I also use a WDTV (Live Plus) and a plasma TV. Too bad WD stopped making them since they have great performance and easy to use interface. They appear to not want to be in the playing of media anymore and have deferred to PLEX since they are putting PLEX capability into their NAS devices today.
I have said in these forums before, I am not a fan of PLEX. It is too overblown, and it will not play my ISO video files without transcoding. The WDTV can play ISO files and MKV files just fine, right off of the server. I do not watch mp4s on the TV. I only make mp4/m4v files wirh Handbrake for playing on smaller-screen mobile devices like tablets and phones. This is what I have found PLEX good for lately since I installed PLEX app on my iPads recently . I have not bought all the PLEX added features like transcoding so Plex is relegated to my tablet use only when at home. I have briefly tried out the remote access feature, and so far it appears to work OK.
I also have some Amazon Fire TV sticks which have the media player Kodi loaded on them. Now, Amazon has allowed a version of Kodi in their app store that is easier to install. It is called MrMC and I prefer it over the standard Kodi now. Even so, Kodi in any format is “too geeky” for the average user, and just not as user friendly as WDTV.
