I currently use my Mac to run a Plex server and have a media hard drive connected. It would be really convenient to people who would like to do the same, but might not have a dedicated PC/Mac for keeping the server running. Would it even be possible to have a Plex app on a smart tv with a connected hard drive that could run the server directly, without the need for another computer? I realize this isn’t currently possible. My question is geared toward the realm of the possible.
The processing power required of a smart TV is basically mobile computing. It’s not desktop grade. Sorry, won’t happen.
I assume you work for Plex? You’d be amazed at the realm of the possible, even with mobile devices. I am an android developer and you can definitely run a server on an android device. I know because I’m currently doing it. What I don’t know, is the internals of the current Plex server implementation. This question is aimed at the Plex Server developers.
I do not work for Plex. I’m just saying it’s an incredibly niche idea and we can’t even get Plex to implement the most basic feature requests without huge backlash so this seems near impossible / improbable.
Most smart tvs don’t have chips with passmarks of even 2000.
I won’t argue the latency of feature requests, as I’ve never asked for any, so I assume you are correct. As far as it being a niche idea, I tend to disagree. I used to need an Apple Tv console to play any apple media on my tv. Now, the new smart tvs come with an Apple Tv app, so I no longer need the extra equipment to access my library. If they could take it to the next level, I wouldn’t need an external media server either. You can already plug a hard drive into a smart tv and access a library. I just need an app to run that can stream the media to my personal LAN. I think it could be a major marketing boon for a Smart Tv maker. Just an idea. I wish the smart tv makers would open up their app markets for developers. That would push new ideas forward quicker.
I think it’s a good idea but I’m just saying it’s unrealistic.
The idea is all well and good right up until there’s a need to transcode something. There’s no way any current smart tv has enough grunt to transcode media at an acceptable quality level. It’d also likely have a major impact on the usability of the TV while any transcode was ongoing. Until that issue can be solved then a smart tv server is not going to be possible.
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I think nvidia shield is the closest we will get to something close to a tv based server.
and the shield certainly has it its limitations vs a standard x86 based server.
besides the fact that tvs today are expendable, compared to the CRT’s of old that lasted decades and generations.
I don’t think anyone wants to be forced to upgrade/move their server from an old tv serve to a new tv server.
it is difficult enough to do that with an x86 pms, and even more complex trying to do that with a shield.
This.
I was thinking Shield as well as I was reading the needs.
Additionally to the “lack of computing power” argument mentioned above, there is also the issue of having to switch on the TV if you want to play something on a different device – maybe even out of home.
And then: tv platforms are all very locked down. There is no way to run a server without jailbreaking the operating system.
So no, this will most likely not happen at all.
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Admittedly, I know nothing on the transcoding subject. So, shifting away from the embedded TV server idea - maybe a cloud-based service makes more sense. It just feels like the need for so much hardware to have a decent private library experience is excessive and expensive. If I could upload my library to a cloud and have the Plex client access it there, I could get rid of the local server/hardware component. It feels like there has got to be a better way to serve up a library of content.
Plex had that a few years ago. It didn’t end well.
Personally I still run Plex in the cloud via a dedicated online server and Google for storage.
I just finally shut down my local server last week.
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That makes perfect sense. I’ll look into that solution.
If you don’t want extra hardware, you could also use a Nighthawk X10 router, which will run PMS. Since you need a router anyways, this wouldn’t be extra. Or if you plan to keep the files locally, you’ll need a storage device, so use a NAS that supports PMS, we have those too.
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