What happened to your latest vid android duckstation?

What does a plex pass actually give me. You mentioned it but didn't actually explain it?

What has your data consumption been with your ISP? Any overage issues?

Plex is GREAT, THANKS. How about a link to the fan U are using?

Why didn’t you use the Ubuntu Plex appliance image for the Raspberry Pi?

Can you link the fan please?

I've been using a Rock64 screwed to the top of an external drive for over a year now. Running OMV host data over gigabit with 112 MBps transfers and DLNA for video. Just tried to run Plex on it to play the Same 4k video that plays perfect on DLNA (even with 2 tv's playing it) and without encoding 'direct play'; Plex fell on its face trying to watch one 4k video. Didn't peg the CPU on the Rock64 but doesn't play well with 4k.. DLNA all the way inhouse

You should have used Jellyfin, much better..

There are pros and cons to this.

Yes, it works and most of the time, it works well. When it doesn't is when it has to use the pi to decode or transcode anything to a format it can use. The pi just isn't as powerful as you want it to be. Don't get me wrong, it almost works ( mine is pi4 / 2GBs ) but it's not quite there.

Really Noob question, why Ubuntu and not raspbian OS?

Are the two 1080p streams transcoding or direct play?

What about the Remote access not working for me

hey can someone enlighten me whats the difference between kodi and plex? i want to have a Pi next to my TV and stream media from my PC (maybe a NAS after christmas) to the Pi/TV via WIFI. I thought kodi ist the easiest solution to do that, am i wrong?
thanks

I'm waiting for your video on windows 10 on arm (update)

I might do this with my odroid n2 i got for a project and didn't end up using

why use a pi , for almost the same money and size you can get a nuc or a briks , what will work much better

I used to do this one a pi 3 and didnt really have much issue (before I moved to a nuc)

Is there a way to get a preconfigured retropie download for a pendoo t95 4gb ram 64gb ROM I have all the everything but my laptop always takes a shit when I need it can the process be done on android

great video! how well would this work on an odroid n2?

What is ETA Prime using as a Plex server?

I've been using a cheap celeron NUC for years as a Plex server and love it. Just wish there was a cheap multi bay 3.5 drive enclosure but my docks work fine.

How many users can it handle?

I'm using a Raspberry Pi 2B as a Plex Server. Runs without a hiccup. Never, ever buffers. All my movie and show files are in mp4 format, and I don't share with anyone.

ty eta?

Regarding torrent and headless Linux: you can always use aria2c from command line to download torrents. It is an insanely good torrent client and can be used completely from command line! Use the screen command so aria2c does not shut off when you log out of the shell and you’re good to go.

Thanks for this: Quick Q, how do you handle HEVC transcoding, as RPi4 offers no Hardware accelaration?

Which is better OS for running Plex Server, Ubuntu or Raspberry Pi OS ?! Thank you

could you look into a pi cluster using unicorntranscode for a distributed transcode plex media server?

quite stupid to use the full blown Ubuntu. Just use raspberry OS and you can get away with the cheaper raspberry pi 4 2GB model! Or even just a pi 3.

I get the appeal of running something on the minimum required platform, but running Plex on a Pi4 sounds like an exercise in frustration. Why would anyone do that? I guess if you have no transcoding needs...

Jellyfin is a better alternative. It's open source and free

can this be made into a headless unit? how do you add new/additional files remotely to the storage drive where the media files are stored?

Which Raspberry Pi compatible board would have enough power to handle 5 streams of 1080 or 5 audio streams of FLAC or Tidal? I am looking to build a more high end server but also having compatibility with RPi so I could use RPI HAT reclocker for high end audio. Thanks

Transcoding will kill this, also use a USB stick for the transcode dir. NTFS will also be more load on the system, Used ext4 or similar.

Crazy idea... What do you think of running this on Pixel with Retropie? I'm trying to avoid using my other pi4 as a plex server. I've already been able to get the pi4 as dual purpose magic mirror/retro gaming

for Apple users i suggest a simple SMB share and Infuse on iOS/iPadOS/AppleTV. VLC or IINA is perfect for this on macOS until Infuse will be available on that as well

just plug in the external hdd, install samba and configure it. you'll be done in less than 15mins.

this is what i'm using for years and it's perfect. it also won't "kill" the rpi with transcoding as the real work is done on the clients

Does Plex server start automatically when you turn on the pi?

I have been messing with Plex for the past few months. On the Pi 4, if you plan on having more than 1 person streaming at once, get a PC. While testing once 2 or 3 people stream from it at once, the PI has issues keeping up and tended to crash. Even Over clocked to 2100 MHz on the 4 Gig model I had issues.

Less than 2 weeks ago I setup Ubuntu on a PC that we retired from work but still ran fine. I put a SSD in it, 8 Gigs of RAM a 4TB storage drive (For Movies) and setup Plex. The issue I have with Ubuntu and other Linux Distros is the ease of use. So in Windows adding a 2nd hard drive is super easy to do. To get Plex to use the storage drive in Ubuntu was absolutely bonkers. I was just given another one of those PCs from work. I plan to mess with other Linux Distros to see if there is a better/easier one to use for a Plex server. If nothing else, I will just install Windows 10 and run the Plex from it.

What happened to the Duck Station video that was uploaded today? I wanted to watch it :(

Thank you for this. It's answered a lot of questions for me. I had nightmares try to get plex working on my Pi3 with a USB HDD and Raspberry Pi OS. I got it working eventually but this looks so much easier.

Can we use this outside our house. I mean without being on the same network?

if using a HDD , will it constantly spin, or go into power saving until you use plex from whatever device you are accessing it from?

is there a difference between using Plex Server and Kodi (LibreElec) and sharing your library?

Awesome idea I will try this definitely ?

