PlexHomeTheater for MB3 - Who's interested (PHT+Kodi plugin) ?

[Florux 31]

All,

 

As a recent convert from many years in the Plex universe to MediaBrowser, I've come to love and enjoy the flexibility, openness and responsiveness of the MediaBrowser platform, the developers and it's community.

 

One thing I miss though is the relatively light-weight, super stable, simple, intuitive and sexy Home Theatre application Plex Home Theatre (PHT).

 

Considering that PHT is (supposedly?) fully open source, and derived from Kodi, my questions to the MediaBrowser development community is this:

 

How feasible would it be to rip out the PHT <-> Plex Server code and replace it with the communications code from the MB3-plugin for Kodi?

 

While there is currently a set of very beautiful MediaBrowser clients for the Windows platform, there is currently no equivalent for other platforms such as Mac and others. Kodi+MB3 plugin is very nice indeed, has a lot of beautiful skins that have come a long way, but is a heavier and more advanced solution than simply firing up a dedicated Home Theater application, pointing it to the server, and going with it.

 

Would anyone be interested in, first of all as a seed phase project, to just explore PlexHomeTheatre and its patches from Kodi, and based on that do a quick study of how feasible it would be to make an MB3 solution of it?

 

If there is sufficient positive response, and at least one of the core MediaBrowser developers would be interested, I'd like to put one of the developers in the office on the task. But we cannot do it alone.

 

Who is with me? What do you guys think? Discuss.

 

 -Florux

[swhitmore 781]

There is currently a lot of work being done to make MB more compatible with Kodi. Is it particularly the PTH that you wish to use? Would a Kodi skin do the trick?

[wraslor 70]

i would like to see the automatic extras that plex pulls with the features of MB so that would make this pretty cool if possible.

[swhitmore 781]

Automatic extras?

[wraslor 70]

Yea plex recently put it an automatic streaming extras, Basically it creates video links to the dvd extras, bloopers, making of etc. Nice to have and doesn't take up space since they are steam files.

[saitoh183 137]

I dont see why we would need Plex when Kodi can do the Job just fine...Its just adding a layer of complexity for no reason. 

[xnappo 1593]

Yeah, please just post the specific features you are looking for in the Kodi thread.  There is the main project plus two side projects underway regarding Kodi already - best to focus on that.

[Florux 31]

Thanks for the response!

 

Kodi is great, but is both a heavier solution requiring more powerful device, and is also far more complex to set up.

What I love about the Plex client is its simplicity, no plugins, and rock solid stability.

 

I believe the question could be answered the same way as to why there is a separate MediaBrowser client for Windows, of which there are currently two. For Linux and Mac there are not so many options.

 

A few things I currently miss:

• Low footprint
• Easy user-switching
• Subtitle support without transcoding
• Immediate loading of data when switching views/sections
• No local library
• Very easy configuration

 

Right now I'm very happy with the plugin and Kodi, but wife and kids not so happy, as we have no subtitles, no userswitching, quite a lot of lagging and delays when loading sections (despite all being on wired GigE and running on a reasonably new Mac Mini).

 

Thus I believe it could be space for both, if it's possible to stand on the shoulders of the giants of the Kodi MB3-plugin and use that code in PHT.

 

 -Florux

 

[saitoh183 137]

Thanks for the response!

 

Kodi is great, but is both a heavier solution requiring more powerful device, and is also far more complex to set up.

What I love about the Plex client is its simplicity, no plugins, and rock solid stability.

 

I believe the question could be answered the same way as to why there is a separate MediaBrowser client for Windows, of which there are currently two. For Linux and Mac there are not so many options.

 

A few things I currently miss:

• Low footprint
• Easy user-switching
• Subtitle support without transcoding
• Immediate loading of data when switching views/sections
• No local library
• Very easy configuration

 

Right now I'm very happy with the plugin and Kodi, but wife and kids not so happy, as we have no subtitles, no userswitching, quite a lot of lagging and delays when loading sections (despite all being on wired GigE and running on a reasonably new Mac Mini).

 

Thus I believe it could be space for both, if it's possible to stand on the shoulders of the giants of the Kodi MB3-plugin and use that code in PHT.

 

 -Florux

 

 

 

Kodi is heavy because of plugins and Skin...the less you use the lighter Kodi is. Also depending on which skin you use this will also contribute to performance.

 

Easy-user switching...i hear you on that front. I am in the same boat. Kodi user switching is not great...it works most of the time but it is a delicate flower...lol

 

Subtitles, i dont know if you use the subtitle plugin from kodi or you rely on MB server for it. But i prefer Kodi for this because i can download subs on the fly during playback if needed.

 

No local library...dont see how this applies since MB server is managing library

 

Kodi config is ver simple if your not adding tones of plugins or using other skins besides confluence.

[ebr 14951]

Yea plex recently put it an automatic streaming extras, Basically it creates video links to the dvd extras, bloopers, making of etc. Nice to have and doesn't take up space since they are steam files.

 

This is a service they are paying for tied to their back-end.

[swhitmore 781]

This is a service they are paying for tied to their back-end.

 

Yeah, I was wondering how this would be legal.

[Beardyname 195]

Yeah, I was wondering how this would be legal.

 

Same here actually... It can't be really? (I get how trailers are but not extras)

 

If it turns out it is illegal MB should turn 180 and walk back, no need to venture into that kind of territory. (if there were thoughts about implementing this)

Edited March 12, 2015 by Beardyname

[ebr 14951]

They are purchasing rights to the content (for a pretty penny).  I assume the provider selling it to them is doing it legally by also purchasing the rights from the content owners.

 

I think you all know my stance on legality and MB .