Com-PLEX-ities (part 2)

Okay.  So, you've managed to setup your photo (and possibly video and music) library in Plex.  Awesome!  Now let's add some channels.  If you've used Roku before, you understand the concept of channels.  Plex is similar, in that it allows you to add channels to it's directory.  These channels will not be added to your Roku, but will be available to watch through your Plex channel on your Roku.  Sure hope that made sense.

If you haven't used Roku before...don't worry...things should make sense by the end of this post.  Umm...I hope.  ;)

Since I already have my channels added to Plex, I'm not positive what you will be seeing on a fresh install.  This version of Plex Media Server is different than what I originally downloaded...there have been a lot of updates!  Which is a good thing!!

If your browser is still open to Plex, click on the Home icon (upper left corner).

If not, re-open Plex, using the right click method discussed in part one (that little icon in the bottom right of your computer screen..remember?)

Once the page opens, click on "Directory"

This will send you to a list of available Plex channels.  

With the default choice being "Featured."
But there are several choices you can make here (including New, Popular & Categories).

I would suggest skimming through "Most Popular" and "Categories."

Under "Categories" you will find options like "TV" and "Video."  Which will lead to channels like NBC, CBS, and YouTube.

Choose a channel you want, and click on it.

You will get a popup with a small channel description, and an "install" button.

Now that you've installed a channel (or more), click on "My Channels."
You will see that your channel has been added.

And if you want to uninstall a channel, just mouse over the specific channel (in "My Channels"), and you will see an uninstall icon option appear.

My personal recommendations are...

Any major networks (NBC, CBS, ABC, etc)

USA (Not very many major cable networks available anymore)

YouTube & Hulu

I like that I can watch YouTube on my tv, and that I can catch an occasional TV show, that I maybe missed.  If a network is unavailable to add, or doesn't have much on their Plex channel, sometimes you can find it on Hulu.  Plex allows you to watch Hulu basic, rather than having to pay for Hulu+.

  Look around...try some channels.  If you don't like them...you can uninstall them.
I love it!

Now all that's left to do, is install Plex on your Roku.  You can find the Plex channel in the Roku channel store.  You may have to sign in, once it's installed...I'm not sure. 

**Again...in order for Plex to work w/Roku, you must have Plex Server installed and running on your computer)** 

Com-PLEX-ities

So...you got yourself a Roku?  Sweet!

If you got one of the models that is not the XS, you didn't get a USB port.  If you did get the XS (after all...who doesn't want Angry Birds, right?), you were excited about the fact that it had a USB port.  You'd be able to pop in a thumb drive & watch your personal videos.  NICE!

You got your Roku2 XS all setup, got your videos moved to a thumb drive, popped that drive into the port and....nothing.  Wait.  WHAT?!  WTF man?

Sadly, the Roku2 XS USB player is pretty limited.  It will, to my knowledge, only play MP4 and MKV video files.  Furthermore, it will only play music files in MP3 and AAC formats.  And only show pictures that are JPEG or PNG.

So...you either don't have a USB port, or your USB port won't play your videos.
NOW what? :\

Never fear!  Plex is here!  Although Plex is not my most used channel (Netflix & Amazon are), it is probably my favorite.
Most Roku channels have one purpose.  One use.  To allow you to play a video from their library.  Plex is more of a multi-use channel.  You can use it to play videos from your library, but also add even more channels to use on your Roku.  It's all a bit different.  And a bit confusing, at first.  So, hopefully this will help you setup and understand the basics of Plex.

**(In order for Plex to work w/Roku, you must have Plex Server running on your computer)**

 
First things first.  We're going to run through setting up your video, audio, image library.  I will cover other aspects of Plex later on.

I use Firefox browser, but this should work with pretty much any browser.  This is assuming, however, that you are using Roku and running Windows.  Plex will work on other OSs and streaming devices, but I use Roku and Windows...so...

You will need to download some things to your computer.  You will also add a channel to your Roku...which is super easy.  Since the Roku channel part is simple, I'm going to concentrate on the PC part.

Step One:  If you don't already have them, you should download (or update) both Adobe Flash and Microsoft Silverlight.  Both are free.

Step Two:   Download Plex Media Server (this is version 0.9.7.9.375).

Step Three:  Download Plex Media Center (this is version 0.9.5.4).

I don't know if it's okay for me to just give you the d/l links here, but since it's just for my family/friends, we'll do it this way, for now.  The downloads are found at the Get Plex page.

Step Four:  Install (if you haven't already)  all of the downloads.

Assuming the installations all go w/o incident, Plex Media Server (PMS...yes...I know lol) should be running.  You should see a small icon at the bottom right of your screen (in your taskbar/ Notification Area Icons).

Step Five (the big step): Setting up Plex on your PC...

Mouse over the Plex icon in your taskbar & right click.
Click on "Media Manager..."

This should open a window in your browser.

It should look something like this.

Next, click on "Add a section"

You will get a popup that looks like this.

We're going to walk through adding pictures, because that's the easiest.

So, click on "Photos"

On the next popup, click the "add a folder" button.

Click on "Browse Folders"
(this is where it'll get a little tricky, for some)

(You will need to know where your files are.  Generally, they will be somewhere in your C: directory.  So, we're going to go with that.  This section, is written using Windows 7.  Vista should be the same, but Windows XP or other will most likely be different)
 

Immediately after clicking on "Browse Folders", you should see "C:" in the same box.  

Click the "C:" and you should get a drop down menu.

Scroll to the bottom, until you find "Users" & click on that.

Next, you will see a few options (based on your configuration).  It should be fairly obvious, which User is your main identity.  Whatever name you chose, when setting up Windows.  "Bob" or "Dusty" or "Bite Me" lol.

In this picture, mine is "DustysDen", so that's the folder I will click.

We're going to choose the Pictures folder (aka "My Pictures")

Now, I could stop there.  But why not show you that you can be even more specific w/the folders you want to make available?  

(If you want to add the entire Pictures folder, just click on Pictures, then click on "Add Folder" button)

I'm going to click on Pictures, but I'm not going to add that entire folder.  Instead, I'm just going to add my Pictures/Pets folder. So, I click on Pictures, then...click on Pets in the next window.

Now Click "Add Folder" button.

Finally, click "Add Section" button.

Plex will spend a couple seconds (or minutes, depending on the amount of photos), scanning and adding your photos to the Plex directory.  Eventually, you will see thumbnails of your pictures....

Click on a thumbnail to view a larger image.  From there, you'll be able to flip through the album.

To add music and movies, follow these same steps. 

Since you already setup Photos, the "Add a section" text is now a "+" sign/box.

Instead of choosing "Photos" in the next step, you will choose "Movies," "TV," "Home Movies" or " Music."

Again...you must know where your files are on your computer.  In Vista & Win7, they will almost always be somewhere under your main User folder.  Follow the above steps to get there.  It may take awhile for all your files to show up, and/or play.  

In Part Two, I will go over adding channels...