Is there any performance differences on using ubuntu with plex server instead of raspberrypi os lite? I was thinking the lite version with plex server is better for performance since you dont have a desktop showing and taking resources from the rpi?

i really dont know whats the use of it ?
basically you need wifi anywhere to get the content in my server.
netflix or amazon prime have all movies
you could connect upto 4 devices

RPI4 price: about 55 USD
Netflix for 1 month : 15 USD

disclaimer: some mobile devices you need a plex subscription for free apps work on non-mobile only

Anyone have a link for the fan he used? Can't find it

Ubuntu Server is better for this use. Btw the cpu is to light for transcoding ( 1080p x265 ).

My main use for a raspberry pi is pihole + pivpn, I’m sure that would make a great video as well.

An excellent ‘How to’, video. I have 12 year old iMac as my Plex server and it will need replacing soon I’m sure. This is a great cheap alternative to a new PC!

I have a pi2 running my Plex server ?

Further to the point several people have made that the PI will not have the grunt to cope with any transcoding, I would add that using NTFS USB drives will similarly reduce the CPU cycles available to Plex or OMV. If you are just shipping a file from the drive to a LAN client (e;g. a TV !) then a NTFS drive almost doubles the load on the PI c.f. using the native Linux drive format EXT4.

too bad H.265 video's can't run on it. maybe 5-10 sec and it begins to buffer. (1080p)

I have been using my Pi4 4GB (and previous 3 and 3+) as a Plex server for about 4yrs now but always opted for the Ras/PiOS operating systems. Whats the benefit performance wise using Ubuntu instead?

Any reason why you use Ubuntu over to Rasbian OS, or is it just for the simplicity of the installation for Plex.
Is there's any benefit other than simplicity installation.
Btw great tutorial.
Thanks

The raspberry pi has an ethernet port. Is it possible to host the server from one raspberry pi to another? I want to build to screens in a tiny network for my car, so my back-seat driver can watch all my movies and series

Always interesting, but I have DVR files in MPEG2; even a Shield can't serve that up without frame skipping.

If you use /dev/shm as the transcode directory...the 8 gig version will definitely help
Very cool it has more oomph than the 32bit ARM processors
For home use, a few transcodes should be just fine anyway
Very nice...keep em coming!

Use Jellyfin instead. Imo it's better, even though it's a bit of an upstart.

I have Plex setup on a Raspberry Pi 3 B+, I've been running it for around 3 years been going strong but I'm planning on upgrading it to a Pi 4 to take advantage of the USB 3.0 ports as you can't stream 4K due to the 2.0 ports.

When sending audio/video media to other devices, the RPi isn't doing any decoding, it is? It's just streaming the file in buffered chunks to the client device, which does the decoding itself, correct?

My first ever Plex Server was an rPi 3B+. I had pretty decent luck with that. 90% of my viewing was just in-home on the same network so that worked fine on my PC and Smart TV. I live in Canada. Was visiting Japan last year and we were able to stream 1080p with a smidge delay at the start but after it did some buffering it played perfectly. I didn't think the little thing was going to be able to do it but it did. Raspberry Pis really are perfect for getting your first server up and running.

I recommend using the LTE version of the OS. It preserves more system resources for steaming. You might even get two streams at the same time. GUI takes a lot of system resources and you wont be interacting with the Pi OS as much.

I got this technically working, but it can only stream a single stream at SD quality and ubuntu is noticeably laggier then yours was.

Why can't I do that with the Raspberry PI OS?

Would this work if I use a raspberry pi 3b+?

Have a rpi 4 as a pihole,dns/dhcp server and emby server with 4TB total HDD (2TBx2) over usb 3. Transcoding kills it lol including my internet

No he transcoding ??

I'd rather see Emby

Best Plex server I’ve used is the Nvidia Shield for consistency - I don’t think the pi will cope very well for larger libraries

Since it has a display can you watch stored media as well?

When we are streaming on device that is on same wifi network as that of pi, will it stream locally or uses internet to send data from pi or directly from pi to local device?
2. If it is using local network to stream data directly, can we use it over the internet at other device (on different network) and still access our library?
Kindly guide

I rarely use windows and when I do it needs t update then if 1 driver doesn't work ? U no

any totally free hardware and software, gnu not paid

NUCLEAR BOMB FALLS ON THE USA

"Ok we'll just stream Big Buck Bunny"

I actually built this setup a few weeks ago, but I used Raspberry OS. It takes a little more effort to get it going, but it works out pretty well. And, like you said, power consumption is next to nothing. When my central air unit isn't running, the power bill is like $3 a day on average. You should have mentioned the transcoding in the video though. The Pi isn't very good at transcoding video on the fly, so you'll want to pre-transcode your videos or use the built in transcoder. Note that the second method takes a really long time.

Why use plex instead of just using the vlc media server or something like that?

I dunno if it's as user friendly or if anyone would want to go this route but I have my plex server working on pi OS. If you would want the directions leave a response and I'll reply with a link.

Plex charges you to stream your own media on your own local network ? That's pretty hard to swallow. I use Kodi on my clients with an FTP server on the server. It works flawlessly for me and costs nothing. I could see paying if you were streaming over the internet maybe, but on my own network ? No thank you.

What are the advantages of plex over something like osmc? Or kodi?

How come you didn't use your 1tb rad drive?

I've been using kodi with my external hard drive for movies for the last few years. Is there any other good OS I could use? Getting kinda tired of old kodi

TL;DR
Pi4 is great for Plex if:
- You only do direct streaming
- Is going to be used by only one client at a time
- The client (TV, Monitor, whatever) has the same resolution as your content, or higher
- Are willing to optimise all videos with a script (it's a one-time process at least)
- Are willing to manually download text subtitles to replace the image subtitles of your content
And if you want 3.5inch HDDs connected to it, you also need to power them externally, not from the Pi, for stability and reliability. (E.g. from a PC PSU)

Now the long version:

I've been using Plex on a Pi4 for more than a year now and it's great. I always to direct streaming though.
4K HDR10 movies are working great without problems.
I even streamed high bitrate movies to outside the house (the whole Hobbit + LotR collection) without nay hiccups.

