Anyone use this? A buddy of mine talked me into setting up an old rig to use Plex as a media server. Kind of excited to try it out. Neat looking service, especially for it being free. Already linked my account to my friend's so I can browse and play his library.

https://www.plex.tv/

3/15/2017 9:32:47 AM

I've used Plex for the last 5 or so years now. Bought the lifetime pass.

Great if you have a lot of digital media to have what amounts to a netflix membership.

3/15/2017 10:32:24 AM

I've been using it for a few years. Just got new Apple TVs to use the Plex App for it instead of having to use that PlexConnect crap.

3/15/2017 10:56:45 AM

Also been using it for years, I share my server with my family so I have about 15 users although generally never more than 2 concurrent streams

In the living room we use our Xbox One for tv (antenna) and Plex, or I'll watch on my phone/tablet and we have fire tv and chromecast on the bedroom tv's. i use a combination of sonarr, couchpotato and plex to automate tv and movie downloading. I have NAS storage with a built-in Plex server and I also run a Plex server on my desktop, the desktop is the primary plex server but I use the NAS device for situations when I don't have the desktop running.

I had also played with Kodi in the past, but Plex is just so much easier to setup and use

[Edited on March 15, 2017 at 12:40 PM. Reason : .]

3/15/2017 12:40:19 PM

Plex is a breeze.

Love it. I too share my server with my friends/family. Usually throw in a couple bucks for new hard-drives or whatever if needed.

3/15/2017 4:02:43 PM

Anyone else gotten an invite to the Cloud Beta?

I got one like 2 weeks ago, but have been too busy to set it up.

3/15/2017 8:51:19 PM

^No cloud invite but also not Plex Pass member.

I set it up on my home PC years ago. Worked pretty great on that, but got even better once I got a MyCloud NAS box. Now have it setup on that and I don't have to keep the server running on my PC, or worry about interacting with the PC and slowing down the server. Now I stream to three Chromecasts, plus a couple of iPad's around the home with no issue.

3/16/2017 9:28:52 AM

i still don't trust the cloud setup, i don't want to open plex one day and find out my account was cancelled and files removed because of a dmca notice or something

3/16/2017 11:11:50 AM

Yeah I've always been a little wary to get too much into the torrent game.

I have a decent disc collection I plan to digitize, and from there was going to save movies I liked from rentals.

3/16/2017 11:23:35 AM

Been using plex for a year now, mainly on my Roku 3. I too do not trust the cloud. But I really enjoy it. Rarely have I come across media that it can't handle.

3/16/2017 1:04:23 PM

I use plex/sonarr/couchpotato and really like it. Keep kicking myself that I didn't buy lifetime license on 2 separate occasions. If you ever get one of those email offers don't sit on it because they come like once a year and plex staff won't honor them past the expiration.

3/16/2017 1:16:52 PM

Yea, I got a could invite but have yet to do it. I don't think I will as i have no current issues with my setup.

3/16/2017 1:34:23 PM

What do you get with the lifetime pass?

3/16/2017 1:43:19 PM

not have to pay 4.99 for plex pass the rest of your existence

[Edited on March 16, 2017 at 1:53 PM. Reason : s]

3/16/2017 1:53:02 PM

main plex pass benefits are you can sync content to devices and also you get trailers and extra features

3/17/2017 8:45:04 AM

Plex Pass doesn't seem worth it to me

3/17/2017 8:51:08 AM

i buy it for months i'm going to be travelling a lot to sync content. i know i can manually copy stuff, but being able to automatically have, for example, the last 3 unwatched episodes of a certain show without needing to keep track of what i have copied onto my phone or tablet is nice.

beyond that, nah

3/17/2017 8:57:49 AM

I got it for sharing my stuff with other members of my family as well as being able to setup an account for the kid and not worry about him randomly deciding oh the walking dead that sounds cool!

3/17/2017 9:44:06 AM

Does anyone have issues with streaming content to an iPad (local wifi network)? I have Plex setup on 2 iPads for my kids and I run into issues where it can't connect to the server...

