Plex vs AirVideo for streaming files to iPad

wayner · #1 10-18-2011, 01:57 PM

I have been using AirVideo to stream Sage files to my iPad, in addition to occasionally using the mobile Sage Web client and TiSageTV.

Has anyone tried Plex as well as AirVideo and won't to comment on the pros and cons of both. I don't want to have too many video server software instances running on the same machine if possible.

ybrew · #2 10-18-2011, 03:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wayner

I don't want to have too many video server software instances running on the same machine if possible.

And for that reason, I'm trying to stick to just using mobile sage web client.

Never tried Plex. Air Video is good, but I want to keep my sage server lean now.

wayner · #3 10-18-2011, 04:04 PM

I have tried to use the mobile client and TiSageTV but if I remember correctly they both had issues playing back files from my HD-PVR although SD files were fine. And they sometimes have trouble when you want to move forward to another part of the file.

ybrew · #4 10-19-2011, 11:15 AM

Air Video works and works well. But I'd be tempted to try Plex. AirVideo streams to iPod, iPad, iPhone only.

Plex seems to be able to stream to ios, android, mac and even LG TVs. Plex definitely seems more versatile.

wayner · #5 10-19-2011, 01:10 PM

Plex also appears to stream photos and music and I think it also streams to Windows in addition to the other devices that ybrew mentioned.

panteragstk · #6 10-19-2011, 02:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wayner

Plex also appears to stream photos and music and I think it also streams to Windows in addition to the other devices that ybrew mentioned.

Windows support is in alpha stage. Not ready quite yet from what little I've tried to find out.

ybrew · #7 10-19-2011, 03:31 PM

I didn't see anything about streaming to windows (and thought that was kind of strange). It'll stream from windows though.

panteragstk · #8 10-19-2011, 03:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ybrew

I didn't see anything about streaming to windows (and thought that was kind of strange). It'll stream from windows though.

Yep. It will stream to mac. XBMC has a plex add-on, but you have to be using xbmc first. I think it was mac based first for mobile devices, and then they ported the media manager over to windows. Just the manager though. Kinda strange.

wayner · #9 10-19-2011, 03:43 PM

That's strange - I saw the Win logo on the main web page and I figured that you could use Windows as a client as well as a server, but I guess not.

rwc · #10 10-19-2011, 10:29 PM

Could Plex (and apple tv) make a good replacement for sage extenders?

panteragstk · #11 10-20-2011, 07:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rwc

Could Plex (and apple tv) make a good replacement for sage extenders?

Not if you want to watch live tv.

rwc · #12 10-21-2011, 10:04 AM

Assuming you don't watch live tv (which I don't), can apple tv play all the various formats (mkv, ts, mpeg2, avi, dive, etc) or would they have to be converted into QuickTime (mp4)

wayner · #13 10-21-2011, 10:18 AM

It was mentioned in another thread that ATV has problems playing back MPEG2 files that are in HD, such as you would get from OTA and QAM tuners.

panteragstk · #14 10-21-2011, 02:20 PM

That's what's keeping ATV from being a great pseudo client. Why apple feels the need to omit hd mpeg 2 is beyond me.

Fonceur · #15 10-21-2011, 02:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by panteragstk

That's what's keeping ATV from being a great pseudo client. Why apple feels the need to omit hd mpeg 2 is beyond me.

Not having a public API/SDK with an App store isn't helping either...

Mckinsey01@gmai · #16 10-22-2011, 03:55 PM

I've tried both plex and air video on ipad, in addition i've tried plex on samsung c5500 blueray player. I transcode all tv shows to iPhone widescreen format. I used to use the appletv transcode setting, but the file size only got cut in half.

My main reason for wanting to use plex is that the client runs on roku, Samsung, and ipad and can display the fanart, etc. The biggest problem so far is I can't figure out how to transcode to a file name that plex can use to gather the correct fanart info. It needs to be like show name - s01e01- title name.mp4, I'm sure there is a way, but not an easy way. Plex needs work, but has a lot of promise. It is also somewhat unstable.

Air video is nice, very stable, can transcode and dump the video to iTunes to get downloaded to the iPad if on the go. Or transcode on the fly if needed. It can't lookup fanart info from tvdb.

Sure would like to see an iPad app that combines xfinity and the directv apps. oh, that would be placeshifter for iOS!

Wondering how long I can stay with sagetv, the rest of the family has mostly given up and now use directv for everything.

ybrew · #17 11-03-2011, 12:13 PM

There is a plex client now for windows. Looks like it was released last week.

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