Plex/Nine Database

[unisonruss]

Great news Jam! I love the idea of integrating netflix content with local content Will the same go for other online sources as well?

[RockStar]

I'll put it politely, and say that our opinions differ there :)

For real? I guess anything is just a matter of opinion. Atleast, I hope there will be choises. More choises than whats currently availiable.

[unisonruss]

I personally don’t like Confluence… or Mediastream really. I do like Aeon and Alaska, and maybe a couple more. Luckily we have some skilled skinners hard at work getting us ready for Plex 9 so we will have skinning options

[dancampbell1787]

I personally don't like Confluence... or Mediastream really. I do like Aeon and Alaska, and maybe a couple more. Luckily we have some skilled skinners hard at work getting us ready for Plex 9 so we will have skinning options :)

amen to that...its great to see people porting over lots of xbmc skins over to plex as well...lots of good lookin skins!!

[mkopel]

Lots of support in the innards (schema, metadata), but likely none pushed up to the UI in the first release. We do want to release before 2100 AD :)

agreed. if not full profiles perhaps a password for material more mature than a given rating? doesn't the new library have the movie/tv ratings? is there a way to manually set ratings?

Really excited about plex nine, so I am hoping there is someway I can use/test it on my big screen.

thanks again... amazing stuff.

[tilpots]

Just watched the video on the blog and I can’t tell you how impressed I am. Unbelievable vision you all had in putting this together! Can’t wait to try it out…



I do have a quick question for you. Will the new file management system be able to tell the difference between files in a folder? For instance, iPhoto manages all of my home videos as well as pictures. I’d love to create a new category for “Home Videos” by adding the Originals folder from iPhoto as a source. Would it be able to just pull just the videos from that folder or would the pics get pulled in as well?

[jam]

I do have a quick question for you. Will the new file management system be able to tell the difference between files in a folder? For instance, iPhoto manages all of my home videos as well as pictures. I'd love to create a new category for "Home Videos" by adding the Originals folder from iPhoto as a source. Would it be able to just pull just the videos from that folder or would the pics get pulled in as well?

Yep - it'll ignore the picture files & only include the videos.

[tilpots]

Yep - it'll ignore the picture files & only include the videos.

Rock on.

[stockds]

I personally think the key to successfully streaming media over the network is a cable. Trying to do it wirelessly, whether 802.11B, G, N, or any other letter, will only lead to doom, gloom, and fail as the romantic comedy you've put on in an attempt to woo your date skips and stutters, as does your date, shortly thereafter. Gigabit wired for the win.

Agree - a good bit of CAT5e/6 is best. Having said that I've had pretty good luck with the 200Mbps over mains wiring adaptors - I can stream 720p no problem over these. They report (and I've tested) over 100Mbps sustained from these babies. Nice option if you have builders like the ones that built my house and didn't have the foresight to include CAT6 in the walls. To put in post plastering is a complete pain the butt.

[bambuhiphop]

I have a question for Elan or any of the devs really.



I see that the new Media server is going away from the centralized approach to a much more decentralized approach. While I am very excited about Plex 9 and a number of its features this push to decentralize everything has me a bit worried.



I ask because my setup is very centralized. Basically my setup is the following:

HP Mediasmart EX495 w/ 1.6TB. A Mac Mini as an HTPC which is wired into the Media smart via a Airport Extreme. Also have a newer 15" Macbook Pro that is 100% wireless. 100% of my movies, music, tv shows, and photos are stored on the Mediasmart. I have SMB shares setup on both computers. No drives are mounted on the laptop but the Mini has one drive mounted for downloading torrents. I can stream to the Macbook with no issues at all, its fantastic. Thanks for that by the way



So in a setup like mine I am a little leery of having to go through the mini on the laptop just to stream a file. What are your thoughts long term for a situation like this?



I may need to just wait awhile for a few updates once released which is more than fine but I was just curious.



By the way, you guys have done an amazing job thus far. My other half now loves Plex. We canceled cable over 6 months ago and haven’t looked back. Even she has seen the huge improvement over the past year. I am not going to ask for a release date on 9 because it comes out when it comes out and my setup is overall working beautifully. Thanks and sorry for the length.

