do tell what is the issue with Plex? Whats the security issues?
My experience with Plex happened back in 2015. I started out with Plex as many people did at the time, hoping for something besides Airplay to get a movie from my computer to my Apple TV. A very simple request, but tvOS wasn't too mature at the time. Frequently I'd have a movie start and it would freeze up or the Apple TV would just return to the main menu. I was trying to avoid using Homesharing for certain reasons, but I finally gave up and turned it on. Because of that experience, I started looking for a basic client/server setup to do the job.
Several people here recommended solutions, ranging from AirParrot (I think) to Plex. I looked at the Plex site and decided to give it a whirl.
Trying to set up the Plex Media Server (PMS... heh) was plagued from the beginning. When I installed the PMS and pointed it to my movie directory, it also tried to get me to set up TV shows, picture files, and just about every other type of media I could think of. I didn't have any TV episodes, so I deselected that option. I have a lot of music, but I didn't need to stream that to a TV (that makes zero sense to me), so I deselected that. I have thousands of pictures, but I don't "share" them. A significant portion of them were from work I did on various TV productions or other major public events, and if they get out I could have major issues. So I deselected that option.
When the PMS install finished churning, the interface turned out to be horrible. I forget what the actual issues were - and I don't feel like browsing back through my posts here - but if memory serves me right it went to a very odd line after line repetition of the word "movie" followed by some other words. No beautiful interface full of screen art. Just text.
I found that Plex recommends using their home theatre app, even if that means running it on the same machine that serves the PMS. So I installed that. And there I found that Plex had taken it upon themselves to search out all the media on my machine and serve it up to the HT app, even the significant number of files I had that I was bound not to release "into the wild".
Fortunately, I airgapped the install to make sure nothing on the machine would get sent to the Plex cloud or anywhere else. I deleted the entire install, including all the hidden files I could find, based on a helpful article on the Plex site.
Months later, a couple of people here convinced me to try Plex again. Maybe the install was corrupted, or perhaps I'd screwed up the setup? In any case, there was a new version out so why not give it a chance? I fell for it, unfortunately. Setup went much the same way it did the first time, except it only took a handful of seconds instead of the ten minutes that happened the first time. And once again, there were all my extremely sacred photos listed for anyone to see. I didn't tell Plex they were there- I deselected the option to include the photos. So why did it take mere seconds for the install to finish exactly as it was the first time? It even had the original "friendly" name I assigned to my computer. So there were evidently some very deeply hidden Plex files on that computer that I couldn't find.
Delete that install too.
Ultimately, I did find a big pile of hidden Plex files, which I excised. And then I bought a new Mac when I had the chance and hand moved my data over to avoid copying any part of the Plex disease I might have missed.
They have quite a different approach to running what should have been a very simple system. PMS requires the use of a web page to administer it, instead of having a front end. This made no sense to me. I wasn't telnetting in from an outside location, nor was I trying to admin a router - I was sitting at the very machine that was running the server. They also tried to encourage people to sign up for a Plex account. They said it wasn't necessary, but that it would enable people to use their much-vaunted Remote features.
Lately I hear that they are no longer "recommending" Plex customers get a Plex account, they are now requiring it. Three years ago it was promoted as the only way to unlock Remote features. I was using Plex to serve movies from one computer to one Apple TV on the same network. Why would I need an account on a remote server to do that?
Quite simply, Plex wants access to everything you do. All of your media goes through their servers to get to where you are. I don't know what their end game is, but regardless of that I don't trust them.
Infuse does exactly what I want. I can serve movies from my iMac to my Apple TV, in Dolby 5.1, 1080p. No outsiders involved.
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can you remotely view content on say your ipad or iphone with infuse like plex does? I will have to check it out.
I have it installed on my bedside iPhone, which has been retired from cell service and simply works on WiFI.
You're probably referring to viewing outside the home network, though. I have no idea if it does that. My job is so busy that I don't have any time for things like that, so if I'm not at home I'm not watching movies.
TV? If not, everything you like about Chromecast stays. You'll just have another device that brings whatever else you might like about it after you have it.
