Plex Media Player2.58.0.1076-38e019da

Plex Media Player for Mac and Windows will be deprecated (discontinued) in Jan 2020. As of last month, a new BRANCH for Mac and Windows desktop was released, simply named "Plex" (not Plex Media Player). The Plex app for Mac requires 10.12 (Sierra) or higher. The version numbering for Plex Mac and Windows starts over at 1.x. Plex MEDIA PLAYER for Mac and Windows continues on version numbering 2.4.x up to whatever the last version is that is released in JAn 2020. Plex gives an explanation for all of this on their blog site, the main point that people are complaining about is Plex is moving away from the HTPC (Home Theater PC) model to a model where every receiving device is a streaming device, i.e. receives a steam via IP, as opposed to a direct play device. Here is the link to the blog with Plex's explanation for this decision https://www.plex.tv/blog/desktop-af/. If you wish to continue download the Plex Media Player until it is discontinued, it can be reached here https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-media-player/120475/80. Henceforth, going to the Plex site and navigating to the Download section will only give you access to the newer Plex app replacement.

Plex Media Player for Mac and Windows will be deprecated (discontinued) in Jan 2020. As of last month, a new BRANCH for Mac and Windows desktop was released, simply named "Plex" (not Plex Media Player). The Plex app for Mac requires 10.12 (Sierra) or higher. The version numbering for Plex Mac and Windows starts over at 1.x. Plex MEDIA PLAYER for Mac and Windows continues on version numbering 2.4.x up to whatever the last version is that is released in JAn 2020. Plex gives an explanation for all of this on their blog site, the main point that people are complaining about is Plex is moving away from the HTPC (Home Theater PC) model to a model where every receiving device is a streaming device, i.e. receives a steam via IP, as opposed to a direct play device. Here is the link to the blog with Plex's explanation for this decision https://www.plex.tv/blog/desktop-af/. If you wish to continue download the Plex Media Player until it is discontinued, it can be reached here https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-media-player/120475/80. Henceforth, going to the Plex site and navigating to the Download section will only give you access to the newer Plex app replacement.

Let us know when you're finished fixing everything. With what you just fixed it looks like it is still in alpha or beta and not ready for primetime.

downloaded the Mac version for my iMac . went thru a painful registration process of installation and at the end of that journey there is a subscription fee required . did i download the wrong app although there was no information or explanation at the Plex web site .

love it

Attention: Plex pretends their apps work on many smart TVs. This is a lie. A lot of their smart TV apps haven't been updated in a while. LG's Plex client is more than a year old now, and can't reach their Cloud service due to insecure connexion.
I would recommend strongly you don't waste your time with Plex if you plan to use with a smart TV.

Starts up upon boot by default, messes up browser settings, freezes my MacBook Pro. Hard to handle software.

PMS is really great. I have it on my NAS, can share music & films with friends, which I can't do with an iTunes server, unless I create some serious ssh tunnel setups. The thing is that I want to drop iTunes altogether and use a Plex client as my main media app, in my home network and remotely. The thing is, the home theatre full screen setup (10 foot UI) is not the a good thing, if you're accessing the PMS from a regular Mac. I know that window mode is possible, but I would love to have a Plex client software for OSX that essentially works like a media player (like iTunes, VLC etc.), mouse control, resizable window mode, with respect for Apple human interface guidelines etc. I know that one user posted an early build of his MiniPlex app, but that software seems to be dead in the water. So guys, anyone reading this… do you know if there is a standard Mac client app for Plex that doesn't rely on the 10 foot UI approach?

It looks ok, and I thought I would take a look at it again after a few years on xbmc/kodi, and it simply can't compere. So many of my plugins and addons that I use daily would be lost. I would lost access to so much streaming content. Kodi also works much better with local media, serving to my devices, and doesn't require personal information and registration. Plex also lost my database after many hours of building it and I would have to start over, so it's now uninstalled. XBMC/Kodi is just so much ahead.

After a couple year battle (mostly with myself BTW lol), Plex has won out over XBMC (for now anyway). The look of Plex and its functions like the Channels (plugins) work, unlike XBMC's plugins being largely non-functioning. The only problem is Plex' meta data keeps filling my small SSD drive pretty quickly. After installing Plex it's data quickly ate up a few GB's of space right away...normally not a big deal but I'm quickly running out of space. Other than that I'm very pleased with Plex. Does it also play DVD's as XBMC will?

