I recently purchased an Nvidia Shield Pro and setup a plex server. Right now Ive just been using MKV files off a hard drive directly hooked to the shield and it seems to work really well.
Id like to get a NAS for storage (and redundancy). Since the Shield is hosting the server and doing the heavy lifting, does it matter what type of nas I get?
Also, I can’t seem to get a straight answer on this… but i was under the impression that a Plex pass was needed in order to share my server with others. Is that not true?
Thanks in advance.
Depends whether you mean sharing in or outside your home, try these as starting points:
https://support.plex.tv/articles/203815766-what-is-plex-home/
https://support.plex.tv/articles/204232573-restricting-the-shares/
https://support.plex.tv/articles/201105738-creating-and-managing-server-shares/
None of those answer the question. Still don’t understand why this answer is so cryptic. If I want to share my server with my sister who lives in another house, and set her a managed user, do I need a Plex Pass?
They do answer the question.
Managed users is really for inside a home as per https://support.plex.tv/articles/203948776-managed-users/
Just share the library with her, no Plex Pass needed
If you wish to continue using the Shield as a server, then the choice of NAS for media storage does not matter. The only reason the NAS would matter is if you wish to use it as a server as well, which isn’t too bad of an idea, depending on the NAS you get.
As far as I know, there is no need for a Plex Pass to share your server with another person. This link on Free vs. Paid Plex indicates you only want a Pass if you wish to invite another friend into your managed home as a “managed user”.
This term, “Managed User”, can be confusing, but it’s sort of like Netflix accounts where you log in with one username/password, but get to choose from multiple profiles. Managed users are able to switch back and forth between profiles quickly and easily, with unique video “watched” states per user, and the ability to protect individual profiles with a 4-digit PIN. THIS Managed User option is available to anyone whether you have the Pass or not.
The feature that requires a Pass, is the ability to invite someone who has their own - separate - account into your home. This basically transforms their “separate” account into a managed user on your account. This can be handy if you really trust eachother, but it gives you the ability to log into her account by simply switching profiles, and vice-versa.
Sorry, not “managed user”, I mean “Manage Library Access”. That’s pretty much the equivalent of sharing right?
Yes, as the article begins " Managing Library Access
You can easily share one or more of your libraries with family or friends. The ability to share is intended for use with family and close, personal friends."
Oof, this stuff is so confusing. So let me ask you this… Do you think running the Plex server on a Nas is a better option then on the shield? As I said, I am just using makemkv and using the mkv files so i wasn’t sure if they require transcoding or not. If you have any nas recommendations, id appriciate it. Honestly i was just looking at something like a 2 bay nas that i could stick in Raid 1 for redundancy.
I’m still not quite understanding… When I share my server i go to the “Manage Library Access” tab. I enter their email address and from there, I assume they get an email invite to create a plex account that can see my server.
Wouldn’t that be considered “another plex account” and I WOULD need a plex pass in order to share it?
How would you share a plex server with someone who isn’t in the same house? It wouldn’t be “managed users” as you said that’s really only for people who live in the same house.
You can share your server with anyone who has a Plex account outside of your home. Don’t get confused with the managed users option unless people in your house are the issue.
Your sister just needs to make a free Plex account. You send her the invite through Plex the way you’re talking about and she’ll get an email asking if she’d like to be invited.
Neither one of you needs a Plex pass for this option
Thank you sooo much! Getting that answer was like pulling teeth. LOL!
If you go to that manage library access tab, you can click “grant library access” to invite a friend who has their own account just fine without a Plex Pass. The only thing a Plex Pass is needed for is if you wish to “suck” their account into your own, by inviting them to your “Home”. This distinction between “friend” (no Pass required for either) and “home user” (the “home” account needs a Pass) confused me at first. If you simply wish to invite your sister as a friend to see your content, there is no need for a Pass for both of you.
There is an article that touches on the limits or power of the Nvidia Shield as a server. If you can avoid transcoding files (meaning if your video player is a decent one), then it can serve up a file with next to or no impact to it as a server. But if you need to transcode the video to another format (typical for TV-OS players or mobile devices like phones), the Shield can transcode easily as well. If your movies are all MakeMKV copies, then I THINK that the Shield will handle them just fine. I’m trying to find out what the video CODEC that MakeMKV transforms videos into, but I am not able to open their FAQ right now to see if it is listed.
For NAS’s, I’ve heard people using multiple kinds successfully. From self built ones running TrueNAS, Unraid, or Docker; to Self-contained NAS’s on Synology, QNAP, or WD MyCloud. Each has their benefits. I currently run Plex in a Docker on a beefy computer I built just for it, but before this I ran it in a DS920+ Synology NAS. It worked decently well, but couldn’t handle transcoding two streams at once without hardware transcoding. If you lose the Plex Pass, you will lose hardware transcoding ability, and have to do it in CPU.
I would consider posting a few different models of NAS devices you’re thinking about purchasing here.
They vary from low powered storage devices to very capable servers.
If you can swing it, buy something you can run a decent server off of in case the Shield doesn’t work out so well.
There’s a lot of different factors for what may or may not work for someone and unfortunately you might not know until you try.
Give yourself some options to future proof yourself as you upgrade media and possibly add more people you share with
Unfortunately the answer is “it depends.”
The Shield is not a terrible server, but there is one thing it cannot do… Convert HDR to SDR.
If you only watch HDR shows on HDR displays, or if you don’t have HDR files at all, no problem.
If your sister is going to try to watch a 4k HDR rip on an old SDR TV, the Shield server will be unable to do that transcoding in realtime.
It can do transcoding WITHOUT HDR->SDR tone mapping, but tone mapping kills it.
There are a lot of weird little gotchas in the software lineup. The Shield server can do hardware accelerated transcoding without Plex pass… But, it barfs on tone mapping.
The Shield client can do its own tone mapping though, so a Shield hooked up to an old SDR TV, using itself as client and server, can play anything.
If you end up semi-serious about Plex the Shield is not a great server. A great server can play any file for any client without struggle. That means hardware accelerated transcoding with tone mapping, which means an Nvidia GPU or an Intel CPU with Quick Sync… Plus Plex Pass. That CAN be your NAS. It can also be some other box on your network, which is the route I took.
I would recommend just using the Shield for a while to see how it goes. Maybe don’t go crazy tidying up metadata and picking movie posters in case you want to change servers, as it is more work to get the Plex database off the Shield and into another system.
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