I asked this question in general discussion but got no response. I’m hoping I can hear something in this board.
I’m going to be traveling quite a bit over the next year. My PMS will be staying in the U.S. but I want to make sure I can access it overseas, particularly in China. Does the Great Firewall of China block Plex or does anyone know if there are any problems streaming from the U.S. to China over Plex?
Mylestaylor,
I travel a fair amount, Not to China recently but I’ve hit 20 countries this year so far. Your biggest challenge is going to be the internet if you attempt streaming. Even if you are on a FAST connection at your current location, all the hardware between you and your server can cause issues, namely in the result of lag / buffering. since I’m out for months at a time, I typically sync an ipad with as many TV/Movies as possible before I leave. I sync each show/movie individually as I’ve had several issues with the other methods over time requiring me to completely dump the database and start over with the resync. (not fun at hotels!!) As I watch shows, I un-sync them one at a time and then attempt to sync a new one at each hotel. sometimes the speed is good enough to get one or two in, other times it’s way to slow. Other times, not so much. This is just my experience from the last couple of years traveling with Plex.
Or, you could grab one of these, load it up with optimized versions of your stuff and take it with you.
Takes the internet out of the equation.
@Lucetius I travel a lot in the country and haven’t had a problem. I’m mostly concerned with firewalls blocking it completely. I sync a lot but if it is blocked I won’t be able to even do that. I’m just looking for a definitive answer if the Great Firewall blocks Plex but no one seems to know.
@rsava I have plenty of external drives and am planning on taking some with me. But I like using Plex and this doesn’t solve it. Plus I have 9 TB of media on my server and there’s no external that mobile drive that can take all that. Also, my advice is to stay far away from Passport drives. They’re absolute crap.
You have no idea what I suggested then. It is not just an “external drive”. The PWP has a a built in Plex server. And I never suggested you take “all of that with you”.
I have over 12TB, I don’t take it all with me. Do you really think you need 9TB on a trip for less than 2 years? That is at least hundreds of movies, probably more, doubtful you could watch all that on a trip as you say “traveling quite a bit over the next year”.
Fine if you don’t like WD (that is your opinion), I guess you like Seagate, but the device I suggested would work for you and get around the “firewall” issue. At $200 bucks, even if it only lasted your trip and you threw it away, it would be worth it. So I can only guess you never even looked at what it actually was.
Your loss.
Good luck on your trip.
(P.S. Your “advice” is just an opinion, and you know what they say about opinions.)
I to travel quite allot, most of the time I run a VPN home and stream though that. Never had issues with buffering or streaming.
I like using CloudSync, linked to Amazon Cloud Drive, for these types of situations.
If where I plan to go has internet access, more than likely, I should be able to connect to an Amazon server that is closer to that location than where my physical PMS is located.
I had a friend who went to China and was able to access my PMS here in the US. So there is no country wide block but I can’t say if individual isp’s might have their own blocks.
@rsava said:
You have no idea what I suggested then. It is not just an “external drive”. The PWP has a a built in Plex server. And I never suggested you take “all of that with you”.
I have over 12TB, I don’t take it all with me. Do you really think you need 9TB on a trip for less than 2 years? That is at least hundreds of movies, probably more, doubtful you could watch all that on a trip as you say “traveling quite a bit over the next year”.
Fine if you don’t like WD (that is your opinion), I guess you like Seagate, but the device I suggested would work for you and get around the “firewall” issue. At $200 bucks, even if it only lasted your trip and you threw it away, it would be worth it. So I can only guess you never even looked at what it actually was.
Your loss.
Good luck on your trip.(P.S. Your “advice” is just an opinion, and you know what they say about opinions.)
I’m apologize. I realize that my reply came off a little rude and you were just trying to be helpful. I appreciate your suggestion.
I worked in data recovery for years and WD puts all kinds of firmware blocks on their external drives that make data recovery almost impossible. Additionally, they make a) terrible cases and b) make it impossible to switch the cases into a non-WD case. So if your case dies you have almost no recovery options and you’re out a drive. Hence my strong feelings on the matter.
You’re right that there is no way I’m going to bring more than 2TB of content with me, but I have no idea how to pick and choose. I’m a whimsical person and I don’t want to have to decide a year in advance what media I will want to consume in that time, not to mention all the new stuff that comes out that I’ll be adding to my server while I’m gone.
I really was just looking for an answer as to whether I’d be able to stream into China. Again, I appreciate your suggestions though and if it comes down to that I’ll definitely look into it.
@rsava said:
Or, you could grab one of these, load it up with optimized versions of your stuff and take it with you.
https://www.amazon.com/Passport-Wireless-Portable-External-Drive/dp/B01F5LVTPS
Takes the internet out of the equation.
Hi @rsava!
Can you tell me how it works with plex?
THX,
Braz.
