Looking for Suggestions - NEW TO PLEX

General Discussions
1

If I post this in the wrong forum - please let me know.

I am a brand new cord-cutter (less than 2 months). I have an old XBMC box, which has not been turned on in 2 years. It was running Windows 8.1 and this past weekend I upgraded to Windows 10 Pro (latest version) and all updates. Here is some info about my PC:
Motherboard: GIGABYTE GA-H97M-D3H

CPU: i3-4370 Intel Core i3 Dual-Core 3.80GHz 5.00GT/s DMI2 4MB L3 Cache Processor

RAM: 16GB DDR3 1600

HDDs: OS= Samsung EVO 840 (120GB) and (2) 2TB Seagate HDDs for media storage

There is currently nothing installed - as I did a CLEAN INSTALL of Windows 8.1 and using my DIGITAL KEY given by MS back when the upgrade to Windows 10 was free - I have a clean install of Windows 10 Pro. on the SSD. The 2 HDDs still have all my old media I was using with XBMC. Over 60GB of Music (I ripped my entire 400CD collection to this server) and 1.2TB of movies (ripped my entire DVD and BR collection). On my old XBMC I never had any problems - except there were apps/plug-ins which would just stop working for no reason and I got tired of fighting with them- so I shut it down.

I have 2 Fire TV 4Ks on my 2 TVs, and already have the PLEX App installed - just no server.

That is a little about me - so here are my questions:

  1. I am not locked into Windows - I would be willing to goto LINUX, but I am a LINUX newbie. What I am looking for is stability and speed. I have reviewed all the installation material here for both Windows and Linux - only thing I could not find was a step-by-step install guide for LINUX from the OS install through the PLEX install. I am not fearful of looking elsewhere on the Internet to find one, but figured I would start here. Given the hardware above - looking for suggestions on best setup for stability, speed and ease.

  2. All of my media is stored on the HDDs in format as follows:

MEDIA >> MOVIES >> {movie title (year)} folder [ the folder contains anything related to the movie including the movie itself (i.e. .SRT if I have them, posters, etc).

The same of my Music , each CD is in its own folder with associated metadata and files.

From what I have read here - this should not be a problem for PLEX to serve up. Correct?

Thanks in advance for any and all suggestions - I am looking forward to my new PLEX family adventures.

bh

2

My 2 cents is…

Use what you know… Windows,

Load Plex and get to know it…

Then you can take another look at changing things if that’s what you need…

3

plex is not really anything like xbmc/kodi.

plex is client/server. the client relies on the server to do most of the hard work (media indexing/transcoding/etc). to which multiple clients can all connect to centralized server.

xbmc is stand alone, it doesn’t have a centralized server, and the client player must be powerful enough to play whatever content you are wanting to play.

also, plex does NOT play any ISO files. You would need to convert them to MKV or m4v/mp4 or whatever.

there is not much you can do with plex without the plex server, other than the free ad supported movies/tv, news, podcasts, webshows.

like previous post, you should start out with what you know, if you know windows stay on it.

install plex SERVER to your windows pc, follow the wizard to create a library for movies, tv, and music (each is a separate library).

your library paths should be something like

Movies > points to > /media/movies
TV > points to > /media/tv
Music > points to > /media/music

once the plex server finishes scanning your files and building the libraries and downloading metadata, you should be able access all your content from your fire sticks etc.

All your devices should stay logged into the same plex account.

there is a ton of info available @

https://support.plex.tv/articles/

I would suggest you start with the basics then read up further on any topics which you are interested in.

In particular, you want to read file naming that plex needs to properly identify your media and get the correct metadata.

https://support.plex.tv/articles/categories/your-media/naming-your-movie-media-files/

https://support.plex.tv/articles/categories/your-media/naming-and-organizing-tv-shows/

https://support.plex.tv/articles/categories/your-media/naming-and-organizing-music-media/

4

nydave69,

Thanks for your response…and I agree - my biggest concern (as I had planned on making this a headless box - guess I should have said that) - are all the dang Windows Updates - etc.