HOWEVER, to achieve this I made my own optimisation script (GitHub: hmlendea/plex-video-optimiser) that converts the audio tracks to AAC (if needed), and removes any image-format subtitles. I then proceed to manually download text-format subtitles when needed. I always leave the original video track intact though.
(And the script also removes any and all commentary audio tracks but this doesn't help with streaming, it just frees up some space on the HDDs)

And on the client TVs I have to set the video to be streamed at the highest quality (because the Pi can't handle any kind of transcoding, even downscaling at high bitrates) and also disable subtitle burn-ins (seriously, why does that even exist?).

With all that, I have no problems. Well.. except for my friends who ask for access but only have 1080p TVs while most of my content is in 4K.

I also never tested it via ethernet. I only tested it through 5GHz WiFi. It's impossible for me to bring a wire where the server is, and that's the only place where I can put the server without it bothering me.

Now as far as hardware is concerned I used an old office PC case (a Dell one), a Corsair RM750X PSU, 2X Seagate BarraCuda 3TB HDDs (regular, not NAS), a Raspberry Pi 4 4GB, and an ICE Tower cooler for Pi4 (the low form factor version). and a bunch of wiring and adaptors to connect everything together, including hand-made ones for power, as the Pi and the HDDs are all powered by the PSU. But yeah, other than some new cables and step-down converters, I just reused old components from other PCs, that I otherwise had no use for.

As an operating system I used Arch Linux, the 64bit version (aarch64). It's not just my favourite OS but it's also very barebones and I only installed what I needed for this project, and nothing more, keeping it as lightweight as possible. (In the beginning though, I did have much more stuff running on the Pi as it was more of a general-purpose Pi than a Plex, and it actually ran pretty well then, but not as well as it is now)

Also, since I only do direct streaming and no transcoding, I did not overclock the Pi at all. The stock speeds work just fine for me. Anyway, since I have the ICE Tower cooler I might actually give it a try. But I don't think high overclocks are needed - I'd much rather have it as stable as possible instead. Transcoding on the Pi4, in my opinion, is a lost cause

In the future I plan to add more of my old HDDs to it but they are low capacity (the largest's 500GB) and I can do with what I have for a little while longer still.

i have a Pi 4 acting as the server. The Plex client is on my Roku device. It can see the pi4, however it doesn't see my files. I can't add any libraries; no content found. When I look at the server status, the pi4 is there with a green dot with a lock in the center of the dot. Any ideas as to why I'm having these problems? Thanks in advance.

Is there a link to the heat sink you used?

Don't know why I'm not getting the same results as everyone else. HELP! While it is booting for the very first time, it stops and asks for an ubuntu login and password. Is this new or did you just skip this step? I've tried every combination of credentials I've seen in any forum anywhere and none of them work. I even tried a Ctrl-Alt-F2 to get to a command line so I can issue an adduser but the key combination does absolutely nothing. Any help would be most appreciated.

I have just created my own plex media server with this guide. thanks man. Would you be kind enough to make another video for turning another Pi 4 into a Plex Media PLAYER? Thinking of using another Pi4 as Plex player as my tv doesn't have plex. really appreciate if you could assists.

Is there any reason to have a vpn while using plex?

Does hardware encoding h.264/h.265 work with plex on raspberry pi 4?

I did exactly what you did, use a pi4 4gb, use the same ehddas you and I used a Ethernet cable.
When I watch my video on my fire stick it seems laggy. I feel like it run low fps.
Any idea?

Is it possible to do this on rpi4 cluster? If yes , will it help with transcoding ?
And thx for ur nice usefull video man

Im not sure you can power that external expansion hard drive with your raspberry pi port. Im seeing about 2A needed and the pi 4 max usb amps is 1.2A. perhaps look for an externally powered hard drive if you go that route

just want to check if anyone managed to remote in this machine? I tried couple of recommendations and i can't get it to work properly. All i got is black screen..

Hello, How do i connect external hard drive to it bcoz It needs more power usb to run it right?

Lol the folder that reads "Kid Movies"

Can you run Plex as front end on an HTPC or the only option is kodi?

how do you have this interface of the application on Android with the navbar at the bottom which allows you to navigate between the movies and series menus? tanks

Plex must have changed the set up process because none of that shows up on the Mac when setting up in 2020. I just download the media server option that then asks me to redownload it when I try to add my media. Its an endless loop that gets me nowhere.

Useful vid but are you seriously ripping to 1.6 GB? my movies are typically vetween 10-20gb with full remuxes for my favorites. Do you really watch such low bitrate content Brett?

I have a couple-year-old Buffalo link station and I just got a new DS 918 plus How do I transfer the movies from the old one to my DS-918 can someone link a video for me thank you in advance

Excellent video many thanks for all the info.

... But do you have Die Hard under Christmas or just regular movies?

How does 4k work on it? I have heard the processor can't keep up with plex 4K

Can I stream my media offline without having an internet connection ... through router.

Can I just plug the NAS into my internet router and access from my Plex app on my SmartTV?

Worth noting that a more powerful machine may be needed, depending on your video format and transcode needs. I used to run Plex on my Drobo 5N, but it just wasn't powerful enough.
I ended up buying a late 2011 Mac Mini with a 4 core i7 to run Plex and set up time schedules so the Mac sleeps between 2am and 8am.
The Guideline s from Plex:
Very roughly speaking, for a single full-transcode of a video, the following PassMark score requirements are a good guideline for the following average source file:

4K HDR (50Mbps, 10-bit HEVC) file: 17000 PassMark score (being transcoded to 10Mbps 1080p)
4K SDR (40Mbps, 8-bit HEVC) file: 12000 PassMark score (being transcoded to 10Mbps 1080p)
1080p (10Mbps, H.264) file: 2000 PassMark score
720p (4Mbps, H.264) file: 1500 PassMark score


Hope this helps.

Very cool been looking to do this

i dont think this works anymore you need a premium acount

Quick question, how loud is it? Can it be in the same rack next to the TV and not be annoying?

