Plex being served from Drobo is very handy; but doesn’t have all the features needed. Would be great to serve from a Mac Mini where the Photo Library lives; but also pull other media from the NAS. Anybody have experience with this?
Ultimately i’d like to also point a Linux (virtual machine) at the NAS and pre-transcode media.
Has anybody done something like this? Any configuration tips for transcoding and retention of transcoded files would be helpful.
Thanks for your time and attention, fellow Plexers.
Maybe we can help each other out? I am in process of setting this up, minus the linux VM, and would be stoked to bounce ideas and help each other optimize our setups as much as possible.
If you are game, I might even wan to learn how to create the Linux VM?
So here’s my planned setup (Mac Mini en route…):
PMS runs on Mac Mini 2012 i7 8GB 1TB HDD
Drobo 4-bay attached on USB 3.0
Drobo has 3 bays used, 7.5TB total
iTunes Music on HDD
Photos on iCloud
Videos on Drobo
Was planning to run a basic external HDD to Mac Mini.
But got Drobo for under $175 with 7.5TB of storage on craigslist - super lucky!
Mac Mini will be headless, sitting on a rack shelf in media closet, hardwired to CAT6 network, which is connected to a roaming (multiple access points) home wifi network. At home we have 2 1080p TVs and 2 4k UHD TVs. The 4k UHD TVs each have built-in Plex player; the 1080p TVs use the DLNA player on Sony BluRay DVD machines; all of these are CAT6 hardwired.
Also in the home are a 2 laptops, 2 iPads and 4 iPhones; they all use the wifi network.
PMS would be serving all devices in the home, but rarely would it serve more than 4 devices at a time.
I travel with a MacBook 12 and iPad, and would regularly call on PMS to remotely serve one of those at a time.
Rarely use subtitles.
Current content is mkv or mp4 1080p.
What is your setup and do you have any tips/suggestions for me as I put mine together?
Thanks in advance!!
(…and sorry for posting so much detail/TMI)
