Whats the Big deal with Plex and why should I use it?

[JCMPTech]

So long before plex, all the way back to 2002 I was building media center PCs.  Back then they had Geforce 2 cards with S-video/composite or ATI all-in-wonder cards, which was an old radeon card with built in TV Tuner.  And then DVD ripps were all the rage, and I would just create a network shares for my library folder and mount them as drives on their other devices.  Once windows 7 came out and had the option to "stream" your media library, all my video game consoles could play videos off my network. (movies the PS3 would flag as copyright infringement reading off of USB would plan fine across my lan).  I have continued this with my NAS, running windows 10Pro (mainly 10 because its in my closet and I remote in and multi task on my laptop, running certain programs off my closet PC and my business stuff off the Laptop directly), even my Android devices can browse my network, so if I did decide to watch on my phone I could.  I know plex can transcode and all that, but to me its seems as wasted processing power because all my devices can simultaneously access my NAS and my CPU usage stays at 25% and Ram at 33%, and I have yet to ever have playback issues, so other than a clean UI to browse your video library what am I actually missing?

[Lurick]

The biggest one for me is transcoding for different video and audio formats from a single source to multiple different devices. I can have a 4K raw video on my server and regardless of the type of movie it can be streams to any device from android to my TV and everything in between at different qualities and bitrates.

[JCMPTech]

2 minutes ago, Lurick said:

The biggest one for me is transcoding for different video and audio formats from a single source to multiple different devices. I can have a 4K raw video on my server and regardless of the type of movie it can be streams to any device from android to my TV and everything in between at different qualities and bitrates.

See for me that would be pointless, all my devices are 1080P, my main TV is a Samsung 60" 120htz I paid $6,500 for it because I bought it the week this model was released, and until it dies I will not have 4K, I also suffer from crappy internet options so I'm getting 5 megabit down / 2-up so I usually download .mkv or Mp4 1080P with  1-2GB max file size so none of that applies to me.

[paddy-stone]

The main one for me with plex is continuing viewing from a different device. So I can be watching something on plex on my android nvidia shield, then if I go out to the garden or something, I can continue watching that stream from my phone/tablet or whatever. I use that feature quite a bit actually, something severely lacking from KODI which was my main video player since xbox days when ti was XBMC... if kodi had the ability to do that I would have stuck with kodi, as I also didn't see the point of plex. Now I couldn't live without it, plex isn't perfect, it sometimes transcodes stuff that kodi plays perfectly fine with direct streaming... usually audio is the main reason, as my device doesn't support 5.1/ac3 audio. yet kodi plays them fine from the same source. I wish plex could fix that issue, I mean yes I could easily rip the audio, convert it and then remux, but that all takes time and if I decide to reconnect my 5.1 soundbar then it'd be pointless. The other thing I don't like about plex is that in the app you can't choose which version to play if you have several different versions of the same video, i've had to create a separate folder on my server datastore and plex library for my 4k movies, so there are ways around it, but for simplicity it's be easy to include a button that you press to select a drop-down of versions if you have more than one version.

 

It's not a BIG deal, I love plex, but like everything there are limitations of what it can do... I have similar misgivings of kodi, but between both apps I can play anything. I usually use kodi for my 4k stuff anyway, as it doesn't have to transcode and I can play multiple 4k streams at the same time from the server with no problems, with plex it can struggle and actually bug out when I try to play a very high bitrate file and refuse to play or glitches loads, whereas kodi plays it fine, and during monitoring my server it's hardly having to do any work at all and is direct play.

[timdine]

I've been using it to stream via vpn to my android phone.  I vpn into my home network, then can access my libraries.  It keeps it nice and seamless to access everything including the interface to download things to my device.  The same process got clunky when I was using network shares directly.  Now it's open app, enjoy media.  It works the same at home or remotely.

[dalekphalm]

@JCMPTech the main benefits of Plex are:

 

1. A beautiful Netflix-like interface to navigate through all of your movies and TV shows. This includes full Season breakdown and episode lists, including episode title and synopsis.

 

2.Transcoding on the fly into whatever format is appropriate for the end-user client device.

 

3. Seamless integration with any Plex client, no matter the device.

 

If you don't care about any of these things? Feel free to continue to consume content the way you've always been doing. However, benefits #1 and #3 are not to be understated. Once you have Plex setup, it takes very little resources to run (outside of transcoding). You can get clients to use "direct-play" (meaning, no transcoding) by default, if available.

 

Personally I simply won't go back. The ability to easily navigate through my collection, seeing TV/Movie posters, browsing through episode lists, etc, is just far superior than browsing a file share.

