Plex coming to Xbox One

One of the cooler announcements from BUILD this year was the support for universal applications — software that can run on more than one Windows-powered device. It appears that Plex, the popular fork of the XBMC project, is going to take advantage of this and is coming to the Xbox One. Want to hear even better news? Since the Xbone can't yet run these apps, a stand-alone version is also coming as soon as it is ready!{.nofollow}

Tyson Edwards, posting in the official Plex forums{.nofollow}, broke the news:

I would like to make you all aware of some very exciting news...Microsoft has approved the development of a Plex Client for Xbox One.That is correct, we have been granted membership into ID@Xbox specifically for the development and eventual release of Plex for Xbox One.This is in no way saying that it will be coming next week, or even next month, but starting tonight I will be applying my first test code to an Xbox One.More details will be coming soon.Thank you very much for your patience in this matter, and thank you very much for your support.

An official Dashboard update is expected soon that will allow universal applications to run on the Xbox One, and hopefully Plex will be ready with the universal app then. In the meantime, get ready for Plex on your Xbox One soon.

Via: TNW

Jerry Hildenbrand

I'm an RHCE and Electrical Engineer who loves gadgets of all kinds. You'll find my writings across Mobile Nations and you can hit me on Twitter if you want to say hey.

114 Comments
  • It'll most likely be faster too, no?
  • Faaaast
  • OMFG another boner popping moment!
  • SHWINGGGGG!!
  • lol
  • Really pleased to hear this =D I love Plex, its such an awesome piece of software, and now soon all i will need to make my Xbox experience complete is BBC iPlayer!
  • I haven't really looked at the Channels function in Plex but there's an iPlayer option in there.  Plex might kill two birds with one stone for you :)
  • Needs crunchyroll too ;). But this huuuge news for me.
  • This is great news. Now I can finally get an Xbox One.
  • Outstanding. Can't wait for this. Plex is awesome.
  • Wooohooo;
  • That's all I needed to hear to convince me to buy this over an HTPC. I have a Windows 8, Windows Phone, and Surface 2 other products, but did not get an Xbox One because I prefer to use my PC for gaming. Now I'll buy a console for a great living room experience!
  • It really is a great living room device. Now with Plex, it is a no brainer. The new Xbox glass beta is amazing too. Gives you so much more control of your stb.
  • Well you will still need a Plex "server" to serve up content. Don't throw that HTPC idea out just yet! This will just be a Plex client. Posted via the WPC App for Android!
  • This pleases me.
  • Glad for Xbox One users as Plex is pretty awesome.
  • How does plex work compared to XBMC? I'm currently using XBMC on an ATV as my xbox lacks even basic media functionality and codecs. I looked at the plex site but im not sure how this works? Is it cloud or local media based?
  • Plex is an XBMC fork. Works much the same.
  • It's pretty similar. PLEX on every platform I use (PC, Surface, WP and PS3) basically streams from the local media server you choose (I use the PC). So far it's the best streaming service I've found. PLEX also allows cloud sync but that requires a subscription of 3.99 a month (I don't do it).   PLEX also has the advantage of being available pretty much everywhere. They have apps for Windows RT, Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8, something XBMC doesn't.
  • It is a server/client software. It is local server media based wirh some cloud functionality, and transcodes your media realtime. Everything is served either on the native app plate or via DLNA. Works for serving up your media files both to the 360, PS3 as well as your smart TV/dvd. It's the nicest piece of software i have ever used. You can even stream your media when you are not at home via the phone, surface, or from the website.
  • Excuse the question... But with the 360 I could turn on the PC (not log in to Windows, just have it on), and my 360 would allow me to browse the shared folder. I didn't have to touch the PC, or press "play to", it just worked. Does this work the same?
  • This would be GREAT! :)
  • Now if only they'd have a client AND server on Xbox One and let us put our media on large external drives it would be perfect! Xbox One for all media! Streaming out to other devices in the house would be worth it.
  • So, dumb question, but could this be used to cover the lack of Media Center support with XB1? For example, play the movies and music from my desktop on my tv and home theater? I have to keep my 360 hooked up too until there is a solution.
  • Yes. And even better, plex gets the meta data automatically and will transcode everything that isn't supported natively. It even works well with .mkv
  • Wow, awesome, thanks for the reply. This is exactly what I've been waiting for!!!
