I’d like to get your advice on what you think is the best Plex Server hardware for offline use?
Currently at home I run Plex Server on my Synology NAS to stream movies to various TVs and Rokus.
Now I want to take my movie collection with me while camping “off grid” this summer (my camper has a nice TV) and I’m struggling to find a capable and affordable Plex server device.
Note: I want to avoid buying something expensive like a NAS, and I also want to avoid using a PC. And the only Router that has Plex built-in is ~$500.
I did try the Western Digital “MY PASSPORT WIRELESS” (~$200) but sadly I couldn’t get it to work at all, and had to return it.
So what device would you recommend?
So far the best option seems to be to buy a Rasberry Pi kit $100 (paired with a Wifi Router for mobile devices,) but I’d gladly pay $200 for something that just works out of the box for up to three devices (really wished the My Passport Wireless thing had worked )
Shield is self contained so it can be server and client at the same time while connected directly to the TV (with lots of playback support). If you want local network access for a tablets or phone in the camper at the same time you can set that up as well but will need to make some adjustments to allow local access without account authentication (since there’s no internet connection).
I had looked at the Shield Pro and it definitely is a good option - I’ll have to check out if it could also serve movies up via wireless which would allow me to eliminate the router.
Shield Pro won’t be able to act as it’s own wireless router so you’ll need something to handle the wifi\routing aspect if you want to access the Plex Server from other devices than the Shield (even if you don’t connect to internet with it).
Another option is a cheap qnap nas model with a mini pcie slot and add in their wifi card. can run plex, usually have hdmi out and also share wifi for other devices to connect to if an all in one box is a must.
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