as I use Kodi to play it there too).

If I fancy a film I can browse either the ones stored on my NAS or a list of ones available on the internet, sorted by name, IMDB rating, genre, or whatever else I choose. I can read a synopsis, watch the trailer, add it to a list to watch later, or start streaming it straight away.

I don't have to download anything in advance, it all just works and it's easy to control with the TV remote, an app on my phone or a keyboard and mouse. It's a good system.

 

[Tom]

 

[caLLous]

Kodi used to be XBMC, unless your lack of understanding runs deeper than that.

 

[Jupitus]

I have all my films and TV stuff on my PC, as that's where I d/l them to. I have my PS3 networked to my PC and use PlayStation media server to play it through. It's always worked fine and I have never yet had a file I can't play

The only reason I have not got the PS4 up till now is that I don't know if it can do the same as the PS3 is doing

If you try to play Sony DVDs (obviously bought then ripped onto your PC as a legitimate copy) you'll have trouble with the playback - that's why USB sticks were invented though

 

[Edmond]

If you try to play Sony DVDs (obviously bought then ripped onto your PC as a legitimate copy) you'll have trouble with the playback - that's why USB sticks were invented though

Oh, ok? I don't recall ever having a problem. I only buy a handful of bluray discs and I don't rip them, the rest of the stuff I watch...ahem...just seems to appear on my pc

 

[caLLous]

You mean porn.

 

[Edmond]

You mean porn.

 

[soze]

Question

For me my server runs two programs that source download and file said free to air documentaries onto folders on my server. Then Plex catalogues and adds media information ect to this Library so when I open Plex on my device it shows me the series and episodes in an nice interface while maintaining watched / unwatched status across devices. So with the media on the server running Plex I can then watched my media on any TV with a NowTV on my network.

 

[Scouse]

organisation for all of your media

Does that include music? Could I sit on my phone downstairs and just say "play this album on my laptop" or "play this vid on my PC upstairs"?

 

[caLLous]

Does that include music? Could I sit on my phone downstairs and just say "play this album on my laptop" or "play this vid on my PC upstairs"?

WIth the Plex app on your phone/tablet (which you do have to pay a couple of quid for) you can tell the server to "cast" anything in your library to any other Plex client that it can find. Whatever you're trying to play has to be known by the server, it has to be in one of the "libraries". And yes it does music too (I have it just doing movies and TV though).

 

[Lakih]

I ran KODI on an apple TV a few years ago, in a similar setup as @Fweddy uses. My home server took care of all the d/l stuff automagicly without me having to do anything after initial setup. Works as a charm and looks great.

 

[Scouse]

(which you do have to pay a couple of quid for).

Germain Greer and her bevvy of right-on but still very feminine superheroines would disapprove

 

[Syri]

I have all my films and TV stuff on my PC, as that's where I d/l them to. I have my PS3 networked to my PC and use PlayStation media server to play it through. It's always worked fine and I have never yet had a file I can't play

The only reason I have not got the PS4 up till now is that I don't know if it can do the same as the PS3 is doing

There is a media player app on the PS4 now, an official sony one that is, that can play media from USB and over the network using DLNA (the tech playstation media server uses)

 

[Moriath]

Nas drive with plex here. And a pi on the downstairs pc and its own dlna on my upstairs one. Sonus if you want to throw music around the house imo

 

[Edmond]

There is a media player app on the PS4 now, an official sony one that is, that can play media from USB and over the network using DLNA (the tech playstation media server uses)

Uncharted 4 is due in March, so I will get it then I would think. I here they have only just brought out the remote for the PS4, 2 years since they released the console?

 

[Trem]

Serviio is a good option also, far better than Plex which *will* give you itchy AIDS.

@caLLous main hobby is morris dancing and he likes Plex, your choice.

Edit - find the program that updates your library the fastest and instantly, Kodi does and despite what cowbag will say Plex does not do it on the fly, not for me anyway. You know if you get a film then want to stream it straight away to your TV? Get a program that will show it as soon as it's downloaded.

 

[DaGaffer]

Trem is correct the Plex can be less than instantaneous when it comes to library updates. Kodi is better but not as non-techie friendly (eg for everyone else in the house) as I'd like. Tbh I find the video station App that came with my Synology to be the most consistently good. It has the odd indexing issue (it always fucks up Last Week Tonight for some reason), but its fast and versatile.

 

[caLLous]

Plex can do it instantaneously but it doesn't by default. It defaults to manual updates I think but you can have it either scan the library periodically or automatically when it detects changes and it works just fine in my experience...

Both of those top boxes are unticked when you do a fresh install I believe.

 

[DaGaffer]

Plex can do it instantaneously but it doesn't by default. It defaults to manual updates I think but you can have it either scan the library periodically or automatically when it detects changes and it works just fine in my experience...

Both of those top boxes are unticked when you do a fresh install I believe.

Mine is set to both of those. Still doesn't always do it instantly. In fact sometimes it seems to give up for days.

 

[caLLous]

Weird. If I watch the activity page as I move media into the watched folders it springs to life immediately.