The service provides a slick user interface for all of your music, videos, and photographs, whether stored on a home server, cloud-based app, or some combination thereof. Currently Plex has apps for Chromecast and Roku, but this will mark the first version that’s native to a gaming console, making it even easier to get your Plex-organized content onto your television. The new Xbox apps are focused only on video currently, but the developers promise to integrate photos and music soon.
Related: Chromecast shines even brighter with new Plex features
The arrival on Xbox marks a natural, full circle for the service, which was originally based on the open source code of XBMC, a homebrew media center application that started on Xbox (the first one) before expanding to other platforms.The developers have also taken a page from Netflix and other streaming services by adding in suggested viewing features based on your tastes and habits.
The move to consoles has brought with it a new interface approach that might make its way to Plex’s other platforms. In line with the Xbox interface guidelines, the home screen features a horizontal scrolling design familiar to anyone who has used Xbox Live. Voice and gesture controls through the Kinect have been integrated for ease of use from the couch.
