I am trying to figure out what the best solution is to organize my movie collection for my HTPC. Both Plex and XMBC seem to be the most recommend programs to organize my collection. From what others have said XMBC is better at picking out the correct movie images, easier to setup, has a lot more plugins for personal configuration. Plex is nice because you set it up as a global server once and then you can connect to it from most devices. From the forums here is seems like most people use Plex.

 

Questions:

1. What are your personal experiences with either XMBC or Plex?

2. How hard is it to set up a Plex server on unRAID?

3. Once Plex is running, how difficult did you find it to setup accounts?

4. If Plex is connected to my HTPC it shouldn't need to transcode the 1080p files because it can read them by default?

5. Has anyone used a Intel Celeron G540 Sandy Bridge 2.5GHz processor to transcode movies to an iPad and if so is it capable of running SD, 720, and/or 1080 movies?

6. If you upgrade your unRAID server to a new version, do you have to re-setup the Plex server and all the settings? If so, is there a way to save the settings?

 

I really appreciate all the help and advice I have gotten from this forum!

XBMC for local. Plex for remote.

XBMC and Airvideo for remote...

 

I like the plex interface but it is VERY inaccurate in getting movie titles right, and that bugs me ..

XBMC and Airvideo for remote...

 

I like the plex interface but it is VERY inaccurate in getting movie titles right, and that bugs me ..

 

 

Switch the movie metadata agent from Freebase to The Movie Database and you'll get a lot more accurate results. The latest versions of the Plex server also seem a lot better at matching in general.

Plex is great in terms of remote access of your media library. 

I personally use xbmc for all my local devices.

There is no reason why you have to choose one or the other. Plex Media Center has to be installed on the server side and the client on your HTPC or mobile device. You install XBMC on the HTPC and nothing needs to be installed on the server. I like the fact that with Plex all the clients share the same database and I can pause a move in one room and the play state is seemless on all devices so I can pick up the movie from the point I stopped. XBMC can be modified to do the same, but it takes a bit of work. I find myself using Plex about 90% of the time.

PleXBMC addon for remote XBMC is nice, too. Makes a seamless XBMC experience.

I switched from MediaPortal to Plex and haven't looked back. The fact that it has a true client-server architecture, it transcodes on the fly to mobile devices (including 40gb Blu-Ray Mkvs, and you can also sync for offline viewing on mobile devices are important futures for me.

 

As others mention, there is nothing preventing trying both.

 

TheWombat.

 

 

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One more vote for Plex remotely and XBMC locally.

 

Once Plex Home Theater for Linux is generally stable and supported a good array of hardware, I might reconsider the local client end.

I have 791 movies in my Plex library (not including TV shows) and I remember maybe 10 or 15 files that PMS didn't recognize correctly - mostly foreign releases.

 

I tried XBMC and I found it way too confusing for casual user, and with 5 of them in the household I can't imagine running anything else than server+client.

 

Shared watched status is PITA, but Plex guys are finally working on that.

 

 

XBMC is for real men.

 

OpenELEC is what real men use.

 

+1 for XBMC.

 

Never used Plex, so can't compare, but I have multiple XBMC devices sharing watched status, position in video etc using MySQL DB. Works great and plays everything I throw at it!

 

 

[EDIT] XBMC Flavour: XBMCbuntu

I guess I'm confused with all this client server talk with regards to Xbmc and Plex.

Throw your files on your unRAID server, create a SMB share like we all have anyways. I use Ember or several other apps on XBMC that does all your file scraping with Fanart, thumbnails and plots. I tell XBMC to look at whatever share my stuff is on and blam. I have every bit of info I could ever want to look at.

 

I have 5 Clients that use this setup just fine. Everything lives on my unRAID machine and the clients just grab what they need on boot up from unRAID since everything is pre-scraped and done to my satisfaction. No SQL databases or difficult setups.

Nice comparison piece on lifehacker that might give you a good over view.

 

http://lifehacker.com/5991757/should-i-use-plex-or-xbmc-for-my-home-theater-pc

 

I personally use both, main htpc is XBMC and use Plex for remote clients.

 

One useful tool to help with meta data matching and filing that I use is filebot. As filebot uses the same meta data source as XBMC and Plex, if I use it to rename and file, 99% of the time I get the correct match on both XBMC and Plex.

 

I would suggest giving both a go as both are free for local clients.

+1 for Filebot! Renamed both my files and folders.

 

I started messing around with XBMC yesterday and it seems pretty nice. I was thinking about just making it my main program that manages netflix, hulu, and amazon prime but from what others have said the functionality of the programs would be pretty limited. In all honesty, it is really easy to open the internet browser and then click on the saved links. So without needing to manage those programs, having a media center that only manages my movie files seemed a little cumbersome, due to having to click though all the menus just to get to the movies folder (although I am sure there is some way to make it load the movie page by default).

