Most efficient and fast way to get Plex server up and running for me?

Plex Media Server Desktops & Laptops
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Hey Guys,

I’m totally new this …I have all of my media content (movies and music) nicely organized and stored on (2) 8tb external hard drives. I’d like to use them with Plex permanently in the easiest way possible. Right now the hard drives are hooked up to an old desktop (i3-2120 cpu @ 3.30GHz, 8GB ram, Radeon HD 7700 series GPU) in my room that has wireless connection only. I hardly ever use the desktop, so am thinking my best option might be moving the computer into my storage room where the router is, connecting it via ethernet cable, and hooking it up to my network as a server? I’ve never done anything like this before, but I don’t think it’s that hard, right? It’s fine if my computer stays in there and runs 24/7 …I don’t really care about that. One major plus side of doing this, in my eyes, is that being able to add new movies and music to the hard drives in the future would be totally easy and hassle free. I could just do it right there from the computer that the hard drives are plugged into or from another computer, I guess, if it’s gonna be on my network, yeah?

The other option I was thinking about was just going out and getting an Nvidia Shield, plugging the hard drives into it, getting Plex app on it and running it straight into my TV via hdmi, but my only concern is how much of a pain it would be to add new movies and music to those hard drives through the Shield? I guess I’d have to put them on a thumb drive from my desktop and then pop it into the Shield to transfer? I’d be taking up both usb slots on the Shield with my hard drives, but their enclosures have usb outlets on them. Also, as far as streaming goes, aside from having the shield hooked up to my TV, it would be cool to be able to stream Plex on one other tv in my house, which I think it’s capable of doing, right? Would the desktop setup, if I could go that route, allow me to have more streams and be able to stream away from home via my phone or tablet due to higher processing power? All of my movies are 1080p.

Thanks!

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One other thought, If I went the Shield route, I wouldn’t have to have it running 24/7 would I? …but I I turned it off when not is use and turned back on, would I lose all the Plex custom movie covers and anything I edited in Plex related to movie titles etc. etc.??

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Recommend using the older PC as your media server. I’m doing a very similar thing. The nice thing about having it on 24/7 is no matter where you are, you can always access your library on any device and not have to worry about if you left it turned on or not.

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Would there be any benefit to picture and sound quality from having a Plex server (say the Shield) plugged directly into a TV via hdmi for vs. having to access server from home network? To me, a direct connection like that would make for best possible pic and sound quality, no?

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It would certainly be the most efficient to have the server directly connected using say the Shield or a PC plugged in as you don’t have to stream the content through your network, you are physically outputting the display of the device through HDMI to an external monitor (TV). Plex is pretty resilient however streaming through WiFi and LAN connections in your home or even out to the Internet.

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