Category Archives: Media Center

Your Plex account may have been compromised

August 24, 2022Media, Media Center, TVMedia, PlexAlan

If you are using your computer or other connected devices for your media and entertainment experiences. Plex is a media server platform and also a player, that has been in development that has been in development since 2008 and can work with Windows, MacOS, Linux and Free BSD, as well as on platforms such as Apple TV and Roku.

If you’ve been using it, then be alert to the fact that Plex made an announcement today that it has uncovered unauthorized activity in the system that may have compromised user data. The service sent out an email to all users that begins by stating, “We want you to be aware of an incident involving your Plex account information yesterday.”

While it’s a chilling start, Plex goes on to try and downplay the extent of just how much damage is involved.

“We immediately began an investigation and it does appear that a third party was able to access a limited subset of data that includes emails, usernames, and encrypted passwords. Even though all account passwords that could have been accessed were hashed and secured in accordance with best practices, out of an abundance of caution we are requiring all Plex accounts to have their password reset.”

The company stresses that credit card data was not stored with the databases that were compromised

It’s up to each user where to go from here. By all means, change your password, but if you wish to play it on the cautious side, there are a number of popular open-source Plex alternatives available.

Home servers and media computers, have I become a dinosaur?

May 22, 2020Information, Media, Media Center, ServerMedia Center, serverAlan

Going back about 12 years I built two computers, a media center for the home theater cabinet in the living room and a server to back up all files – that one resided in my home office.

These days those things seem to be gone from our tech landscape, and I miss them. I miss building them myself and setting up everything. I want to do it again.

Both of those computers I mentioned are gone now, thigs age. I miss them, but time moves forwards, after all my kids grew up and are hundreds of miles away now.

For the media center PC I bought a used desktop – I needed something to fit on one of the cabinet shelves. I changed the video card, audio card, added RAM and storage and fed it out to the AV receiver to relay to my TV.

To start I used Windows Media Center Edition, but wasn’t happy so I tried XBMC (since changed to Kodi), but I didn’t care for that either. I settled on Media Portal. My kids used that system all the time growing up.

I want to build another, but don’t know that it’s worth it these days.

Speaking of wanting to build again, a home server. The last one I ran on Free NAS, which is Unix related operating system. I built that from a tower case I had laying around. I added about 1.5 TB of storage to it.

Setup isn’t difficult, but you need to hook a monitor to the PC to get through it. After that disconnect the monitor, it runs headless. Just enter the URL for the dashboard on another PC and you have control.

Again, I do want to build another, but is it worth it with the cloud? My files are backed up to OneDrive and Google Drive, do I need a server? Do I need a media center PC? Granted I want both, and I’d like to check out Linux MCE, although I’d probably still end up back on Media Portal.

So, is either worth my time and money? Let me know what you think.

Tablo Takes TPN Award at CES

February 15, 2014Android, Apple, ces, DVR, Home Theater, Interview, iOS, IPAD, iPhone, ipod, Media, Media Center, smartphone, Streaming, tablet, TV, USB, videoAndroid, Apple, Apple TV, ces, Chromecast, dvr, google, HD, Interview, IOS, OTA, Roku, smartphone, Tablet, tablo, TV, videoAndrew

Digital video recorders (DVRs) are commonplace but usually they’re integrated with a cable decoder. Tablo’s offering records OTA (over the air) HD broadcasts that are transmitted from local TV stations, free of charge. Still not excited? The Tablo can stream both live and record programs to any connected device including Android and Apple devices, and set-top boxes like the Roku or AppleTV. Now that’s cool.

The Tablo contains two tuners (with a four tuner option), so can record two broadcasts at once. There’s no built-in storage but there are 2 USB ports for external HDD units to provide whatever space is needed. It’s perfect for cord-cutters. I’d love to see this come to the UK too.

The Tablo is on pre-order for US$219 and will be available in February 2014.

Interview by Daniel J Lewis of The Audacity To Podcast and Todd Cochrane of Geek News Central for the TechPodcast Network.

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Omnimount Ergonomic TV Mounts

February 20, 2013ergonomics, Gadgets, Gear, Information, Media CenterErgonomics, mounts, Omnimount, TVKL Tech Muse

Omnimount the maker of ergonomic furniture is now making ergonomic TV mounts. The Omnimount mount for TVs allows a television to be moved easily up, down, forward and backward. If you are sitting on the floor you can lower the TV so that you are not craning your neck to watch it. The mount is also extendable so you can bring the TV closer to you. The mount can be extended out up to 28 inches. These mounts would be perfect for people who want to mount their television sets over their fireplace. The problem with this idea is that it leads to the viewer having to look up to watch it which is uncomfortable and unhealthy. With the Omnimount mount you can still place the TV over the fire-place and then bring it down when you want to watch it.

The mounts can handle monitors up to seventy pounds and come in various sizes. Mounts that handle smaller TV monitors are available now and those that can handle bigger monitors should be available soon at an MSRP of $449.00.