I have to go to my computer and login and refresh the Plex library.

3/17/2017 9:46:18 AM

Quote :

" i know i can manually copy stuff"

and stream it...but i guess you're talking about being on a plane or something

3/17/2017 10:41:55 AM

^ yea, he is talking about the sync feature that doesnt require any signal/Wifi

3/17/2017 11:02:09 AM

^^Does anyone have issues with streaming content to an iPad (local wifi network)?


lately, I've been having issues with my Plex Media Server closing itself when it should be running 24/7 on windows 10. Had to uninstall and reinstall to be able to get in.

[Edited on March 17, 2017 at 11:04 AM. Reason : s]

3/17/2017 11:03:54 AM

Quote :

"and stream it...but i guess you're talking about being on a plane or something"

airplanes mostly, or places where the only wifi is shitty hotel wifi and i don't want to murder my data plan streaming video

Quote :

"Does anyone have issues with streaming content to an iPad (local wifi network)? I have Plex setup on 2 iPads for my kids and I run into issues where it can't connect to the server... I have to go to my computer and login and refresh the Plex library."

I had to allow unsecure connections in the plex settings for the ipad and iphone, my android devices and xbox never had a problem though

[Edited on March 17, 2017 at 12:07 PM. Reason : .]

3/17/2017 12:06:37 PM

Plex Pass isn't worth it for $150, but they offered it to me a while back for $75. I jumped on it. Only reason is that they withhold apps for new platforms for some time. Just looking to the future and any devices I might get. I waited ~1 yr for Xbox One app.

I'm also worried about the Cloud for DMCA etc. But I'm thinking of using it with one of those Cloud torrent providers like bitport, offcloud, or filestream. My home server runs 24/7 and I figure I'd save enough on electricity to pay for the cloud storage (now that ACD isn't supported).

3/22/2017 2:50:03 PM

I just got a Vizio D series for the garage/workout area. I've setup the TV's wifi and I can get Netflix, Amazon, etc.

But Plex is not working. I keep getting a network error and it tells me to fix my connection or exit the app.

I know Vizio sucks, but I'm not buying high end to have in the garage.

3/22/2017 9:11:36 PM

You could spring for a Chromecast, Fire Stick, or Roku stick. Vizio's app support has always been trash.

3/23/2017 7:39:05 AM

^^Did you allow unsecure connections as was stated above for iPads?

I have a Vizio TV with the apps and got it to work just fine, and that was when I was using it from my PC instead of my NAS. I think I had the same problem initially and had to allow unsecure connections.

3/23/2017 7:55:39 AM

you could also add a roku or whatever the cheapest streaming device is with a decent plex app

3/23/2017 9:27:59 AM

Yeah- that's what I'm gonna do... I have a Roku 3 I'm not using.

3/23/2017 11:33:36 AM

^That's my setup, and it works nearly flawlessly. The only issue I have is that my NAS attached to the router becomes password prompted from time to time.

So I have a question. I don't have a lot of experience with purchasing digital copies from places like Amazon. If you buy a digital movie, are you allowed to move it from place to place, or are only allowed to view it from within Amazon?

I'm wondering how I can purchase digital movies and put a copy on my media to view through plex.

3/23/2017 11:54:05 AM

If you mount the NAS as network drives, you just point the plex library to that location and I don't know why you would have issues. Or are you saying the drive unmounts?


For Amazon Prime movies I think you are buying it to watch through Amazon Prime on any of your connected devices, I don't think you get an actual file to use how you want. Outside of some movies released on vimeo or independently that let you download them, i think the only way to get DRM-free digital copies is to buy the DVD and rip it (and i think that's technically illegal too?)

3/23/2017 12:23:35 PM

So when you download stuff, does it go straight to the NAS, and you manage those drives/folders through a laptop or something?

3/23/2017 12:43:27 PM

Are you asking me?