I used XBMC in the past. This is my first time with Plex. Immediately after Plex starts, the bottom part starts to flicker. It looks like it doesn't like the resolution, it's only the bottom part. Unfortunately I am not able to take screenshot of the flicker but here is screenshot. Anybody had similar issue? I'll try to get the older version of Plex but where? It seems they tuck it away on Plex website. Pic: http://oi62.tinypic.com/icsflt.jpg My machine is Macbook Pro 2010, running 10.6.8 (yeh, I know, but I don't have time to upgrade for hustle of finding drivers for stuff I got hooked up.)

Rather than submit a starred review of an app I haven't tried in a few months, I thought I'd leave some comments to see if someone could set me straight. I started using Plex when Apple removed Front Row (I still don't get Apple's decision on that, BTW, it was useful for me). It was a reasonable solution as far as I was concerned. Then a few years ago things started going wrong. The first problem I had and still have every time I install Plex is that it messes up the Apple remote functionality. What I liked about Front Row and the earlier Plex was that I could sit down and scroll through the menu with my remote, but once this problem started up, sometimes the volume would go up or iTunes would start playing music or the remote simply wouldn't function. On the Plex forums, people recommended some Apple Remote app, the name of which I can't remember, but that just made things more complicated. I just want to sit down and watch something. I don't want to waste time programing a remote that I use at most once a week. On top of that, I had decided to keep some shows outside of iTunes. However, Plex uses some arcane method of storing and naming files that is not quite XBMC, so my shows were recognized as all kinds of strange things, but almost never what they were. In the end, I gave up. Although the shows were recognized properly in XBMC, I really did not like that app. Also, streaming functions were always breaking. Netflix and The Daily Show, the only things I watched on Plex, would work for a week, break for a month. It was a cycle I grew tired of. In the end, what this comes down to is that I don't want to spend time messing about with an app for TV and film. I want it to work when I open it, like Front Row did and Plex used to. I am not serious about TV and Film and rarely have time to watch anything anyway, so to me it seems unreasonable for an app to ask me to invest more time working out how to use than I will ever spend using it.

I suggest that you guys get a PlexPass. In combination with an iOS App, this piece of software is awesome!

Confused by the (relatively) low ratings as I think this app is amazing. Have a Mac Mini (64-bit, 10.9) set up with Plex server and a bunch of movies and TV series. Plex plays ANY format, the server is working 24x7x365, and I can watch everything on iPad, iPhone, iMac and my WiFi connected Samsung TV. Beautiful and easy to use interface and all of this completely FREE. What is there not to like? A minor bug with subtitles (on the TV app) is the only issue I can think of.

5 stars for the fight between Jazzyguy and OSX-FTW. As Pixeltrance said: who needs to watch TV when you have this to read? Reaching for the Popcorn, too... But less stars for the features - even if it is free of charge: 1.) As Mcjf said: DVDs (and EyeTV movies) are displayed as folder and not as one movie file. I do not want to open folders for these kind of movies and select a file - this does not make any sense. And if the usual advice is, that I should extract & convert the movies to mkv, then it is less than acceptable. 2.) The idea of a library to store informations might be good (or necessary) and it might fit for many people, but it is complicating my life because I have already an organization / structure for my media. To keep this structure I have to add these folders by selecting "add…" multiple times (about 30 to 50 times). Front Row did allow it to select iTunes library media AND the movie folder, not just the library. 3.) All file names are send over the internet to one server to get metadata. There might be a setting to stop this, but I do not like the default idea to inform "the world" about all the media which I have. Do not get this wrong - I guess they are not saving these informations. But there might be someone else? 4.) If the metadata is wrong, then my media titles are renamed. I was impressed about movies I have never seen and do not have. There might be a setting to stop this… and may be I should rename my file names to get better hits… 5.) The interface is very cool, but I have problems to read the important informations. The contrast could be better… and there could be less gimmicks (aka cool layout) and more space for the informations I need. Just take a look at the second screenshot here: 1/3 of the screen is used for gimmicks and the description on the left side is very small.

5 Stars to OFFSET OSX-FTW's poor Rating. This is a good app and what it does it does for FREE. Unfortunately some users expect PERFECTION from the free application. They would never support an app or a Developer all they would do is criticize unless the app is PERFECT! Like OSX-FTW.

NBC and ABC don't work, makes the app a lot less useful.

