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2012-12-06, 15:00
(This post was last modified: 2012-12-06, 21:33 by chander.)
With the new Plex client app for windows 8, Plex takes a fully commercial way. I think it's just a matter of time for the OSX client to be only sell in the app store. So, XBMC devs, do you find it normal that Plex just import XBMC code in "their" client, add their server model and finally get paid for all your hard work?
I know it's a controversial topic but as long as Plex was free, copying XBMC codes was just OK but now, is is still just an ethic question?
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Wow... I'm not the biggest fan of PLEX but I think it was a little more involved than just copying the code?
I remember XBMC on OSX was a long way off and so for them to get it running must have taken some serious work.
Boxee and now Plex have/will go commercial and this is why I will stick with XBMC and recommend it to everyone I see.
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Ok, "copying" isn't adequate. So let's say "based on", like plex dev says on October 28th, 2011, when they released their 'new' client: "The Plex desktop client has been largely rewritten, based on the latest stable release of XBMC". Once more, the problem is now that plex have/will go commercial.
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Any disputes or tension between the two projects/organizations are based on events in the past. Selling XBMC code is perfectly fine, and we even have friendly relationships with groups that do this (at-visions, Pivos, Sigma, just to name a few). So Plex doing this really doesn't mean anything as far as our relation with them.
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2012-12-06, 19:53
(This post was last modified: 2012-12-06, 20:07 by chander.)
Thanks for this information. Don't want to start a flame war here. Just some precisions about the commercial way Plex has taken.
And concerning the Win8 app, i think they have written something new because, according to some users, it's not a 'true' client': all files are transcoded (jeez) even on the local network not taking in account installed codecs on the PC.
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2012-12-06, 20:45
(This post was last modified: 2012-12-06, 20:46 by lockdown571.)
Well the desktop clients for Mac and Windows haven't been updated in ages, and they clearly aren't a priority anymore. I could be wrong, but I don't think the iOS, Android, Roku, LG, etc. apps use any XBMC code.
Also, why the heck is there such a hubbub about them charging $3 for the Windows 8 'metro' app? They've always charged a small price for their phone and tablet apps. They are a business after all, which apparently is shocking to some. Also, the idea of Plex charging for the old desktop Mac and Windows apps is just speculation based on no facts at all.
I'm no XBMC developer, but the whole bad blood between Plex and XBMC seems like a thing of the past. The Plex team clearly has different priorities and are more interested in mobile apps that I'm assuming contain no XBMC code at all (someone correct me if I'm wrong).
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2012-12-06, 21:49
(This post was last modified: 2012-12-06, 21:49 by Stranger.)
If Plex's media server acknowledged my metadata I would be £2.99 poorer.
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Plex's win8 app is really not much different than their roku, android or web clients. It is just a gui with a basic player that uses either flash or http live streaming.
It is actually more like Airvideo than xbmc. The plex media server does the media management, transcoding, etc. And I believe the server was written from scratch using ffmpeg for the transcoding part.
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Yep, everything but the OSX and windows clients was written in-house. No infringement there.
Hopefully the devs will split XBMC into client/server with transcoding for mobile streaming someday too. It really is Plex's marquee feature.
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No, Plex relies on ffmpeg to transcode on the server side, which is an open source project, and thus they need to release the source code for the server implementation. The beef should be between ffmpeg developers and Plex, not between XBMC and Plex since the OS X and Windows desktop clients have their code published.
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davilla
Retired-Team-XBMC Developer
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Just incase ffmpeg developers want some ammo, The OSX Plex server dyloads FFMpeg built with --enable-gpl, this is forbidden. You can only dyload FFMpeg built as LGPL into closed source Apps. The -enable-gpl switch builds FFMpeg as GPL.