  • Man, I'm really excited about this. I can't wait to see what awesome updated come to the Xbox One to better integrate with the entire ecosystem. My favorite function so far is "Play To when right clicking a video in Windows 8.1. I've never used Plex but it sounds like I will be able to browse my own library fron my computer and play directly on the XBox One? I have no idea. Can someone fill me in?
  • Plex is awesome. I have it on my Roku 3, Surface and 920. All my movies and TV shows streams decently from my PC. Here is a video with all the info you will need: http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=UK4XBLa6w5s
  • Thanks!
  • nice! Thx!
  • But doesn't the Play To function built into Windows 8 already do this? What makes Plex better?
  • For starters you can browse your media directly from your xbox and also stream formats that are not natively supported by xbox out of the box.
  • Finally!!! Now I don't have to switch my receiver ever! Please support surround sound.
  • Dear Microsoft and Steam,
    Please release a Steam app for home network game streaming. Thanks.
  • YES! now I can finally actually buy one.
  • Whaaatttttt!!!!!!!!!! Hdjsbsjzxjsbsksjzbhxssv -falls
  • Awesome. I love PLEX!
  • If they add Media Center extender support I will get an Xbox One.  I won't hold my breath.
  • This basically replaces it. I think Media Center is, sadly, basically dead at this point. Down the road having Plex and Miracast support will have you covered
  • No, it doesn't. Media Center is necessary for recording TV.
  • Thats probably the one place where it doesnt exactly replace it, but you could probably find a way from the plex media server to transcode it on the fly so that it fulfills the same function. Plex devs and moderators are very responsive in their forums, i'd encourage you to ask them about it. I don't know your use cases, but it doesnt sound like you're really a gamer, so why even bother with an Xbox One at all? Prior to the XB1 coming out I picked up a cheap dell desktop to use as an HTPC and it works great, you could just do something like that and save the money.
  • Simplicity. Netflix, Plex, games, MLB.tv, recorded TV, etc in one box. No more switching from Xbox 360 to Roku.
  • No. Media Center support in Plex isn't what you are thinking. Media Center users typically record OTA television or cable. It essentially is the best unknown DVR out there in my opinion. I've been using it for many years now and since the media center extender functionality from the 360 is absent from the Xbox One, it would help if Plex could/would stream or transcode .wtv files. This has been a feature request to Plex for a few years and they just won't do it. Oh well. Also, there is no need to take a strike at this guy being a non gamer. With the 360s non gaming abilities coupled with the Xbox One's abilities, that singular focus has been thrown out since forever. Posted via the WPC App for Android!
  • Thanks, I started using Media Center since ~2003 or 2004 with a TV tuner, and know exactly what its capable of, but probably havent used a cable tuner in it for a number of years. I would have thought someone would have figured out a way to get Plex to transcode at this point. I didnt mean the non gamer part as an insult. Before the Xbox One came out, i was looking for a similar solution because my PS3 and Xbox 360 were lacking 64bit compatibility (so you can't stream files greater than ~4gb to them). The best solution i found was getting a Dell Inspiron 660s (i think) that had a DVI out, and configuring Windows Media Center to run through to my receiver and bitstream the audio (takes some configuring, can help you guys if you need). It only cost me ~$250 or so, plus you'd probably need the MCE remote and an upgrade to Win8 Pro MCE. Since Rebornempowered seemed to want the Xbox One for Media consumption (ie, he's not focused on gaming or he'd likely have one already), a cheap x86-64 desktop is probably the best way to accomplish it (you get the benefits of Windows Media Center - just set it up to use a network share where the recorded TV files are saved). I imagine there is a way to get MLB.tv to work in it, similar to the way people have gotten HBOGo working.
  • Plex does support wtv files. I use this everyday for recorded tv. You can't use plex with live tv or currently recording tv. Its best to use something like Advanced Renamer to organize and rename the recordings.
  • Ref: mister2d,
    Yes. My family uses Windows Media Center (WMC) and a Ceton Inifinitv card to DVR record multiple channels of cable TV at the same time onto the central PC and then the live and recorded movies and TV shows are accessible at the PC and throughout the house using media extenders (we use XBox 360s).
    May I ask, what would Plex add to that?
  • It would allow you to watch your recorded tv on an Xbox One, as there is currently no way to do that because it isn't a media center extender like the Xbox 360.
