Plex
#126
TOTY Winner 2018 and Inane Thread Master
Joined: Dec 2003
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From: "Are any of us really anywhere?"
Re: Plex
Oh, yeah, she’s had work on each of her husband’s show, post Drew Carey Show.
#127
#128
DVD Talk Hero
Re: Plex
If anyone is still on the fence about a lifetime pass, now’s your last chance to do it.
Current price: $250 USD
New Price on July 1, 2026: $750 USD
Monthly/annual subscriptions are not increasing and existing Plex Pass owners will not be negatively affected.
Current price: $250 USD
New Price on July 1, 2026: $750 USD
Monthly/annual subscriptions are not increasing and existing Plex Pass owners will not be negatively affected.
#129
DVD Talk Legend
Re: Plex
Doesn't Plex have ads?
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Dan (05-19-26)
#131
DVD Talk Hero
Re: Plex
Good Lord. I paid $70 for it, it's insane how much it's gone up.
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majorjoe23 (05-22-26)
#132
Moderator
Re: Plex
Never used it, never heard of it. Worth it?
#133
DVD Talk Godfather
Re: Plex
If you've never used it and never heard of it up to this point, probably not? 
It's basically for those already using plex (which is mainly but not exclusively used to house your ripped/drm free digital content and distribute it to various devices) to enable you to allow stuff like offline viewing and streaming to the mobile app. You'll need your own plex server though it's easy enough to set up. It's certainly saved my family from the threat of boredom when the internet is out since you can stream it locally.

It's basically for those already using plex (which is mainly but not exclusively used to house your ripped/drm free digital content and distribute it to various devices) to enable you to allow stuff like offline viewing and streaming to the mobile app. You'll need your own plex server though it's easy enough to set up. It's certainly saved my family from the threat of boredom when the internet is out since you can stream it locally.
#134
DVD Talk God
Re: Plex
I know of the reasons why something like Plex exists. It just never interested me. To me it seems like way too much work.
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Alan Smithee (05-20-26)
#135
Moderator
Re: Plex
Okay, sounds like if I have media like movies and music on my computer, so long as it's turned on, I can stream those on my TV upstairs or my phone on vacation 10 states away if I have Plex, is that right? I honestly did try looking this up, and the Plex speak on the official website is confusing and focused on all their free channels. The ability to stream my stuff is intriguing.
#136
DVD Talk Godfather
Re: Plex
Okay, sounds like if I have media like movies and music on my computer, so long as it's turned on, I can stream those on my TV upstairs or my phone on vacation 10 states away if I have Plex, is that right? I honestly did try looking this up, and the Plex speak on the official website is confusing and focused on all their free channels. The ability to stream my stuff is intriguing.
I think one of the main draws is expandability and organization, otherwise if you just want to play media you can use something like Infuse (some people use both and just use Infuse as a player)
#137
DVD Talk Legend
Re: Plex
Okay, sounds like if I have media like movies and music on my computer, so long as it's turned on, I can stream those on my TV upstairs or my phone on vacation 10 states away if I have Plex, is that right? I honestly did try looking this up, and the Plex speak on the official website is confusing and focused on all their free channels. The ability to stream my stuff is intriguing.
#138
Moderator
#139
DVD Talk Hero
Re: Plex
Plex is great. I use it for my entire (legitimate) movie, TV, and music collection. I like that I can stream everything I own to pretty much anywhere I happen to be; whether that's in a different room of the house or visiting family, or otherwise.
Every movie/show I bought on 4K/BD/DVD, I added to Plex.
Every CD I bought, I added to Plex.
Every Bandcamp album I bought (whether CD quality or better), I added to Plex.
I like having things I own being available on my home server in the same quality as how I bought it. It's neat.


It's solid. Sure, it took some time to setup, but it works great and it's easy for my family to navigate. There are free alternatives that may work perfectly fine for some folks, but they can be a bit less intuitive.
PlexAmp (the phone app you install specifically to listen to music from your Plex server) works extremely well.
All that said, I'm glad I paid $90 or whatever it was for the lifetime pass. I don't really see the use case for keeping a recurring monthly or annual plan, and the new lifetime price is... something.
I can understand that the company believes the new price is the fair value for everything it offers, and they're not making any money from folks who bought a lifetime pass a decade ago... but this seems like a deterrent from signing up, even for the monthly/annual subs.
There's a ton of stuff you can do with the free version, though.
$250? 2.5 times more than what I paid, but I could still recommend it, particularly if the exclusive features are important to you, I think.
$750, though? Probably better to look elsewhere or, to keep life simple... don't bother with this home server stuff at all.
Every movie/show I bought on 4K/BD/DVD, I added to Plex.
Every CD I bought, I added to Plex.
Every Bandcamp album I bought (whether CD quality or better), I added to Plex.
I like having things I own being available on my home server in the same quality as how I bought it. It's neat.


It's solid. Sure, it took some time to setup, but it works great and it's easy for my family to navigate. There are free alternatives that may work perfectly fine for some folks, but they can be a bit less intuitive.
PlexAmp (the phone app you install specifically to listen to music from your Plex server) works extremely well.
All that said, I'm glad I paid $90 or whatever it was for the lifetime pass. I don't really see the use case for keeping a recurring monthly or annual plan, and the new lifetime price is... something.
I can understand that the company believes the new price is the fair value for everything it offers, and they're not making any money from folks who bought a lifetime pass a decade ago... but this seems like a deterrent from signing up, even for the monthly/annual subs.
There's a ton of stuff you can do with the free version, though.
$250? 2.5 times more than what I paid, but I could still recommend it, particularly if the exclusive features are important to you, I think.
$750, though? Probably better to look elsewhere or, to keep life simple... don't bother with this home server stuff at all.
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Dan (05-20-26)
#141
DVD Talk Hero
Re: Plex
Android Auto as well. The entire platform works great for what it does.
#142
DVD Talk Hall of Fame
Re: Plex
Plexamp is really great. It lets me stream my whole music library anywhere, and means I don’t need to subscribe to any music streaming services.
I’m glad I got in at $70 though on a sweet Black Friday deal.
I’m glad I got in at $70 though on a sweet Black Friday deal.
#143
DVD Talk Legend
Re: Plex
Plex has said that there are more people streaming their FAST offerings than use their home server feature. Could be lies, who knows. I primarily use it for Plexamp. The guest DJs are an awesome addition to the app.
#144
DVD Talk Godfather
Re: Plex
FWIW, this mostly depends on your ISP. I couldn't get it to work on my first ISP, and was starting down the path you laid out. Switched to a different ISP and remote access worked without doing anything. Switched to a third ISP, asked for a dedicated IP, and again didn't have to set up anything in Plex for remote access.
Plex has said that there are more people streaming their FAST offerings than use their home server feature. Could be lies, who knows. I primarily use it for Plexamp. The guest DJs are an awesome addition to the app.
Plex has said that there are more people streaming their FAST offerings than use their home server feature. Could be lies, who knows. I primarily use it for Plexamp. The guest DJs are an awesome addition to the app.
#145
DVD Talk Special Edition
Re: Plex
If you don't already have a Plex Pass the new $750 price isn't worth it IMO. If I was starting out from scratch I'd use Jellyfin instead. It's free and open source.





