By way of a TiVo media blast and discussions I’ve had with Plex representatives, we now know the rumors are true. Plex lands on TiVo Roamio, Premiere, and Mini hardware next week! And, fortunately, the Plex experience is not buried within the Opera TV Store, residing alongside Spotify and an also soon-to-be released iHeartRadio under Music & Photos. Although, in actuality, most folks will probably utilize the multi-talented Plex as a video player – reinforcing TiVo’s need to rethink how they present and we access apps.
Plex on TiVo is a custom built affair, similar in presentation to their other Smart TV apps and utilizing the Opera SDK. At launch, streaming will max out at 720p – but 1080p is on the roadmap. However, unlike most Plex “Smart TV” implementations and given their partnership with TiVo, a PlexPass subscription will not be required. Unsurprisingly, our Plex libraries will not commingle with TiVo’s unified search and OnePass that encompass both linear television and streaming apps like Netflix. All that remains to be seen is how well Plex performs. No, it probably won’t be as sprightly as Roku or Amazon Fire TV, but it could be good enough for Input 1. And a big boon as TiVo now courts cord cutters.