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When comparing Plex vs Finder.app, the Slant community recommends Finder.app for most people. In the question“What are the best media centers for an OS X?” Finder.app is ranked 1st while Plex is ranked 2nd. The most important reason people chose Finder.app is:
Comes with your system, and is updated alongside the rest of it, so it should never break suddenly or lag in terms of supported features. This is the finder most software will expect to find and use.
Specs
Question Ranking
Pros
Pro Supported on many devices
It's pretty hard to find a NAS or STB that doesn't support Plex.
Pro Accessible via web browser
A modern web browser is enough to get everything Plex has to offer.
Pro Added lots of media databases
Metadata for media files will automatically be updated by using media databases. This provides posters, movie trailers, descriptions, information about actors, etc.
Pro Built-In
Comes with your system, and is updated alongside the rest of it, so it should never break suddenly or lag in terms of supported features. This is the finder most software will expect to find and use.
Pro Applescript
Finder is well-supported by Applescript and/or Automator.
Cons
Con Needs registration
You need a PLEX account even if you use it on your local LAN.
Con Proprietary software
Unfree software.
Con No gapless audio-playback
Plex still does not support gapless playback of audio files such as mp3 or FLAC.
Con Playback error: This server is not powerful enough to convert video
More hardware requirements on Plex due to a useless/non-intuitive transcoder. When using lower spec hardware (eg SBC) Plex will not transcode or play HD+ videos. When compared to other packages (eg Jellyfin which transcodes nicely using FFMeg), Plex falls short on video playback and transcode settings to get videos to play (fastest/lightest option still fails).
Con Very few features
Need for a lot of external tools.
Con No cut option in context menu
Con No right click > create new folder option
Con Write index hidden files to all external storages you connect to
Con Sorts folders between files in some settings
Folders and sorting gets weird in some cases.
Con subfolders side-by-side but no file details
The side-by-side view of several sub folders is useful for many people, but in this view you loose all file details.
