Mac mini as HTPC

[slackerinabox]

Plex better than XBMC, in what Universe? latest OSX XBMC is native 64 bit.

I get that people respect XBMC for various reasons (I think mostly legacy/loyalty reasons, frankly), but Plex is exponentially easier to set up and use. My macmini serves, my apple tv playsback with a dead simple interface (ditto for my roku), and my wife can stream shows to her iPad and iPhone, even away from the home! Hell, it has a winPhone client as well, which is fairly shocking since we po' winphone folks don't even get hulu. I'm sure it's all possible through various plugins for XBMC but I just found it a hassle. And for some reason xbmc had an awful time keeping up with my network shared drives.

 

[silverpig]

Plex better than XBMC, in what Universe? latest OSX XBMC is native 64 bit.

This one.

Can you stream your entire library to your iPhone, iPad, or any other device using xbmc?

I have a 4.5 TB array of media sitting in my plex media center server box. It is connected to my hdtv.

I can use my iPhone as a remote to control plex using an official, supported iOS app.

I can use my iPhone as a client to view any content I have served by plex.

I can use my macbook pro with a plex client in my bedroom to watch streamed content from the server.

I can connect remotely from any other location and stream from my plex server.

Files added to my plex directories are automatically scanned and entered into my plex database with all the screen art etc added.

Hell, I'm at work right now and could download plex onto my work laptop, log in via myplex and have instant access to my entire library.

 

[slackerinabox]

Also, plex is available on a ton of devices, included but not limited to:
AppleTV
Roku
Ios devices
Android
Winphone
Select smartvs (my bluray player by samsung has plex)
+ more

This means I can spend the big bucks on one media center and my 3 other tvs are covered for as little as $50 each (roku, though I prefer plex on appletv). PLEX FTW!

 

[bearxor]

I believe that we're all talking about a native, stand-alone operation, and not mobile access or access from more than one device.

In that case I might agree with you, though my experience with Plex has been less than satisfactory.

But in a stand-alone configuration, XBMC would be a better choice than Plex.

 

[ponyo]

Plex on appletv stinks.

 

[dagamer34]

What are you using for your NAS? Now that I got my own HTPC up and running, that's my next project. The goal is to eventually rip every single DVD and Bluray, and CD I've got and have them all on demand.

I'd think really long and hard about doing that. I did it once with my 130 movie collection and realized "I've never watched a movie this way" and deleted them. Besides, a PS3 is a far better Bluray player than any PC software package.

 

[QueBert]

I'd think really long and hard about doing that. I did it once with my 130 movie collection and realized "I've never watched a movie this way" and deleted them. Besides, a PS3 is a far better Bluray player than any PC software package.

If he's going to rip his Blu-Rays I would hope he would be doing it into MKV, and while I haven't actually tried it yet the latest XBMC beta supports Blu-Ray playback.

 

[bearxor]

Everytime I think I want to rip my DVD collection, I just say fuck it and download the MKV for whatever I have that I'll want to watch. I have like 50Mbps internet though, so I can get them in an hour and a half or so. It's just so much easier for me to throw it in a queue and forget about it.

 

[pauldun170]

This one.

Can you stream your entire library to your iPhone, iPad, or any other device using xbmc?

I have a 4.5 TB array of media sitting in my plex media center server box. It is connected to my hdtv.

I can use my iPhone as a remote to control plex using an official, supported iOS app.

I can use my iPhone as a client to view any content I have served by plex.

I can use my macbook pro with a plex client in my bedroom to watch streamed content from the server.

I can connect remotely from any other location and stream from my plex server.

Files added to my plex directories are automatically scanned and entered into my plex database with all the screen art etc added.

Hell, I'm at work right now and could download plex onto my work laptop, log in via myplex and have instant access to my entire library.

I use XBMC + my android phone.
Turn on option to use XBMC as UPNP and have bubbleupnp on the phone.
I can watch anything in my XBMC library on the phone. If I had the battery life and unlimited data plan on the phone, I'd could watch my movies from anywhere via internet.

I use the free XBMC app to remote control XBMC.

Everything you describe is available in XBMC.
Isn't plex just a a branch of XBMC?

 

[pauldun170]

If he's going to rip his Blu-Rays I would hope he would be doing it into MKV, and while I haven't actually tried it yet the latest XBMC beta supports Blu-Ray playback.

On eden, I had to install makemkv and a plugin + minor config.
Took less than 2 minutes to get it running.

Pop BRdisc in, wait under a minute...play movie.

 

[cheez]

Plex on appletv stinks.

Plex is the worst thing I ever laid my hands on. It didn't do squat and wasted my precious time.... For video playback, windows PC is the way....

 

[slackerinabox]

Plex is the worst thing I ever laid my hands on. It didn't do squat and wasted my precious time.... For video playback, windows PC is the way....

I don't understand what you guys want out of a media playback device. Plex on the appleTV and Roku plays back EVERYTHING I throw at it, is very easy to setup and use, and does a very nice job of keeping my media organized with very little interaction on my part.

 

[silverpig]

I don't understand what you guys want out of a media playback device. Plex on the appleTV and Roku plays back EVERYTHING I throw at it, is very easy to setup and use, and does a very nice job of keeping my media organized with very little interaction on my part.

Ditto. I didn't like it on appleTV, but rather use it straight on my desktop hackintosh. It does everything. The library is auto updated, full remote management, remote control apps, remote streaming...

Maybe if he posted something that plex can't do that the other solutions can...

 

[silverpig]

I use XBMC + my android phone.
Turn on option to use XBMC as UPNP and have bubbleupnp on the phone.
I can watch anything in my XBMC library on the phone. If I had the battery life and unlimited data plan on the phone, I'd could watch my movies from anywhere via internet.

I use the free XBMC app to remote control XBMC.

Everything you describe is available in XBMC.
Isn't plex just a a branch of XBMC?

Sounds similar. The plex app looks more polished though.

Can you share your library with other people? There's a way to do that with myplex. I hit share and get a share link I can send to you so you can access my library etc.

Plex is based off of xbmc yes, but it has undergone significant development since.