Hi
Does anyone know if WD plans on supporting PLEX in the future? I have a Roku3, which supports PLEX and its the only feature that gives Roku an advantage over the Play because otherwise the wd play is superior. However I continue to use my roku because of PLEX and its several features.
Thanks in advance
Btw I apologize if this is the incorrect forum. I could not find the developer forum for the Play. Also I wanted to see if other Play customers agree, and would like to see PLEX as a feature (if it is possible).
thruster999 wrote:
Hi
Does anyone know if WD plans on supporting PLEX in the future? I have a Roku3, which supports PLEX and its the only feature that gives Roku an advantage over the Play because otherwise the wd play is superior. However I continue to use my roku because of PLEX and its several features.
Since Plex supports UPnP DLNA, why can’t you attach to it as a media server? It would not have all the bells and whistles that the dedicated “app” on Roku gives you but in theory should be able to find the Plex server and play files.
Obligatory Warning: I do not own a Play or use Plex so this is all conjecture on my part.
It’s those bells and whistles that have made me choose the use of my roku over my wd. For instance my favorite feature is launching videos from a beautifully organized iPad screen. The PLEX interface, whether on my tv screen or iPad, just blows away the wd interface. My grandchildren and mother (who is 75) use my roku because of the simplicity of PLEX.
That’s the sad thing. Inferior boxes support PLEX like the roku, popcorn hour, google tv and even Samsung TVs. With the Play’s video quality and audio passthrough capability for hd audio a Play + PLEX combo, given WD’s price, would make this the most appealing player on the market. Currently mine is barely used because of the options in my home.
IMO I don’t think that’s right. There is a PLEX client for Lower end Roku’s as well (Roku 2 & XL) and the lower end popcorn hours (a-200 & c-300) and for the first googletv player. Most of the processing is done server side including transcoding if required. The PLEX client is really just a simple elegant menu. Http://plexapp.com.
Besides, When I play higher end video/audio on my WD vs Roku3, the WD wins hands down for quality/performance (I play 12mb rate video / dts hdma audio encodes). The issue is the UI used to get to the video in the first place. The WD & Roku when run on their own have an interface that is pooh and difficult to use for the “average” customer. When Roku added PLEX (and popcorn and google and Samsung and LG) they brought their system into the AppleTV league - at least a very good easy to use interface.
If WD had a PLEX client my Roku would be going up on eBay.
To answer your question…most likely, NO, you will probably not see a Plex client for the Play.
This has nothing to do with price though, it has to do with the difference that Roku is a “open” platform as where the Play is a “closed” platform. This means that there is no SDK or NDK for Plex to develop a thin or full client for the Play and any addition for Plex would have to be done by WD, which is not likely.
Although this could change, I wouldn’t hold my breath.
Well, it DOES have to do with price, because at the price point of the Play, WD did not build in the capabilities you describe, as they have done for the players that cost more.
Well, it DOES have to do with price, because at the price point of the Play, WD did not build in the capabilities you describe, as they have done for the players that cost more.
???. None of the WD players support Plex client, so I don’t know where that would figure into it since on the Roku (at the same price point of the Play) it does.
And price does not figure into it because it would not add any cost to allow third party developers (ie: Plex) to develop apps for the Play like Roku does.
Also, people seem to want to compare the Play to the Roku. This is not a good comparison though as if you look at the specs, both as far as features and hardware, the Play is like the Netgear NeoTV, which is what it was probably supposed to go up against rather than Roku.
You can say that “WD did not build in the capabilities”, but it still comes down to open platform vs closed platfrom.
No wonder I can’t find out anything about this in the Plex forums. I thought that maybe there were very few Play’s out there. But what you said makes sense.
The Play’s built in decoder is just as good as my Popcorn A-400 (which is almost 5X the price) - there would be no need for any transcoding. My Roku3 can’t play 90% of my encodes direct. My WD plays everthing flawlessly. The combo of Plex and Play would make it the best box out there.
Oops. I stand corrected. My apologies for not knowing what I was talking about!! I guess I don’t understand PLEX that well. I really have no interest in PLEX anyway, because I don’t want or need it on my Roku – I have a WD player! Between the two players, I can play most anything from anywhere, and if I can’t, then Twonky Beam on an iPad can likely deliver it to either of my media players. (Then, there’s always cable TV, too!)