The time on your tv went from 4:20 to 1:23 in a split second. Time traveler ?

Hey Brett, does this handle 4k and Dolby Atmos? Also, is it ok to use the same set up (i.e. 1 box) for both PMS and PC back up? Cheers!

Brett, your studio looks amazing. Great video too.

Never had any problems to install other server software, but plex doesn't work with my qnap.

Do you have a video that shows how to take movies copy movies that you own (on either DVD, BlueRay, etc.) onto your hard drives? I couldn't find it.

I got the question for you. If my home networks IP is not 192.168 or 10.xxxx is there anyway for Plex on the Synology to get past the nonsoup for you error. When I look at the logs it treats not 192.168 and 10xxx as non local even though the nas maps it’s IP from the home router. And the ONLY way it works is if I change the IP but my NVR uses the 10 subnet and because it has it own subnet that needs POE it conflicts. So yes. Anyway to get Plex nas to work as my Mac Plex server works just fine as is.

Hello, Brett...

May I request and urge everyone to keep their media out of the Plex share? It causes all kinds of problems and, in most cases, will stop PMS from operating properly.

Best practice is to create names like "Movies", "Television", "Music", "Photos", "Children" , etc. Names which mean something you to.

As the engineer who maintains and supports the Synology systems, The "Plex" share is for PMS use. it's not there for media. I made it visible to allow for Plug-ins and manual retrieval of log files in those cases where PMS won't start.

Yes, It's become abundantly clear an "How to Setup Plex Media Server on Synology" is needed. I'm finishing a development task now and have placed this How To as my next task.

I have a collection of "Syno FAQ" which will help make managing your Plex server a lot easier on Synology.
If you need or want to move your media around but don't like how slow Synology is? I have the How-To for that too.



I'm always open to discussion and input from everyone. I know I can't possibly imagine all the different ways PMS can be used.
Please always feel free to reach out to me @chuckpa (Plex Forums)

Thanks,
ChuckPa (Plex Forums)

This method is hugely expensive $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

For those who may have missed the link to the setup in the Synoloy FAQ. https://forums.plex.tv/t/installation-setup-of-plex-media-server-on-synology/572179

I provide the "nuts & bolts" . The tips from Brett and others are great in how best to apply the tech info I've shared.

I run Plex on my Synology and it worked fine until about two months ago when it just suddenly started shutting down randomly. I have updated Plex but it will run for about 20h and then it shuts down. Then I have to go to apps on the NAS and press run for it to start again. Why would this happen and how do I fix it?

Hey I can’t watch my Plex media on my Apple TV. I keep getting the error that says “ something went wrong playing your media. Please try again. Conversion failed. The transcoder exited due to an error.” I have no idea how to fix this. Can anybody please help?

So clearly explained
Crisp

This video has been 10 years in the making and there is not better time to get this setup at your own home. Let me know what device you would watch your Plex movies on.

If you watch plex in your friends home, that consume band of your home internet? or just your friends internet

@1:20 "You don't need a computer that's on all the time"
@1:24 "As long as this device is power on 24/7....."


A NAS is still a computer, whether it looks like a traditional PC or not...
It has a motherboard, PSU, ethernet connection, hard drives...


This is also a terribly expensive and over-engineered solution for the average home user.

Hola, buenos días cordial saludo, muy interesante tu vídeo, te escribe orlando ochoa desde Colombia, cómo hago para bajar la biblioteca de esas peluculas, ya que tengo un servidor desde shield nvidia pro. Me puedes ayudar remotamente, gracias

how is the 4K quality on this NAS?

Do you have a glossery that defines functions that you mentioned such as 'Preroll"

Just wanted to say thank you for having an intro that isn't over 10 seconds

Do you use Plex for your YouTube videos as well? I'd like a Plex setup but only for our video production.

Great vid. Seems like a great device. One of the biggest benefits for the plex pass is hardware encoding which this 1019+ can do because of the celeron chip.

what do you calculate for the storage for dvd/blu-ray movies or shows?

Add me, [email protected]gmail.com , please

hey mate, you could at least change the movie files names.. all what im seeing are rarbg files..

this is a dumb question to access the DS1019 is it hdmi does it connect to a monitor?
and does it have wifi built in?

Great video. One thing I've had trouble understanding. I've heard people talk about putting metadata on a separate SSD drive when using a PC for their Plex server. Is there a way to do this with a Synology NAS? I assume it would eat up a drive bay and not be worth it, thoughts?

Late to this video but I have a question. I am upgrading from an existing NAS. Can I simply load in my HDD's already full of data, and it will read these HDD's automatically. Or is there a risk Synology will wipe the drives when I load them?

Did you set up the server under a raid scenario for using the plex?

Just watch Kodi, it's easy.

Brett, considering the hefty price tag for the 1019+, can you recommend one of Synology's other models that's more affordable? I've looked at how many different options they have, and it's hard to tell which one might be my best option.
Second, do you have any recommendations for the types of HDs to put in the bays? Storage capacity? SSD vs standard?
Finally, currently, I've just been running my plex from a standard WD external HD (2TB). Any recommendations on how to transition my Plex account from there to the NAS with the least amount of hassle?

Why you moved your movies to a folder to later on moving them to Plex library? you could move them directly to plex library!


PS1: you can setup plex to download subtitles automatically, you dont need to manually search for them.
PS2: you can crete the "categories" inside plex instead of having folders making harder to seach from filestation

Thanks for the video.
So does this mean that as I already have a movie folder containing movies in the Nas, I will have to duplicate them into the Plex media server folder I will create, just like in your video?

You must mean 24 Terabytes, not 24 Gigabytes ...

What's the point of moving all the files to s self created Plex Folder? There's no need to, in my opinion. I linked Plex (from 8:36) to a "Movies to do" folder on my NAS, to a "Movies Essential" folder on an external HD and to another folder 4K-Movies on two another external HD connected to the NAS (or Media Player, that doesn't matter, it all works just fine).
I agree with you from 8:36 (and maybe later, didn't watch further).

non-related question.. what OS are you running?.. It kinda looks like windows.. yet it dosen't..

