Add-on:PleXBMC

What is it?
PlexBMC is a collection of addons which integrates an XBMC frontend with a Plex Media Server backend. The project was started by the developer hippojay, and continued by pecinko, wickning1, and magnesium.

For discussion, questions, and reporting problems visit the official forum thread located here.

Requirements

 * XBMC Frodo or Gotham. (Gotham preferred.)
 * Plex Media Server (recent version)
 * (For PleXBMC Helper) HTTP Server enabled in XBMC (Settings > Services > Webserver > Allow control of XBMC via HTTP)

If you had PleXBMC installed previously by another method, it might be a good idea to uninstall before setting it up this way

Installation sources
Repository (recommended)
 * 1) Download the PlexBMC add-on repository from here: Repository.
 * 2) Install this into XBMC (System > Add-ons > Install from zip file).
 * 3) Go to Add-ons > Get Add-ons > PlexBMC Add-ons for XBMC
 * 4) PlexBMC is a set of two add-ons.
 * 5) PlexBMC provides the main access to content. Enable it in Video, Music, or Picture (you only need to enable in one location). (This is required.)
 * 6) PlexBMC Helper allows you to control XBMC from a Plex remote (such as on mobile device or the web). Essentially it causes PlexBMC to appear just like a Plex Home Theater instance. (This is optional, but highly recommended.)
 * 7) Once the add-ons are enabled, you can update to new releases simply by updating your add-ons within XBMC.

Manual Releases of PleXBMC and PleXBMC Helper are available on github, at these links: Download the zip of the version you'd like to install, and "install from zip file" in XBMC. Installation this way won't allow for automatic updates.
 * https://github.com/hippojay/plugin.video.plexbmc/releases (PleXBMC)
 * https://github.com/hippojay/script.plexbmc.helper/releases (PleXBMC Helper)

Skins
PleXBMC can work with any skin. It will appear as a video add-on in your skin menu. However, we recommend using a PleXBMC compatible skin for complete integration. Currently the best supported PleXBMC-enabled skin is Amber. This can be installed from the standard xbmc.org repository. Once installed, select "Go PLEX" from the Home Screen (scroll to Settings, select "Go PLEX").

Unsupported skins
Activate by selecting "Go Plex" on the home screen
 * Quartz V3 PleXBMC 0.7.5 ( XBMC 12/FRODO only )

PleXBMC Addon
PleXBMC supports all the standard functions that an official Plex client offers. Such as:
 * Browse, play and resume media in Plex Media Server sections.
 * Display all intermediate filter menus (selectable by user)
 * Search within library sections
 * Displays full metadata, thumbs, fanart, media flags for all items
 * Track and display the watched status for all items (start on one device and resume on another)
 * Automatic subtitle and audio stream support including external subtitle files (such as .srt)
 * Manually start a rescan of media sections
 * Delete media from Plex Media Server (where enabled by the media server)
 * Browse and play Plex Channels (support is currently limited)
 * myPlex support to allow authenticated access to remote Media Servers.
 * Support for Plex Online - install, modify or delete Plex Plugins
 * Wake On LAN - prod those sleeping servers
 * Transcode media with quality selector (good for remote playback)
 * Transcoding support for AC3 and DTS audio
 * Bonjour/zeroconf/GDM support

PleXBMC Helper
If you also install the PleXBMC Helper, you will get the following:
 * Integration with plex iOS (and presumably android and Windows) apps
 * Displays as a selectable screen/client within app
 * Utilise the remote to send commands (excluding keyboard support, as this is removed from current XBMC implementations)
 * Initiate playback of media on the remote app

PleXBMC Skins
In addition, if a PleXBMC specific skin is used:
 * Display all section on the main home screen (movies, tv, channels)
 * Display all partial watched flags
 * Display of recently added items (Quartz skins only)

Screencast
Still not sure what PleXBMC does - here is a video to explain (silently) what it does:

Basic installation and configuration

 * Ensure your PLex Media Server is up and running
 * Install addon directly via zipf ile or through the PleXBMC repository
 * Configure the Addon with the IP address of the Plex Media Server
 * Start Addon from Video -> Addon -> PleXBMC

Addon Configuration Options
Media Sources Location for Plex Msdia Servers
 * Use Bonjour local Discovery - Automatically locate other Plex Media Server instances in local network (Default: Off)
 * Off - use static IPs for media servers
 * On - use Bonjour to find ny local media servers


 * Plex Media Server hostname - IP address or DNS name of PMS instance (Default: 127.0.0.1)
 * Port Number - port to talk to Plex Media Server on (default: 32400)
 * MyPlex User - username to log into myplex service
 * MyPlex password - and the corresponding password

Playback


 * Stream from PMS - Decide how to play PMS media on XBMC (Default: auto)
 * Auto - Let PleXBMC decide (First look for local file ; else http from Plex Media Server)
 * http - Use Plex Media Server Webserver to play file
 * smb - Use samba/cifs to play file. Share must be assessible to client
 * afp - Use Apple AFP to play file.


