Plex to be Integrated into LG Netcast TVs and Blu-ray Players (Update: Video)

Exciting news in the realm of media centers. Plex announced today that LG Electronics has chosen to integrate the Plex platform into their 2011 lineup of internet connected, Netcast enabled TVs and Blu-Ray players. The Plex integration will be a cloud version of Plex providing access to online content. For those running Plex Media Server, it’ll obviously allow playback of this content as well.

Hojun Nam, Director of LCD TV R&D at LG Electronics says that after considering many alternative solutions, LG Electronics chose to utilize Plex’s media server platform technology as a part of its next generation NetCast™ enabled home entertainment products because of the breadth of available applications and content and the ease of developing new services.

They ‘get’ where TV is going, and I have to make a confession – the first time I saw their Plex interface, talking to a remote Plex Media Server and flawlessly streaming content, I had to pretend I had something in my eye, says Elan from the Plex team.

To me, nothing spells “maturity” more than acknowledgement and partnerships with hardware manufacturers. By switching to a client/server architecture rather than a massive, all-in-one product, the Plex team has enabled Plex to easily be used in this capacity along with it’s iOS app for iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad.

Plex is also coming to more platforms. A Windows version of Plex is also due on the horizon later this year as well as some Android products (undoubtedly also Google TV) coming soon making Plex the most cross-platform/device media center out today.

This is a beautiful moment for open source media centers. Congrats, Plex team.

Update: We Got Served shared a few videos from IFA 2010 showing the Plex integration. The integration of Plex is actually an app within Netcast called Netcast Media Link which is powered by Plex.

Press Release

PLEX TO ENABLE NEXT GENERATION OF NETCAST™ CONNECTED TV’S

San Francisco, CA & Berlin, Germany (IFA) – September 3, 2010 – Today, Plex (www.plexapp.com), a leading software provider of an open platform for media management and consumption, announced the availability of the newest version of Plex, the first open, three-screen media platform (PC, TV and mobile) designed to simplify and improve the way people experience personal, commercial and streaming content sources across a range of connected devices. Additionally, Plex revealed that LG Electronics will be integrating the Plex platform technology into its 2011 Netcast™ enabled HDTVs and Blu-ray devices, making media and applications accessible through a range of products.

“After considering many alternative solutions, LG Electronics chose to utilize Plex’s media server platform technology as a part of its next generation NetCast™ enabled home entertainment products because of the breadth of available applications and content and the ease of developing new services,” said Hojun Nam, Director of LCD TV R&D at LG Electronics. “Plex’s capabilities offer our customers’ additional methods of displaying their content on LG’s next generation TVs and that is exciting to us.”

With its rapidly expanding open platform, Plex is the first and only truly comprehensive digital media management solution that spans both personal and online content. The solution’s simple-to-use and intuitive user interface allows consumers to search, navigate, consume, store and sync digital content from multiple platforms and devices. It requires no additional hardware or technology knowledge, ensuring even the most novice user will easily be able to access their favorite TV programs, movies, photos and more – no matter where they are or what device they want to access it with.

“Plex was developed to provide a simple solution for navigating an increasingly complex digital media landscape. As our access to a greater variety of high-quality content continues to grow and we create more of our own content, it is clear that we need a new way to enjoy and provide a consistent experience across the expanding universe of disparate content sources,” said Cayce Ullman, CEO and co-founder, Plex. “Plex enables LG to more easily offer a wide variety of content sources to consumers using the NetCast™ services.”

Compatibility with mainstream mobile devices, such as iPad, iPod Touch and iPhone products, and soon to be announced Android based products including mobile phones and tablets, ensures that the Plex solution is the industry’s first truly integrated three-screen media platform, allowing a seamless experience across devices and media sources. Plex’s mobile compatibility also allows users access to their content from anywhere, making content consumption and management seamless across all device types – whenever and wherever users prefer.

“We’ve been working hard to build this killer platform, and we have an amazing community who has enabled access to over one hundred online content sources to date” noted Elan Feingold, CTO and co-founder, Plex. “It’s exciting that this content will now be available in a seamless manner on LG’s 2011 NetCast™ enabled TVs and Blu-ray players.”

Third-party developers and owners of content have the ability to develop Plex plug-ins, which will then be available to all Plex users across all devices. Currently, there are nearly 200 plug-ins available through Plex’s service including iTunes, Netflix, CNN, Revision3, YouTube, and many others. Plex for OS X is downloadable for free, with a Windows version to be available later this year. For more information, please visit www.plexapp.com.

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About Plex:

Plex was founded in 2009 by several technology veterans looking to fulfill the promise of a seamless digital media lifestyle. Plex Media Center, the flagship product, is an easy-to-use software solution that allows consumers to access digital media from a wide variety of sources. The Plex platform also enables content providers to make their content easily available across a range of devices. For more information, please visit www.plexapp.com.

More information for developers can be found at http://dev.plexapp.com.

Source: Plex Press Release via Plex