Image rights: Plex Inc.
Plex 6
Self–streaming made simple
Free (IAPs) From Plex Inc, plex.tv
Made for iPhone, iPad, iPod touch Needs iOS 9.3The market is full
of choices for
streaming media,
but the DIY route
of Plex means you’ll never
have to deal with a favorite
show being yanked from the
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on a machine running the
Plex Media Server, in any
format, it’s yours. And Plex’s
ability to stream through the
internet at large means that
libraries are easily shared. If
your connection can handle
it, friends and family can
tune in to your libraries too.
This iOS app has recently
had a huge overhaul, one
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bugbear with previous
editions: its navigation.
Where picking categories and
accessing content tucked
away in libraries was once an
infuriatingly obtuse task,
version 6 allows you to pinPLEX 6
Happy with just about any format
Brilliantly reorganized interface
Reliable and stable player
Many key features paywalled
GREATPlex populates
your library
with covers
and episode
metadata.libraries to your sidebar, both
from local servers and from
remote ones, and reorganize
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media you’re playing most
often. Open a library and it’ll
now remember where you
were last time you looked.
Plex can host your music
and movies, but it can also do
more. You can use the iOS
app to automatically manage
a server-based backup of
your phone’s photos, for
example. Subscribe to the
Plex Pass service ($4.99 per
month) and you can
(amongst other things) use it
as a Sling–style streaming
DVR for over–the–air
broadcasts. It’s a small touch,
but the iOS app now lets you
start recordings while
streaming live TV — not
essential, but a neat extra.
Plex is an elegant and
simple personal streaming
solution, and you can use it
to beam your content to
everything from smart TVs to
games consoles to the Apple
TV. But it’s not perfect. We’d
certainly prefer that parental
controls were not paywalled
behind the Plex Pass even
after you’ve paid to stream
through the iOS app. There’s
also been a little cutting back,with some features shuttered
and the Plex Cloud hosting
service also gone. But if
you’re a media collector with
a desire to stream? There’s
none better.
THE BOTTOM LINE. Easy
and highly compatible
streaming, it’s more user–
friendly than ever. ALEX COXLibrary management and navigation
is now easier than ever.Tough testing, trusted ratings
maclife.com DEC 2019 61