Plex questions

Dirk76 · 18 Mar 2019 at 03:46

Hi, upgraded to plex.
I have read and googled a lot and just have a few questions.

First of all my plex server and plex on sony x85 all working fine. Setup files and all that good.

I clicked no outside access when installing plex on my media server.

My media pc ( with plex) is connected to tv via cat 6 network.

Do I need a VPN on the main server ( to do with library searching metadata?) I have a VPN on main pc when it is needed.

Also I notice in the options at there is an upload limit option. Is that only for if using plex away from home? I assume that since on same home network that is runs straight to the sony without uploading?

I have 17 gig movies files and 2 odd gig tv files. I want to run them to the best of their ability.

Also was thinking of buying lifetime. Apart from other things, I notice that is has offline function and pic auto upload. Anyone have the upgrade.

Thanks

Django x2 · 18 Mar 2019 at 19:35

This isn't 2015 so PLEX, whilst still good is not really the place to be, but, as you're here:

Why are you using a VPN? Where is you Plex server? Is it a separate machine? You don't have to have a VPN, as long as it can see the internet, that is fine.

Upload is for when you are streaming away from home.

BigT · 18 Mar 2019 at 22:26

I’m going to assume how you source your media leads you to use a VPN for that purpose. You don’t need to worry about scraping meta data on your Plex server. It’s not doing anything illegal so you don’t need the VPN on it.

PiKe · 18 Mar 2019 at 22:48

Django x2 said:
This isn't 2015 so PLEX, whilst still good is not really the place to be, but, as you're here:

Why are you using a VPN? Where is you Plex server? Is it a separate machine? You don't have to have a VPN, as long as it can see the internet, that is fine.

Upload is for when you are streaming away from home.

I'm curious to know, what IS the place to be then?

Dirk76 · 20 Mar 2019 at 05:05

BigT said:
I’m going to assume how you source your media leads you to use a VPN for that purpose. You don’t need to worry about scraping meta data on your Plex server. It’s not doing anything illegal so you don’t need the VPN on it.

yes you know what I mean thanks

PiKe said:
I'm curious to know, what IS the place to be then?

same here , I just went from popcorn hour to plex so I am 10 years behind.
Also plex is working fantastic on my sony x85. I should have got out of under the rock I was on with popcorn hour

I run a media server with plex on it to 3 tv's smart tvs via a cat 6 network.

I notice my cpu maxes out a bit. I run 4k movies . Plex runs them straight no convert as all tvs are 4k. What would be a good cpu. I would have to check but I think it is a Intel Core i3 8100

jpaul · 20 Mar 2019 at 10:36

Dirk76 said:
I notice my cpu maxes out a bit. I run 4k movies

if you have high cpu use, on the plex server, obviously that sounds inconsistant with transcoder NOT running .. check plex logs & tasks running.

just because they are 4k tv's does not mean the media is not being re-packed ..I'd be downloading different 4k media samples and testing, which use more/less cpu.

enfo · 25 Mar 2019 at 14:35

I notice my cpu maxes out a bit. I run 4k movies

When running 4K files on my plex devices the video will play direct but it will need to do a transcode on the audio as the soundtracks tend to be dolby true HD / DTSX.
The CPU usually settles fairly quickly when its only audio transcoding , depends what your buffer is set at i guess

something daft already!! · 25 Mar 2019 at 14:38

Nothing wrong with Plex. Great service if a little inaccurate at identifying stuff. I know of no other viable alternative.

wiiija · 25 Mar 2019 at 15:03

something daft already!! said:
Nothing wrong with Plex. Great service if a little inaccurate at identifying stuff. I know of no other viable alternative.

Emby is an alternative, I use it myself, prefer the front end.

Street · 27 Mar 2019 at 14:39

Dirk76 said:
Also was thinking of buying lifetime. Apart from other things, I notice that is has offline function and pic auto upload. Anyone have the upgrade.

If you're going to get the Lifetime Pass, it's worth waiting as quite often they offer massive discounts on it!

Bluecube · 27 Mar 2019 at 14:57

wiiija said:
Emby is an alternative, I use it myself, prefer the front end.

Can you get an Emby app for smart TVs?

wiiija · 27 Mar 2019 at 18:44

Bluecube said:
Can you get an Emby app for smart TVs?

Yes, I know its on Samsung and LG TV's for sure, not certain about other brands.

