I have enjoyed Plex for 9 month now on my Synology DS214+ for a while but now I have been getting more into my movies and wanting to enjoy the high def versions and I thought my disk station could handle it but it is unable to push out a good quility picture that I want. So i have thought about getting a mac mini and hard wirring it to my Synology DS214+ but was wondering I just want the mac mini to be my media server and nothing else and I want my wife to be able to use it say with her iPhone with no problems. Before I could just turn the tv to HDMI 2 on the tv and launch the plex app on your phone then push it chrome cast and there it is. Is there a way to setup this way for my wife and is there any instructions on how to set this up for me? also i do want to have access to my movies when i am out of town so does the mac mini need to bee running all the time or can you set it up to go to sleep when there is no network activity? Any suggestions would be a great help
If you connect the Mini directly to the TV via HDMI, then turning the TV on to (for example) HDMI 3 should make this possible. No need to launch the phone or push it to Chromecast while the TV would behave like the monitor of the Mini.
For the iPhone the Plex app is available, provides a smooth experience https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/plex/id383457673?mt=8
The bigger choice would be if you would use a Harmony or not, this could make it very easy to understand for your wife while she could just push a button "Plex" which would configure all required devices for her to enjoy Plex.
For the PMS to be available while it's installed on the Mini, the Mini needs to be on. The mini has very little power consumption, personally I just spin down the hard disks in addendum but I don't put it to sleep.
I have my mini to sleep and it wakes with no problem, but I have seen many have trouble and let it be on 24/7. I can only say get one you won't regret it.
Do any of you use anything other then a harmony remote to control plex? I ask cause the remotes get such bad reviews every where I look
A Harmony is a great device, as long as you:
- Buy one which suits your needs
- Are willing to pay the extra money for these features
- Are willing to fiddle around with it, sometimes until you want to pull your hair out, while you need to program it.
I always saw it at that baby stage like a really nice gadget which kept me busy for hours, days even - just to get it completely right.
This could explain some, if not most of the bad reviews. Many people these days seem to just want it to work perfectly and customised for them fresh out-of-the-box.
I think other's mostly use the Apple remote.
Are you able to use the Apple remote and remote app IOS to control the Plex Home Theater APP?
Apple Remote, yes.
iOS via the Plex app for IOS for sure. Other apps on IOS, no way to tell with that many possible options ;)
FWIW I have 2 Harmony 700's - One I've had for years that controls my MacMini PHT and the other is more recent which controls my Plex/Roku. They are simple and work great. The only downside is their rechargeable batteries are total crap so I just use regular AA's
I also control all my plex clients with the iOS and/or Android Plex Apps when I think of it. But normally the Harmony is right there on the couch so ....
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I have my mini to sleep and it wakes with no problem, but I have seen many have trouble and let it be on 24/7. I can only say get one you won't regret it.
I confirm that i have problem with my mac mini in sleep mode, and using rasplex or ios app, so i force it to stay on.
But, it seems the problem does not come of plex, but of the mac and/or mac OS X. There are many threads on the net who related the problem with many software.
Otherwise, PMS works great on my mini 2012 :)
I'm planning on buying a second mini as a server to attach to the TV, Currently I am leaning toward secondhand rather than new, which would be the oldest Mini which could run server *and* Plex Home Theater? I'm looking at late 2009 but that may not be enough. what is the general consensus?
The minimal requirements as found on the FAQ pages are the following: https://support.plex.tv/hc/en-us/articles/200375666-Stand-Alone-Server
Requirements — no transcoding
- Intel Core 2 Duo processor 1.6 GHz or better
- At least 1GB RAM for Windows/Mac OS X
- At least 512MB RAM for Linux
- Windows: Vista SP2 or later
- OS X: Snow Leopard 10.6.3 or later (64-bit)
- Ubuntu, Debian, Fedora, CentOS or SuSE Linux
Recommended Configuration — transcoding HD Content:
- Intel Core 2 Duo processor 2.4 GHz or better
- If transcoding for multiple devices, a faster CPU may be required
- At least 2GB RAM
- Windows: Vista SP2 or later
- OS X: Snow Leopard 10.6.3 or later (64-bit)
- Ubuntu, Debian, Fedora, CentOS or SuSE Linux
When searching for second hand mini's many people seem to be looking for the 2012 model. Personally I would go for the latest model while the difference in price between the latest model and the previous one are not that much from my perspective. Another option could be a refurbished model.
When searching for second hand mini's many people seem to be looking for the 2012 model. Personally I would go for the latest model while the difference in price between the latest model and the previous one are not that much from my perspective. Another option could be a refurbished model.
Yeah I keep looking in the refurb store (AU). They had some before Christmas but none at the moment. I'm not really in a big rush, I still have my jailbroken appleTV but can't use plex on it anymore, another Mini seemed like a good idea. Not just for Plex but also for catchup TV, Popcorn-time, crackle and a few other odds and ends.