 

I found a free beta program online "movie explorer" that is really quick and easy to understand (huge plus because I am not the only one using the htpc). I am thinking about giving that a go for awhile and seeing how I like that.

if you use XBMC and have central sql then there is very little to no real reason to use any nfo tool. XBMC can natively do everything needed. Using an nfo tool is just doing it a different way... usually the windows crowd

 

top tip chck the wiki for url only nfo as a simple extra but super powerful feature

XBMC and Airvideo for remote...

 

I like the plex interface but it is VERY inaccurate in getting movie titles right, and that bugs me ..

 

I've not had many issues on the matching by following their naming convention guides, however I wish the built in scanner would use nfo files when present.

 

TheWombat

XBMC and Airvideo for remote...

 

I like the plex interface but it is VERY inaccurate in getting movie titles right, and that bugs me ..

 

I've not had many issues on the matching by following their naming convention guides, however I wish the built in scanner would use nfo files when present.

 

TheWombat

There is a custom xbmc nfo agent for plex. See here :

http://forums.plexapp.com/index.php/topic/38402-metadata-agents-for-exported-xbmc-library

I use XBMC, but I have a question about Plex for remote media sharing.  Does the average home cable internet have enough upload speed to stream videos effectively?  Do you have to have a special client or app to view the ,ibrary or videos?

I use XBMC, but I have a question about Plex for remote media sharing.  Does the average home cable internet have enough upload speed to stream videos effectively?  Do you have to have a special client or app to view the ,ibrary or videos?

 

Plex has a client for most operating systems including Mac OS, Linux, Windows, Roku, iOS, Android etc. I have no issues streaming to my iOS devices when away from home. Plex will transcode on the fly - so if you have a 40GB blu-ray MKV it will transcode it down to match what the client device can handle.

 

It's well worth trying and seeing whether it meets your requirements.

 

TheWombat

 

XBMC is for real men.

 

OpenELEC is what real men use.

 

+1 for XBMC

 

However I don't think my unraid's APU C60 is man enough for plex.

 

I have 3 Openelec zotac zboxs nanos in the bedrooms , mythtv backend/XBMC frontend with hdhomerun prime in the living room and an Unraid server with mySQL for XBMC's and mythtv, mythweb, apache, sabnzb, sickbeard, and XBMCSalud plugin to update mySQL. 

 

I don't stream anything but tv.  All my devices can play hd content.  I just run XBMC on all clients (laptops, tablets, smartphones, Openelec boxes, desktops).  I can play all movies, music videos, music, tv shows, live tv/recorded and pictures through XBMC.

Plex all the way IMHO, although I'm sure the variety of clients I have (none of which are HTPCs) made Plex a better fit for me than XBMC. Plex running on my unRAID server and many different devices including Rokus, Samsung Smart TVs, iPhones, iPads, and laptops, all of which have Plex clients.

 

The Plex Sync feature is also awesome for easily transcoding and storing content on devices such as iPads for offline viewing.

 

Plex all the way IMHO, although I'm sure the variety of clients I have (none of which are HTPCs) made Plex a better fit for me than XBMC. Plex running on my unRAID server and many different devices including Rokus, Samsung Smart TVs, iPhones, iPads, and laptops, all of which have Plex clients.

 

The Plex Sync feature is also awesome for easily transcoding and storing content on devices such as iPads for offline viewing.

 

Does your Samsung smart tv play .avi and .mkv files without needing plex to transcode the files? I ask because I have another computer that has a pentium 4 which would most likely have problems transcoding the movies but if your Samsung tv supported those files then I may be able to skip building a HTPC...

 

 

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I've tried Plex on both my Roku and Raspberry PI, and I find both of them are constantly buffering on me to the point of being unwatchable.

 

XBMC on the raspberry plays so much nicer.

 

And IMO, the skinning and themes on XBMC for a home PC is much better than Plex.   

 

But for tables, and phones and streaming away from home, Plex is in the Winner.

 

I also like to use a 3rd party scraper for nfo info as well.  Its a lot easer IMO when you go to rebuild a front end client.

 

I've tried Plex on both my Roku and Raspberry PI, and I find both of them are constantly buffering on me to the point of being unwatchable.

 

XBMC on the raspberry plays so much nicer.

 

And IMO, the skinning and themes on XBMC for a home PC is much better than Plex.   

 

But for tables, and phones and streaming away from home, Plex is in the Winner.

 

I also like to use a 3rd party scraper for nfo info as well.  Its a lot easer IMO when you go to rebuild a front end client.

 

 

Have you tried a version of the Plex server in the last few months? They introduced a brand new transcoder that has fixed the constant buffering problems I had in the past. Works flawlessly now.

 

 

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