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"Get the Original Plex Pass" (YMMV}

  • Last Updated:
  • Jun 1st, 2017 11:05 am
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Deal Fanatic
User avatar
Jul 11, 2006
6685 posts
3696 upvotes
Canada,Eh!
thekashman wrote: Been loving plex server on my HTPC and plex clients on my Chromecasts. But just noticed there's a 1 min limit on streaming directly to the Android app, until its it's been "unlocked".

Is buying a 1month plex pass subscription enough to unlock the app permanently or would one need an ongoing subscription? In which case, paying the one time fee is cheaper for my use case.

From their site:
"Android
Active Plex Pass subscribers can make use of the standard "Plex for Android" app.

Note: The app is activated for subscribers by signing in using a Plex account with an active Plex Pass subscription. Non-subscribers can unlock the app with a simple, one-time purchase."
It's a one time (lifetime) unlock from the Google Play Store, and it works across any & all of your mobile Android devices.
When I did it the unlock cost was only $5, the time limit and all restriction were lifted.

BTW, how do you have the Plex clients installed on your Chromecasts?
The way I understood it is if you have the Plex client on your Android phone/tablet/pc/etc, you can cast to your Chromecast, but the Plex client isn't actually "installed" on the Chromecast.
Jr. Member
Jan 12, 2010
197 posts
142 upvotes
Brossard
Woah! wrote: It's a one time (lifetime) unlock from the Google Play Store, and it works across any & all of your mobile Android devices.
When I did it the unlock cost was only $5, the time limit and all restriction were lifted.

BTW, how do you have the Plex clients installed on your Chromecasts?
The way I understood it is if you have the Plex client on your Android phone/tablet/pc/etc, you can cast to your Chromecast, but the Plex client isn't actually "installed" on the Chromecast.
Sorry I probably didn't express myself clearly. I use the plex app on my android devices to cast to my chromecasts. I've never actually streamed anything directly to android app for more than a few seconds before casting so I guess I never ran into the time limit issue.
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Deal Addict
User avatar
Oct 9, 2004
1453 posts
295 upvotes
Arg! Got the email Apr 22 but google auto filtered it in to the "Promotions" inbox with all the other junk i never look at and the offer expired April 30. Would have been all over that
Sr. Member
Mar 15, 2005
869 posts
819 upvotes
One of my favourite features of plexpass is the automatic camera upload. Both my wife's iPhone and my Android photos are automatically synced to the plex server. Sure google and apple will back up your photos to the cloud but there is somthing to be said about having full control of unlimited photos, full resolution, across platforms, in a central spot.
Deal Addict
Aug 20, 2008
2097 posts
971 upvotes
discoblues wrote: One of my favourite features of plexpass is the automatic camera upload. Both my wife's iPhone and my Android photos are automatically synced to the plex server. Sure google and apple will back up your photos to the cloud but there is somthing to be said about having full control of unlimited photos, full resolution, across platforms, in a central spot.
Google backs them up to Google Drive full resolution and it automatically makes collages & videos. If you are using Plex for your photos I hope you have some reliable backup strategy in place.
Deal Expert
Dec 26, 2010
25986 posts
10380 upvotes
No email from them and the page shows Plex Pass in U.S. dollars...
Deal Addict
User avatar
Jan 22, 2014
3232 posts
2876 upvotes
GTA Ontario
pmcd wrote: Have been a PleX Pass owner since the beginning, when they offered then users an irrestible plan. This $75 USD plan is a fantastic offer. It's not just an issue of getting free clients. I can't imagine using PleX without being a PleX Pass member. Well worth it and it only keeps getting better. I currently use MrMC for about 50% of my needs. MrMC is basically Kodi without Python support, and hence no AddOns. Soon PleX Media Server integration will be built into MrMC.
I use PleX Media Server on my NAS, without PleX Pass. It's free, and keeps getting better. I can't imagine any features I'm missing that would be worth paying a monthly fee for. And I use Kodi, also free. It does have Python support so you get a crazy amount of free add-ons to do pretty much anything you want, including PleX Media Server integration (via "PleXBMC" add-on). And I use the "Yatse" app on my Android phone (I paid a few bucks for the full version but there's also a free version) as a remote for my TV and it has full access to PleX Media Server as well, and can play media on my phone or on my TV. And I have the free PleX app on my phone so I can stream media that way as well.

