Plex Nine MobileClients
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Plex Mobile Clients
Plex Mobile Clients are available for a number of devices including iOS and Android.
Overview
Plex Mobile Clients have been created to extend the reach and flexibility of your media. Once you've installed and configured a Plex Media Server on your network, your media is easily available to the Mobile Clients. With some additional configuration, you can also connect to your media remotely over the Internet. You'll enjoy watching Internet delivered content via Plex Plug-ins - even a full-featured Remote Control that lets you control any Plex Desktop Clients on your network.
Plex uses smart streaming when sending the video data to your device. Instead of sending the full-resolution file, the Plex Media Server transcodes media on the fly to exactly the right resolution for your device. This conserves wireless data bandwidth as well as ensuring the video plays smoothly on lower-powered handsets. For other Plex-enabled devices (like a Plex-enabled AppleTV, or other non mobile device) that can handle higher resolutions, Plex can directly stream the higher resolution file without any transcoding.
Setting up Plex Media Server
A Pre-requisite to using a Plex Mobile Client is that you have installed and configured a Plex Media Server on your network.
- Additional Reading: Plex Media Server Guide
Installing the Plex Mobile Client
Visit the Plex Homepage, purchase and install the Plex Mobile Client for your device.
Requirements
Android Requirements
- An Android device running Android 1.6 through Android 3.0.x
- Plex Media Server 0.9.1.13 or higher
iOS Requirements
- An iOS device running iOS 3.1 or later
- Plex Media Server 0.9.2.6 or higher
First Launch
When you first launch the app, Plex will search for available Plex Media Servers in your area. Choose the one you want to connect to. If you've previously connected to a server, the app will attempt to re-connect to the same server. If it's un-available, a Server list will be shown.
- If no servers are discovered, make sure your PC or Mac is running the Plex Media Server.
Accessing tabs in Android
The bottom bar has a number of tabs - Library, Remote and Settings. To access the bottom bar:
- Press the hard button on your device
- Tap the bottom Android Tab
Settings
The Settings tab lets you choose or define Servers, Players and select other options.
Selecting and Adding Servers
The first time you launch the Plex Mobile Client, a list of available available Plex Media Servers will be shown. This list will also be shown if the Server you were using previously is not available. Tap the Server to use.
Adding a Server
You can connect to Remote Plex Media Servers over the Internet or across sub-networks. This requires a port-forward on your router. To manually add a Plex Media Server:
- Tap Add a new server...
- Enter a Friendly Name for the Server
- Tap Add a new connection...
- Enter the Host IP address and Port number to use for the remote Server
- Tap Save
The Plex Media Server may require authentication. Enter the Username and Password if required.
- Additional Reading: Plex Media Server Security
- Additional Reading: Sharing your media over the Internet
Find Nearby Servers
You can enable or disable local Server discovery by setting Finding Nearby Servers.
Android: See Android Advanced Settings to enable local server discovery settings.
Selecting and Controlling Players
Plex Mobile Client can control other Plex Desktop Clients in your area. This means you can browse your media, select a show and then choose to play it on your Lounge big-screen TV.
Choose a Player
- Make sure the Plex Client you want to select is running and the computer is awake
- Tap the show to watch
- The show will play on the Default Playback Device or
- Tap the Player to use from the list
Choosing a Default Playback Action
When selecting a show to play, you can choose to watch it on the mobile device or play it on a different player. You can choose a default action:
- Play on <Mobile Device>: The show will automatically play on the mobile device
- Play on <Player>: The show will automatically play on a selected Player
- Ask me every time: You will be asked every time you choose to play a show
Video Quality
You can select the video quality streamed to the device. Higher quality settings produce better looking video but use more network bandwidth. Automatic selection will select an optimized bitrate
- Local Wi-Fi: Select the desired stream bitrate to use when on your local WiFi network
- Remote WiFi: Select the desired stream bitrate for remote WiFi connections - like a Coffee shop hotspot - or a 3G Mobile Data connection
- 3G: (Android Only) Select the desired stream bitrate for 3G connections
Advanced Settings
Android Advanced Settings
The Android client allows the user to alter some additional settings via the "Advanced Settings" button on the main Settings screen.
- AV Sync Offset: This allows you to adjust the offset of audio from video in the event that there is lead/lag
- Enable Video Filter: Runs some video filtering algorithms to theoretically make the video look better, but requires more processor use on the device
- Less Color / More Speed: This does exactly what it says in that it allows you to sacrifice some color for slightly less burden on the device processor
- Enable G'Day Mate: G'Day Mate is our proprietary mechanism for finding Plex Media Servers
- Enable Bonjour / Zeroconf: Enables Bonjour (aka Zeroconf) to find Plex Media Servers, which is the standard method
- Enable Find Servers Logging: This turns on more detailed logging with regard to the finding of Plex Media Servers
Library
The Library tab lets you browse the Library Sections available on the connected Server. Navigation is very simple and there are several tools that will help you select the show to watch.
