We have just recently become part of the RV scene. I have been a PLEX user since 2013 at home so of course the first thing I think of is what would be an awesome PLEX system in my new trailer. Something we could not only watch on the inside TV but just dreaming but maybe a projector set up outside on a sheet. Seems pretty awesome to me. But, since I won’t have my PLEX server available, what are my options? Maybe a couple TB drive with a subset of shows? I use a Intel NUC at home as a client. Love that. What about on the road. Who has a nice PLEX setup in their camper. Any suggestions in a nice camper setup?
You need internet for plex to work well so I doubt there is a use case for this.
I have a TV in the RV and have a projector we use for outside viewing with speaker system. I’ve got a battery bank in the RV to power everything with inverters if there is no power available plus have the on board generator and a quite(ish) Honda EU2000i if needed.
I have a couple of Metal 52 ac routers MikroTik Routers and Wireless - Products: Metal 52 ac and high gain directional antennas plus omni antennas. This gives me freedom in setup. If the campground offers WIFI I can use one of these with directional antenna to gain access then rebroadcast it locally with another omni antenna if needed. This gives strong “local” wifi for cell phones, tablets, computers etc. Of course my network is also available via this WIFI as well. I can also use cell phone for data if absolutely needed.
I also have a couple of high gain TV antennas I can setup for local broadcast TV.
I have a notebook that serves as the server but also have a Shield TV hooked to the RV TV. I’ve been playing with running Emby on the Shield TV and this seems to work fine for my RV purposes but I haven’t used it yet in the field (will next trip). This will save the notebook from being needed.
I had a Plex RV system but switched it over to Emby for a few reasons.
First it will work offline without internet access with full user support which can’t be done with Plex.
It allows me to download a 14 day Guide for where I’m going while at home to have ready.
I can attach a large external USB drive or two to my normal system at home. With Emby I can flag certain files and have Emby with the Auto Organize plugin copy these files to the USB drives. This allows me to pick and choose my “camping” movies/shows and always have a drive or two ready for a trip.
I then take these USB drives before the trip, hook them up to the notebook/Shield TV and scan the drives to pull the meta-data and I’m good to go!
Now once at the campsite I setup a Quatro and TV Antenna to get local TV available on any device and I’ll already have the guide data as well as the collection of movies/tv shows I want to take with me. EASY and powerful.
My system is always the hit with the “neighbors” and it’s pretty great way to have fun with the projector on nice nights with some liquid beverages.
I have an almost exact same system on my sailboat as well. 
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We have been doing this for a few years… use A WD wireless Pro with Plex media server installed…
I take a roku along load the drive up with media and log into the wifi from the WD drive works like a champ… just optimize the media for Mobile before loading up the drive…Happy RV-plexing
I have used the same drive on a cruise to Mexico and 10 days in Hi. plus on all the flights not just for RVing
I’ve got a cabin sitting in a horrible area for internet. I have a mini PC (Intel ComputeStick) and a USB hard drive loaded with material. I’ve found Kodi to be a perfect solution for this scenario.
Whenever I need to update, I take the system home (fits in a Crown Royal bag) and make the adjustments and let the metadata load. Then, back to the lake where everything works flawlessly. No internet necessary.
How do you use the Intel ComputeStick? What do you plug it into?
It’s similar to a Roku Stick… HDMI right on the unit. Turns a TV into a perfectly functional Windows 10 PC.
Yea, don’t know what I was thinking. I’ve got 2 of them. Doh!
All good, brother… it’s Monday… I’m just amused that I’m using Kodi the way it was intended. If you don’t need more than one screen, it works perfectly.
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Yes, that’s a perfect use of Emby and perfect hardware to do it with as well.
Linux or Windows OS?
Windows 10.
Emby will run on a single unit? I assume you have to run server and client on the PC for it to work? I may tinker with this.
Yes it will. Plex can as well but requires the internet if using home users.
Like I posted earlier I’m switching over to using a Shield TV as this will also be both server and client and has HW acceleration built in as well so it can handle a few transcodes if needed.
You get a remote this way as well.
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