I do look at the PleX Pass every once in a while, but for me, it never offers anything worth paying for. I really like PleX and would gladly pay a reasonable amount to support it, but IMHO they give you a 100% complete app for free and then ask for a lot of money for a few more options that most people don't need. And then they add those features to the free version eventually anyway, and think up additional needless ones to try to sell. I find it a puzzling business model. I suspect they'd collect more money if they offered a very basic free version and an upgraded paid version (like everyone else does). In fact they could even have three levels, or sell separate add-on packages. I'm sure the media app market is a lot bigger than their subscriber base.
Deal Addict
User avatar
Jan 22, 2014
3232 posts
2876 upvotes
GTA Ontario
Scott86 wrote: Yup.. I dont even have a proper plex set up(neither the server, nor the storage) but if i could get the subscription for $75, i would probably invest another $500 towards getting a raid 5, 8tb setup, and a cheap NIC server(or would that be even more $$$? Would only aim for 3 1080p streams at the most,,, but more realistically 2 720p with a bit of 1080p would ever get used).

They really should offer a sale on their subscriptions... maybe do a orig. pricing on their next anniversary. I bet atleast half of all the people who currently use the free service would buy in if there was a temporary sale.
You don't need PleX Pass to make that worth doing. I say do it now and just use the free PleX Media Server. And $500 is plenty for a decent media server. You don't need particularly high-speed hardware; your bottleneck will be your WiFi speed anyway. So just build a decent quality server (pretty much anything using today's components will be more than good enough) and make sure you've got a router that can handle the WiFi bandwidth you want to use.
Sr. Member
User avatar
Dec 17, 2006
567 posts
330 upvotes
Calgary
I have had Plex for years and did not receive the promotional email.
Sr. Member
User avatar
Jan 17, 2012
547 posts
617 upvotes
Red Deer
I got this email about a month ago, and bought it right away. It came up to ~$95CAD.

That being said, the Plex Pass features are pretty meh. And the biggest feature 'Sync' works mediocre at best. I mostly bought it to support the dev's for doing an excellent job with all the other moving parts.
Deal Addict
Jun 1, 2008
2018 posts
465 upvotes
Toronto
OakAged wrote: I use PleX Media Server on my NAS, without PleX Pass. It's free, and keeps getting better. I can't imagine any features I'm missing that would be worth paying a monthly fee for. And I use Kodi, also free. It does have Python support so you get a crazy amount of free add-ons to do pretty much anything you want, including PleX Media Server integration (via "PleXBMC" add-on). And I use the "Yatse" app on my Android phone (I paid a few bucks for the full version but there's also a free version) as a remote for my TV and it has full access to PleX Media Server as well, and can play media on my phone or on my TV. And I have the free PleX app on my phone so I can stream media that way as well.

I do look at the PleX Pass every once in a while, but for me, it never offers anything worth paying for. I really like PleX and would gladly pay a reasonable amount to support it, but IMHO they give you a 100% complete app for free and then ask for a lot of money for a few more options that most people don't need. And then they add those features to the free version eventually anyway, and think up additional needless ones to try to sell. I find it a puzzling business model. I suspect they'd collect more money if they offered a very basic free version and an upgraded paid version (like everyone else does). In fact they could even have three levels, or sell separate add-on packages. I'm sure the media app market is a lot bigger than their subscriber base.
Well it is true that most people can bypass PleX Pass. We use it a lot for remote photo viewing and syncing so that is nice. The clients were free. When they first introduced PleX Pass the price was really low. Couldn't see the advantages at the time but I felt PleX was worth supporting so I got it with no expectations. The photo extra has turned out nicely and any future extras will only be nice additions.