Tried it and dumped it to return to the non-application full screen version. This is not what I want for accessing my Plex Media Server and my content. Just like Miro and DoubleTwists, Plex is not concentrating on the wrong things to keep me (and others) plugging it to friends, relatives, and others. The new login requirement is an atrocity. The lack of development to handle such as TS_Folders and playlists continues. (Come on now! Playlists are textfiles any application can be taught to access.) And the support forum discussions of these and other issues are pretty much given lip service and that's it. If Plex messes with the server package the way it has messed (up) with the client, then it will be time to move on.

Not bad, but several channels that work with Plex Media server don't work with this. Quite a drag. Also, it looks like you need a media server running to even use channels etc.

What's with the mandatory registration? I don't need to sync anything. I just want to watch some video. Also, even after I got an account, Plex can't log in and steals my mouse pointer. Deleted. Good riddance.

I'd recommend Plex if you like an easy setup, a nice graph. interface (with matching theme music to your fav. TV shows) and don't mind limited configuration options. What you get with the free version is quite enough for most people. Paying extra for some features is ok and probably helps them to release frequent updates. BUT they really need to address these two issues: - I've ripped many of my DVDs to my computer (every DVS gets you a VIDEO_TS folder that contains the movie, the DVD menu and the extras). But Plex cannot / will not work with VIDEO_TS folders. The usual advice you'll get is to extract & convert the movie to an mkv movie which Plex can read & stream. But if handling/streaming VIDEO_TS folders is so impossible, how come that a jailbroken ATV2 can access & stream VIDEO_TS folders and even ISO disk images?!? No conversion necessary! Obviously, this is a major limitation of Plex and not one of some protocol. If Firecore can do it, why can't Plex? - As I said, I totally understand that they want to charge you extra for some features. But why is there no local access control? I mean if I want to restrict people's access to my Plex Media Server it can only be done via PlexPass, meaning it needs an internet connection. Why can't you just implement a local username/passwort database so not everyone on the same network can access my Plex media server. Basically, local offline access control. Thank you. And just so people know, even though I am a paying PlexPass user, I think that the Mac versions are slighty neglected compared to others. I'm happy they brought back Bonjour support (which is needed to wake up your Plex server from sleep instead of waking it up yourself) but you took your sweet time. ;) I really really hope you will reconsider supporting VIDEO_TS folders. Just take a look at what Firecore did for the Apple TV. Once you match that, you'll rule the market.

I have Plex 8 running on an Mac Mini HTPC and Plex 9 running on an iMac. 8 has been installed since 2008, 9 has been installed from the start of the betas but I have not "released" it to my family. In a nutshell, this is a geeks breakfast and getting more so. No overview exists to explain what it does, how its capable of being run and where to locate the files you need as they are scattered all over the web. Documentation absolutely stinks. The help forums are terrible. Some support apps, Preen, simply do not work. Media scanning, while improved, still leaves a lot to be desired. OSX 10.8 broke it for a while. Pre Snow Leopard versions do not exist (you cannot take an old Mac and make it an htpc). I've tried to hand 9 over to the family for years. Navigation is poor compared to 8, skins changed with the advent of 9.5 which meant yet another skin. If you want to complicate your life, Plex is a great step forward. If you want simplicity, give up the metadata feature and go with a dedicated media box.

Over-complicated. I work in UI/UX and QA, and I have a hard time figuring out how to work this dang thing. Plus, streaming from services like YouTube is wildly unreliable.

Good price. Not so bad software. Maybe some people found this app great. But for me iTunes is just enough for all my tasks.

Ahem... I'm not making a "review" because some people might yell at me... ;-) But I've just tried this, and the first impression left me very perplex: no mouse! You have to do everything with arrows like on an old PC BIOS!!! I can't believe my eyes... Is this the future on its way? Maybe the next generation of software will use punch cards? Or am I missing some point? :-)

Downloading from the link above will give you the May 16th's 0.9.5.3 version (old), NOT 0.9.5.4. (August 1, 2012)

Ok, I understand the Server goes on your computer (Mac) but what hardware do you install the client on? I don't see that anywhere in the description.

The Channel Directory is completely blank -- nothing shows up -- how to fix this?

The best media center for the Mac. Easier to use than XMBC. The Plex Media Server makes adding and managing your movies and TV shows so simple.

CANNOT UNINSTALL DO NOT USE

On my iMac I could never get the iTunes library imported. Compared to Front Row when used on a Mac, Plex is absolute JUNK! Front Row blows it away, no comparison! Plex, a Waste of my time!

