Plex server advice.

Rev
Rev Posts: 3,142
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edited 12 June 2017 at 1:25PM in Techie Stuff
Hope someone can give me some advice. I have an old laptop I've just replaced with a chromebook, it's a HP DM1, so was great for basic browsing etc but the trackpad buttons failed and I fancied trying a chromebook. It seems a shame to just bin the laptop so I'm wondering if I could turn it into a plex server.

Surely if a raspberry pi can be a plex server then this can. I don't need it to sream 1080 or 4K. I onlt have a 42" TV and it's just me using it not a house full of people so it doesn't need to stream several things at once.

I know it wont be powerful enough to transcode anything but I can optimize stuff on the desktop and transfer it to an external drive attached to the laptop.

I've never used linux before but am a quick learner and happy to give it a go. Currently googling openelec to see what that's about and if that would work.

Anyone have any suggestions?

Thanks.
Sigless
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  • S0litaire
    S0litaire Posts: 3,535
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    Plex is easy to set up.
    Just install your favorite OS (Windows or Linux variety)
    go here
    https://www.plex.tv/downloads/
    Select "Plex Media Server" then choose your OS.
    Download it and install.

    once installed open a browser to:
    http://localhost:32400/
    Run through the instructions to set up folders to scan for media.

    You then just need a way of showing the content on your TV via Chrome Stick or Amazon TV stick.

    If you want to use the Laptop top display the media then Kodi would be a better software to use, as it's a media server and media player.
    Get it here and install :
    https://kodi.tv/download
    Laters

    Sol

    "Have you found the secrets of the universe? Asked Zebade "I'm sure I left them here somewhere"
  • Rev
    Rev Posts: 3,142
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    Sorry. I should have said I was looking for something a bit more lightweight than Windows.

    The laptop is old and really struggled with Windows 10. So I was looking for an OS that was more streamlined with less bloat.


    I have a roku 3 connected to the TV so will be using that.
    Sigless
  • S0litaire
    S0litaire Posts: 3,535
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    All you really need is any basic Linux install.

    If you know your way around linux then install any "server" version. (That won't have a desktop by default, just command line).

    Otherwise something like Linux Mint

    Once installed Plug the laptop into the network (lot less hassle and more reliable that dealing with wifi).

    Then download the version of Plex Media Server for your version of Linux (on another device and copy it over using USB)

    If you go with a Linux with a desktop then just browse to plex.tv and download the version and install it

    Then install.

    Then go to http://<laptops-ip-address>:32400/ (or [url]http://localhost:324000[/url] if using a install with a desktop)
    and proceed as directed.
    Laters

    Sol

    "Have you found the secrets of the universe? Asked Zebade "I'm sure I left them here somewhere"
  • Rev
    Rev Posts: 3,142
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    Thanks, will give that a go now.
    Sigless
  • And don't forget you can side load Plex onto a NOW tv Box (well the old ones anyway) and stream movies pics music to any tv in house Now tv box is connected to.


    Ah just noticed you have three Roku, great stuff.
  • Rev
    Rev Posts: 3,142
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    Okay, installed linux mint. Got plex up and running spent a few hours moving all my media to an external drive to hook up to the laptop and plex wont read the drive.

    Its there, I can manually go into it and play the files. The drive itself shows up in plex media but it wont let me select a folder on the drive so I can't seperate stuff into Movies/TV/Music etc.

    I selected the entire drive and it says no files found.

    Never used linux before, totally stuck here.
    Sigless
  • SandLake
    SandLake Posts: 531
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    edited 13 June 2017 at 8:37AM
    I came at this from a different angle, I wanted a Media Server but I went along a different route. Synology NAS drives can act as a Plex Media Server (via an official plugin) and it turns out that their proprietary operating system is open source, available as Xpenology and runs on 'normal' hardware. The operating system is a bit difficult to upgrade but apart from that I found it quite easy.
  • psychic_teabag
    psychic_teabag Posts: 2,865
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    Rev wrote: »
    Okay, installed linux mint. Got plex up and running spent a few hours moving all my media to an external drive to hook up to the laptop and plex wont read the drive.