As for Kodi, here is the issue. There are no Kodi developers for Android. It is essentially dying and only survives because of two people. Davilla of MrMC ( and the developers with him). He basically ported XBMC to Android. The only other developer that supports Android indirectly is the SPMC fellow because he supports his Shield. There is no one else because the Python AddOns have virtually killed off Kodi. Eventually MrMC will have AddOns but more controlled so it doesn't become a pirate based industry fueled by cheap Chinese Android media players. Once MrMC is more closely linked to the PleX Media Server one won't have to have an SQL server to sync across players and auto updates will be better managed.

I use PleX, Kodi ( on a QNAP ) and MrMC. They are all great. I understand not going the PleX Pass route. It's not for everyone but it does avoid any worry that one day the PleX Media Server will have fees to make it useable without reminders and ads. I unfortunately don't think Kodi is going to survive except via projects like MrMC and SPMC and the AddOn world is going to change dramatically. Could be wrong but I am not the only person saying this. Even the Kodi developers are pleading for a change as AddOns are doing it in.
Deal Addict
Jun 1, 2008
2018 posts
465 upvotes
Toronto
elwebmaster wrote: Google backs them up to Google Drive full resolution and it automatically makes collages & videos. If you are using Plex for your photos I hope you have some reliable backup strategy in place.
I thought Google compressed the photos? I use the PleX automatic camera upload. You are right about having a good backup strategy. I have backup systems but the whole photo management thing is overwhelming. Having Google worry about it is certainly appealing but I have a hard time not feeling that they are simply collecting more and more information about you. If that's not an issue then trading privacy for free is ok I suppose. It's a bit like ad supported things though. The ad industry has ruined TV, is ruining You Tube and has made the web really unpleasant. There's a price for all those Google freebies. More like a pact with the devil from my perspective.
Member
Apr 16, 2017
428 posts
414 upvotes
Toronto
Absolute wrote: I agree entirely - I had tried many media servers in the past, and stopped looking as soon as I came across Plex. It's one of the few ones geared towards TV shows as well, and instead of having to rename all my shows manually anymore, I love to just drop them into the proper directories and let them be indexed.

I did a year with the free version, but upgraded to the yearly plan when they added in Trailers for Plex Pass. I like being able to get the new features first!

What sold me entirely was the ability to run it in a jail on FreeNAS - perfect software to put atop a 30TB system.

No email for me, probably because I'm an existing subscriber, and I really kicked myself for missing the price increase deadline last time!
Sounds like we went down similar paths...also rocking an effective 30tb freeNAS server with plexpass jail and Usenet totally automated :D
Sr. Member
Mar 5, 2007
542 posts
591 upvotes
OakAged wrote: You don't need particularly high-speed hardware; your bottleneck will be your WiFi speed anyway. So just build a decent quality server (pretty much anything using today's components will be more than good enough) and make sure you've got a router that can handle the WiFi bandwidth you want to use.
Totally depends on your Plex client; Plex will try to transcode-on-the-fly anything that your client is incapable of playing, and you'll need reasonably beefy hardware to transcode and stream high-quality FHD content with no hiccups. I've got a Synology DS1813+ (Atom Dual Core @ 2.13 Ghz and 4GB of RAM) hardwired to my network. I bought a Roku 3 (2015) to use as a cheap Plex client, and found it to be almost useless... It played probably 70% of my media, but was unusable for anything that wasn't h264, or had subtitles, etc. Wound up trading up to an Nvidia Shield, which is a much more capable media player, and have had no complaints.