  • My configuration and question as well. I'm concerned that with W9 coming out next year, it won't have WMC at all then what will users like us do? Even if it does, WMC hasn't been worked on in years and isn't going to be. What successors would it likely have?
  • They basically havent updated it since Windows 7, and i dont know if thats going to change. I don't know if they drop it from Windows entirely, they probably just dont keep developing it much more. At the end of the day, their vision is for everything to stream from the cloud through the xbox or computer. They put the cable input into the Xbox One to hold us over until that day. I would imagine they are going to release an xbox set-top-box, hopefully "xbox mini", at some point as a set top box, and having it act as a basic media center extender, without actually having media center, is the likely outcome. Remember, when they launced MCE and MCE extenders, the Xbox 360 interface was not Metro. They could wrap a bunch of the same functionality into individual "apps" on a new "mini" xbox one without the need for a dedicated interface, and hopefully they do that with the Xbox One. As for the computer side of things, again, when MCE was launched there was no Metro interface, so it acted much like the start screen does today. I would imagine they can either pull the MCE components out of MCE and integrate them directly into WinRT as dedicated apps or add them as functionality to other apps (Video, for instance). This way, it works on tablets I think the most interesting aspect for desktops would be if they allow Hyper-V to run a virtualized instance of Xbox One or Xbox STB interface with Cortana or Kinect support. Until Microsoft actually puts out an all encompassing solution, Plex is an awesome alternative to access what you have at home from anywhere in the world (so long as your router is set up properly).
  • A very thorough and  insightful answer! I use a 360 as an extender and bought it primarily to use for that purpose; gaming was just an added feature for me.  I have a Ceton quad-tuner card and this setup works great. I've been using a program called Recorded TV HD that works as an improved WMC interface which was great until W8 & W8.1 came along and now it's unusable so I'm stuck using WMC which is a PITA and I'm wondering if Plex would be a suitable alternative until we see where MS goes with this.  
  • I looked into Plex a bit deeper and have two questions. How would this work with my Xbox extender as that is the only way I can watch TV now and what would I use for a remote? I use an Xbox 360 remote now. 
  • If you have a 360, you can't use plex, other than the Plex Media Server will act as a DLNA server that you can browse. I dont currently use MCE to record TV, so can't help on configuring Plex to stream it. Plex is a lot more interesting with the Xbox One because of the lack of Media Center Extender capabilities, which it appears you can get around with Plex. Basically the Plex interface replaces the Media Center Extender Interface.
  • Wow once you see it you'll pop a boner!
  • An Xboner?!?
  • LOL
  • And just like that my Amazon Fire TV is headed back, and my Roku 3 are relocated to the Bedroom and kids rooms. Thanks for saving me some $$$.
  • My xbox will now truly be the one box i need. (ok dvr still plugged in but neverless awesome.news)
  • HBOGO anyone? anyone?
  • Damn this is great and sad news at the same time. My Roku 3 is going to be pissed about this.
  • Its nice but I desperately need a crunchyroll app like 3 months ago today... I can't stand my smart tv version
  • I feel
  • I use http://plex.tv/web/app/ From the internet explorer, Login and play!
  • The plex twitter account is suggesting otherwise (https://mobile.twitter.com/david_macke/status/452561462376923136?p=v)
  • here it goes...
  • Don't be a troll and call it the "Xbone"
  • Really unprofessional. I had to check the URL to make sure I was at WPCentral. Plus the claim of a universal apps update for Xbox is false. Poorly written and researched article ....  
  • Universal apps extending to Xbox One was announced at Build in the keynote.
  • Why is that a troll? He called it Xbone obviously because its short for Xbox One. Need it spelled out for you? Xb=Xbox and one=One. Not that big of a deal.
  • So then it should be XbOne. Not Xbone. It's just plain stupid imho.
  • But isn't "Xbox" one word? So wouldn't it be "Xbox One"= "XOne" my .02
  • Its not like he addressed a dignitary or a person out of name. Its an inanimate object, lol
  • Was waiting for this, trigger = pulled
  • ......Now the Xbox One will serve a purpose.
  • Finally. Posted via the Awesome windows phone central app.
  • I am very pleased with this news.
  • Now we are talking... Give me a cheap version without Kinect or even without videogame funtionality and I'm in.
  • I think that's a Roku you're describing
  • F to the mother f'n YESSSSS!!
