Skip to main content

Plex Google TV client detailed

Plex, a popular media center software for Mac OS X, is coming to Google TV, developers confirmed yesterday. It’s a great choice for those looking to watch their Plex content on a big screen television through a Google TV box rather than on their computer.

The app can do pretty much everything its Plex for Android counterpart is capable of. It comes with platform-specific tweaks, such as keyboard navigation and non-touch user interface optimizations. Plex for Google TV can render any media format supported by the Google TV platform. As for the unsupported codecs, Plex actually transcodes those but not everything plays due to the very limited HLS support in the Google TV 2.0 software.

It will do Plex channels you’ve been able to use from Plex for Android. You can get to your local media through a personal media server via Ethernet or WiFi (many NAS devices run media servers as well) or access your remote queue and any shared sections stored on myPlex, including those shared with you by your friends:

We know that there’s a very responsible segment of Plex users who would never EVER consider watching amusing videos at work. So of course you’d queue up those not entirely work appropriate videos so that you can plop down on your couch when you get home and watch them there. It’d be irresponsible if we left that out. Queues are an absolute MUST!

Unfortunately, the Google TV client does not have a media server component integrated and developers say it’s not on the roadmap yet. Still, you can get the best of both worlds by putting a personal media server on your computer and use the Plex client on your Google TV to stream your local Plex content. The app is currently in development and has been tested on a Logitech Revue box. Watch this space for updates and notes about availability of the Plex for Google TV client.

FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.

You’re reading 9to5Google — experts who break news about Google and its surrounding ecosystem, day after day. Be sure to check out our homepage for all the latest news, and follow 9to5Google on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn to stay in the loop. Don’t know where to start? Check out our exclusive stories, reviews, how-tos, and subscribe to our YouTube channel