Plex Media Center for OS X

As I said, the new Mac Mini is perfectly designed to be used as a media center machine. Just hook the HDMI to your new fangled TV set and you are most of the way there. I say most of the way because you will need some software, not only to play all manner of (legally acquired) media, but also something that is easy to see and navigate using the remote from your couch. That said, I see a lot of chatter about Boxee being the software to go with here. And while it is nice enough, I am going to argue for a better (In my opinion, at least) solution.

Plex is not as well known as Boxee, and that is part of it’s advantage. Plex is designed to be media center software for the Mac. Unlike Boxee, Plex has no goals of creating set top boxes, supporting game consoles, or running anywhere but on a computer. Why is this an advantage?

Well, because most media companies are stuck in lizard brain dinosaur land. They think that there is a huge difference and divide between watching content on a television and watching it on a computer. Most take great issue with Boxee and have tried several times to cut it off at the legs. Why? Because Boxee’s main goal is to play on a TV and the media dinos think they should get paid for that. Plex, on the other hand, only cares about playing on a desktop or computer and, if you happen to hook that computer up to a TV, well, that is your business. The dinos care much less about it and, therefore, you will suffer less hassles (features and access suddenly being removed, etc).

Also, unlike Boxee, the Plex interface is clean and very Mac like. It is well maintained, has support for just about every streaming channel imaginable (Hulu, Netflix, etc.), and has a ton of configuration options under the hood. I have been using it daily for a couple of years now and it is rock solid. Highly recommended for that new Mac Mini you were planning on buying.