2011 Mac mini + Plex + Rokus = Happy house!

[Ben Tex]

I'm back to having a Mac mini at the center of my media center. This time it also feeds two Rokus with PMS in other rooms. And man, it's awesome! I think it's the best multi-room setup ever for me. There are some delays here and there, but still awesome for the money. The Rokus also have nice remote apps for Android and iOS for out of sight control. So, is anyone else here running a similar setup? If so, do you feel the same way? I know one thing. The Roku blows away the Apple TV as far as standalone functionality. Well, at least until AirPlay support comes to Mountain Lion. The ballgame might change then. But take in mind, you can almost buy two Rokus for the same price.

[unblowupable5]

I have a Mac Mini HTPC in my living room running EyeTV, Plex and a couple of other apps (controlled with a Harmony remote). I had been using a jailbroken AppleTV2 in my bedroom as a second Plex player. I was getting sick of the jailbreaking stuff, so on a whim I picked up a Roku LT for $50. Couldn't be happier with it. And I agree, it blows the AppleTV away. That could change if Apple opened an app store for it, but as of now I don't miss the Apple TV at all.

[Bandit Bill]

I'll have to take a closer look, seeing you guys are giving the Roku so much praise.

Personally I had no issue jailbreaking my AppleTV2, so I'd be interested in additional benefits. Currently running Plex server on my iMac, it is serving a jailbroken AppleTV2 upstairs and a 1.83 GHZ C2D Mac mini downstairs. I have the mini launch right into Plex upon boot up, but even if running the OS as soon as I press a button on my AppleTV remote the mini will launch Plex, so I don't even need to keep a keyboard or mouse around.

[justmeee]

I'm interested in getting a Roku for my spare room. Right now I have my mini with plex in the main room. Most of my movies are MKV. How does Roku with plex handle MKVs and streaming?

[Cypher]

I came across a Mac app called Beamer this week and quickly gave the trail version a go. It worked so well with all the various files I threw at it that I decided to buy it and to give up with Plex on my jailbroken AppleTV.

Since running it I even found subtitles would work if I updated my ATV firmware to a later version. So Plex was ditched and I restored my AppleTV to the latest Apple firmware and I now have subs working with Beamer.

OK Beamer isn't in the same league as Plex and I don't have all the cataloging of Plex but as I still run Plex on my other devices its not too difficult to fire up Plex and have a look through my library for something I want to watch. Then if I want to sit on the sofa in the living room and watch it on the TV, I just mark it watched in Plex and then manually start the streaming by dragging the media file over to the beamer app. That's it, as soon as Beamer starts streaming the AppleTV turns itself on and all I have to do is turn on the TV and select the AppleTV input. The ATV remote even controls Beamer so I can still fast forward, pause etc.

Its well worth a look if you don't want a complicated setup.
_________________
Phil

Mac Mini 2.53GHz - iMac 2.0Ghz - Macbook Pro 2.4GHz - iPad 1 32GB 3G
6TB Netgear Ready NAS NV+ - 6TB Drobo S

[unblowupable5]

Or you could just buy a Roku and install Plex from the channel store. That sounds way less complicated to me. But if your option works for you, then that's great too!

[Cypher]

[Jarola]

I have the same setup with a roku in my daughters play room. Roku is an amazing plex client.