Using Roku 2 xd with HTPC as extender

I have the first and second general Roku boxes. Yes, you can use Plex on them. It's just a channel to install.

To find a discussion on it, you can go to the Plex forums and read the Roku subforum.

As for useful, that's a bit subjective. It's as useful as Netflix if you have a digital media you keep stored somewhere in your home network.

I would suggest checking out Plex's website. I think you may not understand what Plex is or what it does.

I've been disappointed with Plex and the Roku. I don't understand why it has to transcode all the time. Just freaking play the full bitrate file!

Codec support on the Roku support is very limited. Not much the Plex team can do about that. Otherwise the Plex Roku channel is very nice.

The ROKU has a strict conformance to an HLS streaming protocol. Even though it can support a 1080p MKV file via usb (R2 XS), PLEX has to do 'transcoding' to break it up into HLS packets just so the ROKU can receive them via a channel. There is also a mechanism by which the source transcodes at a lower quality if the connection cannot handle it. By limiting to that protocol, Roku helps ensure channels work by placing the burden on the channel provider. That is good, but it also means that there won't be a solution that does not require transcoding of some sort.

I use the term transcoding loosely above, as it still can be H264, just packaged differently.