LG To Use Plex In Netcast TVs

By Greg Tarr -- TWICE, 9/3/2010

San Francisco - Plex, a media-management software developer, said Friday that LG Electronics has agreed to integrate its open, three-screen media platform in 2011 Netcast-enabled HDTVs and Blu-ray Disc players.

The platform is said to simplify the process of streaming content across a range of connected PC, TV and mobile devices.

"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, LG Electronics LCD TV R&D director. "Plex's capabilities offer our customers' additional methods of displaying their content on LG's next-generation TVs, and that is exciting to us."

Plex platform uses open architecture and spans both personal and online content.

It includes a simple-to-use user interface for searching, navigating, accessing, and syncing digital content from multiple platforms and devices.

No additional hardware or technology knowledge is required.

Users will be able to access their favorite TV programs, movies, photos and other content from any location using a wide range of devices.

 "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, Plex CEO and co-founder. "Plex enables LG to more easily offer a wide variety of content sources to consumers using the NetCast services."

Plex said the platform is compatible with mainstream mobile devices, including iPad, iPod Touch and iPhone, and soon to be announced Android based products including mobile phones and tablets.

Plex's mobile compatibility also allows users access to their content from anywhere.

"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" said Elan Feingold, Plex chief technology officer and co-founder. "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."

Plex said third-party developers and owners of content are able to develop plug-ins for use by all Plex users across all devices.

Nearly 200 plug-ins are available now including iTunes, Netflix, CNN, Revision3 and YouTube. Plex for OS X is downloadable for free, with a Windows version to be available later this year.