Puzzled · 27 Mar 2019 at 23:20

Been using plex for years and haven't found anything better for multiple different clients. Had some issues along the way but all seems to work pretty smoothly now including dts hd / true hd pass-through. Most devices only need audio transcoding at most which needs very little processing power, some older players are just odd though and converting x265 to x264 can max out the server on one stream.

I don't have a 4k TV though so don't tend to use x265 content as a lot of it is encoded for HDR screens and looks washed out if your TV doesn't support it.

I bought a plex pass years ago when they were cheap but the only features I really use are library sharing, home users and dvr functionality. I know prices have gone up substantially so wait for a deal.

Salty22 · 3 Apr 2019 at 13:07

Whats the usual rate when plex pass is on offer? currently £94.
And is it worth it to use hardware transcoding?

andy_mk3 · 3 Apr 2019 at 13:12

wiiija said:
Emby is an alternative, I use it myself, prefer the front end.

I've been a Plex user for many years, and an XBMC user before that. I've recently set up Emby and it's a breath of fresh air. The layout isn't quite as pretty as Plex, but it works well and feels a lot quicker to use. Live TV in Plex has always been a nightmare for me, where Emby it works beautifully. I was also having problems with Plex meaning about not having enough bandwidth to stream content, even with gigabit LAN, SD content direct playing and a 12 core server with 64gb ram. I'm not the only person with this issue but it's one of many things Plex continues to ignore.

Puzzled · 3 Apr 2019 at 14:18

Salty22 said:
Whats the usual rate when plex pass is on offer? currently £94.
And is it worth it to use hardware transcoding?

Seen it around £75 before I think.

I personally don't use HW transcoding as SW looks better to me and my server can handle it. If you are struggling performance wise then it might be worth paying for but its not a deal breaker.

Edit: Do they not do a free month trial?

Salty22 · 3 Apr 2019 at 15:11

MonkeyMan said:
Seen it around £75 before I think.

I personally don't use HW transcoding as SW looks better to me and my server can handle it. If you are struggling performance wise then it might be worth paying for but its not a deal breaker.

Edit: Do they not do a free month trial?

Currently using our second pc which is a ryzen 3 1200 cpu and it seems fine, buying a Synology DS918+ friday and ill be moving my plex server to that.
Didn't know if hardware encoding would make it even better or not.
I dont really watch plex on tablets/phones etc or anywhere id assume it was transcoding, just our living room xbox, bedroom LG tv and two kids bedrooms with firesticks, we probably use like two max at a time
Sorry im a bit of noob lol.

MG42Maniac · 3 Apr 2019 at 15:24

I've got a Vega 56 in my Plex Server that I am using for transcoding to remote clients. It uses very little power compared to the CPU. No one has noticed any difference vs the software transcoding using the 2700X. I do not share my 4K content though as there is no way to tone map down to 8bit colour.

Mujja · 10 Apr 2019 at 13:25

andy_mk3 said:
I've been a Plex user for many years, and an XBMC user before that. I've recently set up Emby and it's a breath of fresh air. The layout isn't quite as pretty as Plex, but it works well and feels a lot quicker to use. Live TV in Plex has always been a nightmare for me, where Emby it works beautifully. I was also having problems with Plex meaning about not having enough bandwidth to stream content, even with gigabit LAN, SD content direct playing and a 12 core server with 64gb ram. I'm not the only person with this issue but it's one of many things Plex continues to ignore.

Which tuners do you use for Live TV?

Emby doesn't support my TBS tuners, had to use NextPVR server with an add-on for Emby. Recordings and guide were managed on the NextPVR server which was inconvenient and like you said it's not as easy to navigate compared to Plex.

Used Windows Media Centre since Vista days for Live TV with the Plex \ OpenPHT integrations for local media. Every W10 feature update broke WMC and now it seems monthly security updates are breaking WMC, MS are reallly trying to kill WMC.

So I'm now using my HTPC with just PMS and bough a Shield TV as a player which is working great so far. PMP (Plex Media Player) is able to playback live TV directly on Android devices and web clients. But in a Windows computer PMP transcodes the MPEG-2 to MKV which cause buffering during playback and slow channel changes. PMP in fullscreen \ TV mode isn't as nice as OpenPHT but Plex are working an a GUI update which will make it look like the old PHT.

andy_mk3 · 10 Apr 2019 at 16:01

Mujja said:
Which tuners do you use for Live TV?

Hdhomerun quatro