{"id":445232,"date":"2022-05-23T18:28:03","date_gmt":"2022-05-23T16:28:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/?p=445232"},"modified":"2022-05-23T18:30:00","modified_gmt":"2022-05-23T16:30:00","slug":"plexs-free-dstv-competitor-tested","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/broadcasting\/445232-plexs-free-dstv-competitor-tested.html","title":{"rendered":"Plex’s free DStv competitor tested"},"content":{"rendered":"

MyBroadband tested the new media aggregation feature on Plex, and we found it easy to set up and very useful.<\/p>\n

Plex is a client-server media player platform where users can set up their own server with local content, and then stream from that to various devices.<\/p>\n

You can also use the Plex app without connecting it to a media server to access the platform’s own online streaming features.<\/p>\n

This includes a catalogue of older movies, and Plex’s new “Discover” function that lists content from several services in one place.<\/p>\n

MultiChoice has repeatedly expressed plans to become an entertainment super-aggregator \u2014 offering a one-stop shop for various streaming services alongside DStv.<\/p>\n

It recently launched “bundle and save” options for Disney+<\/a><\/strong>. This offers DStv subscribers a R49 per month discount if they take up a Disney+ subscription within their DStv package.<\/p>\n

MultiChoice also lets subscribers watch Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, and YouTube from its Explora Ultra decoder.<\/p>\n

However, DStv’s aggregation capabilities mostly remain limited to its most expensive decoder.<\/p>\n

\"DStv<\/a>

DStv Explora Ultra<\/p><\/div>\n

In August 2020, MultiChoice announced plans to launch a streaming media box \u2014 the Streama<\/a><\/strong>. However, the launch has been delayed.<\/p>\n

As streaming services supplant traditional broadcast TV, MultiChoice is on a collision course with the world’s technology and entertainment powerhouses.<\/p>\n

It will compete against Apple TV with its media box and aggregation services, and could find itself bidding against Amazon, Google, and Disney for sports rights<\/a><\/strong> in the near future.<\/p>\n

With Plex entering the streaming service aggregation fray, MultiChoice now faces another global contender \u2014 which is also available for free.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Although Plex has a paid version available, we did all our testing on a free account.<\/p>\n

Plex’s new Discover feature lets users set which streaming services they have access to, and indexes the content on these services for easy access.<\/p>\n

Plex can then direct you to the appropriate streaming service when searching for a movie or TV show.<\/p>\n

If you have your own media server connected and the film or episode is available there, Plex will let you know.<\/p>\n

You don’t need to provide Plex with any account details for this feature to work.<\/p>\n

It only directs you to the correct app or website, and content from other services does not play inside Plex.<\/p>\n

When a movie or series is available on both a streaming service and your own media server, the local version is preferred. However, you can still access other sources.<\/p>\n

We tested Plex’s new cross-platform search with Netflix and Prime Video, and it performed perfectly.<\/p>\n

Other streaming services available in South Africa like Showmax, BoxOffice and Britbox are also available.<\/p>\n

We started by searching for The Wheel of Time and immediately got a result with a link to Prime Video.<\/p>\n

As we were already logged into Prime Video on the device, we were directed to the summary page for The Wheel of Time and could start streaming.<\/p>\n

We tried the same thing for The Witcher and were directed to Netflix with the same efficiency.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Plex Discover \u2014 Searching for Night of the Living Dead (Click to enlarge)<\/p><\/div>\n

We also saved a local copy of Night of the Living Dead to see how it performs when media is available from more than one source.<\/p>\n

When searching in the top search bar, the local version came up on top and clicking it did not give us the option for other services.<\/p>\n

Clicking the option lower down in the search results gives multiple options, including the local version and the one on Prime Video.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Night of the Living Dead listing on Plex<\/p><\/div>\n

We attempted the same searches from a Xiaomi Mi Box. When opening the links to Netflix and Prime Video, the respective apps opened immediately on the summary pages for the specific content.<\/p>\n

Plex also has a “Discover” tab now, which shows you top and trending titles based on the streaming services that you have selected.<\/p>\n

This looks and works a lot like being in the respective streaming service apps and makes it easier to find something to watch, regardless of the service on which it is available.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, it also had general sub-headings where top titles from services you did not select are highlighted. We regularly got excited to watch something while browsing here, only to discover it was not on a streaming platform we had available.<\/p>\n

While Plex’s new aggregation service is still in beta, it is already a helpful feature. It could make Plex worth it even for people who don’t run their own media servers.<\/p>\n

\n

Now read:\u00a0Disney+ South Africa launch event \u2014 photos and videos<\/a><\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We tested Plex’s media aggregation feature and found it excellent.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":341074,"featured_media":445602,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[85,35,475,31376],"class_list":["post-445232","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-broadcasting","tag-dstv","tag-headline","tag-multichoice","tag-plex"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/445232"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/341074"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=445232"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/445232\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":445234,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/445232\/revisions\/445234"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/445602"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=445232"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=445232"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=445232"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}