This is my first post however I have been using PLEX for a number of years now.
Recently I received an email from PLEX telling me about the beta for PLEX cloud. Because of this I registered my interest with PLEX and bought myself an unlimited Amazon Cloud account.
I have been uploading my movie collection (several terabytes) over the last few days, however I have read a lot of articles regarding Amazon scanning files and the possible consequences if they deem a file is pirated (of which none of mine are). However I still don’t want to take the chance of any files being accidentally flagged by Amazon and the headache that could come with that.
My question is, am I able to encrypt my files, store them on Amazon Cloud and stream them via PLEX? Failing that, am I able to “batch” change the checksum/hashtag/md5 etc of each of my files to make sure that Amazon leaves me alone?
If the answer is no, and I have to “take a chance” with Amazon then I will be deleting my Amazon account.
Are those threads in the PlexPass forums? i cant find any here…
Also, i’ve got amazon prime free cloud drive (5gb), and i tried to upload a couple of movies, but i got a “file too large” on both. One was only 2GB. If there is a lower limit with plex, i think plex cloud will be nearly useless…
I too came here hoping for an encryption solution as I don’t want Amazon causing me any issues with my uploaded content of which is all legal.
Would it not be possible to use say Boxcrypter to encrypt everything and have Amazon Cloud as a virtual drive. You can then point PLEX to the virtual drive on your local network and have Boxcrypter download and decrypt were necessary? Just a thought.
@Mike12421 said:
I too came here hoping for an encryption solution as I don’t want Amazon causing me any issues with my uploaded content of which is all legal.
Would it not be possible to use say Boxcrypter to encrypt everything and have Amazon Cloud as a virtual drive. You can then point PLEX to the virtual drive on your local network and have Boxcrypter download and decrypt were necessary? Just a thought.
Of course that is possible.Most any program that makes your cloud drive look like a drive attached to your computer would work as long as you have sufficient download speed and enough processing power to both decrypt and transcode if needed.
I have tested StableBit’s CloudDrive and it works pretty well with full drive encryption. (Note: In order to use Amazon Cloud you must go back a few versions and turn on experimental providers.)
But that is NOT Plex Cloud. With Plex Cloud both the content and the server reside in the cloud so you cannot install decryption software on the server. Plex “could” do that but then you would have to share your key with Plex and that is almost as much of a security problem as having the files un-encrypted.
Due to my slow upload it looks like I will not be able to get my content in the cloud in the normal way so, I suppose, I could use Amazon’s cloud as a backup medium and avoid having to worry much about my upload as when data is written to a cloud drive created by StableBit it appears to cache locally and then write to the cloud as a background task.
Remember that Plex Cloud is intended to be a total “in the cloud” solution so some things we know work locally may have to work differently and some other things may be impossible. Also this is a VERY early beta and it is likely that a lot will change before we get even close to release.
@Mike12421 said:
I too came here hoping for an encryption solution as I don’t want Amazon causing me any issues with my uploaded content of which is all legal.
Would it not be possible to use say Boxcrypter to encrypt everything and have Amazon Cloud as a virtual drive. You can then point PLEX to the virtual drive on your local network and have Boxcrypter download and decrypt were necessary? Just a thought.
Of course that is possible.Most any program that makes your cloud drive look like a drive attached to your computer would work as long as you have sufficient download speed and enough processing power to both decrypt and transcode if needed.
I have tested StableBit’s CloudDrive and it works pretty well with full drive encryption. (Note: In order to use Amazon Cloud you must go back a few versions and turn on experimental providers.)
But that is NOT Plex Cloud. With Plex Cloud both the content and the server reside in the cloud so you cannot install decryption software on the server. Plex “could” do that but then you would have to share your key with Plex and that is almost as much of a security problem as having the files un-encrypted.
Due to my slow upload it looks like I will not be able to get my content in the cloud in the normal way so, I suppose, I could use Amazon’s cloud as a backup medium and avoid having to worry much about my upload as when data is written to a cloud drive created by StableBit it appears to cache locally and then write to the cloud as a background task.
