Plex Media Center

It’s been a long while since my last post. We’ve been very hard at work with lots of new and exciting things in the pipeline. Today I’m thrilled to announce that we’ve JUST released a shiny new home screen which kicks off the first in an exciting series of updates that will completely overhaul the user experience for Plex on your Google TV. There are LOTs of people new to Plex and because we think this release is going to completely change how you use Plex on your Google TV, we’ve decided to take this opportunity to start from the beginning and walk through the concept of Plex as we introduce the new home screen. If you’re a veteran fully versed in the wonders of Plex – feel free to jump down to the first screenshot to get to the juicy stuff.

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If you want to display all of your favorite local and online media (video, music, and photos) seamlessly on your big screen TV there’s no better way than with Plex for Google TV. Imagine being able to watch your Battlestar Galactica collection, your extensive Beatles collection and your family photos without having to convert files formats or move files over to the Google TV. Plex can stream your music, photos and video in real time.

In addition to playback of your local content, Plex supports a growing number of channels from many of your favorite online providers, giving you an easy and consistent way to consume your favorite online content. For example, you can peruse CNN for the latest news, and CNET for the timely technology updates. With support for over 200 other content providers there are lots of other great channels, including Vimeo, Revision3, Live Music Archive, and NPR. Also, if you sign up for myPlex (more on this later), you can queue up interesting videos as you come across them, as well as share your media with friends and family.

If you’ve never used Plex before, and you want to connect to your local content, you’ll need to install the Plex Media Server on a PC, Mac or Linux to get started. During installation you tell the Plex Media Server where to find your media, and it will organize it, pulling down cover art, ratings and other goodies to make your media browsing experience wonderful. Here are Detailed instructions on Installing the Plex Media Server.

From there it’s easy – download Plex for Google TV from the Android Market. Upon startup, Plex for Google TV will scan your network and automatically connect to the home page for the Plex Media Server you just set up. The latest release of Plex for Google TV has a redesigned home page that makes Plex for Google TV one of the very best Plex clients available. It offers the means to quickly get to your media library, channels, shares and your myPlex queue.

Let’s have a closer look!

The home page is divided into two parts – on the left are the movie, TV shows, photo and music sections that you added to the media server during setup. You’ll also see sections for recently used channels, your myPlex queue as well as sections others are sharing with you. The right side will show you details as you flip through items on the left. Plex shows you the most important information from each section so that you spend less time looking for media and more time enjoying it. Here for example is the TV section.

There are two panels shown for TV shows. The bottom panel shows the most recently added episodes. The top ‘On Deck’ panel keeps track of where you are in each TV series you’ve been watching, so that you can quickly and easily pick up where you left off. ‘On Deck’ is cool for those of us (like me) that can’t remember where we left the remote, let alone what episode of each TV series we were on. As you watch each episode, Plex keeps track, so when you’re finished watching the ‘On Deck’ section will update with the next episode if it’s available in your media library.

Other types of media are handled similarly. Below is a movie section where the ‘On Deck’ section lists any movies that are partially watched and again the lower panel shows the most recently added films.

If you use Plex to access online content, you’re also in luck. The Video, Music and Photo Channel sections offer you an easy way to get to channels you’ve used most recently.

Last but certainly not least – Plex offers an online service called myPlex with some really cool features. First of all, myPlex makes it incredibly easy to access your media while on the road from your mobile device. Simply sign into myPlex and you’ll have instant access to all your home media. For more info check out Plex for Android.

myPlex also allows you to share your instantly share content with friends and family. Instead of having to upload that new baby video or your vacation photos, simply share them with your family in a few clicks. These shared sections will then show up in ‘Shared Sections’ on the home page.

To share simply navigate to https://my.plexapp.com/servers. Select the orange share link which displays how many users you’re sharing with currently to bring you the share details page.

From here you can invite whomever you want to share sections of your choosing:

Lastly, myPlex offers a bookmarklet for you to easily save any interesting media that you run across while browsing the web, or that your friends and family email.

These videos show up right away in your queue on the Plex home page. Run across an interesting video on your mobile phone? You can simply email it right to your myPlex queue!

You can read more about myPlex and sign up here: https://my.plexapp.com/

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If you’re looking for a way to access your media on your big screen TV you should definitely check out Plex for Google TV. Give it a try and I think you’ll agree that Plex for Google TV is a beautiful way to access your media. Now sit back, relax, start Plex for Google TV on that gorgeous flat panel screen, and let Plex do the heavy lifting for you!

To use Plex App on your Google TV, download it from the Android Market. If you’re new to Plex start off with the free Plex Media Server and desktop client versions. Plex is also available on a growing number of clients including Android, iOS (iPhone, iPad, etc), Roku devices, Google TV, Mac Desktop, Windows Desktops as well as many Samsung devices, and LG TVs with Media Link. Coming soon – support for DLNA and our WP7 client! You can get more information on any and all of these at www.plexapp.com.

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Follow me here at darrin.plexapp.com or on Twitter for mostly Android and Google TV updates. To keep informed on all the latest Plex news follow us on Twitter or Facebook or tune in to our blog elan.plexapp.com for a wide array of Plex information.

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