    Its there, I can manually go into it and play the files. The drive itself shows up in plex media but it wont let me select a folder on the drive so I can't seperate stuff into Movies/TV/Music etc.

    I selected the entire drive and it says no files found.

    Never used linux before, totally stuck here.

    Sorry, I don't know plex, so can't help with that. Just to clarify : when you say "it's there..." do you mean you can see and play the media from within linux, but just can't persuade plex to see it ? Could it be a permissions thing - daemons on linux typically run in their own user account, and would have different permissions from when you are exploring as yourself. (What filesystem did you use on the external drive ?)

    Could try an experiment and put some media onto a flash drive and see if plex sees that.
  • S0litaire
    S0litaire Posts: 3,535
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    edited 13 June 2017 at 10:23AM
    Rev wrote: »
    Okay, installed linux mint. Got plex up and running spent a few hours moving all my media to an external drive to hook up to the laptop and plex wont read the drive.

    Its there, I can manually go into it and play the files. The drive itself shows up in plex media but it wont let me select a folder on the drive so I can't seperate stuff into Movies/TV/Music etc.

    I selected the entire drive and it says no files found.

    Never used linux before, totally stuck here.

    Linux Mint (most Debian version do this) puts external drives under " /media/<username>/<Drive label>"

    So in Plex When you add a folder go to "Add Library" then select the type of media "e.g. Films" then click next.

    Click "Browse for Media Folder"
    On the left of the window you should see at the top a house icon names "PLEX"
    Then below that their should be a Folder icon + "/" Click this.

    Then on the right hand side, scroll down till you see the "media" folder and click on it.

    Now on the right you should see your user name. click on it.

    You should now see the "disk label" or a long string of text. That is your external drive. Click on it

    Then select the folder with the movies.

    Click Add.
    That should be you.

    *tip*
    in "Advanced" untick "Enable video preview thumbnails" ( it takes a long time and a lot of disk space to generate these files for every video on your drive)
    Laters

    Sol

    "Have you found the secrets of the universe? Asked Zebade "I'm sure I left them here somewhere"
  • Rev
    Rev Posts: 3,142
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    Sorry, I don't know plex, so can't help with that. Just to clarify : when you say "it's there..." do you mean you can see and play the media from within linux, but just can't persuade plex to see it ? Could it be a permissions thing - daemons on linux typically run in their own user account, and would have different permissions from when you are exploring as yourself. (What filesystem did you use on the external drive ?)

    Could try an experiment and put some media onto a flash drive and see if plex sees that.

    It was the permissions, took me a while to figure out how to give plex permission to see the drive etc.

    S0litaire wrote: »
    Linux Mint (most Debian version do this) puts external drives under " /media/<username>/<Drive label>"

    So in Plex When you add a folder go to "Add Library" then select the type of media "e.g. Films" then click next.

    Click "Browse for Media Folder"
    On the left of the window you should see at the top a house icon names "PLEX"
    Then below that their should be a Folder icon + "/" Click this.

    Then on the right hand side, scroll down till you see the "media" folder and click on it.

    Now on the right you should see your user name. click on it.

    You should now see the "disk label" or a long string of text. That is your external drive. Click on it

    Then select the folder with the movies.

    Click Add.
    That should be you.

    *tip*
    in "Advanced" untick "Enable video preview thumbnails" ( it takes a long time and a lot of disk space to generate these files for every video on your drive)

    It would see the drive but wouldn't let me go into the drive and select the correct folder etc.

    I need to find the best video settings not to convert stuff to limit transcoding as the laptop is just not powerful enough for that.

    All seemed to be working okay last night but now it's saying unavailable.
    Sigless
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