I currently have 4TB worth of movies. Just ordered the 1019+ and 5 4TB drives. It’s about time I offloaded Plex from my laptop to a dedicated server.

Wasnt watching just listening, when you said 24 gb i was like.. huh?

This is piracy. You're required to pay the copyright holder everyone you watch it. Why do you hate the copyright holders? They worked hard creating that content... err bought the rights to charge you for every eyeball that watches

Do you think you could run plex server on a ipad pro with external ssd hard drives

Edge or tomorrow .rarbg .. lol. Be careful.

when i stream the movie, will it have ads?

Yeah but wouldn’t it suck in terms of transcoding?

This is a basic start, but the media can use better organization. First of all you don't have to have the media nested in the Plex library folder. You can put it anywhere you want on your Plex server and point to it when you add media folder.

Also, NOT recommended to mix media types in the same folder, i.e. keep music in one folder, tv shows in another folder, and movies in another folder. Plex has a great deal of information in their community forum. Read through it before you start your server setup because folder nesting and naming conventions are IMPORTANT.

He put TV shows in the same folder as movies which is why it showed an incorrect match.

I was wondering, can you have the Synology DS1019+ act as both a file server and a Plex server?

I appreciate how you go through setup step by step in this video. I do want to note, however, that Plex encourages users to not put their media into the "Plex" shared folder and instead create individual shares for their media. They have more details in this FAQ on their forum https://forums.plex.tv/t/topic/490215/12

I only have a DS218+ but that works fine except it does not load as fast as what yours do i can see. and atm mine keeps buffering, and i think it is my 1 gen. Chromecast that is the problem :)

Hi, will I be able to run 4k 10bit movies using this setup? I have a 4k projector and 5.1.2 home theatre setup.

Can you play straight from your tv or do you have to cast it from a device

I still don't see what benefits Plex has over DS photo and DS video which are both free, can someone advise me please, cheers Alan

I am considering moving my Plex server from my gaming rig which is always on to a NAS like this so my gaming rig doesn't have to stay on 24/7. I also have a separate box that runs Blue Iris with a handful of cameras recording to that box. However, this Optiplex that is running Blue Iris box has 1TB worth of storage. Would it make sense to devote 1 or 2 bays of a 4-bay NAS to longer-term storage of clips that the Blue Iris machine simply can't hold for long enough? And then use the other bays for the Plex server/media?

Hey,
Please make a video for using this NAS as
1. Storage server for home office.
2. Map NAS as network drive in all Windows computers in network.
3. Set scheduled, automatic, incremental, and encrypted back up FROM NAS TO Google Drive. To protect my data from Ramsomware, fire at my home etc (while making sure that Google can't read my data).

Ok I am seeing up a bad and Plex server and want to get all my DVD's and Blu-ray disks onto a drive so I can stream then to my home. The DVDs aren't a big problem because handbrake is handling most of them with out an issue but my Blu-rays which I have quite a few are a different story. Is there anything you can suggest on backing up my legally level Blu-ray disks to HDD so I can put them on my nas for Plex?

Thanks for sharing Brett. The only thing I don't understand is why you put all of your content in the Library folder. Why not just use a new share? That way you don't need to change any permissions either.

Hi Brett, I have Synology DS1817+ however I cannot see the media server on my Plex account? Am I missing something?

Honestly... Cheaper to use a old computer with a okay cpu. Install Linux Mint and just setup Plex and couch potato. Run fast than any NAS

I really like plex but cant managed to get Š work in subtitles try to convert to utf8 using a plugin for auto-convert but nothing semis to work the only option is if I burn subtitles in movie

plex is great unless they stop suporting the os your using like windows app store or like me you have your own movies as one title and tv shows as another yet no mater how many times yopu unpin or remove the plex free movies and tv it keeps reapearing every time i start plex up on my shield tv.

Plex is fast becomeing something i want to avoid. no xbox one aPP SO BOUT SHIELD TV PRO, NOW PLEX IS TRYING TO FORCE ME TO HAVE THEIR MENUS ON MY SO CALLED CHOISE MENU. PLEX YOU PEOPLE SUCK.

Weird I was just wondering what the guy from Queens of the Stone Age was up to...

Its really sounds difficult. I only need ability to stream what i stored in it to anydevice without anything else.

I would like to purchase a standalone machine for Plex, and this is what I want.

As much power as I can handle to play 4K content.
Ability to remote in from anywhere to download new content

Do these kind of machines allow for Chrome Remote Desktop, for example?

thanks for the review i want to ask you whether it saves video files and helps in speeding up editing in montage programs, and is it easy to use? can i use it on mac computers?

I watch Plex with Synology from any country.

what about if i need a nas, that allow me to stream more that 2 4k tv's at once, let's say 3 or 4? which model is the right one?

How can you have 24TB with 5 drives 4.8 TB drives, you probably have 5 6TB drives and a raid 5 or SHR configuration with which you can lose one drive without any data loss.

I'm looking to get the Synology 2 Bay NAS DiskStation DS220+ and it comes with 2 GB DDR4 memory. Is that enough for two streams at once? Or should I upgrade to it's max 6GB Memory as soon as I buy it?

@Tech With Brett
Hi Brett,
I'm no pro, far from it. But I CAN however, recognize "above and beyond" effort when I see it. And YOU sir have surpassed that by far ! ! Your whole instructional's, how-to's, and tips and tricks and shortcuts were amazing. The lighting for the video was TOP NOTCH. The sound was TOP NOTCH. The transitions and visuals you used to aid your demos and how to's were a pleasure to watch. I even scrolled back a few times when I wanted to see something a bit more in depth because I feel I missed a pieces. I enjoyed this video so much that when I saw this pop up on my YT feed [because I was looking at DS1019+ reviews, then this one popped up], and noticed it was 20m45s in length, I didn't give it a second thought after the first few minutes because I knew there was going to be some great content to soak up here.

