Plex launches live TV streaming service on Roku

[David Matthews]

Media server platform provider Plex is bringing its live TV streaming service to Roku. Plex’s streaming service launched earlier this year and currently works with iOS, Android, Apple TV, Android TV, Amazon Fire TV and of course, the web.

The addition of Roku gives Plex access to a considerable customer base with Roku being the leading streaming media player in United States. According to recent consumer research from Parks Associates, about 37 percent of all streaming media players in the U.S. are Roku devices. By comparison, Amazon comes in at 24 percent, Google’s Chromecast is at 18 percent and Apple picks up the rear with 15 percent of the pie.

Plex Live TV is part of its own subscription service, Plex Pass, in which it takes the signals you get from your digital antenna and presents it in an easy-to-use guide. Live TV also includes additional features such as DVR and the ability to pause, rewind, and fast-forward through live TV. At launch, users will not be able to schedule recordings within the Roku app itself but will be able to watch recordings that were started on other devices.

According to the official announcement, a beta release is out now for subscribers who have the Roku preview channel. The feature will be more widely distributed to all Plex Pass subscribers in about a week.

At only $4.99 a month, the Plex Pass is a great deal for those cord cutters who only care about getting content over-the-air in a user-friendly way. Add to that the hundreds of channels available through Roku and you have quite a bevy of content in an affordable package.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/71404-plex-launches-live-tv-streaming-service-roku.html

 

[Uncle Al]

Just picked up a Roku box and going to start playing with it this weekend. Once I get the major networks and local stations I'll be saying goodbye to Spectrum (Charter) who continues to raise prices while dong away from the basic channels. They have great internet service, but the cable TV is just gone into the toilet.

 

[EClyde]

Well, from what I can tell there are going to be a hundred TV streaming services all offering the same retread crap, Folks will be able to smirk they cut the cable though and pay less for less crap then I pay for.

 

[jizzyburnizzy]

Just picked up a Roku box and going to start playing with it this weekend. Once I get the major networks and local stations I'll be saying goodbye to Spectrum (Charter) who continues to raise prices while dong away from the basic channels. They have great internet service, but the cable TV is just gone into the toilet.

If you are still looking for some of the common TV channels check out sling TV. its only $20 a month and theres a roku app for it. We love it

 

[Someone8MyPosts]

I used to think Hulu was OK, but they've updated the UI for someone who's basically blind. The fonts and channel selections are super HUGE and it's a pain to see what's new (5 steps to get to something that was a click or two away). It's awful and just about enough to make me want to cancel the service.

 

[docbill]

Not exactly exciting or new news. To take advantage of the plex feature, you need to buy an internet receiver such as HDHOMERUN. But that already has an app for the roku. What are you gaining? Basically the ability to to use the same app for both DVR and live TV. But lets consider the costs. An lifetime plex subscrition is $160 CAD. A good set of HD antennas is $100 CAD or up. An HDHOMERUN Extend is $200 CAD. Assuming you already have a plex server and Roku, that is still $460 CAD you are spending to watch live TV. You could just buy the antenna and connect it to your TV to save the $360 CAD. But lets say you also want the DVR feature.

If you are really lucky your hardware will continue to work for 4 years. So that is about $10 CAD/month. It seems like it might be a good deal, until you realize the 10-20 channels you pickup are largely redundant and have few shows you would like to watch or record. So basically you are paying $10 CAD/month for something most people won't bother to watch for free. At least not if they can have a Netflix subscription instead.