Apple’s own Front Row is a pretty solid media center, as long as you are just looking to watch/listen to your media. It is simple and it does its job well. However, some people like a few more feature when it comes to a media center, especially those who are using there computer solely as a media center. Enter Plex.

On the outside, Plex may look just like any other media center, but inside you will find it is packed with useful and ingenious features.

For starters Plex has the ability to automatically fetch and apply Metadata from IMDB and TVDB to your media. This feature paired with Plex’s file manager makes organizing your media powerful and convenient. Support for RSS feeds and Shoutcast streams also make Plex stand out from other media center options.

Getting to the more technical side, Plex supports multi-core H.264 decoding and features support for Dolby Digital and DTS audio streams. This means Plex can really take advantage of that optical out port that your MacBook Pro, MacPro, Mac Mini, and iMac feature. The great features don’t stop here. Advanced video upscaling, support for fanart, RAW support for picture slide shows, integrated weather module, and a skinable interface are a just a handful of the features that Plex has to offer. It does all of this while maintaining it’s elegance and simplicity.

I could continue writing about it, but the best way to experience everything Plex has to offer is just give it a try. Oh yeah, Did I mention it’s donationware?

Plexapp.com – Plex Blog