Help needed re: Plex HTPC

Plex Media Server
1

I originally got the Plex media server running perfectly on my mac, synched to an external hard drive full of FLAC music files. However, I wasn’t able to use the Plex mobile app on my iPhone as a remote control. Someone here told me that I needed to download Plex HTPC to use this functionality. I’ve done this, and moved it to Applications on my mac, but when I open it, the functionality (via the mac) is very poor, ie, can’t use the mouse pad to move between files, and it also can’t find my cached library of music from the external hard drive. It all feels so difficult! Can anyone advise on what I should do, or would it be easier to just use the media server and forget about using my phone as a remote control. Many thx

2

The HPTC app is designed for a “big screen” use case where you operate the app with a remote or keyboard (no mouse).

After you open the app for the first time, you should be asked to link it to your Plex account. Once you did that, you should be able to see all libraries of your server. If you haven’t pinned any of them, you might find missing libraries in the More section.

While the app is running on your Mac you can cast/fling media to it and play through the Mac (e.g. connected speakers etc.).

  1. Open Plex HTPC on your Mac
  2. Open Plex on your phone
  3. Click the Cast button in the top-right corner of the app user interface (you can do that from the UI or while playing some media)
    Fling to Device icon
  4. Select the target device you want to cast/fling to – here: pick Plex HTPC from the Plex apps on other devices section
  5. Start playing some media on the phone

if you start playback on the phone and only then start selecting a different target device, Plex will ask you if you want to continue streaming on that device.

Now you should still see the playback controls on your phone while the output is going through Plex HTPC on your Mac.

1 Like
3

Tom you are an absolute superstar! All working perfectly thx so much :grinning:

4

Hi Tom, just when you thought you could rest again… when I’m in Plex HTPC mode, the DAC which sits between my Mac and amplifier frequently loses connection, ie the Mac can’t find it anymore. However when I just use the Plex media server directly to play music, this problem disappears. Any ideas what might be going on?

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Scratch that; it’s just cut out again. Must be nothing to do with Plex, more like a faulty DAC (I’ve switched out the cables)

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