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Media Server Over the Internet?

Zephyrus_47
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Go to solution Solved by dbum,

Yes.  If you VPN into your LAN (or someone else does) and plays a movie that is free.  As long as you do not have multiple "users" logging in it is free.  Which I would say you and your GF would be fine.  If you would like to share content like home videos with your whole family, who would access your "server" and login, you would need a subscription.  If you want to use your phone (only have experience with Android on this), I believe that you can use the plex app for free with the subscription, but have to pay a couple of dollars if you want to use with the free version (just pay for the app, not a subscription).  This may have changed (but I don't think so) since it has been a little while since I've done this.

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Hey, So I have a few external HDD's connected to my PC and I'm currently sharing them over my local home network using built in Windows functions. 
However i want to be able to access the drives over the internet. (Mainly to share some TV/Movie series i have with a friend, i.e. Stream media from it without downloading the whole file all at once.)

Also just convenient to pull some files, where and when ever i need to. 

 

Is there a free solution to do this? Plex looks like you need to pay for a sub to be able to stream a lot over the internet. 
 

This is just me throwing an idea out be gentle in teaching me if i'm wrong and ELI5: Can i connect to MY public IP address and basically have port forwarding setup to access my PC?

also wouldn't this would be a security risk?

 

Would kodi work for this? Also the solution must be mobile compatible. 

 

Thanking you all in advanced for the help!

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4 minutes ago, Zephyrus_47 said:

also wouldn't this would be a security risk?

Yes it would. Maybe set up an OpenVPN server and connect through a VPN to your network.

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MPAA would love to meet you.

 

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16 hours ago, ARikozuM said:

MPAA would love to meet you.

 

@Electronics Wizardy

Mhmm fair enough, I guess the reason I didn't consider it so bad is all we're obtained legally and I wasn't thinking of sharing it with 100 friends my gf and I live a bit far away so if we want to watch it movie / anime etc together I usually involves a Skype call and going 3,2,1.. play! It's more hard for her to get the movies and I don't see sense paying for something twice because it's basically like watching TV together in the same room. (Just my sense of denial don't mind me) 

 

16 hours ago, dbum said:

I would say OpenVPN access server (as VM?) using Plex. Or "softrouter" like pfSense to handle OpenVPN.

Mhmm I understand the basic setup, but it looks like Plex would overall be a better setup. :/ .. rip my wallet?

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7 minutes ago, Zephyrus_47 said:

 

I only jest.

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1 hour ago, Zephyrus_47 said:

 

Mhmm fair enough, I guess the reason I didn't consider it so bad is all we're obtained legally and I wasn't thinking of sharing it with 100 friends my gf and I live a bit far away so if we want to watch it movie / anime etc together I usually involves a Skype call and going 3,2,1.. play! It's more hard for her to get the movies and I don't see sense paying for something twice because it's basically like watching TV together in the same room. (Just my sense of denial don't mind me) 

 

Mhmm I understand the basic setup, but it looks like Plex would overall be a better setup. :/ .. rip my wallet?

As far as the legality of it all.... I don't think it is illegal to download movies (for "backup" reasons of course!!!!) but I think the illegal part is the sharing it with others.  So in this case it wouldn't even matter where you got them, just that you were sharing them.

 

Plex works like this, if you want just a Plex server for just you (one login, no permissions, etc.) then it is free.  The subscriptions are so that you can have multiple people login and see specific content.  This is recommended if you have your Plex server open to the world and have varying levels of content based on viewer.  For what you are using it for, I would just set up a VPN (you might need to set up a free DDNS too but that is very easy) and use PLEX on your Windows computer.  What I like best about PLEX, is that you can choose the bitrate and it will be encoded on the server side so if bandwidth is causing buffering, you can just request a slightly smaller bitrate. :)

 

It really shouldn't cost any money.  You can just use a software based router to accept the openVPN connections. OpenVPN access server is probably the easiest plug in play type solution but you can only connect two clients at a time - kind of like a trial for business scenario but free for two concurrent users.  You can download an already preconfigured VM here in OVA format.  (https://www.turnkeylinux.org/openvpn) If you were going to connect more than two I would use something that still has a nice management interface.  I really like pfSense's openVPN modules.  It makes keeping up with users/certs/passwords/etc. very easy after you learn it.  I do not recommend trying to set up openVPN from scratch unless you are very familiar with Linux, networking, and a lot of time on your hands.  You can forward your public ports for VPN to your VM running Access server / pfSense and then your GF will be on your home network (you can lock it down further if needed) and you can run your shows from Plex (I believe you can install on Windows - never tried it though)

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4 hours ago, dbum said:

Plex works like this, if you want just a Plex server for just you (one login, no permissions, etc.) then it is free.  The subscriptions are so that you can have multiple people login and see specific content.  This is recommended if you have your Plex server open to the world and have varying levels of content based on viewer.  For what you are using it for, I would just set up a VPN (you might need to set up a free DDNS too but that is very easy) and use PLEX on your Windows computer.  What I like best about PLEX, is that you can choose the bitrate and it will be encoded on the server side so if bandwidth is causing buffering, you can just request a slightly smaller bitrate. :)

So what i was seeing on the plex website (please correct me if i am wrong). Streaming on LAN is Free and unlimited. However streaming over the internet is limited to one minute of the video and pictures are watermarked, regardless of if it's just one user.

Can i watch a movie from my home pc over the internet in let say hong kong (ignore bandwidth and connection speeds), with just a free plex account?

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Yes.  If you VPN into your LAN (or someone else does) and plays a movie that is free.  As long as you do not have multiple "users" logging in it is free.  Which I would say you and your GF would be fine.  If you would like to share content like home videos with your whole family, who would access your "server" and login, you would need a subscription.  If you want to use your phone (only have experience with Android on this), I believe that you can use the plex app for free with the subscription, but have to pay a couple of dollars if you want to use with the free version (just pay for the app, not a subscription).  This may have changed (but I don't think so) since it has been a little while since I've done this.

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6 minutes ago, dbum said:

Yes.  If you VPN into your LAN (or someone else does) and plays a movie that is free.  As long as you do not have multiple "users" logging in it is free.  Which I would say you and your GF would be fine.  If you would like to share content like home videos with your whole family, who would access your "server" and login, you would need a subscription.  If you want to use your phone (only have experience with Android on this), I believe that you can use the plex app for free with the subscription, but have to pay a couple of dollars if you want to use with the free version (just pay for the app, not a subscription).  This may have changed (but I don't think so) since it has been a little while since I've done this.

 

Thanks for the help and information! You've been a great help! :)

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I just want to offer that Plex's free tier allows you to share access with other users (though not creating accounts under your plex home). You can also make Plex available outside your network on the free tier. Using the web browser you can access it anywhere, if you want to access it with a device like an apple tv or roku that is free, though apps on some platforms (mobile mostly, i believe Android and iOS both charge a 1 time $4.99 fee to unlock the app).

 

There is no need to run a VPN to share your library or make it available outside your network. https://support.plex.tv/hc/en-us/articles/200289506-Remote-Access

 

The subscription offers some advantages, like local syncing content and not needing to pay for iOS/Android apps plus some advanced features for things like trailers for new movies, extras for movies in your library and early access to features like the DVR and storing your media in the cloud.

 

the website has a handy checklist of what's free and what's premium:

https://www.plex.tv/features/

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