MacRumors Giveaway: Win a Plex Cord-Cutting Bundle With Lifetime Pass, Antenna and TV Tuner

[MacRumors]

For this week's giveaway, we've once again teamed up with Plex to offer MacRumors readers a chance to win a cord-cutting bundle that includes a lifetime Plex Pass, an antenna, and a TV tuner for creating a live TV setup that provides all kinds of content that can be watched without the need for a cable subscription.

Plex is an all-in-one media hub that organizes your existing library of content from TV shows and movies to music and photos, plus it offers a whole slew of additional free content even if you don't have an existing media library.

Plex provides live news, Podcasts, live TV content, and ad-supported movies and TV shows made available through partnerships with Warner Bros, Lionsgate, Legendary, and more. Just today, Plex debuted support for TV shows and movies from Crackle, adding tons of new content that can be watched for free.

With the addition of Crackle, Plex users in the United States have access to more individual movies than can be streamed on Netflix, with no monthly fees, plus it includes original Crackle content.

One of the most useful parts about Plex is that it learns about your viewing preferences based on what you watch, so it can recommend new TV shows, movies, podcasts, and web shows that you might not otherwise have known about.

To use Plex, you can set up a Plex Media Server on a Mac, which makes all of your media content accessible on your devices through the Plex iOS and Apple TV apps, along with the Plex apps for consoles, Android devices, and other set-top boxes.

Plex's Live TV service, which can replace cable for basic television watching, doesn't require any kind of cable subscription. It can be set up with just a digital tuner and digital antenna, which lets you access HD content from channels available over-the-air like ABC, NBC, FOX, CBS, and the CW, plus local programming that includes sports and news.

Plex's website has a full rundown on which DVR tuners and antennas are compatible with Plex's over-the-air service, which is worth checking out if you're thinking of cutting out cable. For our giveaway, Plex is offering a Mac-compatible SiliconDust HDHomeRun Tuner with multi-room multi-user support, and a Clearstream Eclipse TV Antenna.

Plex's Live TV functionality requires a Plex Pass subscription, priced at $5 per month, $40 per year, or $120 for a lifetime subscription, all of which are more affordable options than a standard cable subscription. Plex is including a lifetime Plex Pass in the giveaway, providing our winners with lifetime access to Plex's premium service.

Plex's free content, which includes all of its ad-supported TV shows and movies, can be watched with a free Plex account.

We have two Plex cord-cutting bundles to give away, which include a tuner, antenna, and Plex Pass. To enter to win our giveaway, use the Gleam.io widget below and enter an email address. Email addresses will be used solely for contact purposes to reach the winners and send the prizes. You can earn additional entries by subscribing to our weekly newsletter, subscribing to our YouTube channel, following us on Twitter, following us on Instagram, or visiting the MacRumors Facebook page.

Due to the complexities of international laws regarding giveaways, only U.S. residents who are 18 years or older and Canadian residents (excluding Quebec) who have reached the age of majority in their province or territory are eligible to enter. To offer feedback or get more information on the giveaway restrictions, please refer to our Site Feedback section, as that is where discussion of the rules will be redirected.

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The contest will run from today (May 1) at 11:00 a.m. Pacific Time through 11:00 a.m. Pacific Time on May 8. The winners will be chosen randomly on May 8 and will be contacted by email. The winners will have 48 hours to respond and provide a shipping address before new winners are chosen.

Article Link: MacRumors Giveaway: Win a Plex Cord-Cutting Bundle With Lifetime Pass, Antenna and TV Tuner

 

[TheDailyApple]

This is one giveaway I won’t be entering as I never watch television programming.

 

[Derekeys]

Yes please

 

[Westside guy]

This is one giveaway I won’t be entering as I never watch television programming.

Thanks for letting us all know.

 

[gigapocket1]

I wish they would have posted a coupon for the lifetime membership. I would have bought in a heartbeat at a discounted rate

 

[Plutonius]

When you enter the contest, the screen says five days left while the article says it's until May 8th.

Which is correct ?

 

[SteveW928]

Plex really needs to get their act together and add some basic functionality people have been requesting FOR YEARS!

For example, say you're heading out on a road-trip and want to dump a bunch of videos quickly onto your kid's iPad. Well, you can't do that, because Plex has to re-encode all those movies before transferring them (sync).

And, it seems they simply refuse to add such a feature because it would be possible someone could 'download' a video that was unsupported by their player, which would then be a bad experience.

Or, how about if you store your photo library on your Plex server. Well, it is only good for giving your friends a slide-show in the living room or such, because they won't implement the capability to select some photos and download them locally (ex: say you want to print a photo book).

It seems at every turn, I run into usability road-blocks. What happens when you request such things on their support forums? You're told it isn't a good idea and that the way it works is the right way. People have been asking for this stuff for years, too.

 

[DeepIn2U]

The Illusionist, I always liked that movie. Not a bad giveaway.

 

[CarpalMac]

I have had a Plex lifetime pass for years now and it has been one of the best purchases I ever made.

Unfortunately, they keep playing around with the mobile app and have made it into a frustrating menu mess now, it's nowhere near as intuitive to use as it used to be and seems to push me towards podcasts and channel content, burying my library that I spent a lot of time ripping and building up. Also as @SteveW928 says, the re-encoding download takes ages and means you have to plan days in advance what you want to take with you.

