I would like to submit a feature request to remove the online requirement from Plex Sync for PlexPass members. My motivation for setting up Plex was to have my own Netflix-like content experience despite my ISP's low bandwidth cap. Because my Plex Media Server tends to use up bandwidth while idle, I keep it firewalled off from the internet except when I'm updating my library. I bought a PlexPass membership to support the Plex team's great work and I have not used the online PlexPass features because of my bandwith limitations. The only PlexPass feature that interests me is the ability to sync content to a device to watch when I'm away from home. I've been unable to get sync to work so far, and resources online have pointed out that an active internet connection is required on the media server and clients for sync to work.
I believe it would be advantageous to the Plex team to remove this limitation for PlexPass members for two reasons. First, it would be useful to those of us who use Plex over online services because of its no-bandwidth nature. Secondly it would be a selling point for PlexPass for Plex users who are unable to make use of the other online features of PlexPass.
Thank you to the Plex team for creating such a useful and well-polished collection of software and for all of the ongoing work you do.
It’s actually been almost completely problem-free. I’m using a firewall called Netlimiter to prevent Internet access without preventing local network streaming. Plex is a dream come true for my LAN. The only offline feature that doesn’t work so far is sync, and that’s because of the current online requirement for that feature.
Plex sync should work offline (that is, it does not move files over the Internet); however, it doesn’t appear to work when completely offline. I have verified this with my own testing and there are two pages linked in the original post that specify the requirement for plex to have an Internet connection available to coordinate the sync. Have you used plex sync while your media server is completely disconnected from the Internet? Its always possible that the pages I have linked are outdated. If an online requirement is still an issue, it would be nice to fix it so that users with completely offline libraries can enjoy plex without needing to maintain an Internet connection for sync.
Yes, the actual file transfer is local. It just will not initiate without an Internet connection. I’m not sure why. So far I’ve been unable to get it to work even with an Internet connection, but that’s probably just because my isp isn’t the greatest.
That’s probably the answer. A few places have said that it’s to coordinate the sync, but I don’t see why that would be a technical requirement. They might be worried that users might buy a month of plex pass, sign in on multiple servers, and then not renew the month when it expires because the system will not know it expired.
Unfortunately this essentially limits a useful feature due to DRM requirements. It could be implemented in a different way, such as coding the expiry of the plex membership into the PMS and requiring the user to reauthenticate online when the membership is set to renew. It could be an exception for plexpass members. Steam allows for offline functionality for players without a solid Internet connection, so they make it work somehow. Whatever the answer, it’s probably worth re-examining since synching to a device is useful to users without good Internet access who won’t buy plexpass for the other online-only features.