My only critique for feedback that I feel is worth mentioning is the delivery speed. At times I felt your mouse, verbal instructions, and screen switching with regard to the Plex stuff was on SSSSSTEROIDS man ???? That's why I had to go back a few times. Now I know that there probably are some serious techno geeks that are watching this as well that are probably looking at this review then looking at me as if I'm an alien or something. . . . well. . . like I said, it's a minor thing that I felt was worth mentioning since not everyone is a Stephen Hawkings right ? ? Especially when everyone learns at a different pace. So like I said, it's minor.

I just bought the DS1019+ today and I'm in the setup stage right now. I started out with 2 Western Digital Red 6TB drives because I know I can always add the other 3 at a later date. Right now I have them running in JBOD. The other 3 spots I will fill with 3 more RED 6TB's later, but I wanted max storage space at the moment. Here are my questions for you;

1. How many drives do you have in your 1019+ right now and what are the storage sizes ?
2. What brand of drives do you use ?
3. What raid array are you running with the drives you have ?
4. How long have you had your 1019+ for ?
5. Can I get by without a PLEX pass ? I know you mentioned something to that effect during the Plex intro, but based on your usage of the PLEX pass, do can you say that you fully use all the extras above what the free version offers ?
6. Are you using the 1019+'s dual gigabit connection in link aggregation ?

Well that's all I have at the present time, but may I ask other questions of you again ? If you're too busy and many other people are regularly asking tons of questions too, I'll understand. I just want to finish by saying thanks again Brett, and congratulations on not ONLY a stellar video, but you've earned yourself 1 more "like", "subber", and "notifier" too ?

Hi great guide How do you rip your movies MKV or MP4 or what the best format

I thought you didn't need a computer??

Plex keeps saying to me to install manually, even if its the newest version of it. I can't reclaim my server. Why should I do?

I just got myself DS220j, but I'm only able to play the media file that I created out of priemier pro. But I'm unable to play the ones that I download of the inherent. I just can't see the downloaded files. Btw I had updated the version of Plex manually. Is there any limitation of video type?

It’s getting to the point where movies are so cheap to find online through streaming services that it just isn’t worth the cost and hassle of setting up and maintaining a media server anymore.

Great Video very well done. I have a Synology and was going to use Plex. Due to the fact, i'm not as expert as you are, and this is not working (1515+ Synology), after 2 hours of trial, I decided to not use at least for the next 2-3 years PLEX.

How's the transcoding power?

Hi Brett..thanks for the video! I have a question. I have my main movies and videos on my Synology NAS for Plex. Can you let me know how to add a second additional server to Plex? I have my photos on a Seagate server.

Thanks for the video! Very good info, great presentation! Unfortunately it seems I am not able to stream on my iPhone without an in-app purchase or a plex pass...

'Ultimate'? Please, bitch. Mine runs on a Ryzen 7 1800X, 32GB of DDR4 2400 and has 24TB of storage and is expandable to 96TB. And I'm the underclassman in my circle.

This is the video that I've been looking for. I had been struggling to get my movies onto my Synology Nas. Now I'm finally able to put my movies and tv shows on it! Thanks for posting this.

I don't understand how any Plex server running on a NAS could ever be described as "The Ultimate Plex Server". I run Plex and have for years. I also have a Synology 1813+ with 24tb in it. Plex is far better suited to a HTPC or some kind of physical box that has a graphics card in it to help with proper hardware encoding/decoding. Plex is epic, the best out there. I even run my cable TV through it but it needs a proper box to run properly not an also ran on a NAS. No Plex sitting on a NAS can ever be described as "The Ultimate Plex Server"

Brett, As promised, I've completed and made the initial document available in the Plex Forums. I placed a link to it in the Syno FAQ. Thanks for allowing me to share the info here.

Only two hardware encoded streams with the shield? I thought quite a few more than that was possible, no?

This was similar to my initial setup. I could not afford the NAS so I used my router, it has DLNA and a single USB port. All of media media is stored on 4TB WD portable hard drive. One day I will upgrade to a NAS

that's all fine for h264 videos but does the shield support HEVC hardware transcoding on plex? The majority of my library (and most people's libraries in the near future) will be HEVC & VP9, not h264.

Nice! But why don't you just install plex server on the nas? Is it slower or something? I have plex server installed on a Qnap nas. And pretty fast.

can i 4k transcoding with nvidia shield?

This is my exact setup and it works perfectly on (highspeed) wireless also

Does it transcode 4K h265?

Hi, Lon. Have you try Plex with the Raspberry Pi 4?
Can transcode the video?

How fast is the file transfer speed on the NAS? I attempted to run a transfer from a external hard drive connected directly to a USB 3.0 on a router (Asus 68u) onto the Nvidia shield and it wasn't doing so great. Probably between 10-20 MB/s. can you do a test for me? I'm thinking the routers processor was limiting the transfer rate through the Ethernet. A file transfer from the external to my personal computer was avg 35-40 MB/s (Ethernet) and if it was directly connect to my computer, it was avg 100 MB/s.

I was SO pissed at the latest update for the Nvidia Shield Plex client. It may be just my experience but it disconnected me from the Plex server which is my Nvidia Shield. Every other client could access the media but the device I use as the host couldn't. I had to uninstall all the updates to get it to work.

Nice one

Hi Lon, I'm a bit late with this topic but just wanted to ask a question. I am using a 120GB SSD drive connected to the back of the Shield at the moment and want to move to your solution but really don't need multi GB's Bay's of storage, Can I use a DS118 with a SATA III 500GB SSD drive installed or something like a WD MY Cloud to act as the NAS for storage of the media.

what is the best way to make a nas, with old pc or components? I want nvidia shield pro to be my main interface.

Wow would love to move my library from hhd plugged into Shield to this type solution. Can it be done while retaining all my library’s data, not adding as new? Thanks Lon happy new year

Run this solution with 4k HDR an Dolby atmos / True HD??

