View Full Version : Stability vs Plex
Wondering if anyone who uses Plex on a mac can comment on the stability/reliability vs a Linux install of XBMC?
I am debating about building a Linux machine for XBMC but Plex is so stable and reliable not sure if I want to jump ship just yet, thoughts?
plex is only stable because xbmc is stable. have a look at their changelog and you get should get the point.
And by changelog he means the git source code changelog not elans blog comments
XBMC was first so Plex took its stability (foundation code, features etc) from this project - so the answer has to be yes.
I use both, and they're as stable as each other. In my opinion if you have a Mac stick with Plex.
I have Macs and Linux boxes. I prefer XBMC for Mac because of the concentration on stability of core functions rather than addition of flashy features.
I have Macs and Linux boxes. I prefer XBMC for Mac because of the concentration on stability of core functions rather than addition of flashy features.
You're an XBMC dev (a damn good one too) so you aren't ever going to tell him to use Plex.
I'm and end user with no affiliation to either XBMC or Plex - my views are impartial.
I use XBMC pretty much everyday as it is installed on my Xbox which sits under my TV in the living room. It is awesome.
I use Plex occasionally as it is installed on my iMac which is in my bedroom. It too is awesome.
I don't care what xfiring ends up doing. But anyone answering his question honestly (and has used both products) has to go with Plex on a Mac - when solely comparing the two pieces of software.
The only thing which separates the two products is the "flashy features" - as stability is a non issue (both are rock solid). Some of the features added since the split of XBMC and Plex are brilliant, especially the iLife integration and the new Appstore.
I guess to answer xfiring's question properly we need to know what type of content he will be playing. What his budget is. What the spec of current Mac is.
I he wants to play 1080p content, is on a tight budget and currently owns an original MacBook Core Duo. Then I would advise him to go ahead and build a Linux HTPC and use XBMC as it will allow the playback of 1080p for the the lowest cost.
However, If he owns one of the new Unibody MacBook Pros and connects it directly to his LCD TV, likes watching internet video and is a heavy user of Apples built in iLife products then I would tell him to stick with Plex as it would give him a smoother, easier experience.
I currently have 2 mac mini's running plex (these are gen 2) 1.83 C2D, however, they are unable to play back m2ts streams, just .mkv mp4 files. I was hoping the new mini would change this but it looks to be a minimal upgrade, so I was considering XBMC on Linux but needed to know if it was as stable and worked as well in general.
I just saw the bug report about ff/rw, pushing 3x's in either direction to back out. It is stuff like that which just works in Plex and I was kind of asking the same for XBMC.
Thanks
I currently have 2 mac mini's running plex (these are gen 2) 1.83 C2D, however, they are unable to play back m2ts streams, just .mkv mp4 files. I was hoping the new mini would change this but it looks to be a minimal upgrade, so I was considering XBMC on Linux but needed to know if it was as stable and worked as well in general.
I just saw the bug report about ff/rw, pushing 3x's in either direction to back out. It is stuff like that which just works in Plex and I was kind of asking the same for XBMC.
Thanks
Yeah XBMC for linux is as stable as the mac software, might even be more stable as there are more devs on it.
If ff/rw is the sound issues all those were fixed a few weeks after atlantis and are working great in svn since a long time.
but Pushing 3xīs I have no clue what you refer to?
The only thing which separates the two products is the "flashy features" - as stability is a non issue (both are rock solid). Some of the features added since the split of XBMC and Plex are brilliant, especially the iLife integration and the new Appstore.
We have integration with both iTunes and iPhoto? which more do Plex have, or are needed?
Please feature request it and Im sure we will try our very best to make it happen :)
We have SVN repo installer (might be a bad name) which should come with XBMC and it downloads scripts and plugins from XBMC, same as appstore. <rant>Also how can forcing a user to buy stuff be an feature? this is most surely the goal with the appstore if they donīt charge already...</rant>
Cheers,
Tobias
I currently have 2 mac mini's running plex (these are gen 2) 1.83 C2D, however, they are unable to play back m2ts streams, just .mkv mp4 files. I was hoping the new mini would change this but it looks to be a minimal upgrade, so I was considering XBMC on Linux but needed to know if it was as stable and worked as well in general.