 * Audio and subtitile selector - determine what audio stream and subtitles to display
 * XBMC Control - Let XBMC decide and remember your manual audio and subtitle selection
 * Never - Just turn all subtitles off.
 * Plex Control - Let PlexBMC decide based on PMS configuration. Audio stream and subtitles will be set to PMS selected stream. If there are no embedded subs, external file will be used.
 * External - Always use the external subtitle file if it exists.


 * Force DVD playback - Try to play the DVD as a single image, requires the use of SMB to read whole DVD structure
 * Override SMB location - use the following data to force the source to come from a seperate NAS device:
 * NAS IP Address - Seperate location of NAS source
 * NAS Username - username to log into NAS SMB Share
 * NAS Password - and corresponding password
 * NAS Root folder - The base folder with the NAS for the media file location
 * Select master server - select a plex media server to act as the transcoder master for myplex
 * Current master server - automatically populated item showing the current master server defined.

Trancoding Used to set the transcoding settings used for media playback. These settings will also be used to playback any flash channels from the Plex Media Server (e.g. Pitchfork.tv, tvcatchup.com)


 * Quality - Select the quality, the higher the better, but will take longer and use more processing power on the Media Server.
 * Select Audio Output:
 * Stereo
 * AC3
 * DTS


 * Always transcode - turn it on or off. If selected [b]ALL[/b] media is transcoded regardless..
 * Subtitle size - select the sizing of any transcoded subtitles
 * Audio boost - try to increase the volume during transcoding for smaller devices.

Wake on LAN Configure the device to attempt to wake when running PleXBMC.
 * Use Wake on LAN - switch it on and off
 * MAC Address X - the MAC address of the devices to send the wake up packet too.

Look and Feel

Extra settings to alter some aspects of the way PleXBMC works.


 * Enable extra filter menus - display intermediate Plex Menus (recently played, by genre, etc)
 * Plex Channel View? - display plugins using the iOS channel view, rather than in separate sections
 * Plex Style Watched Flags - shows partially watched media
 * Flatten TV Shows - either off, Single season shows or all seasons.
 * Clean context Menus - show only plexbmc context menu items
 * Skip Context menus - don't bother to build PleXBMC context menus [speedup]
 * Skip genre/director/writer metadata - Don't gather this info [speedup]
 * skip images (thumbs, fanart) - don't get images [speedup]
 * Skip Media Flags - don't process and display media flags [speedup]
 * Strict Skin Views - force a particular skin view for the configured media type.
 * Skin Name - Select the name of the skin
 * Movie view - select the name of the view to use
 * TV view - select the name of the view to use
 * Season view - select the name of the view to use
 * Episode view - select the name of the view to use
 * Music view - select the name of the view to use

Shelf Configure the recently added/Used data on the home screens
 * Enable Movie Shelf - Display the recently added data for movies
 * Enable TV Shelf - Display the recently added data for tv shows
 * Enable Music Shelf - Display the recently added data for music
 * Enable Channel Shelf - Display the recently added data for Plex Channels
 * Content filter - Only display shelf data for items in the following groups:
 * Kids - show items appropriate for kids (PG and below)
 * Teens - show items appropriate for teens and below (Kids plus items up to 15 years old)
 * Adults - show all items (Kids plus Teens plus all items rated 16 and above)


 * map unknown content as - if a media item doesn't have a rating, then set it as one of the previous types.[/list]

Debug
 * Enable debug output to log - turns on verbose PleXBMC logging into xbmc.log file. Handy if something goes wrong...
 * RA Library Filter - [Advanced setting] block some library section from displaying in the Shelf data (based on the library section number in Plex Media Server)

Skins
There are some modified XBMC skins to fully integrate PleXBMC into XBMC - so you get easier access to your media and a better Plex-like experience. I would recommend using a PleXBMC modified skin for best results.

NOTE: you must use a skin and PleXBMC addon appropriate for the version of XBMC you are running

XBMC 10.1 / Dharma

1. Confluence.plexbmc (originally by Jezz_X and Team XBMC, tweaked by Hippojay)

https://github.com/downloads/hippojay/skin.confluence.plexbmc/skin.confluence.plexbmc-0.4.4.zip

Activate by enabling "Plexbmc integration" in the skin settings

2.Cirrus-ex.plexbmc (originally by Crookas, extended by butchabay and Malexx, tweaked by hippojay)

https://github.com/downloads/hippojay/skin.cirrus-ex.plexbmc/skin.cirrus-ex.plexbmc-0.3.zip

Activate by enabling "Plexbmc integration" in the skin settings

3. Quartz.plexbmc (originally by Pecinko, modded by hippojay)

https://github.com/downloads/hippojay/skin.quartz.plexbmc/skin.quartz.plexbmc-0.4.zip

Activate by enabling "Plexbmc integration" in the skin settings

Source
f you want to look at the code it's here: https://github.hippojay