What do you think of the new base model Mini for this purpose?. I was a bit surprised by the 1.4GHz... my late 2012 (in my study, not moving it) is 2.5.. is there something better about the 1.4?
Below an overview I just created to show you the specs from a different perspective:
Average CPU Mark: 3654 - late 2014 model - Dual-core Intel Core i5 (i5-4260U) 1.4 GHz (2.7 GHz) - US $499
Average CPU Mark: 3794 - late 2012 model - Dual-core Intel Core i5 (i5-3210M) 2.5 GHz (3.1 GHz) - US $599
Average CPU Mark: 4476 - late 2014 model - Dual-core Intel Core i5 (i5-4278U) 2.6 GHz (3.1 GHz) - US $699
Average CPU Mark: 4851 - late 2014 model - Dual-core Intel Core i5 (i5-4308U) 2.8 GHz (3.3 GHz) - US $999
Average CPU Mark: 7347 - late 2012 model - Quad-core Intel Core i7 (i7-3615QM Turbo Boost up to 3.3 GHz) 2.3 GHz (3.3 GHz) - US $799
So yes, there is a side-effect of lowering the price of the mini with $100,-. But while the machine is based on the haswell, this has less of an impact then many expect.
Is anyone using a mini with a fusion drive? They have some refurbished ones but was really wanting to get one with just a solid state drive. But it will cost a bit more
Yes there are, I know this while I saw several posts from people who wanted to move files of it to another drive due to the lowered life expectancy of these drives due to high io. I also saw some posts where people actually wanted to start using these drives while they had really big libraries where the loading times were getting annoying.
Below an overview I just created to show you the specs from a different perspective:
Average CPU Mark: 3654 - late 2014 model - Dual-core Intel Core i5 (i5-4260U) 1.4 GHz (2.7 GHz) - US $499
Average CPU Mark: 3794 - late 2012 model - Dual-core Intel Core i5 (i5-3210M) 2.5 GHz (3.1 GHz) - US $599
Average CPU Mark: 4476 - late 2014 model - Dual-core Intel Core i5 (i5-4278U) 2.6 GHz (3.1 GHz) - US $699
Average CPU Mark: 4851 - late 2014 model - Dual-core Intel Core i5 (i5-4308U) 2.8 GHz (3.3 GHz) - US $999
Average CPU Mark: 7347 - late 2012 model - Quad-core Intel Core i7 (i7-3615QM Turbo Boost up to 3.3 GHz) 2.3 GHz (3.3 GHz) - US $799
So yes, there is a side-effect of lowering the price of the mini with $100,-. But while the machine is based on the haswell, this has less of an impact then many expect.
Thank you so much for this info. It certainly makes my decision a little easier... I think for my purposes, the base model will do just fine :)
Please be aware that if you're going for a 2014 model, the memory can't be upgraded after purchasing. This while the RAM with this model is soldered to the logic board and is therefore not user-upgradeable (https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Mac+Mini+Late+2014+Teardown/30410).
Just to give you an idea about something which might be worth thinking about:
- The 2014 model with the 1.4Ghz i5 contains by default 4GB, upgrading this to 8GB is about $100,-. The mini would then cost $599,-
- The 2014 model with the 2.5Ghz i5 costs $699,-
The now remaining $100 difference would give you:
- a better CPU (Intel Core i5 (i5-4278U) 2.6 GHz (3.1 GHz) instead of an Intel Core i5 (i5-4260U) 1.4 GHz (2.7 GHz)).
- a better GPU (Intel Iris instead of an Intel HD Graphics 5000)
- a larger hard disk (1TB instead of 500GB)
The refurbished would of course be less expensive, but the same idea could be applied ;)
Greetings everyone. I am new to this HTPC thing. I am crazy. In 2009 I purchased a brand new mac mini base model to be my HTPC but never bought the storage and time passed and I did nothing. Meanwhile the 2009 aged and I got a message that it would not work with Plex without issue. Then, in 2015 I purchased a closeout price mac mini late 2014 base model 1.4 4gb RAM model which has not been used until recently when I purchased a Thunderbay thunderbolt 3 16TB drive RAID 5 storage.
I need advise while I still have the return window on the drive. Will what I have work? The drive is adapted to thunderbolt 2 via an apple adapter (future proofing) and right now there is a $300 difference between the Thunderbay 3 16TB and the Promise Pegasus R4 16TB hardware RAID storage. I opted to keep the $300 and try the software RAID model. I have put a couple movies on the drive already and did not experience any problem. I intend to never have more than one maybe two streams and I would like to accommodate 1080p 8mb/s if possible. Can my mini handle it with the software RAID unit? Thoughts? Thanks.
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