Learn more about Plex’s media server features and abilities
Learn more about Plex’s media server features and abilities
Viewers might simply think of Plex as just another free streaming service, but that’s just a small fraction of its capabilities.
How familiar are you with Plex? You can be forgiven if you’re not terribly familiar with the service beyond its free streaming capabilities. After all, Plex offers hundreds of live streaming channels, as well as thousands of on-demand TV episodes and movies at no cost. But there is much, MUCH more to Plex than just a free streaming service. Viewers can use Plex to manage their own personal media, watch live TV by connecting an antenna, and more. Find out everything you can use Plex to do in this handy guide.
Everything you can do with a Plex subscription
What is a Plex Media Server?
Plex’s Media Server is a feature that all subscribers get when they sign up for a free account. It lets you create a personal library using your own digital media, including TV shows, movies, and music. You can set up new libraries, manage the files within, and change names, folder locations, etc. at will, making it incredibly easy to organize and access your personal media library.
You can even share your media with other Plex subscribers, and segment your libraries to let specific viewers see specific content that you have set aside. You can add specific videos for just one person to look at, then remove them at will should you choose.
What is Plex Pass?
The free features of Plex are more than enough to make anyone who uses media heavily sign up for an account. But once you’re signed up and you want to get even more from your Plex subscription, you should look into a Plex Pass subscription.
The Plex Pass unlocks Plex’s features on its mobile apps for Android and iOS devices. This means that users will no longer be limited to one minute of playback on their mobile devices while using their Plex Media Server.
Plex Pass subscribers also get to skip the credits, as well as intro scenes in the shows and movies they’ve uploaded to their personal libraries. In addition, subscribers get to record over-the-air broadcasts if they have an antenna hooked up to their Plex server.
Other features of the Plex Pass include the ability to stream trailers and behind-the-scenes content from titles in their libraries, hardware-accelerated streaming/transcoding, premium music features in Plexamp, and more.
The Plex Pass is even available as a lifetime subscription, so there’s no need to worry about paying for the service each month as you do a typical subscription streaming service.
How to sign up for a lifetime Plex Pass
- Click here to sign up for the Plex Pass.
- Scroll down to choose the lifetime subscription option, or choose from monthly and annual plans.
- Create you Plex account, or sign in to your existing one.
- Enter your payment information and finish signing up.
How does Plex’s Universal Search work?
Another great feature that free Plex users get access to is the Universal Search. Once you sign up for your Plex account, you can choose which subscription streamers you’re signed up for and Plex will comb through them all to find specific titles, show you complete filmography for chosen actors, let you browse by decade, and more all through a single platform.
Watch live TV with Plex
Plex lets free subscribers connect a compatible tuner and antenna to their servers, unlocking live TV streaming with no monthly subscription costs. You can stream all the local broadcast channels delivered by your antenna, potentially including ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC, PBS, and The CW so long as they can be found in your market.
Listen to music with Plexamp
Once you’ve uploaded your personal music library, you can use Plexamp to organize it into playlists and listen on-demand. You can even use Plexamp to listen to audiobooks and saved podcasts.
What’s new on Plex?
One of the best things about Plex is that it is continually updating its features to make for the best possible user experience. For example, in October Plex added the ability to leave reviews on TV shows and movies, share them with friends, and even mark them as spoiler-filled if they might have details about the plot.
Plex is also rolling out a major update for its user apps soon, one that will make them easier and more intuitive to use. The company wants its platform to be as user-friendly as possible and is constantly thinking of new ways to upgrade the experience for subscribers.
Plex
Plex is a free streaming service that includes on-demand access to 50,000+ movies and TV shows. The service also offers 1,100+ free-to-stream live TV channels in 193 countries. Users can also connect Plex to their computers to stream and share any media they have on their hard drives.