It lastly occurred. My streaming providers are all gone. I pay for YouTube Premium nonetheless — who would argue with ad-free movies and music streaming for $14 a month — however each different streaming platform has bit the mud, and that’s as a result of I spent $90 on a lifetime membership to Plex Pass, which is 25% off its regular worth of $120 for Black Friday.
I’ve been on a little bit of a journey with Plex. It began a number of months in the past when I determined to finally build a Plex server with a mini PC and an exterior onerous drive. Then, I lastly upgraded that have with a correct network-attached storage (NAS) just a number of weeks in the past. Now, I have the ultimate piece of the puzzle within the type of a correct Plex Pass membership that I gained’t have to pay for month after month.
I’m getting a bit forward of myself. If someway you aren’t acquainted, Plex is a media server application that’s utterly free. Download it on just about something, and you’ll be able to stream your media from any system with entry to the app. I’ve used it, together with a big assortment of bodily media, to chip away at streaming providers that, frankly, are stuffed with content material I’m not even remotely serious about watching.
Plex is a type of uncommon providers that’s really free. You’re not getting some restricted model of the app the place it feels such as you run right into a paywall round each nook. Plex Pass, which is obtainable both for a one-time lifetime payment or as a cheap $5 month-to-month membership, merely expands the already stellar free service.
Plex Pass has rather a lot of extra options, however there are a number of that basically make a distinction for me. First, intro and credit skipping. I am a recurring anime watcher, and though I prefer to jam out to a great intro from time to-time I don’t have valuable minutes to waste on the identical credit sequence when I’m bingeing. You can skip the intro and credit of exhibits with Plex Pass.
Basically, each main streaming platform has this function, however the model is Plex Pass is surprisingly sturdy. Particularly for anime, Crunchyroll has a horrible skipping function. Half of the time, it doesn’t work, or it pops up effectively after the intro is completed. I’ve never had that drawback with Plex.
The different large function is {hardware} transcoding. I primarily watch media off of my Plex server on my native community, however I have it configured so I can entry my server when I’m away from residence,as effectively. When streaming remotely like this, I have to transcode the video information, particularly if I’m watching some chunky 4K Blu-ray rip of a film.
Transcoding with software program is pitifully sluggish, and normally results in an limitless barrage of buffering and sub-720p picturequality. With {hardware} transcoding, I can benefit from the Intel Core i3-N305 CPU in my NAS, in addition to its built-in graphics, to deal with the transcoding. Even a comparatively weak CPU like this could tear by way of video transcoding with a number of streams.
Those are the 2 highlights for me, however there are a number of different options that I make good use of with Plex Pass. You can obtain your media, which is nice if I’m occurring a flight. Plex Pass additionally comes with HDR tone mapping for these high-quality Blu-ray rips, and help for a number of editions of the identical content material should you’re a mega nerd about films like me.
I’m actually just scratching the floor right here — Plexamp is principally Spotify for your individual private music assortment, full with lyrics and downloads, and you’ll be able to hook up a TV antenna to not solely stream reside TV, but additionally use your server as a DVR.
I gained’t lie, dealing with all of this can be a lot extra work than just swallowing no matter payment your streaming service of alternative throws at you. But it’s additionally quite a lot of enjoyable. I’ve totally loved configuring and tweaking my Plex server, and I’m excited to do much more now with Plex Pass. And as a bonus, I don’t need to pay near $100 every month for providers I barely even use.