[JCMPTech]

So I installed it.  My kids wanted to watch the Original Pete's Dragon from the 70s and It actually looked much nicer playing through Plex App in the TV than the media center PC playing off of a network drive.  I played three devices at a time (since that would be the largest load wed put on it) and CPU usage hit 50% a few times but stayed in the single digits to low teens for the most part (trascoding was on).  so I don't hate it.  The wife and kids will find it easier to use and wont bother me when I am working in my home office to come and start a movie for them anymore so that is a plus.  I will give it a few weeks before I pass judgement. 

[Jarsky]

If it looks much nicer, then it sounds like you're either using an old media pc with old graphics interface or are using lower quality / older video codecs. 

 

I personally have an HTPC in the lounge with an i3 KabyLake installed with the sharky007 codec/filter pack, and have the latest version of Kodi (XBMC) running which I have with its own library from network shares off the NAS. I also have a Plex server which allows me to transcode to devices that don't have the power to playback 1080p DTS or 4K content, and it also gives me the ability to 1) Play my library in a Netflix type interface from work when im not busy, and 2) To share my library with friends and family. 

[AshleyAshes]

Minus any post processing effects or transcoding, any decoder should yield the exact same result when decoding video.  That's kinda the whole POINT behind CODECs.

[JCMPTech]

5 hours ago, Jarsky said:

If it looks much nicer, then it sounds like you're either using an old media pc with old graphics interface or are using lower quality / older video codecs. 

 

I personally have an HTPC in the lounge with an i3 KabyLake installed with the sharky007 codec/filter pack, and have the latest version of Kodi (XBMC) running which I have with its own library from network shares off the NAS. I also have a Plex server which allows me to transcode to devices that don't have the power to playback 1080p DTS or 4K content, and it also gives me the ability to 1) Play my library in a Netflix type interface from work when im not busy, and 2) To share my library with friends and family. 

I realized later the video quality is because the living room and bedroom PCs are mainly emulator machines and the TVs are in Gaming mode for that HDMI input, the Plex app in my Samsung has all that extra processing and dynamic back lighting on.  Accessing the library for me outside my own network is out of the question because of crap internet living 6 miles from town and 1 mile from the closest neighbor. 

[Tsuki]

plex actually has a lot of pretty cool features, especially if you get Plex Pass.

I have mine setup to record live OTA TV.

my wife can be watching a show on the tv in our room, the kids watching a movie in the living room, my buddy at his own house watching a movie from his computer(accessing my server) and me watching whatever i want from my phone while im supposed to be working. unlimited simultatious streams, as long as my server can handle the encoding.

[road hazard]

I use Plex so I can watch my media library and stream OTA TV when I'm traveling. Everything has a Plex client and the interface is really easy for the kids and wife to use. Plus, it beats the pants off my old setup............ Western Digital TV.

 

Give Emby a shot as well.

 

I also like Kodi and if I ever find a Kodi interface that's as good and easy to navigate as Plex (the official Kodi-Plex add-on appears to be 'abandon ware' and I could NEVER get that PlexKodiConnect thing to work), I'd probably use Kodi throughout the house due to it being able to direct play everything (and getting a SLIGHTLY better picture quality) while using something like an ASUS Chrombox as the playback device.

[djneo]

For me it's the interface.  my tv has a plex client and a file browser. the plex client is netflix like and makes it easy and simple to watch a movie.

 

Also streaming to my phone , and syncing.  sharing media

 

Also i have sonarr installed, so when i get home i can turn on the tv -> plex -> watch my tv shows without turning on my pc or laptop. For me personally it's great and i have a plex lifetime pass 

[JCMPTech]

So two things so far I don't like:

 

1. Glitchy with my, 4 year old's chrome cast, freezes and I have to kill the app on my phone and reload it.  Tried with the Wife's phone same results. A few times it came up and said "server found but no content, login to your server and add content" but the PS4 played it fine from her room.  She is four and was not being patient during the freezing. 

 

2. It's web dependent, if internet is down I cannot login, I have terrible internet options here and it's down more often than it should, which is why I download and save to a NAS to begin with and subscribe to Satallite TV, instead of just using streaming services. 

 

Don't get me wrong I do like the interface, but when  internet is down I have to switch back to accessing them through netshares anyway, and while not as pretty, is not dependent on internet connection to my house

[dalekphalm]

1 hour ago, JCMPTech said:

So two things so far I don't like:

 

1. Glitchy with my, 4 year old's chrome cast, freezes and I have to kill the app on my phone and reload it.  Tried with the Wife's phone same results. A few times it came up and said "server found but no content, login to your server and add content" but the PS4 played it fine from her room.  She is four and was not being patient during the freezing. 