  • This is great news for XBox users.. I don't need it myself, though I do have PLEX media server set up on my PC as the server (serving up 3-4 folders full of hundreds of my movies) and the client apps on my phone (1020) and my Surface 2. PLEX is awesome!
  • I seriously want to develop for Xbox, how did he do that? Because ID@xbox is currently only for games. Can anyone tell me anything about this?
  • ID@Xbox is for apps too, but it looks like only for some devs @GDC (or build?).
  • I hope they open up the program a little more soon. I contacted them. Let's see if it's by contact only, or what.
  • Best news all day
  • The PlexApp twitter account is denying this as false.
  • "The PlexApp twitter account is denying this as false" If you deny its false,isn't that the same as saying its true?
  • lol that's the way I read it as well... a double negative!
  • They're actually just sayin that this guy is not part of the plex team, therefore, this is not an official plex app.
  • The system video app on the 360 reads my plex share just fine. Does the One not have something similar already?
  • No. It doesn't. :( Posted via the WPC App for Android!
  • A shame it's not an official app, but I'll take it.
  • I really want MS to unify stores W8/WP8 so i can buy this app.
  • Hope PlexPass members get first dibs.
  • Not likely. This dev is not part of the plex team. This will be a third party plex player
  • I would rather see mediabrowser 3. It looks much nicer and offers a few more features. My HTPC  
  • I agree, they are currently going through the process, until then the latest server beta alows you to "send to dlna" from the app.. Works pretty well too
  • I currently have a HTPC server with 12TB running XBMC. If I could replace that and use Plex on the Xbox One with all the voice commands to play movies/TV shows.... whoa!!!
  • This news just made my day. I am glad this came around before the fully enabled DLNA came out. Plex is a much better solution for me, and I will gladly be paying for the Plex Team's efforts.
  • Would the use of Plex work with my Windows Media Center, Ceton Inifinitv cable card and my Xbox360 Extenders? How would it improve my whole house media system? I've heard of Plex but don't understand its use? I'll have to research it. I don't think it connects to Comcast with a Ceton card, so how does it record and view multiple channels of live cable TV? If Plex does all this, could I then add an XBox One using Plex?
  • No. There is no extender functionality in Xbox One.
  • The developers of MediaBrowser 3 are currently going through the process of being accepted into the ID@Xbox program as well.
  • I haven't tried Plex as I running sage extenders to my tvs. Would this be a viable alternative? Does it play VOBs with menus etc?
  • To answer my own question, it looks like Plex doesn't play isos or vobs.  Ah well, guess I'll be sticking with my sage extenders.
  • I'm so excited by this news.
  • Now we talking Xbox in every room... Media extender????
  • That sounds too good, I haven't used Plex but I see plenty of people here who vouch loudly for the service, I just don't want to pay $5/app at the moment since I don't use or need something like that so much right now.
  • This doesn't do for me. 1/ I don't wanna pay a monthly fee.
    2/ Why have two devices on to stream a movie OTA, that the Xbox should be able to play by itself
    3/ If it works just as well as the play to on my network ... 720p stutters so much. All I need is a media player that will accept about any file I can feed it on a thumb drive. Then, I'd be happy. To a certain extend my PS3 does a better job, as I can transcode pretty much anything and it'll play on it from a USB stick (but I'll have to cut it into 4gb parts...).
  • Ref: blob741,
    May I ask, what are all these file types that won't play? I can't remember when I last came upon one. Where are you running across them?
    Maybe I need to get out more?
  • Well, it might be my lack of knowledge but, let's say I have a .mkv file. How can I play it on my xbox ? The closest I came to doing that was by transcoding it and then using the play to option, which A/ makes me use two machines to watch a video which I find silly ; B/ doesn't work well (anything above 480p is just unwatchable on my network). I can cope with transcoding as I did with my PS3, but really after that IMO, the playback needs to be flawless and not require anything besides my xbox/tv/home cinema to be on. I'd be thrilled if you had a solution that I overlooked.
  • thats very cool, but without DTS-HD and TrueHD support it wont replace my htpc completely.
  • Best news ever
  • That's nice but I would prefer XBMC. An XBOX media center would be great on a XBox, wouldn't it? But I really can't see any effort of doing such thing. Back to the root please!
  • This is great a plus for Xbox, HBO wake up!
  • Okay this post was in April, any updates?
  • Okay this post was in April, any updates?