I find plex a very solid app for turing a mac into a home theater computer. Support for many popular services such as netflix, youtube, pandora, etc make it good for streaming. I did run into a few minor problems while using this software. Maybe someone can comment to see if this is a shortcoming of Plex, or if I've missed a configuration setting. Anyway, I wasn't able to play any video content with DRM, e.g. content from the itunes store, or a digital copy included with a blu-ray package. What happened is the movie would play like a slide show of still images, with the chapter names and descriptions showing up at the bottom. Movies I ripped with handbrake, or other tools, played normally. Are there any work arounds for protected content? Other then this little hangup I'm very satisfied with this software.

Still unable to use flash 10.2 after all these years, very buggy. I have switched to XBMC, still not perfect but an improvement on plex.

This is so pathetic that i have been banned from the forums. All because i voice my opinion? Yes, i do say the same thing over, over and over. I feel i am entailed to. I paid good money for application that has many issues that the developers refuse to answer." All i hear is good thing come to people who wait" Lame excuse. It was the community who put you guys where you are, now you piss on them. Hang your heads in shame.

I don't know what happened, but with this version I can no longer access ANY plugins, and they do not show up at all in Plex - screen is blank in Plex Online. Anyone had this issue? What did you do to fix it - just delete the plugin library under ~/Library/Application Support/ ?

It loses your manual edits all the time, with no way to back up your edits and move media around making this very poor application. What were the developers thinking, this should be #1 on the list.

A couple 15gb 1080p movies can take over 3 hours to unrar. Add 4 or 5 720p tv shows a day and you're talking a lot of unnecessary work. Power users understand. .

They removed rar support so this version is a bust. Pretty lame as that's one of the best features. I'll stick with version 8.

Anyone giving Plex 9 a good rating has to be friends or family of the developers. There is no way Plex 9 is useable it has far too many issues that make it un useable.

Wow...new version even more buggy than the last version. crashing and other strangeness. who is testing these releases?

LOOKIN2IT, By default, Mac OS X's firewall is a) turned off, and b) even if you do turn it on, it only monitors incoming connections. I suggest you look into (no pun intended :o) a firewall that monitors outgoing connections as well, there are several products (Little Snitch, NetBarrier, Glow Worm) that will happily do this for you. Personally, I prefer Little Snitch, it is one of the first things I install on every new computer. The training period (*) can be a bit annoying but after that it's a great little app that quietly does its job, highly recommended. (* - Once you installed it, LS monitors the launch of each and every app, either by you and/or Mac OS X, and asks you whether or not you want to allow it to connect to the internet. For some built-in apps like Safari and Mail it's got predefined rules, but for most others you have to specify them yourself. Once you've defined a permanent rule LS will follow your instructions and leave you alone)

With Plex 9 all my .img and .iso files doesn't play smoothly anymore. They worked just fine in the previous version of Plex and also when I mount them and play them through the DVD Player application. Damn annoying not to be able to watch my movies though Plex anymore. I'm running Plex on a Mac Mini 2.66 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo with 4 GB 1067 MHz DDR3 memory running OSX 10.6.4 - so it can't be the hardware which are causing the non-smooth playback.

Wow, don't even know where to start with this one - I recently downloaded Plex and its iPad/iPhone counterpart (a $4.99 app) because Air Video doesn't work with the latest iOS beta for iPad. Here are some of the pluses and minuses I have encountered so far. (+) Good craftsmanship in terms of visual design; the UI *looks* nice (-) Indexing, while in itself a great idea took forever without any indication of its progress; a percentage indicator (i.e., "63% complete") or something along those lines would be nice. (--) On startup, it connects to an ungodly amount of 3rd party servers (Google, weather.com, etc.) without asking first - this is an absolute no-no. Ask for permission, tell me why you need to connect to these servers, then attempt to do so. Trust is earned, not doled out on a "benefit of the doubt" basis. (--) While the app looks decent enough, usability is atrocious. Rarely have I ever seen an app as unintuitive as this one. In comparison, Plex makes Photoshop look like Text Edit to a beginner. (--) It installs a Launch Daemon in "~/Library/" without asking first or giving the user the option to deactivate this. At least I haven't been able to find such a preference; creating an empty, locked text file with the same file name will work, of course but it shouldn't be that difficult. Add an entry to the user's "Startup Items", tell them about it *and* give them the option to deactivate it. The last three (--) items alone are enough that I trashed the app and am now actively discouraging any friend or family member asking me about alternatives to Apple's Front Row from using Plex. The idea is great and there is some nice stuff going on in terms of functionality and features, but the terrible usability and lack of respect for the user (hidden online connections, hidden install of startup items) make this unfit for public consumption.