Plex vs. Serviio - which would you recommend why?

finbarqs

Diamond Member
Feb 16, 2005
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So I hear Plex was the big daddy of all media streamers. Then I discovered Serviio, which is supposedly superior to Plex in many ways (fast forward, rewind, etc.)

What are you thoughts, and what do you guys use?
 

smitbret

Diamond Member
Jul 27, 2006
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Plex won't FFW or Rew? I 've never used it much, but are you sure you are understanding the limitations correctly? You may not be able to do it while it is transcoding incompatible formats, but I doubt Serviio would be any better in those situations.

Mezzmo. It's not free and worth every dime I paid.
 

It's Not Lupus

Senior member
Aug 19, 2012
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plex can fast-forward and rewind. what other ways?

i've only used plex. i really like the plex app on my roku 3.
 

SolMiester

Diamond Member
Dec 19, 2004
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Hi, I didnt have much luck with Serviio, and while Mezzmo had some great features, it cost and didnt do as weill for me with the ability to scrape info for your files...

I have Plex Server now, with laptops, iPads and Roid tablets connecting to it (the kids), and now have Apple TV connecting to it for the big TVs...pause, FFW & REW, on desk, new additions etc..

Dont know how I got on without it now......

Even have my Dad using his Roku3 with it
 

smitbret

Diamond Member
Jul 27, 2006
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Hi, I didnt have much luck with Serviio, and while Mezzmo had some great features, it cost and didnt do as weill for me with the ability to scrape info for your files...

Not sure when you tried it, but version 3 of Mezzmo that came out this year includes automatic scraping. It also added for .iso and subtitle support for all devices. That's why I use it.
 

finbarqs

Diamond Member
Feb 16, 2005
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yeah a lot of times when I FF or REW, it just stops and buffers for quite a while...
 

smitbret

Diamond Member
Jul 27, 2006
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yeah a lot of times when I FF or REW, it just stops and buffers for quite a while...

That sounds like either a network issue or the file is still transcoding while you are trying to watch it. Serviio will probably have the same issues.
 

IndyColtsFan

Lifer
Sep 22, 2007
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I use Plex to stream to all my Roku devices, Xbox, PS3, PCs, iPad, etc. Not familiar with the other product but I've not had many issues with Plex especially since installing it on my new, monster server.
 

smitbret

Diamond Member
Jul 27, 2006
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yeah, i'm using Power over Ethernet, so probably network issue.

That would be my bet. I didn't think files could be ff or rew at all if they were currently being transcoded with any media streaming software, Plex, Serviio, Mezzmo or otherwise. How big are the files? Are they HD Blu Ray rips or DVD quality? I used to be able to stream my DVD quality stuff with a wireless G network but when I started going HD it was all wired from there.
 

SolMiester

Diamond Member
Dec 19, 2004
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Not sure when you tried it, but version 3 of Mezzmo that came out this year includes automatic scraping. It also added for .iso and subtitle support for all devices. That's why I use it.

Not sure, it would of been early in the year for Mezzmo....I prefered the IOS Plex client too, cant remember what i used for client with Serviio and Mezzmo, needless to say, I felt Plex gave a more polished finish to the product....I think I was testing the other 2 as I had issues with DLNA client TVs, especially Sony Bravos not working....with any in the end as it happened....

I think it was manual scraping that was the issue!
 

smitbret

Diamond Member
Jul 27, 2006
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Yeah, the scraping with Mezzmo got a lot better with the release of the 3.x.x.x versions. It's not perfect but it is much better. It seems obsessed with picking up foreign films.
 

sweenish

Diamond Member
May 21, 2013
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Not sure when you tried it, but version 3 of Mezzmo that came out this year includes automatic scraping. It also added for .iso and subtitle support for all devices. That's why I use it.

Plex will handle *.iso files as well. Subtitles is the only thing I'm having issues with using Plex.

This thread has curious, though, and I think I'll look into Serviio this week.
 

snoturtle

Golden Member
Apr 28, 2001
1,609
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Always hated this

So now I re-encode everything I download to mpg with mkv2vob and I can ff and rewind and no transcoding has to happen

Never understood why all of these programs that transcode don't have an option to just save the transcoded file


yeah a lot of times when I FF or REW, it just stops and buffers for quite a while...
 

smitbret

Diamond Member
Jul 27, 2006
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Always hated this

So now I re-encode everything I download to mpg with mkv2vob and I can ff and rewind and no transcoding has to happen

Never understood why all of these programs that transcode don't have an option to just save the transcoded file

Mezzmo saves the transcoded files. Another reason I went the $ route.
 

el-Capitan

Senior member
Apr 24, 2012
572
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I only use Plex and have become a big fan. Clients : Win7, Win8, OSX 10.8.4, iOS (ipad+phone), WP8 and stream into browser.

Software is a little buggy, always updating can break features. Have had to roll-back in teh past on my server. WP8 client hasn't been updated in a few months and def needs attention, h'ever i still use it almost dailyto stream music into the car from home. Love it.
 

tential

Diamond Member
May 13, 2008
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yeah, i'm using Power over Ethernet, so probably network issue.

It's a transcoding issue certainly not power over ethernet. My whole network is off Power over Ethernet (meaning the main PC everything hooks up to is hooked up using that), and I have no issues watching files or fast forward/rewind.