I would be able to get it to boot / reboot, etc automagically and re-start PLEX (fairly sure this part would be easy). It is simply the annoyance of it updating - when it is not really needed. Turning OFF auto-updates is easy in Windows - but then you get NAGGED about it being OFF. :laughing:

5

My thinking was trying to learn a new OS and Plex might not be such a good idea.
Plex does have a learning curve…

6

Sounds to me like you’re used to using Windows before Windows 10.

Oh, yes… I had to be dragged kicking and screaming from Win7 to 10… then the rain stopped, the sun came out and I keep dancing with Ginger Rogers for some reason.

Get Win 10.
Dance with Ginger Rogers.
She smells real nice.

:smiley:

7

I run a number of PMS servers, Now all Windows 7 and will stay that way till they just top working…

Before that I was a big LINUX user but kept running into issue, they did get fixed one by one but just figured had to be a better way, Tried it on XP and had less issues… When XP support went away I went back to LINUX since I didn’t want to upgrade windows. That lasted maybe a year. I can get LINUX to almost anything I want without issues but it seem that Plex kept breaking things. So I’m now on windows 7…

Maybe some day they will release a full server edition with Plex. (not holding my breath) That way they have control of drivers, etc…

I’ll leave you to decide, I’m sure you will get other opinions… good luck…

8

TechnoJunky,

Thanks for your response. I do understand the concept of PLEX. I had not intended to use this like I was using XBMC. I have the PLEX APP installed on my AMAZON FIRE TVE STICK 4K (which I mentioned). This is to server up the PLEX SERVER files.

My media files (for my BR -and I believe the DVDs as well) - ARE .MKV or .MP4 files…and I never had a problem playing them on XBMC.

As I stated, I have done extensive reading already on the articles you mentioned. My questions were more related to all of the excess files (metadata) that I already have in the folders.

I will eventually add a HDHomeRun to the mix to get my local channels OTA with an antenna…but for now - I am using their apps on my F-S4k to watch the news, etc…

Thanks Again,
bh

9

You can run Windows headless just fine. Use RDP to connect once a month to manually do updates or just tell windows to reboot in the middle of the night and let it reboot for you. If you have the plexmediaserver service set to auto start, which i think is default, then you will be fine.

If you go with a HD home run or other video capture card that are supported by Windows then you can get OTA TV stations too. This is how I run (I’m on Linux, but same concept). Our house has a collection of Android TV streaming boxes we use. My wife hostly watches & listens on her phone with the app installed there.

Enjoy

10

nydave69,

Yes - would be an awesome release… I did give OPENELEC a whirl before I decided to move to PLEX - as two of my coworkers have it - and LOVE IT…they both run Windows.

Would be totally awesome to have a SINGLE image you download - create a bootable USB or CD - and install the whole kit-and-kaboodle to the computer or RaspPi then all you have to do is a setup. :slight_smile:

"as I always say - ‘dreaming costs nothing - it is acting on them which puts you in the poor house.’ "

11

-- UPDATE --

I got home last night and I installed the PLEX MEDIA SERVER onto the Windows 10 Pro install - got it all setup and linked to my account here. Took it about 20 minutes to go through my MOVIES (112 of them). I connected to the server with the PLEX app (both of them on the same TV - the one installed on the SAMSUNG TV and the FIRESTICK (connected to the same TV). Both worked like a charm. I watched one of my old movies without a single hickup.

The TV is Wired to the network, and the FIRESTICK is wireless. From the FireStick I watched an old streaming episode of MUTANT X - it hiccupped one time after one of the ads. I saw the spinning circle about 3 minutes while the episode was playing. It did finally go away.

Now I need to work on my AUDIO files, and find some ways to stream them to my SAMSUNG Wireless WAM-350 and 550 speakers throughout the house.

Thanks for your support and advice everyone.

bh

12

Fire Stick;
There is known bugs with the fire stick depend on the version and what Plex client that is loaded on it…
Amazon is aware and actively working on the exoplayer…
Plex is working on the Plex client for the fire stick and has released a few beta’s with mixed results…

13

My PLEX server is a headless Windows 10 Dell Server. I access it via Chrome Remote Desktop.