Looking for ideal setup around PS4

Plex Players Gaming Consoles
1

Dear Plex-family,

I’m running a Plex media server on my Macbook for a while now, but as my 128SSD is running out of space I’m looking for some new opportunities to get way more space, and even run the server without running my Macbook. I’ve got a few questions that you guys could definitely make more clear to me:

  • I’m using the Plex app on my PS4. It isn’t possible to run the server on my PS4 as well right? (So I could use the space on my PS4)
  • I’m using an Apple Airport Extreme. Is it possible to attach an external HDD to it, store my library on the HDD and play it on my PS4 without running my Macbook?
  • And if this is possible, is it possible with files that could not played directly, but need to be transcoded (like MKV) as well?
  • If all not: is there any solution for me to run a Plex server in my system without running my Macbook (and without using a NAS [because of the less better cpu and stuff])?

Many, many thanks for your help.

2

@DitIsDeLeven said:
Dear Plex-family,

I’m running a Plex media server on my Macbook for a while now, but as my 128SSD is running out of space I’m looking for some new opportunities to get way more space, and even run the server without running my Macbook. I’ve got a few questions that you guys could definitely make more clear to me:

  • I’m using the Plex app on my PS4. It isn’t possible to run the server on my PS4 as well right? (So I could use the space on my PS4)
    No, there is no version of PMS for the PS4 and unlikely to be one.
  • I’m using an Apple Airport Extreme. Is it possible to attach an external HDD to it, store my library on the HDD and play it on my PS4 without running my Macbook?
    Not if you want to use Plex Server to transcode, etc. The Airport Extreme may offer other options for media playback such as DLNA but I don’t have any knowledge on this.
  • And if this is possible, is it possible with files that could not played directly, but need to be transcoded (like MKV) as well?
  • If all not: is there any solution for me to run a Plex server in my system without running my Macbook (and without using a NAS [because of the less better cpu and stuff])?

The design of the Plex ecosystem requires there to be a Plex Server somewhere. This is what essentially does the clever stuff ensuring that your mixed media types can be played reliably by all clients (transcoding, etc.). In your situation there are a few options:

  1. Buy a dedicated computer to run as a Plex Server. You could chose the CPU to be capable of transcoding videos for your number of users, and install sufficient hard disks for your media collection.
  2. Buy a NAS system which will run Plex Server. As you note many smaller NAS have very low power CPUs so will not transcode. In this situation you would be best re-encoding your videos as you transfer them onto the NAS into a suitable format which will not require transcoding for playback on your clients.
  3. Get an external drive for your Macbook and store the media on that instead of the 128SSD. You would continue to need to power the macbook on when you want to watch something from Plex.
  4. For the sake of completeness you could abandon Plex and copy your media to a USB drive connected to your PS4. This may require you to reencode some of your media depending on what the PS4 supports, and would require you to disconnect the drive each time you want to copy more files to it.

I included 4. for completeness but would not be my preferred option. I went for 1. and purchased an HP MicroServer Gen8 with a Xeon E3-1225v2 processor. This was because I have 12 users sharing media with peak usage of 4 concurrent streams including live transcoding, mobile clients with sync’d files and ~900 films & 11,500 episodes across 210 TV shows all stored on 12Tb of HDD space.