Plex Media Center

It’s a Tuesday night, you’re bored, the North Koreans aren’t launching missiles at your state, and you’re media hungry. Well, you’re in luck. Thanks to the tireless efforts of our brilliant team of plug-in developers, we have a few more plug-ins to offer you. (Actually, I think 14 counts as more than a few.) Again, many thanks to Andreas W. for the highly skilled graphic design work.

First up is Picasa Web, written by Ian Gratton. Browse your private online library or your friends’ libraries, or search for photos.

Have you ever wanted to listen to radio stations on Shoutcast with Plex and been frustrated with the poor user interface? Just install the new Shoutcast plug-in, set your preferences (minimum bit-rate, sort order), and browse through thousands of streams.

Next up, written by our own Scott, Miro is a plug-in that taps the Miro Directory, an open content directory which offers over 6,000+ internet TV shows and video podcasts. Organized by genre or language, there is something for everyone in here (including a fair number of sheep, apparently).

Forum user beowulfe was kind enough to write a few plug-ins guaranteed to please your better looking half. Sure, they might complain when you watch 24 or don’t take the garbage out, but sit them in front of these plug-ins and you’ll likely be able to sneak off with your mates for a beer.

First up is HGTV for all your home design, decorating, home improvement or landscaping projects.

Next up is The Food Network, which has lots of content including Ace of Cakes, Good Eats, 30 Minute Meals and Diners, Drive-ins and Dives.

MakingOf.com, written by the prolific Ryan McNally, is a behind-the-scenes Web portal that provides an intimate, fresh look into the process of making a movie by the insiders themselves. Lots of cool content here.

“RTL NOW” ist die Marke für zeitsouveräne TV-Nutzung von RTL-Formaten. Seit Januar 2007 können Sie auf dem Video-Abruf-Portal RTLNOW.de einen großen Teil des RTL-Programms für sieben Tage nach Ausstrahlung kostenlos per Stream ansehen. Highlights lassen sich schon unmittelbar nach der TV-Ausstrahlung abspielen.

Author: Robert Nio

Ask A Ninja is an award-winning series of comedy videos about the image of ninja in popular culture. Watch the latest episode or any past episodes in Plex.

Elk jaar staat Utrecht tien dagen in het teken van de Nederlandse film. Dan vindt het Nederlands Film Festival plaats dat gericht is op de Nederlandse cinema in al zijn facetten. Bekijk hier de vodcast en andere online video’s van het festival (o.a. trailers, interviews en verslagen vanaf het festivalterrein).

Author: Sander Spies

The Adventures of Dr. McNinja, also by Ryan McNally, is a webcomic written and drawn by Chris Hastings and inked by Kent Archer. Published three times a week on its own website, it features the fictional adventures of a character named Dr. McNinja, a thirty-five-year-old doctor who also happens to be a ninja.

Am Samstag, dem 20. September 2003, um 13 Uhr ging die wöchentliche Computersendung c’t magazin im hessen fernsehen erstmals auf Sendung. Serviceorientiert und unterhaltsam berichtet c’t magazin jeweils dreißig Minuten lang über die ganz alltäglichen Probleme beim Umgang mit Computern, Handys und dem Internet. Woche für Woche nimmt die von Mathias Münch moderierte Magazinsendung neue Produkte ebenso unter die Lupe wie die Qualität von Dienstleistungen.

Author: Robert Nio

8-Bit Theater, written by Ryan McNally, is a comic based on the video game Final Fantasy I, following the four Light Warriors in their quest to vanquish the King of Demons, Chaos.

Freecaster.tv, written by Jonny Wray, is the premier source of free high quality extreme sports videos. Watch LIVE webcast, streaming, replays and on-demand best sports video.

GameSpy, also by Ryan McNally, is all about video games. You can find walkthroughs and reviews of games for the PC, XBox, and numerous other platforms.

One last note: The plug-in authors should check the released versions, as they may include minor changes or fixes.

18 comments

Things have been quiet on the blog recently, but behind the scenes we’re busy working on some exciting new features, and Plex/Nine is beginning to take shape.

In the meantime, our plug-in developer community has been doing some absolutely amazing work. We’ve had such a deluge of new plug-ins that we’ve revamped our workflow and created a Lighthouse project to manage things better. Huge props to Ryan McNally, Gordon, Ian, Robert, Nikolas, Rick, Scott, and all the others that make the plug-in space so rich and exciting.

Isaac has been kind enough to take on the role of release manager and has been working tirelessly, coordinating the efforts of the plug-in developers, framework developers, and designers. Not to mention he’s written some new plug-ins!

Additionally, the very skilled Andreas W. (tassitassi on the forums) has joined us and is contributing a huge amount of artwork and icon design for new plug-ins (and improving existing art). This guy is incredibly talented!

Onto the new plugins; first up is MSNBC, written by Isaac. This is one that can certainly help users in “cutting the cable”. Use it to stay current with daily news updates in health, entertainment, business, science, technology and sports video.

Hot on the heels of MSNBC is an update to our CNN plugin (also by Isaac, who’s rapidly becoming a Python god) that allows you to watch live CNN news streams. While the streams are generally only available Monday-Friday 7AM-8PM PST I think this is going to fill a huge gap currently missing in the content tree. The only thing that would make it better is if we could get James Earl Jones to say “This…is Plex”.

Next up, and written by Gordon Johnston, Pro at Cooking is a comedic cooking show hosted by Dave Lee, also known by his Chinese name Dawei. Each episode features a female assistant, who tends to be a victim of chauvinism (in the name of humor). The series is filmed in Toronto.

One note: Isaac made the Eggplant Parmesan for his wife and he can’t stop talking about it.

Also written by Gordon Johnston, Interview Project by David Lynch is a neat site which features a road trip where people are interviewed across the country. Really cool idea, and really cool content.

Written by Jdevoo, The Web Gallery of Art is a virtual museum and database of European painting and sculpture of the Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque, Neoclassicism, Romanticism and Realism periods (1100-1850), containing over 21,300 reproductions. Never took art history in college? Crack open a beer and stare at some art. Use it to impress a date.

Next up, written by the prolific Gordon Johnston, the BBC Podcasts plugin allows access to BBC podcasts on a variety of topics, and is accessible outside of the UK.

Last up is an update to The White House plugin which adds support for much more video content and also adds a Photos section with the latest photos from the White House’s flickr feed. Rumor has it that Obama relaxes at the end of the day in front of Plex.

One last note: The plug-in authors should check the released versions, as they may include minor changes or fixes.

16 comments

We were super excited when Xeni Jardin of Boing Boing contacted us to see if we could provide access through Plex to their excellent video site. An hour and a couple of emails later, we have an easy and fun way to browse Boing Boing Video while sitting on your couch.

For those of you new to Plex, you can download the latest version from here. After you’ve installed, start Plex and head to the App Store:

Since Boing Boing Video is one of our featured plug-ins, you can find it in the Featured Section. Simple select the plug-in to install it.

Once you’ve installed the plug-in, you can find it in the Videos section off the main menu. Sit back, open up a beverage of your choice, and watch some great content.

7 comments