'Plex Cloud' for Accessing Media Anywhere is Now Available to All Plex Pass Users

[MacRumors]

Plex today announced that its new Plex Cloud service has officially launched, making it available to all Plex Pass users. Plex Cloud has been in beta testing since September of 2016, but is now ready for a wider release.

Plex Cloud is designed to allow Plex users to store their media in the cloud so that it's accessible from anywhere without the need to set up a local server.

Using a compatible cloud service, Plex Pass subscribers can create an always-on Plex Media Server that can stream any media content to any device with Plex installed in 60 seconds or less. As with a standard local server, media is organized using the Plex app for quick access to TV shows, movies, music, pictures, and more.

Because Plex Cloud relies on cloud storage, Plex Pass customers will need access to Dropbox, Google Drive, or OneDrive. A subscription may be required, based on how much storage space is required for an individual's media library.

A Plex Pass is also required for access to Plex Cloud. The Plex Pass, which includes access to other upgraded features as well, is priced at $4.99 per month, $39.99 per year, or $119.99 for lifetime usage.

Article Link: 'Plex Cloud' for Accessing Media Anywhere is Now Available to All Plex Pass Users

 

[blevins321]

With no built-in encryption support?

 

[Fall Under Cerulean Kites]

Would someone tell me where I can buy PlexPass Lifetime for only $119.99? I’ve only seen it for $149.99 in recent years.

Edit: Nevermind. I just discovered this cool thing called “google” that let me find the answer.

 

[Kes.Siebring]

I just use ResilioSync to sync movies between my NAS's.

 

[now i see it]

Plex is good for ripped DVDs, music & pics. No encryption necessary. Bye bye iCloud Photo Library.

 

[EdT]

In physical area, if not in population, most of the US has 15mb or slower internet speeds. I'm not just talking about cellular speeds but Cable and DSL connections to homes and businesses. I live in one of those areas. All of the talk about "going wireless" or of "easy access to your data" is based upon a communication system that doesn't exist for many people in this country.

 

[reiggin]

Seeing as how I have 4TB of media on my local Plex Media Server, I don't think there's a cloud solution that is cheap enough to make this worthwhile for me. Nice idea, though, if you have a very small library.

 

[donlab]

Does this mean If one had plex pass and 0365 with 1 TB one drive account that they could be linked? I have 0365 through employer and one drive is empty....

 

[lenard]

With no built-in encryption support?

Whats to encrypt? We talking movies music and tv shows here, everyone has seen them or will see them....

 

[Rigby]

Plex is good for ripped DVDs, music & pics. No encryption necessary.

As long as it's strictly your own material, it'll be fine. But uploading other copyrighted stuff is a violation of the terms of all major cloud providers and may lead to account suspension or worse. It may sound silly, but in the US even a ripped DVD may be a violation of the DMCA (since ripping involves circumventing the DVD's DRM).

Is it likely that infringing content will be discovered? Probably not, but it's not unheard of either. Microsoft is known to scan Onedrive files for illegal image material. And they don't even need to scan your files to recognize known pirated files from torrent sites etc.:

https://techcrunch.com/2014/03/30/h...stuff-without-actually-looking-at-your-stuff/

 

[Dapsol]

With no built-in encryption support?

...where are you going to store the encryption key needed to play the media, in the cloud as well??
it's not technically possible to use encryption when using Plex Cloud.

(unless you could store the encryption password inside your Chromecast device or whatever - which is not possible.)

 

[syobwoc]

Whats to encrypt? We talking movies music and tv shows here, everyone has seen them or will see them....

I think what they means is that some users use plex with pirated content. Having to upload these files to cloud storage sites unencrypted is asking for trouble. Personally I think Plex cloud is cool, but i'd like to keep my content on my local NAS.


edit: spelling doh!

 

[yamaha54]

Ripping a blu ray/dvd you paid for is illegal in the US. So even if your entire video library is ripped from you own physical media collection its all considered illegal content. Its not as big a risk to do that if the content stays on a server or storage in your own home i would say. But Now your going to take all this "illegal" content and upload it a cloud storage provider, all of which have terms of service that basiclly give the full access to you content? There is no where i can think of to get HD movie files LEGALLY with no DRM or encryption and you are free to use as you please. Now i'm not saying google, dropbox, and Microsoft are just gonna instantly delete your files but they might determine at some point that your content breaks there TOS and remove it. My other fear is the MPAA gets wind of all this are starts trying to pressure these providers to delete there content or possibly help them pursue legal action against users. Anyone else thinking the same thing? Maybe i'm just being overly cautions?

 

[imronburgundy]

Plex is my most used AppleTV app. Period.

 

[DipDog3]

The beta was pretty flakey, half the time the cloud server wasn't working. Hope they have fixed it.