Remember that Plex Cloud is intended to be a total “in the cloud” solution so some things we know work locally may have to work differently and some other things may be impossible. Also this is a VERY early beta and it is likely that a lot will change before we get even close to release.
Do you have a copy of the installer? The current version doesn’t support amazon cloud and I can’t find any backdated versions
@Mike12421 said:
I too came here hoping for an encryption solution as I don’t want Amazon causing me any issues with my uploaded content of which is all legal.
Would it not be possible to use say Boxcrypter to encrypt everything and have Amazon Cloud as a virtual drive. You can then point PLEX to the virtual drive on your local network and have Boxcrypter download and decrypt were necessary? Just a thought.
Of course that is possible.Most any program that makes your cloud drive look like a drive attached to your computer would work as long as you have sufficient download speed and enough processing power to both decrypt and transcode if needed.
I have tested StableBit’s CloudDrive and it works pretty well with full drive encryption. (Note: In order to use Amazon Cloud you must go back a few versions and turn on experimental providers.)
But that is NOT Plex Cloud. With Plex Cloud both the content and the server reside in the cloud so you cannot install decryption software on the server. Plex “could” do that but then you would have to share your key with Plex and that is almost as much of a security problem as having the files un-encrypted.
Due to my slow upload it looks like I will not be able to get my content in the cloud in the normal way so, I suppose, I could use Amazon’s cloud as a backup medium and avoid having to worry much about my upload as when data is written to a cloud drive created by StableBit it appears to cache locally and then write to the cloud as a background task.
Remember that Plex Cloud is intended to be a total “in the cloud” solution so some things we know work locally may have to work differently and some other things may be impossible. Also this is a VERY early beta and it is likely that a lot will change before we get even close to release.
Do you have a copy of the installer? The current version doesn’t support amazon cloud and I can’t find any backdated versions
I recommend 1.0.0.631 as it is the last one that works without jumping through hoops. Look here: http://dl.covecube.com/CloudDriveWindows/beta/download/
You turn on “experimental” in settings/troubleshooting
I hope that helps.
@Mike12421 said:
I too came here hoping for an encryption solution as I don’t want Amazon causing me any issues with my uploaded content of which is all legal.
Would it not be possible to use say Boxcrypter to encrypt everything and have Amazon Cloud as a virtual drive. You can then point PLEX to the virtual drive on your local network and have Boxcrypter download and decrypt were necessary? Just a thought.
Of course that is possible.Most any program that makes your cloud drive look like a drive attached to your computer would work as long as you have sufficient download speed and enough processing power to both decrypt and transcode if needed.
I have tested StableBit’s CloudDrive and it works pretty well with full drive encryption. (Note: In order to use Amazon Cloud you must go back a few versions and turn on experimental providers.)
But that is NOT Plex Cloud. With Plex Cloud both the content and the server reside in the cloud so you cannot install decryption software on the server. Plex “could” do that but then you would have to share your key with Plex and that is almost as much of a security problem as having the files un-encrypted.
Due to my slow upload it looks like I will not be able to get my content in the cloud in the normal way so, I suppose, I could use Amazon’s cloud as a backup medium and avoid having to worry much about my upload as when data is written to a cloud drive created by StableBit it appears to cache locally and then write to the cloud as a background task.
Remember that Plex Cloud is intended to be a total “in the cloud” solution so some things we know work locally may have to work differently and some other things may be impossible. Also this is a VERY early beta and it is likely that a lot will change before we get even close to release.
Do you have a copy of the installer? The current version doesn’t support amazon cloud and I can’t find any backdated versions
I recommend 1.0.0.631 as it is the last one that works without jumping through hoops. Look here: Index of /CloudDriveWindows/beta/download
You turn on “experimental” in settings/troubleshooting
I hope that helps.
