I notice that there’s no HTTPS or SSL support when using plex through my web browser. I am hosting the PMS on my Nas on my local area network, but every time I pull up plex on my browser it says ‘Not secure’. Anyone know how to fix this?
Your local server has no domain name. No domain name, no security certificate. No security certificate, no TLS/https.
Use https://app.plex.tv
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Thanks. But what exactly is the difference between accessing it through my local lan IP vs the one you just gave me? does app.plex.tv point (loopback) to my local lan IP that PMS is currently running on? I just want to make sure.
The address you are seeing in the address bar of your web browser is merely the location from where the Plex Web app is loaded into the browser’s memory.
Once it is loaded, it runs as a genuine app and not like a “web page”. It handles all communication to your various media sources on its own.
Which means that the data stream from your Plex server to the web browser is the same, no matter from where the web app has been loaded.
The “hosted” version of the web app at https://app.plex.tv is usually several version numbers ahead of the “local” one on your server.
This is intentional, because the local web app is usually only used for the initial set up the server and in the case of an internet outage. So it is rather a known-functional version than the newest, “bleeding-edge” version.
I see, so let’s say I’m traveling somewhere and want to access my Plex library remotely. Would I be able to access it by typing https://app.plex.tv or do I need to find out my external IP and use that instead?
My next question is. Which is better to use as a player, the web app or the desktop app? Which takes less system resources? I’m assuming that the desktop app would be be better overall. But please correct me if I’m mistaken.
Yes.
Usually it is the desktop app. Particularly because it is able to play much more media formats than a humble web browser. Which avoids/reduces transcoding on your server.
So the playback quality will usually be higher with the desktop app.
If your remote connection has only a very limited bandwidth, you will often not be able to avoid transcoding, though.
You will have to monitor the CPU load of the web app and the desktop app and compare them. Then decide which works better on your particular hardware.
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Thanks for your help!
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