Plex Media Server Goes Mobile With Western Digital

Long the go-to choice for home theater enthusiasts who don't want to tinker with software and settings, the Plex habitation media server software is now built in to a Western Digital portable hard drive.

Although marketed to creative professionals, the new Western Digital My Passport Wireless Pro will be merely at home on long family unit route trips and in the living room, where information technology tin stream video via its ain ad-hoc Wi-Fi hotspot. It has up to x hours of bombardment life and a congenital-in bombardment pack that tin charge phones and other mobile devices.

Other wireless portable drives can do all this too, but the addition of the PCMag Editors' Option award-winning Plex software means a familiar interface that we remember is the all-time choice for a habitation media server with no headaches.

Use Nvidia'south Shield TV to Admission Plex

Of form, this much flexibility and user-friendliness comes at a price. The My Passport Wireless Pro currently costs $200 for a 2TB version or $230 for 3TB at Western Digital'southward online store. There'due south too a non-portable NAS option, the My Cloud Pro Series NAS, which starts at $400 with no drives included.

Unless you're already in the market for a NAS or are intrigued by the possibility of a mobile Plex server, recall that Plex, which formerly required a defended computer to act as a media server, is now available on several consumer devices in addition to the My Passport drives.

Earlier this month, the Nvidia Shield Pro became the first non-desktop-PC all-in-1 Plex box. And if you're looking to hedge your home theater bets, yous tin can also officially stream Plex to the Apple TV via an app, which ways you'll take admission to Apple'south vast streaming options side-by-side with your own library.