Pi3 as plex server

NoobCannon · 7 Jan 2017 at 13:09

Thought id post this incase anyone else is looking for a cheap way to have a plex server/nas.

Just set up my pi3 as a plex server as replacement for having my pc on every time i wanna watch a film.

Been working fine for 4/5 days now without a hitch, seems to handle transcoding fine (edit :- been corrected on that, its direct play aparantly) and being linked to a 2tb usb hard drive it also acts as a nas as windows just sees it as a network attached hard drive. Streams 1080p content fine, havent got any 4k content to try.

Total cost including pi and hard drive was £100 ish.

https://medium.com/@danielabdilla/home-media-server-using-raspberry-pi-plex-d44e2c6ed292#.tuupgxn8x

Skynet5 · 7 Jan 2017 at 16:00

Nice.

I run mine off a supermicro Intel freena setup. Good to see pi has got the grunt now to do transcoding. How maybe streams can it manage I wonder..2 maybe or just the 1?

DONOHUE07 · 7 Jan 2017 at 16:30

Looking for a cheap Plex server I can just leave on a shelf, is it possible to run sickbeard beard and couch potato for automatic torrent downloads?

I don't know what I'm doing, but I read a little about automatic downloads

NoobCannon · 7 Jan 2017 at 21:00

lnoton said:
Nice.

I run mine off a supermicro Intel freena setup. Good to see pi has got the grunt now to do transcoding. How maybe streams can it manage I wonder..2 maybe or just the 1?

I will try to watch 2 next chance i get. Id hazard a guess at one but never know! Only ever had need for one personally

Edit :- just watched 2 movies at same time one on tv and one on iphone, neither skipped a beat

NoobCannon · 7 Jan 2017 at 21:05

DONOHUE07 said:
Looking for a cheap Plex server I can just leave on a shelf, is it possible to run sickbeard beard and couch potato for automatic torrent downloads?

I don't know what I'm doing, but I read a little about automatic downloads

Couldnt help with that. I download on my main pc and just transfer them over the network

neodude · 8 Jan 2017 at 12:31

I was under the impression that transcoding was disabled in the ARM version of PMS because the hardware isn't up to the task of transcoding even 1 stream.

Are you sure you're actually using transcoding?

NoobCannon · 8 Jan 2017 at 15:27

neodude said:
I was under the impression that transcoding was disabled in the ARM version of PMS because the hardware isn't up to the task of transcoding even 1 stream.

Are you sure you're actually using transcoding?

Unless the films i have aquired dont need transcoding, they are in many different formats so i assume the pi is doing it. As doubt either my phone or tv would be doing it?

neodude · 8 Jan 2017 at 17:44

Whether a film is transcoded or not depend on the settings in the client. I believe the default setting for stuff on a local network is direct play.

NoobCannon · 8 Jan 2017 at 17:59

This is a screener from the server settings page.

neodude · 8 Jan 2017 at 18:03

Like I said, it's the client side settings that usually determine whether transcoding is used or not.

NoobCannon · 8 Jan 2017 at 18:11

Ah misread will check

Edit iphone plex app is set to allow direct screening

Either way transcode or not it works fantastically for playing the films ive got, havent found one it cant yet

neodude · 8 Jan 2017 at 18:40

Yeah, I reckon it will be playing directly. But, as you say, as long as it works