Apparently, the Shield has a brand new upgrade that lets it work as a Plex server, so you could grab the shield and an external USB drive, and set that up!
Deal Addict
Aug 20, 2008
2097 posts
971 upvotes
pmcd wrote: I thought Google compressed the photos? I use the PleX automatic camera upload. You are right about having a good backup strategy. I have backup systems but the whole photo management thing is overwhelming. Having Google worry about it is certainly appealing but I have a hard time not feeling that they are simply collecting more and more information about you. If that's not an issue then trading privacy for free is ok I suppose. It's a bit like ad supported things though. The ad industry has ruined TV, is ruining You Tube and has made the web really unpleasant. There's a price for all those Google freebies. More like a pact with the devil from my perspective.
You can set it to upload the originals and then it uses your Google Drive space. I am pretty sure their privacy policy does not allow them to share the photos with anyone. They will probably be used to improve internal algorithms. But I wouldn't worry about Google leaking any photos or getting hacked. Much more likely for a personal Plex server to get compromised in my opinion.
Or you are worried they will use image recognition to decide what ads to serve you? I guess that's possible. It feels a bit weired seeing ads that are so personalized but you just have to remember that algorithms look at your data, not people.
Sr. Member
Sep 9, 2008
731 posts
308 upvotes
Langley
Oogarr wrote: Sounds like we went down similar paths...also rocking an effective 30tb freeNAS server with plexpass jail and Usenet totally automated :D
A bit off topic... but why free as? I have a PC setup with Windows 7, a little over 50tb of HD space... I use it as a plex server, so it's pretty powerful (why I didn't go with a nas). I was thinking of putting freenas on it... but windows is too convenient.

I have sonar for tv, couch potato for movies, mylar for comics, headphones for music. As well as plex to serve it all, and a comic comic book server to serve the comic books... pretty much everything is full automated. Anything I need it to do in addition to the programs out there, I tend to make a Python script.

I also keep kodi on it... and use it as a media PC in my tv room. Seems more versatile than freenas... only thing I can think of, is freenas is more stable. But I generally restart once every month or two, to upgrade the software... which I imagine I'd have to do with freenas anyways.

So, just curious.. why do you guys choose freenas over windows?
Sr. Member
Sep 9, 2008
731 posts
308 upvotes
Langley
pmcd wrote: I thought Google compressed the photos? I use the PleX automatic camera upload. You are right about having a good backup strategy. I have backup systems but the whole photo management thing is overwhelming. Having Google worry about it is certainly appealing but I have a hard time not feeling that they are simply collecting more and more information about you. If that's not an issue then trading privacy for free is ok I suppose. It's a bit like ad supported things though. The ad industry has ruined TV, is ruining You Tube and has made the web really unpleasant. There's a price for all those Google freebies. More like a pact with the devil from my perspective.
I believe Google only compresses it if it's over 16mb. If you look at their chart... https://support.google.com/photos/answer/6220791

I've never really compared. And they make it as vague as possible... so maybe they do compress.. now I'm interested in testing it, just to see.
Deal Fanatic
Nov 15, 2013
5761 posts
3916 upvotes
Toronto
thekashman wrote: Been loving plex server on my HTPC and plex clients on my Chromecasts. But just noticed there's a 1 min limit on streaming directly to the Android app, until its it's been "unlocked".

Is buying a 1month plex pass subscription enough to unlock the app permanently or would one need an ongoing subscription? In which case, paying the one time fee is cheaper for my use case.

From their site:
"Android
Active Plex Pass subscribers can make use of the standard "Plex for Android" app.

Note: The app is activated for subscribers by signing in using a Plex account with an active Plex Pass subscription. Non-subscribers can unlock the app with a simple, one-time purchase."
You can bypass the lock by just loading plex through your web browser on your phone or by going to plex from another device and using your phone as the streaming target like you would with a chromecast.
Deal Addict
Jul 29, 2001
2014 posts
665 upvotes
Calgary
Bought the $75 Plex Lifetime the last time before price went up, totally worth it IMO.
Deal Expert
Aug 26, 2002
15719 posts
7445 upvotes
Toronto, ON
Ikarasu wrote: I believe Google only compresses it if it's over 16mb. If you look at their chart... https://support.google.com/photos/answer/6220791

I've never really compared. And they make it as vague as possible... so maybe they do compress.. now I'm interested in testing it, just to see.
There are two settings for photo backup. "High quality" is unlimited space, but any photo greater than 16 megapixels will be compressed. Photos less than 16 megapixels are not compressed. "Original" setting will use your Google Drive but will not compress your photos regardless of resolution.

I found out a couple years ago that being an U of T alumni I could get unlimited Google Drive storage, and hence unlimited Google Photo backup. So I've set mine to "original" and have over 1TB of photos backed up on Google Photo.

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