 

[Crzyrio]

I think what they means is that some users use plex with pirated content. Having to upload these files to cloud storage sites unencrypted is asking for trouble. Personally I think Plex cloud is cool, but i'd like to keep my content on my local NAS.


edit: spelling doh!

No one can really tell if the content your streaming was gotten from a torrent or ripped dvd.
They can only tell it is a movie/show/video.

Torrenting is very different than streaming a Movie you have torrented.

 

[Tycho24]

In physical area, if not in population, most of the US has 15mb or slower internet speeds. I'm not just talking about cellular speeds but Cable and DSL connections to homes and businesses. I live in one of those areas. All of the talk about "going wireless" or of "easy access to your data" is based upon a communication system that doesn't exist for many people in this country.

Seeing as how I have 4TB of media on my local Plex Media Server, I don't think there's a cloud solution that is cheap enough to make this worthwhile for me. Nice idea, though, if you have a very small library.

This.

I absolutely LOVE Plex (on my Roku). What's brilliant is, the very moment a show or movie is done downloading in the other room; it's available in the living room!
With most internet providers, the u/l speed is significantly less than the d/l speed... so, if I were to take 30 minutes to download a movie- the very last thing I want to do is then spend an additional hour and a half turning around and uploading it, so THEN I can enjoy it.

 

[sinsin07]

Ripping a blu ray/dvd you paid for is illegal. ...snip

...Depends on what country you're in.

 

[blevins321]

No one can really tell if the content your streaming was gotten from a torrent or ripped dvd.
They can only tell it is a movie/show/video.

Torrenting is very different than streaming a Movie you have torrented.

No, they dedup their data so if a lot of people upload the same downloaded media, they know. It's not that it would be a big burden for them (just have to use the storage once) but it makes an easier target for enforcement.

 

[hagar]

Maybe I'm an exception but I still use iTunes to manage my movies and TV shows. There are some great tools out there that import all your files into iTunes and then they are easily available on AppleTV and iOS devices. I use VideoDrive for the job: converts video tracks if necessary and adds descriptions and artwork along the way.

I do agree with the critics that iTunes 12 is quite counter-intuitive, but I hope that Apple will either fix it, or finally split it in multiple applications and still maintain compatibility with existing media libraries.

 

[sinsin07]

Maybe I'm an exception but I still use iTunes to manage my movies and TV shows. There are some great tools out there that import all your files into iTunes and then they are easily available on AppleTV and iOS devices. I use VideoDrive for the job: converts video tracks if necessary and adds descriptions and artwork along the way.

All depends on your situation.
If you have a small library, have some time on your hands and don't keep a lot of TV/Movies on hand than iTunes can be fine.
However if you have hundreds of movies and hundreds of TV shows, maneuvering through the Computer icon on AppleTV is a chore.
In that instance Plex trumps Computers.
I still add content to iTunes as a back up, however Plex is primary.
Added bonus, you probably won't need conversion depending on file type, and it pulls the metadata.
Lastly, with in the Plex app, you can search for your content by voice.

 

[Sill]

I will never use Plex again, after my bad experience with them. Some other folks here pointed me to Infuse, and there my search ended. Its exactly what I need - easy streaming of locally stored media to my aTV4. The interface is perfect, and Infuse also looks up the metadata for me. Well over a hundred movies stored on my iMac, and Infuse works without letting me down.

Best part - no need to register with some remote server in order to watch stuff I have stored here, behind my firewall. I simply do not trust Plex.

 

[tbobmccoy]

This.

I absolutely LOVE Plex (on my Roku). What's brilliant is, the very moment a show or movie is done downloading in the other room; it's available in the living room!
With most internet providers, the u/l speed is significantly less than the d/l speed... so, if I were to take 30 minutes to download a movie- the very last thing I want to do is then spend an additional hour and a half turning around and uploading it, so THEN I can enjoy it.

I've got unlimited storage on Google via my University's Gmail account... although I found out unlimited meant 10TB

 

[bopajuice]

I run Plex on a NAS out of my home, have remote access, and no monthly fees. Just the other day I was driving and could not find anything on the radio so I used the plex app on my iPhone 7 plus, remotely connected to my house music library on the NAS and listened for over an hour no skips or anything. I was amazed. Love technology.

On another note tried to do the same the week before but forgot the stupid dongle to plug in. I have to plug into the aux jack in my car. Getting rid of the headphone jack was stupid.

 

[sinsin07]

I will never use Plex again, after my bad experience with them. Some other folks here pointed me to Infuse, and there my search ended. Its exactly what I need - easy streaming of locally stored media to my aTV4. The interface is perfect, and Infuse also looks up the metadata for me. Well over a hundred movies stored on my iMac, and Infuse works without letting me down.

Best part - no need to register with some remote server in order to watch stuff I have stored here, behind my firewall. I simply do not trust Plex.

Cool
Personally I don't care for the Infuse interface. Reminds me of Windows.
Out of curiosity, what was the bad experience with Plex?