...wherein we discuss our Plex setups. I've had a Plex setup for years and love it to distraction. Originally, I had a computer hooked up to my TV, and I just learned that Plex will be dropping the HTPC interface in favor of one's available for all the different streaming devices like Roku, Firestick and the rest. I can imagine this will annoy some people, I switched to a Roku for playback a long time ago and I can't imagine going back. Mainly because there has never been a good interface for remote control into a home theater PC; they are all varying levels of terrible. Here's the article where I learned about it: Plex Introduces New Desktop App, Ends Home Theater PC Support
I have only used Plex on the Roku, so it's not an issue for me. I remember when I first found out what Plex was and thinking that it sounded like a lot of work. Now, I use if for streaming from my PC's, over-the-air DVR, and home podcast player. I was right, in that, setup was a minor hassle, but once it is all set up, it is very useful and convenient.
One of the points that the Variety article made was that a Roku or Firestick uses a fraction of the electricity of a home theater PC, which is very true. I run my Plex server off my desktop computer, but I am so tempted to either build a dedicated server or get something like a Synology NAS.
I must confess, I have 24 different guest accounts on my Plex server - family and friends. I call it ChrisFlix.
I tried a couple of times to install Plex but it always failed and I gave up. it was too much hassle and the Roku is all I need.
I wonder exactly what this means for me. I'm not really sure after reading the article. I have a Raspberry PI and and external hard drive full of music set up as my Plex Media Server. I either access the Plex app via my web browser on my computer (The address is the IP addy of my Raspberry PI), or I use the Plex phone app and stream it through my Chromecast audio. If I'm reading the article right, I won't be able to use my computer & browser to use Plex? Or is there a separate Plex app that I'm not even using? I guess I'll find out soon enough.
There was a separate Plex app. It's not very popular, I haven't bothered to download it myself in a couple of years. The server interface is going to remain exactly the same, via the web browser.
It's no more or less hassle than installing a web server. But given that most people have never installed a web server on their computer, that's not exactly a ringing endorsement.
Hey @schugh, in another thread you mentioned running Plex on an 8 bay NAS. Which one? And can it host multiple streams at once?
I keep trying to find something that could be considered an “audiophile” client for Plex. I’m hoping the upcoming Sonos Connect will fill that gap.
It would seem a home theater PC equipped with a studio grade audio card would be the best approach, but as mentioned in the original post they're ending support for that.
I've only used Plex with the Roku, and it's amazing. I used to have a problem with naming episodes correctly so they would show up on Plex, but that problem is long gone.
There is a way to go in and create your own shows and episodes. I need to do that with all my concert videos.
I bought a lifetime Plex Pass several years ago, and I'm continually astounded by how much they keep improving this product.
I was running it on the DS1815+. No it's not powerful enough to host multiple streams if they need encoding. If no streams are being encoded then yeah you could do multiple streams depending on your network bandwidth. All Synology NAS are the same as far as I know. I've since moved Plex server to an Intel NUC (i7, 8 GB RAM, 128GB SSD) I got a year and a half ago. I was only using the NUC for Roon Rock. But I'm not a purist and was always nagging myself it's such a waste to just run Roon Rock on it. So I finally installed Ubuntu 19.04 a couple of months ago and Roon and Plex server on it and it works great. All media is on the Synology NAS. I've also got VPN running on the NUC so I can use Roon remotely like from work.
I have a Raspberry Pi with a HiFiBerry DAC+ Pro DAC plugged on top (which has low-jitter clocks and supports 24/192 and DSD) which cost less than $100 altogether. I run Volumio and use it just for music in a similar manner to a Sonos (all files are “beamed” from my laptop over UPNP or my phone via AirPlay) but you could totally run Kodi (via LibreELEC) or RasPlex and use it as a proper tiny high-quality video and audio home media PC/Plex client with an on-TV interface. I tried out movies via Kodi on it at one point and once I went into settings and selected it as the output device it had no problem outputting through the DAC. For my own Plex client needs I just use Rokus and Xbox, never gives me trouble and I don’t use it for my music library so multi-channel out over HDMI for movies and TV is fine by me.
I have Plex installed on my computer and use it to stream files to my Xbox or Roku. Previously I was just putting things onto a flash drive or USB HDD and then my Xbox would refuse to play them after awhile for some reason.
Going to put it onto my QNAP NAS (the manufacturer proudly boasts it's unsupported, and will work just fine!)...but I'm gonna have to do a whole lot of book-learnin' before I get to that point.
Love Plex, been using it for five years or so at this point. Two Roku endpoints, an HTPC (but we don't watch through Plex on that, we use Kodi), and an Amazon FireStick in the van so the kid can watch from the Plex library in the car with an unlimited AT&T plan. I don't think this change will impact us in any way. But we use the HTPC for a lot of stuff beyond just media watching, so I'm not thinking we'll change away from it anytime soon. I just try to let it sleep as much as I can, to minimize the electricity it can consume.
I've been a Plex Pass lifetime member and was shocked to see an ad for Plex on one of the webcasts I watch, All About Android on TWiT.tv. They have an offer for a 30 free trial of Plex Pass. Visit plex.tv/twit and enter the offer code "twit".
I put together a Plex server at the beginning of the Covid Pandemic. It was way easier that I imagined. I use 3 external hard drives attached to an older laptop with i7 processor. Watch the movies using the Roku 4k. Only issue I have is that I can’t stream 4k files. Has to be 1080p for me. Not sure if that is my internet, the old laptop, or a little of both.
I use Plex for my music videos, but it apparently can't deal with the ones in a DVD or BD structure. JRiver Media Center handles them easily. Chris, have you dealt with this problem? Am I missing something in the Plex server settings? Most of my videos are MKV files, but there are a few where I want to keep the menus.