Anyone who has a Plex server will tell you that there are countless ways to access it. Plex has apps out for just about any device or OS you can think of. When it comes to watching Plex on a HDTV, most people plug in a Roku or Chromecast and call it a day. While this obviously works, the interface is a little slow and clunky and you wind up with a functional solution without much wow factor.

One way people solve this is by building a HTPC so that they are in control of the power and performance. The issue is that even the most frugal shopper will still spend over $200 for anything worth while. That is no longer the case...

Why do this over a Roku, Chromecast, or Fire TV?

Each streaming stick/box, while usable, comes with some limitations.

The Roku has a somewhat clumsy interface. Plex is forced to follow the Roku guidelines, and it doesn't make for a pleasing interface. The Roku will do AC3 and DTS surround formats, but not TrueHD or DTS-HD.

The Chromecast has a hard bitrate limit of 12mbps. In the past, you could patch around that, but that is getting harder and harder to do. It also only supports AC3 and AAC for surround sound, with no support for DTS or the HD codecs ever coming.

The Fire TV only supports AC3 surround sound, after you tweak the profile in the settings. Any other format gets downmixed to stereo before getting sent to your Fire TV.

Using the Chromebox and following this guide gets you a real Plex client, that supports fan art, multiple users, channels, and supports ALL surround sound formats. You get the FULL Plex experience!