Plex data storage.

I've been using Plex since the server was only available as an application on the Mac and not only had I never even heard of PlexGuide but also looking at the site for the product it really isn't clear what it does. Having an explanation of the project as a video is all well and good but a written description (probably with a few diagrams) would be a lot better.

To be honest most people I know, including myself, would not want to run either a Plex server or store masses of data on a cloud. Your internet goes down ... no access to any media ... even if Plex isn't working having the media files means that they can still be played back easily. Don't get me wrong, I'm not anti-cloud, I have, and use, accounts on AWS, Azure and GCP and use them almost every day for work etc ... and Docker is a favourite subject of mine ...

Correct me if I'm wrong, as I only briefly skimmed the wiki, but it seems to imply that you can only have a fairly simple mapping; films, tv shows rather than a more complicated configuration with multiple libraries? Personally even the tools to automate getting media probably wouldn't work with my workflow as it can be quite complex depending on what I'm getting from where.
 
memyselfandi said:
I've been using Plex since the server was only available as an application on the Mac and not only had I never even heard of PlexGuide but also looking at the site for the product it really isn't clear what it does. Having an explanation of the project as a video is all well and good but a written description (probably with a few diagrams) would be a lot better.

To be honest most people I know, including myself, would not want to run either a Plex server or store masses of data on a cloud. Your internet goes down ... no access to any media ... even if Plex isn't working having the media files means that they can still be played back easily. Don't get me wrong, I'm not anti-cloud, I have, and use, accounts on AWS, Azure and GCP and use them almost every day for work etc ... and Docker is a favourite subject of mine ...

Correct me if I'm wrong, as I only briefly skimmed the wiki, but it seems to imply that you can only have a fairly simple mapping; films, tv shows rather than a more complicated configuration with multiple libraries? Personally even the tools to automate getting media probably wouldn't work with my workflow as it can be quite complex depending on what I'm getting from where.
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Nice to see another early Plex user, if you were that early to the party surely you'd remember it as OSXMBC? I was running XBMC on an Xbox till then, but had a mac mini which ended up running OSXMBC rather than Front Row - it was a nice upgrade in terms of interaction from an Xbox with a controller. I even dropped the coin on a Broadcom hardware decoder to enable 1080p decoding under OSX for XBMC later on before moving to a Revo, Plex (when it became Plex) used to cook my old mini, it could heat a large bedroom.

Completely agree on the wiki, like most new projects it's a case of do first, document later. It's only been on Github 7? months, and started a few months prior to that as a how-to guide on reddit, you may have seen Cloudbox or similar purpose specific projects? It spawned out of the frustration of users doing what much of the r/plex do on a daily basis and the unlimited ACD fiasco last year.

Cloud wise I get it, but is it a real world issue often? Perhaps if you live somewhere that has slow/poor/expensive connectivity or you have an unreliable connection then local would make more sense, PG has the option either way. Personally I can't remember the last time I lost internet access other than the 5 minutes for a OR engineer to move pairs over or migrate me from one ISP to another every few years. We don't usually get power cuts here, if we did i'd not notice anyway thanks to the UPS'. Even if you don't wish to use GSuite, PG has the option for local media set-up. On the subject of a diagram, you may like this: https://i.redd.it/rifpeax89fm01.png (warning: large)

Libraries wise it supports HD and 4K TV/Movie libraries (yes, users who can't direct play a 720 content really do try and play 4K content if you give them the option) and supports TV/movies/music/ebooks and even anime. If you already have a virtualised environment then throw half an hour at it and see if it's for you, GSuite do a free trial, heck use Hetzner Cloud and pay a few cents for an hour if you don't want to host it locally.
 
Yeah, you can ignore that. I'm a single user with 22TB hosted.
Google haven't even charged me yet either. :)
 
Do you guys encode the media for Plex or leave it as is ?

I am thinking of having \RAW versions on external disks and local Plex drive with MP4 versions
 
kkelly said:
Do you guys encode the media for Plex or leave it as is ?

I am thinking of having \RAW versions on external disks and local Plex drive with MP4 versions
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Running a local server isn't practical for storage, BD50 adds up quickly, beyond 10-15 drives things start getting messy without a desk shelf or a serious pod build which in itself is disproportionately expensive, you also need to consider redundancy/parity. MP4 is inferior for a variety of reasons as a container, but I can understand why you would choose it.

GodAtum said:
I have a dedicated server from online.net, pay $40/month for E3-1231 v3, 32GB RAM and 1Gb network.
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How awful are online.net for you? In the EU they tend to be about as bad as it gets, apart from oneprovider... who are essential the same company in disguise, but insist on running support via a second team which tends to make simple requests take 2-3 days minimum each time a request has to be passed over to them, also the collections/threats of legal action when you reject something for being unfit for purpose or not as advertised tend to rub people up the wrong way.
 
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Avalon said:
Running a local server isn't practical for storage, BD50 adds up quickly, beyond 10-15 drives things start getting messy without a desk shelf or a serious pod build which in itself is disproportionately expensive, you also need to consider redundancy/parity. MP4 is inferior for a variety of reasons as a container, but I can understand why you would choose it.
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What do people do then? I'm feeling the struggle now to keep up with HD space requirements with 4K Atmos movies, so not sure whether I can justify even more money on hard drives etc to run a local plex setup.
 
pioneer2000 said:
What do people do then? I'm feeling the struggle now to keep up with HD space requirements with 4K Atmos movies, so not sure whether I can justify even more money on hard drives etc to run a local plex setup.
Click to expand...

That all depends on the bitrate of your content and how fast your connection is (and peering/routing). For example if you have a 4K 80mbit/s file, that's not going to direct play on a fttc connection that's syncing in the mid 60's no matter how hard you try. If you have adequate bandwidth (and check the peering to Google Drive), then take the free GSuite trial (unlimited storage), the reduction in your power bill if you are running a local server with high drive count is probably going to pay for it. Next up decide if you want a local server or are happy to pay €3-5 for Hetzner/Netcup, you get 1-10Gbit and an upload limit of 20-40TB/m for that. You can manually set up Plex, your chosen download client's and automation yourself and install PlexDrive/RClone as well as Radarr/Sonarr and Tatulli etc. as well as curate/convert it yourself, or have a look at PlexGuide, where all the heavy lifting is done for you and the usual limits in place are easily avoided.
 
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