The Best Video Streaming and Live Conversion App for Android
There are plenty of apps that will stream your home video collection from your computer to your Android phone, and there are other apps that will convert on the fly for you before it's streamed, but not too many apps do both at the same time and do it well enough that you can actually watch your video in the process. For that, we think Plex is the best video streaming and live conversion app for the job.Plex
- Streams videos to your Android device over Wi-Fi or 3G
- Converts videos on the fly so they're playable on your Android device regardless of the source file format
- Plays virtually any media file format (not including DRM-protected files, which Plex cannot convert on the fly)
- Plex Media Server desktop suite handles file conversion so your Android device doesn't have to
- Supports Mac OS, Windows, and Linux, can stream files located on (or shared with) your home computer where Plex is installed and connected to your MyPlex Media Hub
- Also supports streaming media from Plex partners and supported streaming media channels available inside the Plex application
- Intuitive interface, little-to-no setup required on both the home server and mobile applications

While you have to have your media server or source running at home in order to stream to your phone, Plex's recent updates and the introduction of the myPlex Media Hub have taken the heavy lifting out of making sure your phone can talk to your home computer when you're away, and completely removed the need for another utility to transcode video before it can be displayed on your Android phone. Perhaps best of all, that on-the-fly transcoding takes place on your home media server, not your phone, so you don't have to deal with super-long buffering times to watch your movies or play your music.


Orb (Free/$10 Pro version) is another option, but instead of being a utility, Orb is more of a service. Orb will definitely stream media from your home computer to your Android device, but the video aspect is largely for web video that you can get through other apps and services, like Hulu and Comedy Central, or if you have a TV tuner installed on your home computer, get cable or satellite, and also have an Orb appliance at home. If you're a big TV fan, Orb is worth a look, but if you want to watch your own media, or take your downloaded movies and videos with you, it's not the best option. Plus, many users report issues streaming over 3G/4G, and note that Orb really works best over Wi-Fi.
Qloud Media (Free/$3 Ad-free version) is another option for anyone looking for an app that—when it works—is designed to operate much like Apple's AirPlay, only for Android. That's the real trouble though—in our tests, we just couldn't get Qloud to live up to its lofty promises of on-the-fly fast transcoding and seamless playback. When it worked, it was clunky, but at least it worked, and streaming over 3G/4G was hit and miss. Plus, the desktop server software only supports Windows, so Mac and Linux users are left out. Still, if you really can't get Plex or Subsonic to work for you, it's good to have an alternative.
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