Plex, Chromecast and streaming movies (and TV)

Finally, finally, the Chromecast supports Plex.

For those of you unfamiliar with Plex is an a brilliant media server that allows content to be streamed to PCs initially, but now all manner of devices.

It allows full control over the content, and when and where you can stream to. It provides artwork automatically and matches the media (with very good results usually) so it can then provide further information on the film/TV show/etc.

So for those of us that want to have our media (DVDs for example) physically still it is a great solution. (I am a bit old-fashioned I suppose, and I like to possess a physical copy of the DVD. It means I will always have that film/show regardless of what might happen with the Internet and streaming services for example. This doesn't apply to CDs and music I purchase - these are always digital downloads for me, but the difference is you can permanently download this to a PC and burn a disk for safekeeping). Obviously you will need to be able to rip and encode DVDs. I use DVD Shrink (or DVD Fab when this fails) and encode with Handbrake.

I have been using Plex for a while, but I really wanted an easy way to stream to a TV, or a device wherever it may happen to be. And now Chromecast has filled this gap.

I can now connect to my library wherever I happen to be, and stream content via the Chromecast. In practice this means at home, but I could take the device anywhere it is so portable. The quality is excellent (though obviously is reliant on your own hardware and internet connection). Controlling what to stream is so easy, all the content easily viewable on a device (phone, tablet, etc) and then send it to the TV. Excellent.

So Chromecast is really starting to be genuinely useful for me now. I look forward to more apps to be added to the growing list of those with Chromecast support.