[mythtv-users] Plex

[Travis Tabbal]

On Fri, Oct 20, 2017 at 8:21 AM, James <jam at tigger.ws> wrote:

> Hi all, opinions please
>
> My Samsung TV chokes on myth’s uPnP files. I need to transcode (or put my
> recordings on a thumb-drive !!)
>
> One of the solutions I’ve been looking at is Plex media server.
> But I’m naive about this whole area.
>
> Will some knowlegable please comment.
> eg I think appleTV’s mythtv app uses mythtv streaming
> Is the interface ‘nice’?
> What are the options to receive (and watch) a stream.  eg plex has an
> appleTV app. eg (australian) ABC has a streaming app on the Samsung so some
> sort of SDK must exist.
> I want a stream server. Is myth video a good generic library server?
> (I do use myth video, but that is my *only* experience of hosting a stream)
>
> Apple may be akin to shark droppings, but (to seamlessly drain all your
> money while you smile) they do make very nice hardware (eg bluetooth mouse
> and keyboard work at the bios screen eg their trakpad is a joy to use (left
> click, right click, double click, scroll, click-and-drag etc)




Well, I've been using Plex for about 6 months. It works well, but there was
recently a controversy about them collecting and selling data. For most
here, that's probably a dealbreaker. I'm looking at Emby to replace it.
There are details all over the web, so if you want to know more Google is
the place to start. Right now it's unclear what they are thinking as
communication with Plex was crap to start with. Both Plex and Emby have a
number of apps and such for various platforms. What hardware to use depends
a lot on your situation. Most do 1080p fine, 4k is iffy, 3D is almost
non-existent (not that there's much for 3D content anyway). Right now, I'm
using Raspberry Pi 1s. The official Plex app needs a newer Pi if you use
those, RasPlex works well with it though.

IMO, Plex/Emby have nicer interfaces for generic libraries and support
real-time transcoding, if your server is up to it. If you have a recent
Intel CPU, QuickSync was recently added by Plex for lower power
transcoding.

Myth makes them look like toys when it comes to recording/DVR stuff. Plex
has a really basic DVR, it's ok, but not very flexible. It only works with
HDHomeRun devices, and does everything different from every other DVR,
seemingly for no good reason. It's fine for basic stuff, but if you like
any of the more detailed controls for DVR, there's no replacement for Myth.

If the problems you're having are on the generic library side, Plex might
be a good option. If it's on the recordings, you would need to use Plex DVR
or somehow import the recordings into Plex or it won't be able to help with
transcoding. If you move them to the right directory with filenames Plex
can parse, it should add them for you.
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