Hi,
I just want to say that I’ve just tried StableBit’s Clouddrive 1.0.0.631 and it is EXACTLY what I was after; full encryption on the fly. Thank you so much, it’s perfect. I can now use Amazon Cloud to store all my movies and my home PLEX can just point to the virtual drive, allowing me to stream in and out of the house. And the best part is Amazon won’t be giving me any hassle as all files on their server are encrypted and split into smaller files, therefore bypassing their ability to ID my files correctly.
Clouddrive is a solution that gets around having to pay for local storage, but you still have to have a plex sever online locally and for remote streaming you’re using you’re local bandwidth to download the raw file and upload what it may have been encoded to.
My understanding of the Amazon beta is that all this is removed. Raw files are in the cloud, remain there, and are then transcoded and streamed from there - your home is no longer required to be online.
From Amazon’s POV, I’d be interested to know why they’d want to get involved.
Unlimited storage for $60, even excluding AWS server support is not going to make them any money should I dump 12Tb on them.
My guess would be that the scope for de-dupe of large files (no idea why so many of us would have identical files…) would be incredible.
This would however preclude encryption and Amazon getting too fussy over content (Or more likely public sharing of it)
My understanding of the Amazon beta is that all this is removed. Raw files are in the cloud, remain there, and are then transcoded and streamed from there - your home is no longer required to be online.
What? So where will the actual PMS be hosted?
I’m sure you will need a PMS online at home that
Accesses your Amazon Cloud Drive instead of local storage.
Unless your running a it on a VPS or Dedicated Server. Which is what I plan to do when Amazon Cloud Drive is official.
My understanding of the Amazon beta is that all this is removed. Raw files are in the cloud, remain there, and are then transcoded and streamed from there - your home is no longer required to be online.
What? So where will the actual PMS be hosted?
I’m sure you will need a PMS online at home that
Accesses your Amazon Cloud Drive instead of local storage.
Unless your running a it on a VPS or Dedicated Server. Which is what I plan to do when Amazon Cloud Drive is official.
If you are referring to the new plex cloud beta, then no local PMS is needed
My understanding of the Amazon beta is that all this is removed. Raw files are in the cloud, remain there, and are then transcoded and streamed from there - your home is no longer required to be online.
What? So where will the actual PMS be hosted?
I’m sure you will need a PMS online at home that
Accesses your Amazon Cloud Drive instead of local storage.
Unless your running a it on a VPS or Dedicated Server. Which is what I plan to do when Amazon Cloud Drive is official.
You’re confusing things. Amazon Cloud Drive has been around for a while. I’ve had it for about a year. Plex Cloud is what we are talking about and it works in conjunction with Amazon Cloud Drive.
@goldcd said:
…
From Amazon’s POV, I’d be interested to know why they’d want to get involved.
Unlimited storage for $60, even excluding AWS server support is not going to make them any money should I dump 12Tb on them.
My guess would be that the scope for de-dupe of large files (no idea why so many of us would have identical files…) would be incredible.
This would however preclude encryption and Amazon getting too fussy over content (Or more likely public sharing of it)
You’ve hit on the real (political/corporate) issues that are at play here. I am very curious to know what Plex Inc.'s corporate take on the risk associated with transitioning from a software developer to a service provider that allows users to administer the content that’s served. And if Amazon is taking an active role (as with your de-dupe supposition) I wonder what they’re thinking as well.
If both Amazon and Plex are willfully turning a blind eye to copyright infringement committed by their customers in order to make a profit then I foresee a lawsuit from Hollywood bringing an end to all of that sort of wild-west profiteering on their part. With the current plex cloud not encrypting uploaded media and Amazon’s user agreement, there’s nothing to stop Amazon or Plex from being legally required to implement a mechanism to detect and thwart obvious piracy.
Note: I love Plex and Amazon, and wish them nothing but continued success - however I think they’re potentially crossing a line by becoming “service providers” who knowingly profit from piracy. I’m just afraid they’re about to walk down the legal path Kim Dotcom has already tread with megaupload. Also, in case it wasn’t clear, I do not promote or condone piracy.
