In my opinion, Plex is in a class all its own. While it lacks the customization options of other media servers, it has features like “on deck” and “playlists” to make your video viewing all the more enjoyable. Plex is fantastic since you only need to set it up once to enjoy it. However Plex goes a step further by selling a premium service where remote viewing over the Internet is simple and secure. It’s also worth noting that Kodi provides an Android app. Additionally, you can enjoy your Plex media on Amazon Fire, and various android devices. Plex is perfect for playing a variety of video formats. My biggest reason for switching was Plex Pass and Roku compatibility.

I moved to Plex full time for a few reasons. Plex Media Center – Plex is my goto media server currently. There are various ways you can script this out yourself, however it can be a pain if you have an extensive video library. You need to make sure your video files are in a format that is compatible with Kodi. The bad: Transcoding isn’t something Kodi does. The good: Kodi is lightweight, easy to use and can be run on just about anything, including ARM devices like a Raspberry Pi. These days, due to various copyright crackdowns, you’re better off sticking with official add-ons only. At the time, Kodi (then XBMC) add-ons were ample. You can skin its appearance and install add-ons to extend Kodi functionality. Once I got everything setup, I was in love with the experience.Ĭustomization is the name of the game when it comes to Kodi. Then I ran separate speakers to my laptop to provide audio. When I first started using Kodi, I simply connected a laptop to my TV via a VGA cable.

I loved the idea that I could enjoy my favorite videos on the fly from just about anywhere in my house. Kodi (XBMC) – My first Linux media server was XMBC, later renamed Kodi. That said, what’s the best Linux media server? Instead of running a media server that might decide to update and reboot during a show (looking at Windows 10), you can run a Linux distro that simply does what you tell it to do. The same can be said with finding the best Linux media servers. It’s basically everywhere, often seamlessly and out of the public eye. Many users have their best Linux distro, and these days there are nearly endless things that we can do with Linux.

Linux media servers clearly have their place.

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