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The keyboard and mouse interface for Kodi isn’t terrible but its menu layout is definitely designed to be controller-friendly. It is somewhat ironic that you have to take these extra steps, though, as the Kodi UI is definitely optimized for a streaming boxĭon’t get me wrong. This may sound intimidating but you can find step-by-step instructions for pretty much any device on the Kodi Wiki.

UNIVERSAL MEDIA SERVER ALTERNATIVE INSTALL

You can also install Kodi on pretty much any other playback device but this typically requires the use of unofficial methods. Kodi is easy to install on any Windows, Linux, MacOS, Android, or iOS device. Plex’s channel count pales in comparison so when it comes to variety of sources, Kodi really takes the cake. Kodi can even be used to side-load any of the other media streaming services we recommended. You will find (unofficial) add-ons to support streaming services like YouTube, Spotify, Disney Plus, Netflix, and more.

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It is not the most user-friendly home media software out there but it supports an absolutely insane amount of add-ons, making it one of the best options for those who want to host downloaded content alongside their favorite paid streaming services. Kodi is an open-source media center that has been around almost as long as HTPCs (home theater PCs) have been a thing. Can provide cover art, music videos, trailers, and more.Sign up for Plex or find more information here.

PlayStation 5/ Sony PlayStation 4 Pro/PlayStation 3.Smart TVs (LG, Roku TV, Samsung, Sony, Toshiba, Vizio).What Are the Best Streaming Devices to Play Plex Content? An all-around solid choice, Plex is a top contender for your media storage solutions. Plex makes hosting your own media server incredibly easy, and the extra visual enhancements to your media collection piece together an experience that will surpass the quality of most streaming services, provided you’ve collected the content to populate it. The remaining question will no doubt be: is a Plex Pass worth the price? And for many, the answer will be definitely. The Plex Pass has a couple of payment options, the most economical for a serious user being the lifetime pass for $149.99.

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These include access to some nice features of the otherwise free Plex mobile apps, the ability to sync a cloud storage system, and much more.

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While the bulk of Plex’s features can be enjoyed for free, you do have to upgrade to a Plex Pass if you want to enjoy some nicer features. During my testing, I had no trouble with streaming wirelessly over my gigabit router and mid-tier Internet service, nor did I encounter any codec errors from playing an incompatible file. Like other options, Plex also transcodes on the fly and automatically adjusts its performance and quality for available bandwidth. Plex transforms your library into a visual menu, adding metadata like cover art and IMDB results to enhance your viewing experience. If you have multiple terabytes of media content with metadata, cover art, etc., it will only populate this information as fast as your connection permits.Īside from this folder-specific issue, the menus are beautiful, fast, and easy to navigate from every platform I have tested.

The menus are fast and easy to navigate, though I do run into some hiccups trying to browse my stupidly large music collection. One of the first things you’ll notice about Plex is that its menus are beautiful on every platform. Remote access is ready out of the box and does not require any port forwarding or additional setup. Setting up your Plex server is a largely automated process, and getting a stream set up on the other end is usually as simple as downloading the free app for your chosen platform, be it a smart TV, web browser, XBox One, PlayStation, or Apple TV.

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Or, if you leave your PC on 24/7 you can use that too. Plex can be set up on any hard drive, ideally, a NAS (network-attached storage device), but since I already use a web server to store my media collection I can install Plex on the server. Plex is possibly the most popular media server software out there, as it offers an easy setup and a highly flexible system for managing different types of media libraries.

Menus don’t handle large media collections well (depends on connection quality).

Many features require a subscription or lifetime pass.

Provide cover art, music videos, trailers, and more.

Universal media server alternative