I’m considering to get either a Shield TV or NAS for running a Plex Media Server. From people’s experience, which is the strongest in handling to be a media server?
Would a NAS such as WD PR2100/4100 be better or NVIDIA Shield?
I have over 2,000 movies, 3,000 tv shows, 20,000 songs.
What would people recommend?
Well, if you have a small library then the Shield is a clear winner. But if your library is large it will probably require that you store the files on a network share or some such device and a NAS is such a device.
The problem with using a NAS as a Plex server is that you either need to get everything in a format that whatever client(s) you use is able to direct play or you need to have your NAS have a pretty powerful processor so it can transcode.
I have just recently switched to using my Shield as my primary server with the storage on a separate network share (The original server computer) and I am now using my Shield 100% of the time as my server. It should be noted that this change is recent and I do still have my original server up and running just in case I run into problems but so far none have shown up.
The Shield does have some limitations among them are:
There are some other things BUT I have found the Shield to be plenty good enough that I am using it for my quite large library and, for me, once I switch my storage to a smaller computer I will be cutting down a lot in power consumption.
The NAS idea or any method that gets everything in one computer has its appealing aspects but I do not really find it appealing enough to continue to pursue.
BTW: If you are going to use the Shield as a server get the 500gb (Pro) model. The little one works, mostly, but seems to have some real problems for many people.
@Elijah_Baley said:
Well, if you have a small library then the Shield is a clear winner. But if your library is large it will probably require that you store the files on a network share or some such device and a NAS is such a device.The problem with using a NAS as a Plex server is that you either need to get everything in a format that whatever client(s) you use is able to direct play or you need to have your NAS have a pretty powerful processor so it can transcode.
I have just recently switched to using my Shield as my primary server with the storage on a separate network share (The original server computer) and I am now using my Shield 100% of the time as my server. It should be noted that this change is recent and I do still have my original server up and running just in case I run into problems but so far none have shown up.
The Shield does have some limitations among them are:
- Some/most “channels” do not work correctly or at all.
- Even if it is turned or the Shield does not seem to produce video preview thumbnails that many clients can use to show where you are during FF and RW.
- If you have a drive you are using directly connected to the Shield’s USB port you cannot write to it from the network.
- The Shield is still very much a work in progress and has some irritating quirks.
- It is VERY hard to find out what is being worked on or to get any feedback on how development/bug fixes are going.
There are some other things BUT I have found the Shield to be plenty good enough that I am using it for my quite large library and, for me, once I switch my storage to a smaller computer I will be cutting down a lot in power consumption.
The NAS idea or any method that gets everything in one computer has its appealing aspects but I do not really find it appealing enough to continue to pursue.
BTW: If you are going to use the Shield as a server get the 500gb (Pro) model. The little one works, mostly, but seems to have some real problems for many people.
Thank you for your response on this question.
The idea for me is to get the Shield TV, use it as a server, and have all of my files on a 8TB external hard drive which I would not mount to the drive because I want to be able to use the drive if I needed to on other computers.
Does the Pro have more performance and this is the reason why you’re stating to get it or is there something more to the Shield PRO?
The setup would be:
SHIELD TV (SERVER) < ======= EXTERNAL HD (8TB) [This drive has music, movies, and television]
The problem I do not like the NAS is the storage options and the fact that all my data is tried to a network. If the drive fails, I could set up reduct procedures, but I would like the piece of mind that the location of my files are accessible and I can use external storage of that drive anytime I wanted.
Your thoughts?
The Plex database can get rather large even without index files enabled and that database gets stored on internal storage (I believe) and it cannot be moved to adopted storage unless something has changed since last I visited that topic. That is the main reason for recommending the Pro model.
I feel differently about storage as I do not like the idea of a drive directly connected to the Shield because you cannot write to it from other devices on the network. I prefer to keep my storage separate from my server. But I can easily see other views have merits and you must go with what fits your needs and desires.
My storage is not a NAS but rather is a computer with a number of USB hard drives connected (50tb total) pooled using StableBit’s DrivePool software. I find that DrivePool makes the reliability high as I can use duplication to different drives and have a good degree of redundancy and easily recover from a single drive failure.
There are others that use a setup like mine but there are also a LOT of people that use NAS and even many that use other methods. In the end you have to go with what you are comfortable with and what works for you. The good thing, and the bad thing, is that there are a huge number of choices that work and work well and they all have both advantages and disadvantages.
@Elijah_Baley said:
The Plex database can get rather large even without index files enabled and that database gets stored on internal storage (I believe) and it cannot be moved to adopted storage unless something has changed since last I visited that topic. That is the main reason for recommending the Pro model.I feel differently about storage as I do not like the idea of a drive directly connected to the Shield because you cannot write to it from other devices on the network. I prefer to keep my storage separate from my server. But I can easily see other views have merits and you must go with what fits your needs and desires.
My storage is not a NAS but rather is a computer with a number of USB hard drives connected (50tb total) pooled using StableBit’s DrivePool software. I find that DrivePool makes the reliability high as I can use duplication to different drives and have a good degree of redundancy and easily recover from a single drive failure.
There are others that use a setup like mine but there are also a LOT of people that use NAS and even many that use other methods. In the end you have to go with what you are comfortable with and what works for you. The good thing, and the bad thing, is that there are a huge number of choices that work and work well and they all have both advantages and disadvantages.
Thank you for your response. Therefore, as far as a server is concerned, the SHIELD TV PRO is your recommendation to buy? This is will be my main server for Plex.
Thank you again.