My original download is to my D-drive then it is moved to my NAS and the file name is corrected and its put in the proper folder heirarchy automatically. For the few files I manually download, I usually just save those direct to the NAS

3/23/2017 12:51:06 PM

^^^No, we have Prime too, and I understand watching through Prime, but you can also buy digital copies of movies from Amazon. I figured they weren't DRM free but didn't know if other retailers actually sold DRM free copies.

Unfortunately I don't have a blu-ray drive in any of my pc's, so ripping them is out of the question.

And yes, from time to time the NAS drives will unmount. It's pretty annoying.

I do the same as dtownral. I have a "download" location and then just manually copy to the NAS.

[Edited on March 23, 2017 at 1:12 PM. Reason : ^]

3/23/2017 1:11:06 PM

For what it's worth I use the Vizio Plex app and do not have any complaints. Sometimes it's buggy but overall it works well enough for me not to have ever considered a roku.

rjrumfel
You can give something like Playon a try.
https://www.playon.tv/how-to-guide/how-to-download-and-watch-amazon-offline

3/23/2017 1:12:10 PM

^^ the ones you actually buy through prime, i think you have to use them through prime


Amazon may sell downloadable .mp4 or .wmv but i'm not aware of it, do you have a link?

is your NAS a USB drive attached to a router? i bet that's the issue, I've never had good luck with those.

3/23/2017 1:49:33 PM

I finally read the t's & c's and you're right, you buy something through Amazon video and watch it through the Prime app. Not sure what you do if you're not a prime member.

And yes, I have a 4 TB and 3 TB drive attached to my router. Clunky yes, but I'm too poor to buy anything resembling real NAS.

3/23/2017 8:15:51 PM

^You might want to look into rolling your own. Freenas is great for this. There are lots of guides out there. It's a lot cheaper but similar convenience/redundancy to a commercial NAS (like QNAP or Synology)

3/28/2017 10:54:28 AM

^^Yea that shit is buggy as fuck. Tried it a while back before I got the MyCloud NAS.

As stated, you could just build your own and FreeNAS it. Some stuff like the MyCloud has come down in price quite a bit and they are super easy to setup and run.

3/28/2017 9:01:10 PM

I tried to cheap out on my first NAS and it cost me all my data

3/29/2017 6:23:36 AM

just be aware from everything I read freenas needs 8GB of ram. I tried installing it on an HP DL120 G7 with 4x1TB Seagate Constellations thinking oh this is good...Nah apparently ZFS with less than 8GB ram is just asking for trouble no matter if it's ECC or not.

So I threw 2k12 server on it and did a software RAID10.

3/29/2017 4:29:42 PM

Can someone recommend an inexpensive-ish NAS box?...Bonus points for being able to use my own drives.

4/23/2017 4:53:43 PM

WD MyCloud EX

4/23/2017 7:38:59 PM

WD MyCloud PR2100 is what I have now. Good stuff.

4/25/2017 7:20:04 AM

I use a proliant nl40. im sure you can get one on ebay for $100. install freenas

[Edited on April 25, 2017 at 9:35 AM. Reason : most of the nl40's will come with WHS2011 for free too]

4/25/2017 9:32:58 AM

I finally got Plex on the Roku and playing around with some of the unofficial channels. Seems pretty cool. Wondering if I have to figure out a whole VPN thing though.

5/12/2017 10:29:56 AM

i feel like torrenting would be the main need for a VPN, if you aren't doing that i'm not sure there is that much risk

I've had trouble getting remote access to Plex/Sonarr/Couchpotato to play friendly with VPN

5/12/2017 10:41:13 AM

How many streams can be supported from a single hard drive on a desktop? Anyone ran into a wall there?

6/22/2018 12:22:21 AM

Transcoding of direct? Wouldn't your processor be the limit?

According to plexpy I've had 5 concurrent streams on my moderate PC

6/22/2018 7:01:47 AM

^ cool, I did not know about Tautulli. I figured HDD would be the limit...

6/22/2018 7:07:39 PM