[elan]

While I am very excited about Plex 9 and a number of its features this push to decentralize everything has me a bit worried.
I ask because my setup is very centralized.
So in a setup like mine I am a little leery of having to go through the mini on the laptop just to stream a file. What are your thoughts long term for a situation like this?

This is after a few beers and a long day, so my answer may not be coherent. You will be going though the mini to get metadata for the media, but Plex/Nine has a few tricks up its sleeve to optimize the path the media takes to get to the player. Basic answer: It should work fine for you, but if not, you can always stick with Plex/Eight until the new features become compelling enough to switch :)

[system]

This is after a few beers and a long day, so my answer may not be coherent.

Hopefully you were celebrating the imminent (as in today or tomorrow) release of Plex 9 ;)

[bambuhiphop]

Thanks, that works for me

[sansnipple]

you dont need to have it go through the mini, you can have plex media server running on the macbook as well, with its own library exactly like you have now. the only reason you’d have to run the everything through the mini is if you wanted to have one single library for both computers in order to sync watched status/whatever. otherwise the only thing that will change for you is that instead of using plex’s built-in SMB (which is really unstable, you shoulndt use it now either) you will mount the smb shares in finder. (i recommend putting them in login items on the mini, and trying bonjour mounter on the macbook so you never have to mount them manually)

[mwillis]

I know this is going to get some negative comments but am curious if we can expect Plex 0.9 in the next week/month/year.



Only asking the question everyone is dying to ask…

[elan]

I know this is going to get some negative comments but am curios if we can expect Plex 0.9 in the next week/month/year.

Only asking the question everyone is dying to ask....

We're working as hard as we can on it, I promise. Between doors A, B, and C, I'd pick door B.

[mwillis]

We're working as hard as we can on it, I promise. Between doors A, B, and C, I'd pick door B.

Brilliant news. (hopefully Door B leads to June and not July)

Just thought I would add, I love the program as does my wife and daughter..

Keep up the good work. :)

[bambuhiphop]

I have one single library that both computers share. No content is stored locally on the Mini or Macbook. Everything is on the Server. Having the ability to start on one computer, pause, and transfer to the other is a huge reason I am looking forward to 9.



I have been using SMB shares for 8 months now with zero issues. I set the SMB shares up with the “Add Network Location” option in Plex and it has been flawless. I don’t have mounted drives on the laptop, no need. Only reason I have a mounted drive on the Mini is for torrent downloads which I have automated from start to finish (for TV Shows).

you dont need to have it go through the mini, you can have plex media server running on the macbook as well, with its own library exactly like you have now. the only reason you'd have to run the everything through the mini is if you wanted to have *one single library* for both computers in order to sync watched status/whatever. otherwise the only thing that will change for you is that instead of using plex's built-in SMB (which is really unstable, you shoulndt use it now either) you will mount the smb shares in finder. (i recommend putting them in login items on the mini, and trying bonjour mounter on the macbook so you never have to mount them manually)

[elan]

I have one single library that both computers share. No content is stored locally on the Mini or Macbook. Everything is on the Server. Having the ability to start on one computer, pause, and transfer to the other is a huge reason I am looking forward to 9.

You should be a happy camper then :)

[RockStar]

I have been using SMB shares for 8 months now with zero issues. I set the SMB shares up with the "Add Network Location" option in Plex and it has been flawless. I don't have mounted drives on the laptop, no need. Only reason I have a mounted drive on the Mini is for torrent downloads which I have automated from start to finish (for TV Shows).

I concur. I find the Plex smb support way better than the one in osx. I asked before in this thread but didnt get any answers : Will Plex 9 still have its own smb support or does it rely on whats built into osx?

the only thing that will change for you is that instead of using plex’s built-in SMB (which is really unstable, you shoulndt use it now either) you will mount the smb shares in finder. (i recommend putting them in login items on the mini, and trying bonjour mounter on the macbook so you never have to mount them manually)

Again, is this required, or simply your recomendation? And bonjour mounter? Come on… a 15$ app to mount shares? That pretty much sais it all about what a crappy job apple did with its aproach to shares in osx in the first place. Id much prefer the smb shares set up through Plex.



Also, can someone shed some light on how sharing a library over internet works? How does the remote computer access the userdata and media files?