Interview by Jeffrey Powers of Geekazine.

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Sookbox

February 17, 2013Information, Media, Media Center, Server, Special MediaMedia Server, SookboxKL Tech Muse

Sookbox Sookbox is a small box that will acts as a media server for your videos and music. This not only includes music on your local server, but also music that is stored in the cloud and on services such as Pandora or Spotify. The software includes an internet browser. You can access your Sookbox through an ip address from anywhere. The Sookbox includes four HDMI outputs, 16 analog audio outputs and 1.5 TB of storage capability. You can connect to your TVs and receivers either wired or wirelessly. The wireless connection works with a dongle that you connect to the TV. Everything is controlled through an app which will be available on Android or iOs. Sookbox is currently still in beta. The control has an open api and they are looking for developers.

Interview by Jeffrey Powers of Geekazine. and Daniel J. Lewis of the The Noodle.mx Network and the Audacity to Podcast

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Moving from Windows Media Center to Linux Media Center

November 13, 2011Linux, Media CenterLinux MCE, Linux Media Center, Windows Media CenterAlan

When I first decided to put a computer in my home theater cabinet I wasn’t sure how much we would really use it. After all, I wasn’t ready to give up DirecTV so I wasn’t concerned with the DVR functionality because there is no DirecTV tuner available. What I wanted was to have all of our photographs viewable on the TV, our music (almost 100 GB) to be playable through our receiver and speakers, and our DVD’s to be ripped and placed in an easier-to-access location than a drawer.

Consequently, I bought a cheap used desktop (as in non-tower case) computer off of Ebay. My first goal was price and my second was something that would sit on a shelf in the cabinet with the HD DVR, receiver, and the like. Because I wasn’t sure how much we would use it, I went cheap – a Pentium 4 processor system. I did some back-end upgrades when I received it – I added RAM and upgraded the video and sound cards to give it SPDIF audio out and DVI video out. This got the video and audio into the A/V receiver via a SPDIF cable and a DVI to HDMI cable. The system has been solid for two years running Windows 7 Ultimate, with Media Center set to open on Startup. I have customized the software also – Media Center Studio is great for tweaking the WMC interface, and MyMovies is a much better DVD library than WMC’s built-in library.

The computer is now outdated – okay, maybe it was when I bought it – and we use it EVERY day. I am faced with two options – buy a new computer or scale back the load on the existing one. In the long run, I will be buying a new PC. In the short term, however, I am considering scaling back the software – not the functionality, just the processor and memory intensive parts of it. In fact, I will be adding functionality while my computer does less work to run it.

I stumbled on Linux Media Center a couple of years ago and was intrigued by it, but never took the plunge. Since then I have checked back with their website periodically and watched it evolve. I have marveled at the functionality it brings that isn’t present in Windows Media Center. There’s control of the home security system, home automation, telephones, and more. Sure, some of that can be added to Windows Media Center, but it’s added – not built-in. And, in some cases, it will cost you. Linux Media Center also comes with mobile apps for smartphone and tablet use, while WMC doesn’t. There are unofficial WMC apps, like the MyRemote for Android, which I use, it’s not quite the same as a full-featured, fully-integrated app.

So, I am now contemplating taking that plunge that I have so long considered. Over the next few days I will install Linux Media Center and will begin exploring and writing about what I encounter and what I like and don’t like. In the meantime, I have posted a couple of random screenshots below and if you want more information, you can visit LinuxMCE.com.

Plex on the Roku

May 3, 2011application, Information, Media, Media CenterPlex, RokuKL Tech Muse

Plex is now on the Roku. If you follow me on Geeknews Central you know that I have a Roku XD|S and that I liked everything about it, except you couldn’t easily stream media from your internal network. There were ways but, they were complicated and unreliable. Well Plex just saved me $100 (the cost of an Apple TV). If you aren’t familiar with Plex it is a fork of XBMC and one of the best way to view your media on a Mac. I actually prefer it over Boxee for watching video. Boxee does have more channels and sharing options that Plex does not have, however I like the Plex UI better. Plus Plex is available on multiple devices, including all OS devices, Mac, PC and Android devices. It is how I consume most of my media on my Mac and my iPad, including stuff I download from the itunes Store or from Amazon.

Well, this morning I woke up to a post on my feeds, that Plex had been added to the Roku. It is still in beta so you have to add it as a private channel. You do have to have the Plex media server running on a computer on the same network for this too work, Mac or PC, (sorry Linux) . Once you have added it to your Roku channel listing it will stream media that is on your Plex server. Right now it is only streaming video, but according to the Plex blog music and images are coming soon. When you first add Plex it does take sometime to update, so be patient. Once it updates it works fine. I finally have everything I want for now on my chosen media device the Roku XD|S. This makes me very happy, I hope that the Plex team continues to improve on this application. I think this is good for both Plex and Roku.