Samsung TV/Android Phone - How to stream from local plex server (Ian cut out Internet Service)

[srainess]

So…
Hurricane Ian took out internet access. No problem since I have a local plex server. Problem is both Samsung TV, and Android phone wanted me to login to Plex site to gain access. I could not find the option on either the TV app, or the Android app to connect to the local IP address so I can stream locally. Is there a specific process to do this ?

Thanks…

[OttoKerner]

Using Plex without internet connecitivity requires a bit of preparation, before the actual outage occurs.
And unfortunately it doesn’t work with all client types.

[HowTo] Use Plex with No Internet

I’ve seen far too many posts regarding “can’t connect to Plex with no internet”, and an uprising/outcry always ensues. It eventually settles down, but the lack of single point resources can be frustrating. I’ve been there, no internet - can’t google anything from a computer so a phone will have to do, but navigating through results and trying “solutions” can be daunting. I’m creating this How-To to help alleviate those posts and help everyone access their servers when the net is down. Couple of …

[srainess]

Thanks…
I think its really more the ‘app’ (Samsung/Android Phone) that is the issue. Web access
from a computer on the same network is fine because I can actually put in the IP address
of the server as the URL. There is no option for that on the Samsung TV, or the Android
App. Interesting thing is that on the Android App, I was able to ‘Enable manual connections’ and put in the local IP address/port for the Server but it still seemed to want to go out to the internet for whatever reason. In the meanwhile, will be looking at a network bridge to enable my phones Hotspot for the whole house as workaround. Would be nice though for them to allow internal access again.

[OttoKerner]

@srainess

I was able to ‘Enable manual connections’ and put in the local IP address/port for the Server but it still seemed to want to go out to the internet for whatever reason

For authentication. That’s why there is a setting in the server where you can allow certain clients in your local lan to use the server without authentication.

[srainess]

I think I found the issue with the Samsung TV… It was basically stuck trying to log into
the Plex web site so I could not go into settings (it kept looping to log in). This morning with internet back, there is an option to actually place the manual connection IP address in, which now seems to work.