Pedro/others: tell me about Plex

I have a bunch of DVDs, homemade and others, that I'd like to be able to access over my home network.

I also have a very old desktop computer that is sitting unused. (How old? Pentium 4 I purchased in 2001, Windows XP, last used before XP reached its end of life).

I'm starting to do some looking at how I would rip those DVDs to a Plex server and access them via my Apple TV and/or Amazon Fire TV Stick. I'd love to be able to use that Pentium 4 for this purpose but I'm willing to purchase new hardware--just don't want to break the bank.

I've watched a couple of YouTube videos and read an article but I'm not sure I'm quite getting it. Can anyone who knows about these and has experience enlighten me or point me to some links I can check out? Thanks!

No idea what this is, but looking forward to the discussion. Have a great need for something "like" you're describing.

If forced to go with new hardware (and from what I read, that looks likely), this article touts this WD My PassPort as a good choice (but would have to transcode separately and transfer there). Wondering about others' thoughts.

Just started using it, the free version. You need something with an i3 (i5 preferred) processor to transcode the video. I've tried lesser machines and it does not work. So far I really like it because I don't have to let my two year old sort through her DVDs. But I need to get a dedicated desktop instead of my laptop.

Memory is not a big issue so you can save money there.

I could put these in one post, but I'm trying to catch Darrell.

I've ripped my DVDs with MakeMKV, then compress them with Handbrake using 265 compression. I've got the DVD file sizes to 700mb to 900mb for the most part and the quality is still pretty darn good. Compressing takes some time but worth it for the file size IMO. Especially if you want to share that content with others not on your home network.

I can't remember, MakeMKV may not rip Bluray?

Still chasing Darrell...

I'd pay for the full version if my wife would let me.

I don't use Plex but have a buddy that uses Plex (I think) extensively, like really really really damn extensively. To the tune of hundreds, if not thousands, of movies and tv shows stored on his server. He rents movies from the library and netflix, rips them to his server and then has a media pc interface for the TV. He currently has somewhere north of, I believe, 24TB of data backed up and duplicated across a dedicated QNAP NAS server with two backup drives on the ready to ensure that any drives that die don't cause him to lose data. I know he uses MakeMKV but beyond that I don't know what he uses for the front-end or back-end. That being said, he was able to stream from his Plex server even when he was back in Lexington (Seattle-Lexington) without issue.

His setup is intense but it works flawlessly. He has it ready to pull descriptions of all of the movies. Browsing the list is easier than browsing Netflix, etc. He can even give myself and other family/friends a login and password so that we can stream movies as well.

Pulling the movie data is really nice. But it isn't 100% accurate, probably 70-80% but still nice.

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So now circling back around to this and thinking about it again. The hardware configuration is the one I'm stuck on. I've seen some use a Raspberry Pi 3 and an external hard drive, some use an Nvidia Shield, etc. Wondering what would be best, and specifically what KentuckyWildcat uses since he's implemented it.

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Originally Posted by KSRBEvans

So now circling back around to this and thinking about it again. The hardware configuration is the one I'm stuck on. I've seen some use a Raspberry Pi 3 and an external hard drive, some use an Nvidia Shield, etc. Wondering what would be best, and specifically what KentuckyWildcat uses since he's implemented it.

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Thinking about the Pi as the server? If so, don't think I would do that. I've experimented on lesser hardware and Plex really needs an Intel processor. Other than the obvious, I don't know much about the Shield. Also, they have a Plex Premium lifetime membership on sale right now.

I run my server off of lower end gaming laptop. I don't game, but I edit video some. It is a Dell i7 processor, 4GB nvidia graphics card, 8GB memory, and a SSD HD. Plex really only cares about the processor. I have the free version of Plex, but I guess I'm about to sign up for the Lifetime sale. I don't need it, but why not for $75. For the players, we only use Roku.

My laptop will handle more transcoding than my upload will. And most of my watching in on my network, but I've had 3 streams going at once without any issue.

I'm thinking about buying a NAS to run Plex. Why? I have the hard drives already and I'd like to have a NAS for my pictures as well. I'll find the model I was looking at for you.

But hardware wise, you need to know what resolution you want to stream and how many streams at once. And go from there.

So I watched some YouTube videos and apparently the Nvidia Shield works well as a Plex server with a hard drive attached, so I got a Shield on sale and I'm going to use that.

Currently in the process of ripping/converting my discs to an external hard drive (very time consuming), and then will install/configure the Shield. (Apparently it's a really good media player, too.) I'll report back on how it works.

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Originally Posted by KSRBEvans

I'll report back on how it works.

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Please do. I could consider the shield instead of a NAS. My laptop is fine, but inconvenient occasionally.