 

2. It's web dependent, if internet is down I cannot login, I have terrible internet options here and it's down more often than it should, which is why I download and save to a NAS to begin with and subscribe to Satallite TV, instead of just using streaming services. 

 

Don't get me wrong I do like the interface, but when  internet is down I have to switch back to accessing them through netshares anyway, and while not as pretty, is not dependent on internet connection to my house

As far as I know, only the web-based services should go down if your internet drops.

 

Local file streaming from Plex Server to whatever client should still work totally fine. Granted, I've never tested that.

[JCMPTech]

10 minutes ago, dalekphalm said:

As far as I know, only the web-based services should go down if your internet drops.

 

Local file streaming from Plex Server to whatever client should still work totally fine. Granted, I've never tested that.

I am on Airfiber connection through a local ISP, If I cut the power to my bridge outside, the TV will keep playing the movie its on, but devices that already have Plex loaded, but not playing a video, get an error if I try to play a video before I reconnect the internet (telling me the server is found but does not have content loaded on it).  I am also using the free version though, so not sure if its just one of the limitations of a free account.

[dalekphalm]

3 minutes ago, JCMPTech said:

I am on Airfiber connection through a local ISP, If I cut the power to my bridge outside, the TV will keep playing the movie its on, but devices that already have Plex loaded, but not playing a video, get an error if I try to play a video before I reconnect the internet (telling me the server is found but does not have content loaded on it).  I am also using the free version though, so not sure if its just one of the limitations of a free account.

Hmm - interesting. I don't believe the free version vs paid version is different in that manner.

 

Okay so a bit of quick research: Plex requires internet access for Authentication of the clients (basically, ensuring only people you want can access the server). This can be changed however.

 

In the event of an internet outage, you can log into the Plex Server web portal "<localserverIP>:32400/web"

 

The exact location of the setting will depend on what version you're running, as apparently the setting has been moved around throughout several versions.

 

Check this help doc:

https://support.plex.tv/hc/en-us/articles/200890058-Require-authentication-for-local-network-access

 

You're looking for "Change Server Network Authorization Settings", near the bottom of the article. Basically you want to enter the IP's of any client with Plex. There's supposed to be a way to also enter in an entire subnet (Eg: all addresses on "192.168.0.0") but I haven't found any article that specifies proper syntax for that.

[JCMPTech]

Oh ok I found it, hidden under a show more advanced options tab I missed, thanks!

[dalekphalm]

24 minutes ago, JCMPTech said:

Oh ok I found it, hidden under a show more advanced options tab I missed, thanks!

No problem - personally, it's a bit annoying that local auth is forced by default.

[JCMPTech]

This was last night, trying to lock up the Plex/NAS with as much multi-tasking as I thought would every be put on it and it didn't none of the devices playback stuttered.

 

Streaming three devices (living room @1080P, Kids bedroom @1080P, my phone @720P),

 

Then decided to upload files form my laptop to it,

 

 then for good measure started running diagnostics on an extra drive I found in a spare parts box.

 

System Specs:

Dell Optiplex 380 (I have a dozen or so of these PCs lying around)

Core 2 Quad Q9505

4GB DDR3

PCIe slot occupied by Sata III Controller

 

now occasionally the CPU usage did spike to 75% and over 60 megabit upload (that meter is measured it bytes not bits unfortunately), but it was so brief each time I could not screen shot it before it droped back down to the numbers below, maybe spiked once ever minute or so and only for a second.

 

Full disclosure: Last year I tired this briefly with an newish AMD A8 APU HP desktop, two devices at a time maxed the CPU out and playback got choppy when I added a 3rd (which is why in my first post I said I thought it wasted CPU usage and avoided it) but this old desktop from 2010 handled it fine, even running HDD diags (not the drive the share is on) and having my laptop write to the same network share the video files are in, and then remoted in to take the screen shots and monitor system resources, not one playback issue.

 

[Heffe_The_Boss]

You guys should really check out the Byte My Bits channel, he does very specific videos about plex.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCB2TRuFjwgWdbHEaGHP1kfw/videos?disable_polymer=1

He does hardware benchmarks in terms of how many transcodes can a specific CPU push, and great tutorials for setting up all kinds of crazy environments. 

 

 

For me, why to use plex? Easy...its all about time savings.... I came from boxee (RIP old friend, may Samsung go bankrupt)... and for personal media it was great... on one tv... While I was using boxee, I kept getting asked the question... "Can I have" "Do you have" etc etc etc... Pretty annoying. Now that I'm running plex on my desktop, I can share my media with friends/family without having to mess with icky physical media... And I can have every TV in my house streaming the content as well. 

 

Plex has raised the bar.