I am installing a media server (NAS) on a large boat with 5 smart 5v screen throughout.
Thinking hard about using Plex, but I am aware we will be offline a significant portion of the time. I have read you can use Plex without an internet connection as long as you turn authentication off.
Does anyone have any experience with this, or with using Plex on boats in general?
Thanks,
Plex clients work well offline with downloaded content from the server, but I think the server will not work well offline. Might want to keep server at your home and then setup collection of clients that all share storage and have them download.
Hi, just wanted to contribute my experience: PLEX does work VERY well on a boat/yacht/etc! I started investigating this 2 years ago and actually have been implementing it over the past year. We go to the Florida Keys and Bahamas a lot where there is no TV service and cell/internet is spotty. I bought a Synology DS918+ NAS for my house and created my music & video library. Most of last year was spent ripping my DVD’s, buying TV series like Mash, Magnum, NYPD Blue and Law & Order, etc. I built a really nice library of 2000+ TV episodes and 300+ Movies. Once I get everything working in my home streaming to my Samsung Smart TV’s and a few mobile devices/tablets; I purchased a Synology DS218+ for my boat. I copied my libraries from one NAS to the other and went to the boat with the new NAS.
I put the DS218+ on the boat network and have the same Samsung Smart TV’s as home so it was a snap to install the Plex Apps and get everything configured and working. The first few times we left the docks and no INET connectivity I had problems but eventually figured out the secrets. There are two tricks/must do’s IMO to make things work after you leave the dock. When you leave the dock and do not have Internet access you can’t authenticate to login into PLEX. SO B4 you leave on each TV login and go settings screen and check the box that says stay logged in or login as last user when launching PLEX. This way you don’t have to authenticate again when launching PLEX and not have internet access. The Second must do thing IMO is setup Manual Servers and enter the IP address for your NAS on your boat. Since you will not have DNS resolution you will not be able to get to your library via PLEX without this entry. Since I have done these two things PLEX has worked flawlessly on our boat.
One last hint/suggestion. I bought PLEX Pass thinking I would use the remote sync feature but think I also have to pay for PLEX Pass on the boat to get this working. I don’t mind contributing to PLEX Development as I think the product is AWESOME but what I found was Synology has their own sync’ing app. While on our last trip I brought a long about a dozen new DVD’s. I ripped them to the NAS on the boat. I also downloaded from Amazon a few music Albums I have wanted. When we got to a Marina with good WiFi signal I was able to sync my home NAS with the Boat NAS and copy up to my home all the new content I had ripped. I assumed I’d be doing the ripping at home and pushing it to the boat but when your sitting on a boat for hours motoring between ports it’s the perfect time to start ripping!
Another note to pay attention to several times over the past few months I have had situations where the app on the TV stops working, can’t connect, IDK strangeness happens. Almost every time this has happened I have found that if I check the PLEX version on the NAS I’ll find newer versions exist. I upgrade to the latest version which stops/restarts the service and boom everything starts working again. A simple reboot of the NAS may have accomplished the same thing but I think the app’s on the TV update themselves automatically where the PLEX server on Synology you have to manually download and apply the package.
I can’t tell you how happy I have been with PLEX once I figured it all out. I had to reach out to tech support and the forum a few times but every time I have gotten just what I needed in terms of info to figure out what was happening. Given I researched the heck out of PLEX B4 committing and saw problems years ago with it working on a boat I wanted to be sure to give back to the community with positive Thumbs up this works on a boat!!!
Scott in Sunny Florida
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