Just over two months ago, we launched Plex for the Xbox One and Xbox 360 with great fanfare and a bevy of Barkley photos. And much rejoicing.
The very next day, Mr. lm_92 (presumably his dad worked for Texas Instruments) created a feature request in the Plex Pass member forum asking for a Plex app for the PlayStation®4. Since then, his request has been voted on almost one thousand times, and rocketed to become the number one request. Ever.
We noticed this meteoric rise just a week ago, and—jolted out of our usual slack-jawed complacency—we set ourselves up with some intravenous caffeine drips and coded for three days straight. In less time than it took to create, well, the Universe, we had the app running on the PlayStation®3 and PlayStation®4, so we took the rest of the week off and played a bunch of hacky sack.
OK, in all honesty, it did take us a bit longer than that. Like, we actually started working on it before the Xbox One app. But we’re finally done, and we’re super happy to tell you that it’s launching today in Europe and most of Asia. The US launch will happen in the near future (along with other locations), but we don’t have a date for you yet. And let’s be real, hasn’t your spouse been bugging you about moving to Italy since they watched A Good Year? Now might be the perfect time. Crush grapes with your bare feet, get fleeced by an opera-singing gondolier, and use Plex on the PlayStation® before ze Americans.
If you’ve seen the app on the Xbox One or on a VIZIO TV, you know what it looks like, but I’ll post some delectable screenshots below just in case. All the same limitations apply with this first release: Plex Pass only, video only, library only. Support for music, photos and channels will follow, as will the ability for non-Plex Pass users to purchase the app.
Why is Barkley looking so happy? Well, duh, he just got a new high score playing Wolfenstein: The New Order on his PupStation®4.
Finally, a few questions and answers:
No, really, when will it be available in my country? We really don’t have specific dates we can give you, it takes a while to work out all the details with Sony. Just know we’re working hard to make it available as widely as possible!
How long is the Plex Pass preview period? The preview period doesn’t last for a fixed amount of time. When the app is deemed ready to graduate, we throw a cap and gown on it.
Where are music, photos, and channels? We’re working hard to bring these features to the app (as well as the other apps which launched with video-only support).
Does it support Plex Home? There is no fast user switching yet, but you can sign into the app with any non-managed account and any restrictions set will be reflected.
Does the app support MKV? DTS? You can read this article to see all the details on supported media formats.
Does the app need a separate Plex Media Server? Yes, it does.
Why isn’t the app showing up in the PlayStation®3 store? The app is actually located under ‘TV/Video Services > My Channels’. You can find more information in this article.