Home Cinema Plex Server on PC to AV Receiver: Connection and Setup Help

Plex Media Server
, ,
1

Hello Everyone,

This is my first post to the forum and I am also very new to the whole home cinema thing. I have only very basic knowledge about the technical things - but have always managed to get things working - but this problem has left me absolutely stumped and after hours of looking online the actual information I need is always missing (probably because I am lacking some basic information). OK here goes - please be gentle :slight_smile:

What I Do Now:

I have Plex Media Server installed on the iMac upstairs. The library referenced is on an external hard drive. The iMac is connected to the Wifi. Downstairs I have a Yamaha RX-V485 AV receiver with an Amazon Fire TV Stick plugged in. The Fire Stick runs Plex and uses the same Wifi to stream the library contents.

This setup is causing me issues because the Wifi in the house is really bad (I live in rural France) and streaming can be painful to say the least. Not only that but the Mac is on its last legs also.

What I Want To Do:

Next to the Home Cinema I have an office where I have a Gaming PC and a whole different internet connection - a faster business connection where use an Ethernet connection for everything. This is not the quickest in the world - but is about 3x faster than the Wifi.

What I would like to do is use the Gaming PC as a Plex Server and use a hard wired connection (Ethernet if possible) directly into the AC Receiver and stream that way.

Where I am at the moment. I understand that i cannot just plug an Ethernet Cable from the PC to the AV Receiver (i dont know the technicalities but it has something to do with picking up a network signal). So I have the PC plugged into the Modem/Router and another Ethernet Cable going from the Modem/Router to the AV Receiver. (This as well as another cable going from the Modem/Router to a work laptop dock and another going to a PS4 in the home Cinema Room -so 4 in total).

What do I need to do now? Is there something fundamental that I am missing? What setting do I select on the AV Receiver (there is no “Ethernet In” option like with the HDMI Inputs? What Plex Software should I be running on the PC and are there special settings?

Originally I was aiming to run a wired NAS (running Plex) from the PC to the NAS then a HDMI connection to the AV Receiver - but I have seen so many posts of people just using the PC I thought it would save me €450+ if I could miss out the NAS. I am totally wrong on this?

Thanks so much for any help guys!

James

2

Your AV receiver doesn’t have a Plex client which can access the plex server and play the media back.
You’ll need something similar like the FireTV, just with an Ethernet port. I understand there is an optional Ethernet adapter available for it.
An update over the current FireTV would be:
The nVidia Shield Pro. This one can passthrough almost any surround sound format to your AV receiver. And it plays up to 4K HDR HEVC video directly.

Other prospects would be the Apple TV 4K, or the FireTV 4K cube.

3

Thanks for that feedback. That’s really helpful and makes sense.

I was considering just buying the Ethernet adapter for the Fire Stick (and also purchasing the newer model).

An additional question if i could - about the connectivity: If i choose the ‘wired’ connection on the Fire Stick and the Plex Server is on the PC wired into the Modem/Router - will the Fire Stick be able to see the server? There isn’t anything else I need to factor in?

Cheers - I really am a newb at this.

4

If your device is a router, it should work just like that.
If your device is just a modem, it might not work. But according to your description above I think you have indeed a router.

If you have too few Ethernet ports on your router, you can extend their number with a relatively inexpensive Gigabit Ethernet switch. “Unmanaged” models with 5 ports are available from $20.
This also helps if you need to connect more than one device in your living room. You then only need to run one Ethernet wire through the wall, into your router. The switch goes on the other end of this wire, in the living room.

There is one potential source of trouble: if the router has something called “DNS rebinding protection”. This is normally a good thing. But it tends to misfire on Plex’s use of the DNS system. The result is that Plex clients cannot contact the server directly on the local network. The data are then flowing out into the internet and back into the local network. Better routers have a table of domain names which are exempt from this protection. See https://support.plex.tv/articles/206225077-how-to-use-secure-server-connections#toc-4

5

Thanks again. Very clear answer thanks!

I have ordered an Ethernet Adapter just now from Amazon for the Fire Stick - it should come tomorrow and lets see what happens :slight_smile:

Nice idea about the Ethernet Switch/Hub - i am indeed looking to put the cables through the wall - so just having to feed one will be more convienient.

Regarding the DNS Rebinding - thanks for the heads-up - I had a quick Google search about the Orange Livebox routers here in France but with nothing concrete - maybe there is a different term here for it in French.

I’ll post any findings after the test this week.

Thanks again!

6

I just found a mistake in my explanation above.
You need an Ethernet switch, not a hub.

7

Not a problem - I understood - I am actually a little familiar with this technology :slight_smile:

8

Outcome

So just in case anyone has the same / similar issue - this solution works great!

The connection to the FireStick is almost instantaneous - as is streaming. Very very pleased!

I had no issue with the DNS Rebinding or anything like that. The new server was detected in the Plex app on the Fire Stick straight away.

Thanks for all the help!

1 Like
9

This topic was automatically closed 90 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.