Server Version#: 1.14.1.5488
Player Version#: 3.77.4
I recently started using a brand new computer. My entire media library was brought over via hard drives with the same paths/names. My computer is connected to a television and when I’m at home I would use the Plex Media Player to watch my local content on the computer. When away from home, I’d access my media via the Plex Media Server.
I have been able to connect to my Server and successfully brought over all the metadata however I cannot for the life of me figure out how to connect to my local files through the Media Player like I used to. I do not want to play my media files through the server/with buffering/via wifi when at home.
What could I have done wrong? Do i need to re start with creating a fresh new library again… I hope not
If you only brought the media files themselves over from the old computer
(and not also the contents of the old Plex data folder) then yes, you need to recreate your server configuration.
You appear to already have installed Plex Media Server on your new computer.
Can you access it with the web app, in order to create your libraries and to scan your media drives?
I did in fact bring over those folders. And I can connect to the Plex Media Server just fine - retrieving the library remotely is not an issue.
It’s moreso using the Plex Media Player as, like, a Windows Media Player that isn’t working as I one had it. I use to open up the Player and open video files on my machine within the Player just fine and with no need to buffer or load over wifi. I seem to only be able to play my files through the Server rather than just directly on my machine now. Does this make sense at all? (to put it another way, I want to use the Plex Media Player as a local-only “netflix-type” UI for my local video files, pictures, episodes without the need to load over the internet other than for metadata purposes).
I really don’t want to but what I’m thinking might have to happen is that I delete my Server’s libraries so that my account contains no files at all… but start populating new libraries within the Plex Media Player. Only after that, begin connecting with the Plex Media Server…
Every Plex client will stream media through the Plex Media Server.
You can’t just point Plex Media Player to some local folders. That ain’t gonna work.
What is the status quo?
Is Plex server running on your new machine?
Does it already have all your media in it or is it missing something? (I am not sure I understood you correctly)
If you have a copy of your old Plex data folder, you need to tell your new server installation to use it, instead of creating itself a new one.
So: where are those copied data located at the moment? Did you copy them onto the internal hard drive of the new computer or are they on an external hard drive?
Interesting. Somewhere in the past i must’ve made an assumption about where my content was being pulled/played from.
So, status quo:
Yes, the Plex Server is running on my new machine and I can connect with my other mobile devices
All the media was moved over to my new files structure on the new machine in keeping with Drive letters, etc so there are no broken links
I did bring over the data folders for both the Server and the Player to the new machine and they are located in the proper place on my new C:\ drive
So at this point I bet you’re probably wondering what the issue is… lol
Like I’ve mentioned, I was sure that the Media Player was basically just a UI for my local content. My television is in my livingroom but is connected to my computer in another room which has all my media files. With the help of a wireless keyboard, I use my television like a monitor and queue up my video files there on-screen. I swear I used to use the Media Player like netflix and there was no quality loss or streaming over wifi because it was all handled right on the machine, with Media PLayer basically just acting as a UI skin for all my content. If I had wanted, i could’ve installed the Plex app right there in my smart TV but I didn’t want to have to utilize WiFi to stream my content when it was so easily accessible there on my machine. Does this flow make sense?
May I ask you - what then is the difference between the Media Server and the Media Player?
So you have a HDMI connection between the computer and the TV.
That makes sense and is probably the best option for quality and speed.
The Plex server is looking at your media files, is matching them and pulling the metadata. It will prepare the media in the format and bitrate which the various Plex client apps require.
Plex Media Player is a ‘Plex client app’, which sometimes is installed on the same machine like the Plex server.
Plex clients are responsible for requesting the media from the server and playing them.
So your main issue is that the Plex Media Player can’t find your new Plex server, have I got this right?
When you click this link, how many server devices are displayed for you? https://app.plex.tv/desktop#!/settings/devices/pms
One or two?
If there are two, please delete the older one (you must be sure about which is which! If you are not 100% sure, please report back).
“So you have a HDMI connection between the computer and the TV.”
Yes, that is my exact set up and hope to play my local files with the best/original quality possible.
Thank you - I think you might’ve identified how I became so confused:
I did indeed see two server devices shown and one of them was NOT connecting while the other was. I interpreted this (maybe rather foolishly) as the one connecting being the Media Server and the one not connecting as the Media Player. From your last explanation of what each Server/Player does I see my error.
I have deleted the old one which wasn’t connecting. The ‘new’ one on this new machine is working fine and as expected. What brought me to this forum was the worry that the Media Player would be playing my video files at a lesser ‘streaming’ quality based on the wifi signal available within my own home rather than playing the local file at full quality through my system/HDMI connection. (This flow: a Plex Player UI/skin simply loading local media files there on my system like a Windows Media Player or iTunes, for instance, is a myth, correct?)
Yes, that doesn’t exist.
(anymore, that is. You could configure a very old version of Plex Home Theater to do it. But only because PHT was really a modified Kodi, which has this ability anyway.)
