Stream Your Media Collection Anywhere With Plex Media Server
We may be living in an era of cloud streaming and subscription services, but media ownership (both digital and physical) is still alive and well. However, being able to consolidate and stream your collection of movies, music, and other media from one location is far more convenient than having a fragmented library across multiple hard drives, devices, and stacks of physical copies.
This is where the Plex media server comes in handy. Plex has been around for a while, but if you’re not familiar, the service can turn just about any device with enough power and storage into a networked media server that you can access remotely. You can even share access with friends and family to create your own private media network.
This may sound like a daunting project, but if you have the right tools, it’s actually quite simple. We have put together this guide to help you with the basic steps and solutions. We’ll focus on three aspects of customizing your media server: the server device, your media files, and the various apps and add-ons available to customize your experience.
Server device selection
There are a surprising number of devices that will act as a Plex media server, but choosing the right one for your intended setup will require more consideration than just plugging an external hard drive into your PC and determining it’s good quality.
Ideally, your server should be turned on and connected to your home network 24/7, so look for devices / components designed to be turned on all the time (we’ll detail a few below). Likewise, you need to think about horsepower. For those looking to expand access to multiple users, you will need more powerful hardware as more people accessing the server requires more processing power and network bandwidth. This becomes especially important if you plan on streaming 4K UHD and HDR video content or Hi-Fi audio files. However, more power will require both more expensive devices / parts and more power consumption to operate. On the other hand, you might not want to have a super-powered device as a server.
For network requirements, we recommend that you always connect the server to your home network via Ethernet whenever possible. If you are connecting via Wi-Fi, you need to use at least an 802.11n router, or ideally an 802.11ac router.
For more information on Plex server requirements, see the Plex support page .
NAS
Network- attached storage ( NAS) is your simplest hardware option , but also your weakest. Less power has its advantages, however, as NAS systems require low power consumption and can operate 24/7. If you buy a ready-made NAS, setup will be minimal , although you can create your own if you want more control over the process. The trade-off is that stand-alone NAS servers require more complex software setup as they do not have a graphical user interface by default, while standard devices often have software pre-installed.
Mini PC
Although it is more expensive than a NAS, buying or building a mini PC is the next easiest option and is probably the middle ground between cost, power, and ease of use for most people. For ready-made options, there are many NUC builds available online , while those comfortable with building their own can explore projects using the Raspberry Pi .
Tower PC
Whether you’re buying a pre-built PC or building a powerful high-performance rig yourself, this will be the most expensive option and will consume the most power. However, it will be best for multiplayer support and transcoding of large files (like 4K video or Hi-Fi audio).
You also don’t need to build a new computer. It is technically possible to use your current computer, or even the old one you have. Just remember that the server must be powered up and connected to the network for it to be available and that system resources will be busy playing media. Because of this, we would recommend using your regular computer only if you are the only person who will have access to the files and can guarantee that the computer will be turned on when you want to connect remotely.
Plex supports Windows PCs, macOS and Linux.
Other devices
Since the Plex media server software can run on a variety of devices and operating systems, there are several other devices that can be configured as a PMS, even though this is not its primary use case.
For example, in our testing, we used an Nvidia Shield Pro as our server . There are some restrictions on using the Shield, but this was the most affordable option for us as the Plex media server software comes preinstalled on the Shield Pro and its 500GB internal storage can hold a significant chunk of any media library on its device. its.
The Plexdownload page includes a complete list of supported operating systems and devices.
Choosing a hard drive
The second part of building the server is choosing the hard drive where you will store your media files. Some of the above options may use internal hard drives as storage, but we recommend using an external USB 3.0-certified NAS-certified hard drive with your own enclosure and, if possible, your own power supply.
We used a 500GB external drive paired with a 500GB Nvidia Shield Pro internal storage for a 1TB server and we had more than enough space for a large music collection and a dozen Blu-ray quality movies, but you could easily create a hard disk. a drive with four or five times the storage capacity.
Server Tuning
- Prepare your server device. If you’re building your own, be sure to follow the guides above, which will walk you through any hardware build or software installation, and help you get your server online. If you are using a ready-made device, set it up just like any other computer, turn it on, and follow the instructions for first use.
- Once you’ve connected your server to your home network, download and install the plex media server for your device from the Plex downloads page . If you are using an Android / Android TV device as a media server, you can get the beta version of Plex Media Server for Android software from Googl e.
- Create a Plex account if you haven’t already (the Android version of Plex uses your Google account).
- Install the Plex app on the device (s) from which you will be accessing the server. This app is different from the media server software, and with it you connect to the server and watch your media. It is available on a variety of Smart TVs, Roku and other streaming boxes, as well as Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS, Android, Android TV, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and various other devices.
Media transfer
After setting up the server, it’s time to move your music, pictures, videos and any other media files to the server. If you are using an external hard drive as media and the media you want to move is on your PC, just plug in the hard drive and move the files manually. You can also move files from one device to another wirelessly using an FTP client.
If you want to back up your physical media collections, you can rip audio CDs from just about any desktop CD or DVD drive, and you can rip movies as long as you have the right software and a DVD or Blu-ray drive in your computer. PC. MakeMKV is a great choice for ripping movies.
Other guides may recommend using applications like BitTorrent clients or similar software to download media, but this can become a legal quagmire if you’re not careful, so be smart, polite, and legal here. Respect copyright laws in your area and do not piracy or illegal distribution of content. In the next section, we’ll point out several legal (and in some cases free) ways to view and record content and expand your server’s library.
Plex apps, add-ons and extra features
All Plex users have free access to several cool features that can expand your library and combine other apps / services to make your server a one-stop streaming solution.
New and Web TV
Plex provides users with free direct and carefully curated news feeds from a variety of sources including ABC, AP, Reuters and others. In addition to this free news content, Plex also includes a free, carefully curated library of popular web series from outlets such as Pitchfork and The New Yorker.
Podcasts
Instead of using your smartphone’s storage to download podcasts, you can download, store and stream podcasts from your Plex server . Users can search and subscribe to shows right in the Plex app, and the software will automatically update and download the latest episodes when available.
VR mode
If you have a compatible VR headset, you can watch or listen to all of your media in VR mode.
Plex Pass and free OTA TV
The basic server-side features of Plex are free, but the service offers a premium membership to the Plex Pass, which adds many perks like metadata tracking and bandwidth stats, better metadata mapping for your files, and perks like discounts on Tidal music subscriptions. Fortunately, the Plex Pass subscription is quite affordable compared to other media services and offers three flexible pricing options: either $ 4.99 per month, $ 39.99 per year, or a one-time purchase for $ 119.99 for lifetime access. ( Plex also offers a free 30-day trial if you’re interested .)
Plex Pass users can also capture free HDTV signal straight from the atmosphere using the HD OTA antenna. You can even record live shows. The Plex interface even automatically fills in programmatic information to create a guide / schedule. We used Mohu ReLeaf and HD Home Run to create an impromptu multiplayer TV service from our Plex server without using a cable or WebTV service.
You won’t get a wide variety of channels, on-demand content, or additional features on cable TV or live OTT services like Sling TV, but local channels, sports, and even a few cable channels are likely to be available in your area. You can check what channels are available with this handyonline tool .