I use XBMC though.
My phone, Tablet, Brothers laptop, Sisters phone, my laptop and main HTPC all use it. and my dad's phone actually. A lot more devices will soon have it in my house, just getting around to installing XBMC and adding the Ace skin. Everyone loves it though.
 

finbarqs

Diamond Member
Feb 16, 2005
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sorry, shouldn't say power over ethernet, completely different thing! powerline networking. But streaming a 10GB file over ~15-20Mbps can be challenging, especially when DTS/5.1 is involved...

But anyways, realized that my DS213 can't transcode anything, because it doesn't have enough juice.
 

HydroSqueegee

Golden Member
Oct 27, 2005
1,709
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i enjoy Plex quite a bit. But i have two issues with it. Eventually it will just run my servers processor at 80-90% if i dont reboot for a few weeks. And it also doesnt seem to pick up new files and folders with its regular nightly scan. I have to manually tell it to rescan the folders.

But i need to upgrade my version to the latest to see if that fixes the issues.
 

Face2Face

Diamond Member
Jun 6, 2001
4,100
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Always hated this



Never understood why all of these programs that transcode don't have an option to just save the transcoded file

Probably because Plex can be used on a ton of different devices and most devices cannot play the same formats natively. That is the entire benefit of using Plex. If you watch a lot of MKV's or MP4's on a Roku you can playback high-bit rate content assuming you have enough bandwidth and the Roku can handle playback (8mbps is what Roku recommends). Let's say I watch MKV of Spiderman- and it's a 15mbps bit-rate movie, that's audio and video combined. The Roku may be able to play the video natively, but not the audio. If your network setting is set to anything below 15mbps then it will automatically transcode the video and audio every-time. If your bandwidth is set to 20mbps and your Roku and network can handle it, it will only transcode the audio and the video will play via direct play. it's not perfect though, every movie acts a little differently and it's device pending. I have a Roku 2 XS which sometimes handle up to 17mbps and sometimes not. I assume with a Roku 3 you would have a better ability to playback High-bit rate content (20mbps+)
 

SolMiester

Diamond Member
Dec 19, 2004
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Hey, Plex have release a 3rd party app for the ATV2 & 3, which doesnt require JB anymore, works so good, I bought a aTV3..!

Also, my Plex server is actually W8 running on a VM on my 2012 Host....I dont have CPU usages issue like someone suggested, perhaps they need to update the server?
 

Face2Face

Diamond Member
Jun 6, 2001
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Hey, Plex have release a 3rd party app for the ATV2 & 3, which doesnt require JB anymore, works so good, I bought a aTV3..!

Also, my Plex server is actually W8 running on a VM on my 2012 Host....I dont have CPU usages issue like someone suggested, perhaps they need to update the server?

Good to hear it. How is the interface on it? The ATV3 has a very nice SOC, would be great for Plex playback.
 

abeltensor

Junior Member
Jul 28, 2013
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Been using serviio for a long time. Never used plex since i dont run mac. Theres nothing ive seen wrong with serviio. Its open source which only means the dev cycle is pretty slow in comparison however, most of their trans-coders work pretty easily with little need for tweaking. I use it on a laptop to stream media to a blu-ray player, a tablet and a few other laptops. I dont have any issues rewinding or fast-forwarding even when its transcoding and even when im doing things remotely. If you are a PC user like me and dont want to pay for an overblown Dlna server, Serviio is a really good option. If you already have access to plex, I dont see a reason to switch unless the device you are running is pretty obscure (thats one of the best part of open-source, its very easy to tailor a trans-coding program to meet your devices compatibility no matter what it is.). I had to encode a new profile for the blu-ray since its an off brand old POS that barely allows for media streaming and it took me all of 5 minutes to do with serviio. Its mostly a matter of opinion.
 

SolMiester

Diamond Member
Dec 19, 2004
5,331
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Good to hear it. How is the interface on it? The ATV3 has a very nice SOC, would be great for Plex playback.

The interface looks well flash mate.....Movies, on desk, genre, decade and something else, but yeah, looks wicked....aTV3 is a bit faster i think than the aTV2 I was testing with and of course has 1080 output!

Finally have a system that the wife will use with confidence...
 

rsbjr

Junior Member
Jul 25, 2013
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0
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Been using serviio for a long time. Never used plex since i dont run mac. Theres nothing ive seen wrong with serviio. Its open source which only means the dev cycle is pretty slow in comparison however, most of their trans-coders work pretty easily with little need for tweaking. I use it on a laptop to stream media to a blu-ray player, a tablet and a few other laptops. I dont have any issues rewinding or fast-forwarding even when its transcoding and even when im doing things remotely. If you are a PC user like me and dont want to pay for an overblown Dlna server, Serviio is a really good option. If you already have access to plex, I dont see a reason to switch unless the device you are running is pretty obscure (thats one of the best part of open-source, its very easy to tailor a trans-coding program to meet your devices compatibility no matter what it is.). I had to encode a new profile for the blu-ray since its an off brand old POS that barely allows for media streaming and it took me all of 5 minutes to do with serviio. Its mostly a matter of opinion.


Agreed. I have been using Serviio for quite sometime now.