Droid Sector

A few days ago I’ve read on Google+ about upcoming version of Plex for Google TV and decided to test it on my Asus Transformer. I was looking for a way to watch movies on a TV screen. Connecting tablet with HDMI cable and using MX Video Player did the trick, but with local files only. DLNA apps and VLC Direct were not very convenient nor reliable.

After installing Plex server on my HTPC and adding folders with movies, TV series and music, I was able to play media on another computer, phone and tablet. Plex automatically downloads the information about media files and presents it very nicely.

It also keeps track of watched videos and maintains playback position. Media files are transcoded if necessary, so no problem with unsupported codecs on Android devices.

The same Plex app can also work as remote for a Plex client running on Mac or PC (server part is also available for Linux and compatible NAS devices).

On the left you can see how Plex looks on a computer screen, very similar to XBMC and other media centers designed to be controlled with a simple remote control. You can also stream content from over 150 popular online video, music and photo sources like Apple Movie Trailers.

The app supports all the basics you’d expect like unread counts, friends, sharing, liking, and starring, but it also has a whole lot more, including:

• Multiple accounts
• Synced preferences
• Full subscription features (subscribe and search from your phone)
• Search

The UI is nice and fast, and the usual “Share” integration with compatible (Twitter, Tumblr..) apps is present. You can enable an option to jump to next/previous articles with the phone’s volume keys.

googlereader.blogspot.com

Google released a series of short films documenting the making of Nexus One.

All episodes