 

[SeaFox]

It seems at every turn, I run into usability road-blocks. What happens when you request such things on their support forums? You're told it isn't a good idea and that the way it works is the right way.

This doesn't sound like the Plex forums I visit freqently. At the Plex fourms I visit, what happens when you request features is -- nothing. Your request sits there, and regardless of how many dozens (or hundreds) or people vote for the feature Plex as a company never responds and you're left scratching your head as to why you even bothered to ask.

Asking for support for an issue you're having with how things are already supposed to work isn't a whole lot different, three-quarters of the time. You're more likely to get helpful suggestions from the volunteer moderators than actual support from employees.

 

[mateytate]

Don’t even mention ‘The Plex Dance’.... The fact that is even a thing the company officially supports, goes to show how little they care about the user experience. I moved to Emby a few years ago and haven’t looked back.

 

[harriska2]

I use plex on my roku for free. A friend has a plex server on his computer, not sure he even pays monthly or needs a pass to do it. Have access to home movies and whatnot. Only thing we pay for is the plex ios app ($5).

 

[iKwick7]

Bought a plex lifetime a couple years ago on sale even though I really don’t need it. Ripped the entire dvd and Blu-ray library and have a plex server in the house for all the TVs. Love it.

fyi- plex lifetime usually goes on sale at least ones a year if anyone’s interested in it. Usually Black Friday week and maybe a second time at some point.

 

[Ray2]

A lifetime Plex pass. Sort of like being condemned to hell.

 

[name99]

I know there's a crowd of people who truly love Plex, but I have to say I find everything about it utterly maddening.

IMHO if you want what it offers, but in a much nicer, more "apple-like" UI experience
- use Infuse Pro for stored content. This runs on aTV and iPad, and can access stored content over the internet. I have the stored content on an external drive connected to my mac mini server.

- use Channels DVR for the TV side of things. Again very nice aTV and iPad apps, with the recorded TV shows saved on the mac mini server. Again accessible anywhere over internet.

- use Silicon Dust's HD Homerun as the tuner hardware. If you don't need to buy that right away, wait as long as you can and/or go to their Kickstarter page. Their current product (Homerun Quattro) is a 4-channel tuner for current OTA TV, but the Kickstarter is for a 4-channel tuner that is ATSC3.0 compatible, ie will work the US 4K TV broadcasts that will trickle out over the next few fears [already live in Phoenix, and I think one other test market now).

- for internal antenna, the best combination of performance and looking nice is the so-called mudflap antenna which looks nothing like a standard antenna. A little more expensive, but worth it, unless you want to go to the hassle of mounting an antenna on your roof. Mohu makes a very nice one --- IMHO buy the largest area one they sell.
For many use cases, you can just tape it to the back of your TV, like taping a sheet of paper, and never even see it!

 

[SteveW928]

... Unfortunately, they keep playing around with the mobile app and have made it into a frustrating menu mess now, it's nowhere near as intuitive to use as it used to be and seems to push me towards podcasts and channel content, burying my library that I spent a lot of time ripping and building up. ...

Yeah, they seem to keep trying to make the interface into Netflix or something. Maybe some people want their app to recommend content. I'd rather just have nice views into my library. I thought the interface would be more customizable than it is. I can make it work, but it isn't optimal.

This doesn't sound like the Plex forums I visit freqently. At the Plex fourms I visit, what happens when you request features is -- nothing. Your request sits there, and regardless of how many dozens (or hundreds) or people vote for the feature Plex as a company never responds and you're left scratching your head as to why you even bothered to ask.

Asking for support for an issue you're having with how things are already supposed to work isn't a whole lot different, three-quarters of the time. You're more likely to get helpful suggestions from the volunteer moderators than actual support from employees.

Yeah, I must be involved with the 'hot topics' as at least there seem to be replies from time to time. But, the replies are filled with attitude and leave little hope. I just don't get companies like this... certainly not a way to build loyalty.

I had heard so many good things about Plex, that I'm now kind of shocked. They must put a lot of $ into marketing or influencers or something. I really wanted to be a fan, too.

Don’t even mention ‘The Plex Dance’.... The fact that is even a thing the company officially supports, goes to show how little they care about the user experience. I moved to Emby a few years ago and haven’t looked back.

Yeah, I've been pointed there and need to give it a try one of these days. Is it relatively feature complete compared to Plex? I hate to try and run 2 apps, one to cover some features and the other to fill in other aspects. I can deal with that, but doubt it would fly for the family.

 

[pjarvi]

This would be perfect for me since I recently moved to a place where I get OTA TV and use Plex for movies, TV, downloaded Youtube videos. I find the server is excellent, it's only the clients that have issues. In particular, the Roku client crashes when trying to watch a movie with embedded subtitles.

 

[SeaFox]

I wish they would have posted a coupon for the lifetime membership. I would have bought in a heartbeat at a discounted rate

They do today.

 

[SteveW928]

They do today.

That's a lot of money until they make some much needed improvements. That said, I suppose I've given them half that or more already in monthly subscription. I need to test Emby soon so I can decide whether to go this route (which, IMO, they haven't earned), or cut them off.

 

[tothemoonsands]

Not entering this giveaway as I already have the Lifetime Plex + Antenna + HDHomeRun tuner, but for anyone interested...I highly recommend! It’s a bit pricey for everything but once you have it, you won’t look back and it’s a great value over time. Good luck to all!

 

[Vdiddy]

Thanks for the chance.