Hi there, I am back to Plex and I am wondering what the difference between PlexPass and PlexAmp is. I do not mind paying for some services, but I want my life to be easy and I am finding it hard to understand.
I want to be able to:
listen to my music library at home and remotely via the web server
Stream music at home and remotely on my iPhone and have my wife do the same
crucially, access my music library via CarPlay in my car.
Ideally, but not necessarily, cast plex music via DLNA to HEOS steroes
Regarding the Plex Pass PlexAmp features/music features, the following:
Plexamp Exclusives
Get access to members-only features within the Plexamp app like Sonic Sage, Guest DJ, Mix Builders, Related Tracks, and more. • Lyrics
See timed lyrics to your favorite songs when available, so you can karaoke (or lip sync) until you’re blue in the face!
Use Plexamp (music only) or Plex mobile app (video + music).
Use Plexamp.
You would have to use the remote for the HEOS system to browse & stream from the DLNA server in Plex. Very ugly. A better option is to have a Plex client (Apple TV, Amazon FireStick, Plexamp Headless, etc.) attached to the HEOS system (HDMI input on receiver) and cast to it.
Plex (with music) just means the main Plex app. However, some main Plex apps (iOS, Android) will eventually be phased out (within a years time I would guess) and those mobile apps will strictly use PlexAmp.
One of the open discussions at this years Pro Week (where devs talk to users/write blogs) was how Plex plans to start splitting some services out to better service the community. So PlexAmp (for music) and also PlexPhotos (for photos) are being separated into their own apps (and those features will be removed from the default Plex app as well). I am unsure what the plan will be for TV apps at this moment, maybe a dev or ninja has a better insight into that.
I only mentioned to just use PlexAmp because you don’t want to become accustomed to Plex for music on your phone for example and have that method disappear in a few months.
Following up on #4,
my Heos receivers only have AUX in ports and a USB port. One has a 5V USB port. are any of those DLNA devices compatible with a USB port? or Aux?
Plex has a very rudimentary DLNA server. You cannot use a Plex app to cast via
DLNA. You can use the Denon remote to run their DLNA client and navigate the file structure on your Plex server. I did it once many moons ago. It was ugly. I’ve never used it again.
TBH, I would not use the Plex DNLA server. It has a memory leak (at least on Linux) that slowly consumes all RAM in the system. Plex is not going to fix it, because it would require a full re-write of the DLNA server and they’ve higher priorities.
If you want to use DLNA, I suggest using one provided by the operating system or from a 3rd party.
If you want to cast via Plex, there are options. You can run Plex on a PC, then connect the PC to your receiver, Heos speaker, etc. You could use HDMI, optical, or analog, depending on capabilities of your equipment (unsure about USB).
You can also run PlexAmp Headless on a Raspberry Pi. Then connect the RPi to your audio gear. As with a PC, the connection can be HDMI, optical, or analog depending on what is supported by your equipment (again, unsure about USB support.
You then cast from your phone to the device running PlexAmp.