Choose a Section
Tap the bottom tab or press your device's hard button. Select the Library tab. You will see:
- The Sections available on the connected Plex Media Server
- Plex On-line
- Music or Video Plug-ins
To find a Movie or TV Show
- Select the Movie or TV Show section from the list
- Choose the filter selection
- Scroll the list until you find the show to watch
Plex On-line, Video and Music Plug-ins
Plex On-line lets you install plug-ins that lets you access Internet based media like You-tube, Vimeo and many others. The current Android interface puts access to these features in the Library instead of the Channels tab. An up-coming release will add the Channels interface. See the Channels section below for more details.
Choose a Section
Your Plex Media Servers might have several Sections - Movies, TV Shows, Personal Movies and Music for example. When you first select the Library tab, tap the Section to use.
Filter the Show List (currently iOS only)
You can filter the list of shows by tapping the Filter button at the top of the list. A list of filters is shown. Tap the filter to use and a new list is shown.
Search for a Show (currently iOS only)
You can search for a show with the Search tool.
- Tap the Search button
- Enter either some or all of the show name and tap OK
- Choose the show from the results
- To return from the Search screen to the main screen, tap the navigation button at the top of the screen
More comprehensive Server-wide Search is available from the Search tab
- Additional Reading: Server-wide Search
Play a Show
Choose the Show you'd like to watch and tap it in the list. Depending on the Default Player Action setting (see previous):
- The show will play on the mobile device
- The show will play on the Plex Desktop Client
- A selection will slide up for you to choose which device to use
See more information about a Show
If you'd like to see more details about a show, tap the i button at the Right. Once you've finished, tap the Close button at the top right. You can also tell if a show has been watched if the Watched indicator (above the i button) is lit.
Selecting the Audio and Subtitles Track (currently iOS only)
You can control the audio and subtitles track to play from the Info screen. To do this:
- Tap the Audio or Subtitle track whilst in the Info screen
- Choose the track to play, then Select
- Play the show
Any track selections you make here will 'stick' across other clients. For example, if you select 'Italian' as the Subtitle track on your Mobile Device, it will also be selected on the Mac Desktop client.
To have access to subtitles, you need to either enable auto-downloading in the Plex Media Server or have external .srt files.
- Additional Reading: Subtitles Guide
Player Controls
When a video is playing, you can show Player controls by tapping the image. You can:
- Play/Pause the video: Tap the Play/Pause button
- Rewind/Fast Forward: Tap the Rewind or Fast Forward button
- Adjust the Volume: Drag the volume slider left or right
- Choose a spot in the video: Drag the Video Position slider left or right
- Adjust video size: Adjust the video size to play full-screen or with black bars
- Cancel playback: Tap the Done button
Channels (currently iOS only)
The channels tab gives you access to several different types of resource:
- Internet Plug-ins you have installed
- Shared libraries like your iPhoto Library
You can also install and update plug-ins from the Channels tab.
- The Channels functionality is included in the Library tab on Android clients.
Install a Plug-in
Plug-ins let you view content from the Internet as well as some other items. To install a plug-in:
- Select the Channels tab
- Tap the + button at the top left of the screen
- Select the Plug-in category
- Select the Plug-in to install
- Once the Plug-in has installed, you can decide to go directly to the plug-in or return to the selection list
Update Plug-ins
Plug-ins are updated periodically. To check for and update the plug-ins installed:
- Tap the Update button at the top right
- Choose wether to Check for Updates or View Update History
Search (currently iOS only)
The Search tab lets you perform searches over the entire connected server and internet over a variety of key fields. When you enter a search term, you'll see results for:
- Movies sections
- TV Show Sections
- Music Sections
- Actor Name
- Internet Results - currently from YouTube and Vimeo
To use the Search tab, you must be connected to a Plex Media Server version 0.9.2 or greater
Remote
The Remote tab allows you to use your mobile device for direct control of instances of Plex Media Center running on your network. You can use these controls to navigate the menu system and even control video playback. There are two ways of controlling your media center: buttons and gestures.
Remote Buttons
Player Controls
Remote Gestures
iPhone and iPad:
- Move up/down/left/right: navigation
- Single tap: select
- Double tap: back
iPad only:
- Double swipe right: select
- Double swipe left: back
- Double swipe up/down: page up/down
- Triple swipe up/down: previous/next letter.
Frequently Asked Questions
There are some app specific issues that are covered in the app FAQ:
