But the Mac running the Plex software itself still needs to be connected to the TV. Plex can stream media from any other Mac (or Windows PC) on your home network, so the video files themselves can reside on any shared drive in the house. (The software does not run on PowerPC models or on Tiger.) You can use Plex either at your desk with a mouse and keyboard, or on a Mac-connected TV. To run Plex, you’ll need an Intel-based Mac running Leopard. Those caveats aside, if you want to play videos you didn’t get from the iTunes Store, Plex works great. And the Apple TV can’t play videos from your Plex libraries. Its handling of photos from iPhoto is less than smooth. It can’t play purchases from the iTunes Store. Plex is more customizable than Front Row: you can add plug-in scripts to get features like YouTube integration, and install a custom skin to update its look-and-feel.Īll that said, Plex isn’t perfect. Plex has some handy informational widgets-a news ticker, a weather forecast, and system information-built in. Logitech’s Harmony controllers, as well as the Apple Remote. Plex works with universal-remote controls, such as

Plex can play large video files that are split up and packed into archives-such as RAR or ZIP files you might download from Usenet-without requiring that you extract them first. That means you could host your video collection on an old Mac or Windows PC stashed somewhere out of the way, and still watch it on the Mac in your living room, office, or bedroom. Plex can play media streamed from shared network drives.

Plex can play back a wider range of video and audio file formats than Front Row, including AVI, MPEG files you’ve downloaded via BitTorrent, FLV Flash files you’ve downloaded from YouTube, and Ogg Vorbis audio files.

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