Plex Home Theater 1.4.1.469

Overview

Plex Home Theater is a full home theater, media organizer and player that runs in Windows, Mac and Linux. The software can run standalone or as a server. Access all media from a single software package. Create playlists. View TV, movies and photos. Import iTunes music. Stream content over to Chromecast, Google TV and Amazon Fire TV. Stream to mobile devices such as Android, iOS and Windows Phone 8.

Installation

The installation of the Plex Home Theater app requires 129.7 MB of available disk space to setup. The user is given a choice of where to add a shortcut within the Start menu. There are a number of components that are pre-selected for installation. These include the Microsoft Media Center Integration, DirectX Installer, Visual Studio redistribution installer, and Media Center Launcher for Plex Home Theater.

Once approved, the installed takes a few minutes to install to the hard drive. There are no extra software, toolbars or other unwanted extras included in the distribution.

Interface

The media center interface is all about your digital media. There are smart playlists which can be created to customize your viewing experience just the way you like it. Want to watch two episodes of Firefly, followed by the Serenity movie based on the original Firefly TV series, that's completely possible with Plex Home Theater without any great theatrics. Shiny!

The main interface has a wide left sidebar with the options for TV Shows, Queue, Channels, Shared Content, Search, Mobile Photos, Movies, and more. Load up a movie and stream it to every TV in the house. The interface provides easy access for streaming direct to Google TV, Roku, smart TVs, Chromecast and Amazon Fire TV. For mobile viewers, no need to download the large file, just stream from Plex Home Theatre to Android, iOS or Windows Phone 8.

The software also allows the import of iTunes playlists to bring music to life and controllable from a center command center.

Pros

• Media Center for all digital media content
• Import iTunes playlists
• Create smart playlists for different content to plan your evening's entertainment
• Stream to Chromecast, Google TV, Roku, Amazon Fire TV and smart TVs
• Targets users who have a dedicated PC to use for their Home Theater Experience
• Runs on Windows Vista or later versions.

Cons

None.

Alternatives

Plex Media Server is a smaller version of the Plex package which doesn't require a dedicated PC to run it.

Conclusion

Plex Home Theater is an excellent package to manage all the home entertainment needs when wanting to stream content to many wireless devices and having a space dedicated PC for the task.

Bonus

This article is also worth reading: The Top 5 Choices for Running a Home Media Server.