Lon, With this type of Plex server setup would the Synology NAS be able to hibernate once the library metadata has been created on the Shield? I am very keen to try to make sure my synology NAS still has the opportunity to hibernate as much as possible as it’s an old 8 bay unit and draws a bit of power with all the disks spinning. Cheers. Another great video Lon!

as I understood, I cannot stream my media from a nas (qnap219) to the cilinder nvidia shield TV? with or without PLEX...

Anyone else having a problem getting the Shield to see shares on the Synology NAS? It only sees folders created by the NAS (e.g. home and homes) but not the shared folders I created.

Good morning everyone, I have been having an issue with Plex recently and Atmos sound. I have a denon receiver that played Atmos really well before recent update of Plex software, however now every time I’m trying to play a true hd audio file in 4k it says that servers is unavailable and file can it be played. If I were to switch back to 7.1 or 5.1 track in Plex menu everything is playing fine. I also use Kodi and the same files play perfectly fine in Atmos mode. Please help or share your experience how to fix it. Thanks a lot! My Plex library is on a htpc win 10pc via lan. Thanks in advance for your help

So, what is the cheapest NAS that has transcode capacity? I am not hearing good things about Synology NAS. I read that they have power issues after a year. Is there a reliable NAS that transcodes and works well? Also, when sharing, can you share to different states? Like Oklahoma, Missouri and Louisiana off the NAS drive with Plex?

the rips are what quality? untouched 1:1 rips?

and what about 4K rips, atmos and h265 stuff?

basically this sounds awesome!

I run a similar setup, just the Synology 418j and it works well. I play most of the files directly on the Shield without transcoding, but when I need to transcode it works. One other thing is that I heard that the quality of the transcoding on the Shield compared to hardware transcoding on a Synology or WD NAS should be better. I don't know what your experience is with quality?

Too bad the plex server on the Shield is slow as molasses. On a medium sized library (about 4TB of videos) it took nearly a day to scan the TV shows and loading a video takes forever. You're better off using a separate device or the Synology NAS itself to be the server.

The AMD Ryzen 2700x is now $150... absolutely the best value for your money CPU for Plex.

Lon.TV does this setting work for 4k dolby atmos/true hd movies? Thanks

Always worthwhile viewing your postings. Continued success and best wishes for you and your family into the new year...

Off subject a little on this video, but when it comes to NAS set ups. I notice you only go over synolgy or WD. Is there a reason you chose not to use qnap? I've heard software is better on Synology but hardware seems to be better on qnap. I'm running my ts-251 for a few years now with no issues. Just curious on your thoughts.

Would it be better to attach the NAS directly via USB to the shield instead of over the network?

My WDTV used to play directly from Synology DS216J NAS before it finally died.

I was actually thinking of that setup, I have the same NAS, but I don't have anything dedicated to transcode my 4k files for my 1080p tv and other devices. I do have a mini PC with an i5, but that seems like a hassle to have it 24/7 on.

Lon, I tried this with my HDHomeRun using their Config utility that created the HDHR app on my NAS and created the share to have it record to my WDMyCloud EX2 Ultra NAS drive and I see the mpg video file that was successfully stored there but the HDHR creates subfolders for each TV Show recorded so when I point the library to the main HDHomeRun folder Plex wont be able to find the videos as it wants to only scan the main filder not the subfolders. Any way around this? here is the path on my NAS: \shares\public\HDHomeRun\<enter show name here>\<enter video name here>.mpg
I would like to be able to watch my recorded TV shows from my NAS thru Plex. please advise thanks.
EDIT - I found out that in the Plex libraries area you have to go to the Advanced area and change it from the Plex scanner to personal videos so that you can see your own recorded shows otherwise is hidden. Also on the Plex app interface you need to change it to show FOLDERS so now I can see the files in the lower folders. Very cool

Okay video, however I'd appreciate a video on what gives you the most bang for your buck when it comes to transcoding. In this video whatever the cost of the Shield is, is the cost of transcoding. Transcoding is handled almost exclusively by the CPU or GPU speed. So is a Nvidia Shield a "lower cost" than a cheap refurbished i5 or i7 desktop computer that can use that i5 or i7 to do a better and faster job at transcoding, with more simultaneous streams than a Shield?? Finding the best and fastest transcoding devices at the lowest price is what I think a lot of people REALLY want to know about.

I thought it was possible to run a Plex server right from the Synology thing... That makes me wonder, is the Nvidia device a must?

I’m running Plex sever from an app in my NAS and while it’s pretty good it still chokes sometimes. This looks like a nice way of offloading the Plex functionality without buying a new PC.

I've been doing this, except I have no NAS. Instead, I setup the Plex server on my desktop PC. All my movies are on my external HD's, where the shield pulls the data from. One day, I'd like to move my stuff over to a NAS.

How do you rip movies at 1080p?

I have been looking to upgrade from my 2015 shield running my PMS and a WD mycloud (3tb). Is there much of an upgrade to the 2019 shield as the PMS with a cheaper, larger, NAS or should I look at the PR4100 as storage AND PMS?

Thank you for this. I could not figure out the initial linking of the storage to the Shield. Excellent video and grey explanation!

Could you change the shield for a pi? Sheilds alot compared to a pi

Hi, If my plex server(file storage server) has a cpu that does no have HDR support but if I use a nvdia shield to play files(just as a media player) from that server to my HDR TV will NVDIA shield play HDR to my TV? or will it be normal playback?

Can we set up an android box hooked up to our TV to play XCloud ?

Great video. You mention that you need a Shield Pro and not the "tubeshaped" Shield for the setup with Plex. When I read the specs for the "Tube" it can run Plex. Can you clarify please?

