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Ive just bought a Chromecast and have setup a Plex server on my home PC. In order to work the PC has to be on, which i dont want...so im looking at a dedicated NAS drive to store and distribute all the media and movies. The website confuses me though. Anyone out there using Plex with a NAS successfully? If so whats your setup?
I have PLEX on my NAS but the NAS is not powerful enough to handle all the transcoding. Qnap TS239 Pro 2, wired to the routet. It takes a while to serve a photo and HD video doesn't work so I ended up running it from my desktop, which works really well with PLEX/Chromecast.
Look for one that can transcode. Synology play model looks like it's more than up to it.
Yup. Using Synology + Rasberry Pi running rasplex/Plex Mac client.
Synology is brilliant, one click install of the PLEX server package, but quite expensive. You get what you pay for though.
I use Plex on a Asustor AS-202TE and have a Samsung TV which has the Plex app on it, and it works just fine. It was a simple install, as with the Synology it was just a single click. Not tried it with Chromecast though, but can't see any reason why it wouldn't work.
I'm not sure you'd need the transcoding, the 202TE isn't powerful enough to do any, and I've not come across any files which wouldn't play.
The TE also has an HDMI port and can be used directly connected to a TV as well, using XMBC I think, but I prefer the Plex interface.
I use Plex on both my Qnap NASes - You need a pretty powerful NAS if you want to transcode on the fly, but that is not something I miss when using the less powerful one.
I have run Plex from the cheapest Qnap NAS - TS212 and it is fine with HD films going to a Samsung TV.
Having a NAS and keeping all your media/etc in one place is much simpler than having it scattered across various devices around the house and you get the benefit of being able to access stuff from anywhere in the world.
What does Plex give you that a good NAS/media server doesn't? I have a Synology NAS and can share whatever I put on it with all the devices in the house, so no need for any additional software or sharing tool. Why would you have both?
Plex is a piece of software for making films/tv programs and music available. With your Synology you might get a list of folders/items available to play via the interface on the TV, with Plex you get: [url= https://plex.tv/features ]https://plex.tv/features[/url]
I use a Synology NAS with the Plex app on it, combined with the Plex app on my Samsung Smart TV. Works well. I don't normally set it to transcode as the TV copes generally (I made sure I got one with more beefy processor in it).
And yeah, the Synology also has a built in media server but it just presents things in a folder structure with little or no metadata. Plex adds in a description of the episode/film, some technical details, cast/director maybe, etc. It also keeps track of what you've watched and haven't watched yet which is handy for a TV series.
Downside of Plex is you have to get the file naming right to have it pick up the details. It uses some online databases of film and TV to grab the details but matches based on naming. It gets complicated particularly if you don't have episode names or the ordering is different due to the database being based on airing order and not production / DVD order etc. Alternate versions of things gets complex too.
I run plex media server on a mac mini with a couple of 1TB USB HDD's hanging off it
Fairly expensive solution but much more flexible than a NAS
I've had it running on a micro server and a NAS. Neither of them have the grunt to transcode effectively. So if we are doing "proper" films (HD, Surround sound) I switch the PC on and run it through that. Otherwise they are both up to streaming music and low definition/native film throughout the home network and to my phone.
To sort this out I'll be building a proper server in the new year. I say server, it'll basically be a fairly high spec PC running plex. Also going to (finally) get round to buying Elite. 🙂 Will then have a choice of plex servers. Two PCs, micro server or NAS. (Probably time to repurpose the NAS!)
Also found that a lot of the streaming issues are down to selecting the wrong sound track stereo/5.1 or simply not having the bandwidth on the WiFi. Fixed that this weekend. Now have gigabit wired and wireless n/ac everywhere.
Plex/NAS compatability list:
https://docs.google.com/a/plexapp.com/spreadsheets/d/1MfYoJkiwSqCXg8cm5-Ac4oOLPRtCkgUxU0jdj3tmMPc/
Unless you have a good reason to transcode, like you are playing movies on a phone, then don't, just play them at native resolution.
I just use kodi (was xbmc) on a pi,with a synology. No hassle just works.