I just saw the bug report about ff/rw, pushing 3x's in either direction to back out. It is stuff like that which just works in Plex and I was kind of asking the same for XBMC.
Thanks
I'd give XBMC a shot on one of your Mac Minis, it's free to try so you have nothing to lose.
You should hopefully see some nice performance gains. See this post (and the thread in general) about the performance gains of user (there is also a link to the main VDPAU Support thread):
http://xbmc.org/forum/showpost.php?p=291993&postcount=11
Regarding the 3x's ff/rw issue, both XBMC and Plex are going to have niggly bugs. These smaller usability type issues usually get resolved by both parties very quickly.
If you have never tried XBMC, be safe in the knowledge that generally you won't have issue with stability - no more or less than with Plex.
In the long run hopefully Snow Leopard will bring some nice gains with OpenCL, so eventually you may be able to get the performance you require whilst sticking with OS X.
We have integration with both iTunes and iPhoto? which more do Plex have, or are needed?
Please feature request it and Im sure we will try our very best to make it happen :)
We have SVN repo installer (might be a bad name) which should come with XBMC and it downloads scripts and plugins from XBMC, same as appstore. <rant>Also how can forcing a user to buy stuff be an feature? this is most surely the goal with the appstore if they donīt charge already...</rant>
Cheers,
Tobias
It's not so much that XBMC doesn't have the integration, more the Plex implementation (again purely IMO) is better. For example iTunes integration, the Plex implementation includes DRM music playback, XBMC (last time I checked which was few months ago) does not support the playback of such files. I don't (thankfully) have any DRM laden music, but a lot of my non techie mates do. Being able to play this type of file is a big advantage.
My initial thought about the Appstore was similar to yours, "Are they going to start charging". But then they started to release all the Apps for free my worries eased.
Then we come to the implementation of the Appstore - Hulu, Youtube, South Park etc can all be installed via the Apple remote whilst the user is sat on the couch (or in my case lying in bed!), it's all very slick from an end user point of view (there is even a setting to have the Apps to update automatically).
Looking at it another way, I'm fairly confident my girlfriend (who is Joe average when it comes to computers) would be able to install Plex and have Hulu up and running very quickly - under 10 minutes at a guess. While she'd also manage to install XBMC, I doubt she'd manage to grasp the whole plugin/script concept without further reading.
I also spotted this thread:
http://forums.plexapp.com/index.php?showtopic=3802&hl=
Sorry to xfiring for the thread jack!
even if they do not charge, their app store is atleast 20 years deevolution in software development strategies. xbmc was built on open source principles and the power that lies there shows every day through our active community. the plex guys has just pissed all over all of that with their closed source media backend.
I cannot speak to the technical underpinnings of what Plex has done for their "store" however badly that might be misnamed and I've not YET used it (just got my first MAC) however from an end-user standpoint it appears to be pretty slick. Usage may prove that wrong and it might prove difficult to code for but so far it looks like many are jumping on building for it.
So far as XBMC is concerned I've pounded my head against the wall a few times trying to get various plug-ins to work and managed to get the new Apple Trailer plug-in working at least although I preferred the older one. I haven't tried the SVN plug-in for pulling other plug-ins lately but last I did I had to set it up manually on my machine and it never seemed to work - I guess I need to try again! In any case unless it has improved it was somewhat frustrating from an end-user perspective last I looked. :(
Well, when I tried it it did exactly what SVN repo installer did. No more, no less.
Closed source software is the enemy, all the plex guys do is take something people have spent endless time producing, for free. and make a few additions close source, and they can, by the flick of a switch, force users to pay for the goddamn thing if they want...
(Yeah I know they have made additions open aswell, which we ofc are very gratefull for)