Thanks SO mcuh Lon. I FINALLY figured it all out today and got it all workding. Got my HDHomeRun Duo for OTA going into my Plex Pass and using my new Shield Pro to the do transcoding of the video with my libraries on my WDMyCloud EX2 Ultra with 10 TB of storage. I also got the Shield skill added to my Alexa / Echo devices to finally work so now I can use my FLAC full CD quality music files to be controlled by Alexa!!! Before it would work with just the Plex skill on Alexa as the Plex skill only lets you play MP3 files and my WD MyCloud doesnt transcode so it would die on the FLACs and only play MP3 files (and all of mine are FLAC). SO now it works to say "Alexa...tell Plex to play. (artist name)..." and it transcodes it to work just fine using the Shield as the server now instead of the WD MyCloud. !!! AWESOME STUFF. A crazy amt of time spent to get it all to work and a lot of hair pulling and researching but SO SO well worth it now.. Last step of my project is to cut the cord and get Sling Orange+Blue to still have access to all the channels we watch on our cable and kill that expensive monthly Frontier bill for dvr and taxes and fees. Cant wait. well worth it but not for those who cant be patient and persisten!! thanks again you rock

When transcoding remotely, will the shield turn on automatically & go to sleep when finished watching?

Can u use a Xbox one for transcoding?

This was the video I was looking for thanks.

Lol, the Macintoshs in the background remembers me the school time. I'm definitely old.

Happy New Year Lon... That is all. :)

Great video Lon. As a long time user of Plex, you know I've had many questions in getting my set up just right, and you've been a big help along the way, so a big THANKS. I am currently experimenting with a WD EX2 Ultra as my Plex server, recording TV shows via my HD Homerun Prime. It seems to record just fine but is having trouble removing commercials. I'm getting a post recording error message resulting in a RECORDING FAILED tag on the media, which is not true as the media is there and I can watch it, but WITH commercials. Any thoughts why the EX2 Ultra is having this trouble. And once again, many, many thanks Lon.

Nice ? I enjoyed all of your plex videos,
Lon will you be covering Ces next week

How much scratch space does the Shield need for transcoding? If using a 2019 model, I assume you'd need a good quality, fast SSD thumb drive or similar for adopted storage?

Can you add a link to that NAS? or a note on it's name in the description so I can find it?

Hi Lon! How does the shield performs transcoding 4k h265 files to, let's say, 720p or 1080p?

What are you using these days to make the .mkv files? Most of the software I used to use is no longer supported so I'm looking for something new.

Strange Days is one of my favourite films of all time. I'm happy the director won an oscar with the hurt locker.

I use my NAS for storage and as plex server already. What would be the advantage to using the setup you have here?

Just to clarify something Lon mentioned during his video. When he talks about connecting the Nvidia shield and NAS drive via Ethernet he means through a switch and not connecting one directly to another via their respective RJ45 ports - Just in case anybody got a bit confused. :-)

Happy New Year!

I have this exact same setup! One little alternative I'd like to offer is install kodi and use the plex app in kodi. It doesn't need to transcode anything and direct plays pretty much everything you throw at it.

You are the the reason i bought a nvidia shield pro or this video is..
But now i got it and it can't see my Synology NAS ds214+ when i go in to "Add network storage" on the shield..
Then i gave it a try to add it manually and i still can't add the NAS...
If you have any idea what i have to do please help me! :'(

Great video!What if the file is a 4K HDR with bitrate 50.000++? My laptop is having issues with those heavy files to my Philips TV Plex app.Can the Shield really transcode better than an I7 7700HQ with 8 gig ram?

Come on it's 2020 show me if Nvidia shield can transcode a 4k video.

bu the way, can the shield TABLET work as a server ?

What’s advantage to this set up vs just using the synology as the server and the storage? Isn’t that synology rated to do the transcode itself?

Damn! Every question I had... you just answered!

Will a nighthawk x 10 with the plex service built-in with your own hard drive work

The Last Jedi is not a movie..... It's a cinematic ab*rtion.

This was the only video I found about running Plex on a Synology DS218J. Great video!

holy cow this is exactly what I need

Good job with these videos, I recently dipped my toes into the NAS and Plex via Shield Pro lifestyle and these videos have been so helpful and invaluable.

Excellent review Lon!

is there a way to setup without internet, possibly using blue tooth or routers?

Lon. Could you look to do a video on streaming live TV to a Amazon Echo Show from a HD Homerun via Plex? thanks Paul

Awesome video

Will it handle full scale 4k blu ray rips with atmos via plex server on nvdia shield?

Hi Lon, is this doable with a WD Cloud Home, can't seem to get it to show more than the 12kb Public folder when connected?

With this setup can the Synology still do all the downloads with raid and ECT?

was that the new nvidia pro?

I actually run my Plex server on my WDMyCloud, works really well as I can access my content all throughout my network.

Awesome Lon. So should I get an Invidia Shield to do my video transcoding for my NAS (WD MyCloudEX2 Ultra) since it cant do the transcoding and then I can watch TV and movies on my Plex Pass and OTA channels with my HDHomeRun? All I can see is the guide but when I try to play it it fails. Even tried the direct play settings but it didnt help for some reaso.n. Looking for the best and cheapest solution as Im unemployed and cant keep spending $ when trying to cut the cord the best way for me. thanks

This doesn't seem as inexpensive for a "low cost" server setup as I was expecting. I guess if you had several hundred dollars of equipment and storage lying around and/or deployed than this would be pretty low cost.

Maybe a "low power consumption" server setup is more apt.

please do a video show as simultaneous 4k transcoding, thanks.

Thanks for the video! I have this exact server and my Shield arrives this Saturday.

The problem with using the Shield as the server is that it just isn't stable. Many time I want to watch a video, it turns out the server stopped running for some unknown reason - on both of my Shields. And it isn't as simple as restarting the servers in the plex app, it doesn't work. You have have to restart the Shields, wait for the Shields to connect to the NAS, then check if the servers have started by themselves. Horrible experience.
Meanwhile my desktop server never has such issues, ever.

Please help everytime nvidia shield update my plex server crashed I got external hard for my media and I have to uninstall plex server and start all over new plex server don't want to do this any more.