Watch Live TV on Plex

Plex offers one of the best solutions for cataloging and consuming your personal media collections, and we talk about it all the time. We’re big fans, and we’ve been using it for our movie libraries for years. Last year we were thrilled to see Plex release a DVR solution, but it had some key missing features. The biggest missing feature has been addressed today, and that is live TV support.

Today Plex has released a new version of their Plex Media Server, and some of their clients, to enable the capability to watch live TV through Plex. Previously with Plex DVR you could only schedule recordings, and then you could only view them once they had completely finished recording.

If you’re a seasoned Plex user you might be wondering how this all works. After all, previously you’ve only been able to manage DVR recordings and schedules via the Plex web app. Well, today Plex is releasing updated apps for Android TV and iOS devices. These new apps will allow you to fully manage the DVR. You can view the program guide, modify your recording schedule, and everything else that’s only been available through the web interface in the past.

We know that most of our audience is wondering about the Xbox One and Windows apps. They haven’t been updated yet, but Plex has assured us that they plan to release updates for those platforms too.

Plex also announced today that they are expanding their TV tuner support. No longer will you be required to have an HDHomeRun tuner. Some tuners from Hauppauge, AVerMedia, and others, have been added to the list. Even the TV tuner which was released specifically for the Xbox One is supported now. You will have to move that tuner over to the machine that is serving as your Plex Media Server though. For the complete list of supported devices please see this article.

There have been other improvements to Plex DVR. They’ve made the scheduler smarter, and they now will highlight programs that you’re more likely to enjoy based off of other things you’ve watched. Plex also handles overlapping recordings on a single channel now.

Plex Media Server continues to be a free product, but you need to be a Plex Pass subscriber to have access to the DVR and Live TV functionality. A subscription can be purchased for $4.99 per month, or $39.99 for a year of service. They also offer a lifetime option which is ordinarily $149.99. Right now you can grab the lifetime option for 20% off, at $119.99.

We’ll be digging deeper into Plex’s new features over the coming days, but we’d also like to hear how it’s working for you. What features are you still looking for? Sound off in the comments below.