The menus are fast and easy to navigate, though I do run into some hiccups trying to browse my stupidly large music collection. One of the first things you’ll notice about Plex is that its menus are beautiful on every platform. Remote access is ready out of the box and does not require any port forwarding or additional setup. Setting up your Plex server is a largely automated process, and getting a stream set up on the other end is usually as simple as downloading the free app for your chosen platform, be it a smart TV, web browser, XBox One, PlayStation, or Apple TV. Or, if you leave your PC on 24/7 you can use that too. Plex can be set up on any hard drive, ideally, a NAS (network-attached storage device), but since I already use a web server to store my media collection I can install Plex on the server. Plex is possibly the most popular media server software out there, as it offers an easy setup and a highly flexible system for managing different types of media libraries.

Menus don’t handle large media collections well (depends on connection quality).

Many features require a subscription or lifetime pass.

Provide cover art, music videos, trailers, and more.

Your local media behaves just like Netflix! For more information, check out the Plex Web site.

I was expecting pixelated video with stuttering playback over wireless, but everything was smooth. The responsiveness is incredible, and the video quality is astounding. With some simple configuration, your Roku will be able to browse your entire media collection and stream HD video to your television.

After you've pointed Plex Media Server at your video collection, the real magic begins.įire up your Roku, any model, and search for the Plex channel in the Roku Channel Store. The server application runs on a headless Linux server and is configured via a Web interface. Installing the media server is fairly straightforward. Things have changed recently, however, and now the folks behind Plex have given the Linux community an awesome media server. I've never considered using an Apple product for my home media center, so I've never really put much thought into it. Plex always has been the Mac-friendly offshoot of XBMC.

Plex media server roku