Plex

I'm still very happy with my Roku box - I would use it for all my TV watching if I could. But the content providers are restricting access - ESPN3 is a perfect example. It runs in the Flash player on a computer but there is no Roku support. The over-the-top ESPN3 offering appears to be more flexible (support for Roku and Android), but I only have access via my ISP (AT&T U-verse). So I decided to check out Plex Media Server.

The Plex server transcodes whatever video you throw at it, and encapsulates it for HLS. That means the Plex channel on Roku can play back many sites that are Flash-only. I've had pretty good experiences with ESPN3 and PBS on the Roku. There is a startup delay (while the transcoder runs on my desktop), but otherwise the streams work very well. CNN and YouTube work even better, since they offer video that the Roku can play natively - the Plex server doesn't need to transcode it.

Plex also serves up video files nicely - movie files on the computer play back on the Roku, high quality and pretty effortlessly. I also bought the Plex app for Android, mainly to support the project but it's also fun to play with.

Setting up Plex is not hard, but it's not exactly intuitive... The server application is called the "Plex Media Server" and it gets installed on the machine that holds your video files. The client application is called "Plex Media Center." You can install the client on multiple machines, but I installed it on the Server. The client is used to add channels like ESPN3 and YouTube. Plex for Android is a client application as well.