Microsoft's Xbox One Secures Its Crown As King Of Home Entertainment With ...

From tomorrow (7th October), the Xbox One will have a Plex app available to download, and some time soon - next week if all goes well, the 14th of October - there will also be a version for the 360. This is huge news for those who want to use their games console as a media streamer, as well as for video games. It had been confirmed some time ago that the XBox One would get DLNA support this month, but Plex had not officially confirmed their own app.

If you have a desire to stream video from your computer to your TV then you may have heard of, or even used Plex. For those who haven't, Plex is an app which you install on a computer with your video, music and photos and it then acts as a server, allowing you to access them with either Plex clients, or any DLNA-enabled device. The main draw of Plex is the brilliant, graphical way it deals with your files and the automation if provides for a media library.

There's an amusing bit of serendipity here too, because Plex is a fork of a media streaming application called XBMC, which is short form for Xbox Media Center. This was a project that initially started life on the original Xbox, as a way to watch video on the console. The arrival of Plex on both the 360 and One means the whole thing has gone from illegitimate to totally above-board in 12 years. Plex doesn't really feel like XBMC anymore though, if you ask me it gets everything right that XBMC has never managed, for one, it's simple enough for anyone to use.

On the Xbox One the Plex app is impressive. I got a short demo of how the app will look, and it's the familiar interface, but with some important updates over the other Plex apps I've used. Horizontal scrolling emphasised here, which makes sense for the way the Xbox is designed. With Kinect you also get voice and gesture control. Microsoft makes certain requirements in this area, but it's nice to see voice control here, as it's a huge selling point of the One.

So, what does Plex offer? Well, its simplicity is key. There are versions of the server application that can run on Windows, Linux and Mac OS and it can also be installed on several brands of NAS, like those from QNAP and Synology. Once you've decided what your server will be, and installed Plex, all you need to do is tell it where your video, music and photos are, and it will catalogue them.

You can then stream to a number of platforms. There are apps for Android, iPhone and Windows Phone. You can install a Windows 8 app, or Home Theater software for Windows, Mac and Linux. There are also apps for devices like the Popcorn Hour and Roku, although these aren't generally official.

If you're allowed to rip movies from DVD or Blu-ray where you live, then Plex will read folder names and get custom artwork for your collection. This beats messing about putting discs in drives and gives you a really brilliant media center. Hopefully, in the future, movie studios will work out a way of selling content that can be used with Plex, rather than messing everything up with non-standard DRM-protected files. After all, music is DRM free these days, and that means we have flexibility to use our purchased files as we see fit.

When you start using Plex to arrange media, like TV shows and movies, you realise that there is a world of home entertainment that we are blocked from enjoying because of the way Hollywood forces us to consume its media. One day this will change, and hopefully sooner than later so we can start enjoying Plex in all its glory.

Interestingly, as excited as I am for the One and 360 getting Plex, I can see that this might not totally help Microsoft's case. Since launch, hardcore game enthusiasts have criticised Microsoft's console for being too focused on home entertainment, and not nearly good enough as a gaming platform. I don't have a horse in this race, because I still love my PC for gaming, but I can see why some people have avoided getting a One, and have gone for the PS4 instead. That said, if the Xbox One is going to be the de facto choice for home entertainment, it makes sense for it to be the best, and that's where Plex can really help.

I asked if Sony's PS4 would be getting its own version of Plex, but didn't get an answer. For media playback, Sony's console is still badly in need of some media features. I use mine for Amazon Prime Instant Video and Netflix, but home streaming is still missing completely. For all the gaming prowess of the PS4, this is something Sony needs to sort out.

Plex for Xbox 360 and Xbox One will initially require a Plex Pass, which is the premium subscription service which costs $150 for a lifetime membership or $4.99 per month. It gives you free access to some apps, and a load of cool features like cloud sync and a premium area of the message boards for support. When the app becomes available to all, it will be offered for a one-off price, much like the mobile apps for Android and iOS.

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