Plex Live TV can now be accessed by Apple TV and Android users who can now watch live TV including live sports matches and news from their Plex apps on their phones/TVs. The update also features support for time shifting, including pause/play, rewind and fast forward options on the Plex TV app. The feature, launched in June, will require users to download the Plex pass subscription and a digital tuner hardware to use the free over the air(OTA) signal.
Once you combine the Plex media server with the Plex DVR and Live TV, you have everything you need to get rid of the cable that you pay for and record live TV right with the Plex app. Both the Plex DVR and Live TV app are out of the beta testing mode, so that is one thing that users have going for them. Besides the live TV, you can watch personal videos, listen to music and see pictures on literally any screen at your disposal.
In case you are stuck on Roku or Fire TV, Plex has also announced that the Plex app will soon be out for them too. The developers of the app had first introduced the DVR capabilities for users who could connect a TV tuner and an antenna to their Plex setup and then had come up with a more wholesome target DIY cord cutters that also had the additional feature of being able to stream live TV. It was first offered to iOS users and Android TV platforms(including the powerful Nvidia Shield TV) but now the company is moving to cover Apple TV and Android mobile platforms, by far the most common users of the Plex app.
Plex Live TV
Plex Live TV is a different package from the wide variety of live TV streaming services such as Sling TV, DirecTV Now, Hulu Live TV, Vue and YouTube TV. Plex TV does not offer local broadcasting combined with top cable TV channels brought over by the internet, the so called skinny bundle, instead it focusses on getting you only those stations that can be picked up via an HD antenna that you can fix and install yourself.
The whole deal with Plex TV is to provide a cheaper solution to people looking to get rid of their cable connection without having to spend extra on an additional streaming service to watch the best of TV programming. The company has also increased the number of digital tuner vendors in its lineup beyond HDHomeRun which was previously the only brand that worked with Plex’s DVR feature. With the expanded lineup, once you have selected your tuner, antenna and Plex software area and have had them configured, you can stream live TV and record shows directly using the Plex app.
The pass subscription service that you have to buy to avail this comes only at $4.99 per month, and there are discounts for those who subscribe monthly and annually. With the time shifting options available now on Live TV you can think of the Plex Live TV more as a modern version of the usual cable TV. Plex originally wanted to organize users’ personal media collections with media servers that enabled cross platform access.
While that is a big part of what they do, they have shifted focus to come in and fill the gaps where other media player solutions have failed. This foray into the world of live streaming may have been a smart move for the company, as its base has gone up from 13 million paying customers to 14 million after it announced the beginning of its live TV services in June this year. With the beta phase of its apps over, Plex TV now works on a variety of devices including iOS, Android mobiles and TV, Apple TV and the internet. With its stated target of Roku and Fire TV and other smart TVs, the crossover to all kinds of media platforms out there seems to be complete.
