Is Plex right for me?

General Discussions
1

Not sure if I should be looking for an alternative or if Plex is right for me.

I’m trying to set up a media server that will organize my bluray and DVD Rips and also keep them in full native resolution and audio quality. Right now I have my external hard drive plugged into my netgear nighthawk r7000 and it works fine on my other devices around the housebut I hate that the movie files don’t have images. It’s just the regular blank folder icon no matter what device I use. I don’t think Plex works on a external HDD correct?

The 3 devices I stream to are my Xbox one X, my samsung TV, and my roku premiere+.

I have a laptop that I can’t use for a server because I can’t keep it turned on 24/7… Is Plex right for me or is there something else more simple for my needs??

2

I believe Plex can run from your router, with the connected drive. Most people will tell you that running Plex from a router isn’t an ideal experience. The good news is that it’s free to try and won’t hurt anything. Plex installs on the router, and reads the files from the drive.

You’ll get original quality if the client device (the Xbox, Roku and the like) can support whatever native format that you’ve ripped. If there’s a mismatch, Plex will transcode it into something that is compatible.

I think you should give it a try, based on the zero cost. Plex won’t mess with your media files, but it is pretty particular about how they should be named before it can scan them correctly.

More info about how to set up your files correctly:
http://support.plex.tv/articles/categories/media-preparation/

3

@seanmwaple said:
but I hate that the movie files don’t have images. It’s just the regular blank folder icon no matter what device I use.

Sounds like the movies are not matched. The link @AmazingRando24 provided should help you name and organize your movies so Plex can match & retrieve the posters and other eye candy.

4

@NewPlaza said:

@seanmwaple said:
but I hate that the movie files don’t have images. It’s just the regular blank folder icon no matter what device I use.

Sounds like the movies are not matched. The link @AmazingRando24 provided should help you name and organize your movies so Plex can match & retrieve the posters and other eye candy.

This is because it uses DLNA… not, not matching…yet