Archos vs MX Player vs VLC vs Plex for local playback?

by Emx333

I'm just curious what people are using for their video players and why. I'm currently using Archos paid version because I like the Leanback UI and how it automatically pulls metadata and minimal setup that is required. Plus the option to stream .torrent files. However, Archos sometimes doesn't seem to want find some movies or tv shows when it does it's media scan of my library.

However, sometimes the a/v is out of sync with Archos, especially if I skip ahead a lot in a movie for example, but works perfectly in VLC. The only thing is I hate how VLC's UI looks.

I havn't used MX for a while, but from what I remember I wasn't a fan of that UI either. But with the new Shield TV update, does MX player have better sound quality than the other players?

Plex I can't seem to have it discover my local media. It has meta data for movies I don't even have on my Shield TV anymore, but doesn't update to movies that are currently on the Shield. Is Plex more for streaming than local playback? Does the Plex server even have to be on just for local playback?

P.S. Don't even mention Kodi. Kodi is dead to me.

NedSc

Kodi is dead to me.

I'll bite. What's your problem with Kodi? Do note, I'm currently hated by a large portion of the people in charge of the Kodi project, and have a lot of reasons to hate it myself (both as a project and as an app). I have no blind love for any particular software, but Kodi isn't bad .

ScousePete

Plex for me. I find it very intuitive and easy to setup and as long as the naming convention is followed, it finds all my media. I like the interface too.

bla8291

I have the Shield, and I went from MX Player to Plex. I didn't do anything specific...I just added the folders containing my media and it matched everything correctly. I'm running the server on the Shield so that I can go to my bedroom and watch stuff with Plex on my Chromecast if I wanted to (since there are some files that the Chromecast can't play on its own, like Windows Recorded TV). I'm using Plex exclusively for local content, all saved on my NAS.

I have never noticed a different between MX and Plex in terms of audio quality.

I would recommend removing your libraries, and adding them again, one at a time - let one library finish processing, then add the next. That worked for me when my metadata was all messed up.

PolaresBears

VLC, and if it fails, Archos.

I also hate the vlc look and when I didn't want to deal with I just go straight to Archos. MX player had too many playback issues for me.

rmbarrett

Archos. And brave of you to even mention Kodi. I despise it.

serpentxx

There was word ages ago that solid explorer was being developed for androidtv, i was excited but that was the last i heard of it

PolaresBears

Forgot to mention - unfortunately depending on the codec you'll need kodi. I find it works best with AC3 audio. The other ones tend to have occasional video /audio synch issues.

corey389

Archos plays all kinds of video codec with the codec pack also stores album/cover art remembers start and resume work's with dlna, samba, ftp, ssh and webdav. Integrated with Android tv very good

nyteryder79

MX Player, plays everything I throw at it, good interface, most reliable media program I've used with the most options.

sj404404

Archos is great with its great leanback UI that is truly optimized for 10ft experience. Unfortunately it has two issues for me:

  • Non-English file or folder name for SMB share doesn't work. Fails to play.
  • No transcoding of multi channel audio to AC3. Mi Box doesn't support TrueHD audio, for example. Kodi does real time transcoding to AC3 at least.
superlarz

Archos. It is everything I have ever wanted in an app to stream media from my network.