WEBVTT 00:00:00.080 --> 00:00:06.720 you've got all these photos videos and music sitting on your computer at home 00:00:04.560 --> 00:00:11.440 just sitting there when you could be enjoying them from anywhere you need to 00:00:09.120 --> 00:00:15.519 get a media server i have a google drive where i keep my 00:00:13.679 --> 00:00:20.640 photos in movies and you're paying google how much a month 00:00:17.440 --> 00:00:23.279 just to access files remotely there's a 00:00:20.640 --> 00:00:28.480 much better and much cheaper way it's called plex and while plex did sponsor 00:00:26.400 --> 00:00:33.760 this video it's no secret that i was already a mostly happy longtime user of 00:00:31.359 --> 00:00:39.280 their product and it's not just me one in every seven people in our office 00:00:36.160 --> 00:00:41.840 hosts their own plex server why because 00:00:39.280 --> 00:00:46.079 of its ease of use general polish and near universal cross-platform 00:00:43.600 --> 00:00:50.399 compatibility and they're one of the few software companies that still offers 00:00:47.920 --> 00:00:54.559 perpetual licenses with affordable per-device licensing or more expensive 00:00:52.719 --> 00:00:58.239 memberships that cover all devices connected to your server 00:00:56.640 --> 00:01:03.199 so the topic we landed on for our collaboration is three ways that you can 00:01:00.800 --> 00:01:06.560 set up your own server at home along with some simple tips and tricks to get 00:01:05.119 --> 00:01:10.880 you up and running first things first though whyplex 00:01:09.280 --> 00:01:15.680 if you are someone who has a lot of media stored on your computer be it high 00:01:12.720 --> 00:01:18.240 quality audio files photos home movies or home 00:01:17.040 --> 00:01:22.240 movies plex is pretty much the easiest way to 00:01:20.479 --> 00:01:26.720 get your own media server up and running so you or your friends and family can 00:01:24.320 --> 00:01:31.360 access your collection from anywhere and on nearly any device be it a computer 00:01:28.880 --> 00:01:35.280 phone game console or smart tv one of the brilliant features of plex is 00:01:33.040 --> 00:01:39.200 its ability to find the metadata for all of your files automatically sorting them 00:01:37.280 --> 00:01:43.439 into folders with episode titles thumbnails descriptions and cast members 00:01:41.759 --> 00:01:48.079 it'll even find and sort behind the scenes clips and trailers 00:01:45.520 --> 00:01:53.360 my deployment is pretty simple with two personal folders one for tv and one for 00:01:50.479 --> 00:01:57.680 movies and i don't even sort anything more than that i just toss my legally 00:01:55.600 --> 00:02:02.479 obtained drm-free files with descriptive titles into those folders and let plex 00:02:00.000 --> 00:02:06.560 sort out the rest misidentified clips and other problems can crop up 00:02:04.399 --> 00:02:10.560 occasionally but it can be easily corrected more on that later 00:02:08.560 --> 00:02:15.680 also the darn thing can handle pretty much any file format you throw at it be 00:02:12.720 --> 00:02:20.720 that video audio even subtitles it's pretty amazing alright this all sounds 00:02:18.080 --> 00:02:24.000 great but how do i do it we'll strap in for some tech tips here because we're 00:02:22.000 --> 00:02:28.160 going to give you a rundown of three different ways that you can implement a 00:02:25.520 --> 00:02:33.120 personal plex server using a Windows pc an NVIDIA shield that's not my shield 00:02:30.560 --> 00:02:40.000 there it is or a network attached storage server or nas ooh a server hey 00:02:37.760 --> 00:02:42.879 doesn't that need like super expensive high performance hardware 00:02:41.840 --> 00:02:48.080 not really as we demonstrated in this recent video 00:02:45.360 --> 00:02:52.080 your old pc is sitting there waiting for its second life as your new server and 00:02:50.400 --> 00:02:56.400 the basic features of plex are light enough that you can install it on some 00:02:53.760 --> 00:02:59.920 pretty dated hardware though there are a few things to consider 00:02:57.920 --> 00:03:03.120 if you have slower hardware that could limit the performance of your server 00:03:01.519 --> 00:03:08.159 particularly if you have multiple clients connected at once or if you are 00:03:05.440 --> 00:03:12.480 transcoding the videos being viewed when a client tries to watch a file that 00:03:10.239 --> 00:03:16.640 is too beefy for their connection or that was encoded in a format that isn't 00:03:14.480 --> 00:03:21.920 natively supported on their device your server will attempt to convert that 00:03:18.959 --> 00:03:26.480 file on the fly so that it can be viewed this can take a lot of computational 00:03:23.680 --> 00:03:30.239 power especially if the files are big so if you're using an older system as your 00:03:28.239 --> 00:03:35.200 server you may consider limiting the resolution of your media one benefit of 00:03:32.400 --> 00:03:40.319 plex's paid tier plex pass is that it allows you to use hardware encoding so 00:03:37.200 --> 00:03:42.239 if you have an Intel CPU or NVIDIA GPU 00:03:40.319 --> 00:03:46.400 from the last decade or so you can take advantage of those super fast hardware 00:03:44.319 --> 00:03:49.680 encoders to ensure a smooth streaming experience 00:03:47.680 --> 00:03:53.519 now the question is which platform should you use 00:03:50.879 --> 00:03:57.760 using your current pc is the simplest has the most users and thus the most 00:03:55.360 --> 00:04:03.040 support materials but the downside is that if your server is being used say by 00:04:00.000 --> 00:04:05.360 a sibling or a spouse while you are 00:04:03.040 --> 00:04:09.120 using your computer say to game you can encounter performance issues also your 00:04:07.760 --> 00:04:12.879 precious local storage is going to be taken up by your media files 00:04:11.040 --> 00:04:16.720 so the NVIDIA shield is one of the cheapest ways to move the processing 00:04:14.480 --> 00:04:20.400 load away from your main rig if you don't have another device to host your 00:04:18.400 --> 00:04:25.280 server though it does come at the cost of easy expandability and it doesn't 00:04:22.880 --> 00:04:30.800 really have a meaningful upgrade path your nas well that requires a bit more 00:04:27.840 --> 00:04:35.600 know-how and also a nas but it can be easy to expand and you can 00:04:33.440 --> 00:04:38.800 configure your system to be as powerful or lean as you like 00:04:37.199 --> 00:04:44.080 adam is going to get you started with Windows first go to plex.tv and download 00:04:41.840 --> 00:04:46.800 the plex media server follow the steps in the setup wizard and then select your 00:04:45.600 --> 00:04:51.840 media folders you can use pretty much any folder but for the best experience use dedicated 00:04:50.240 --> 00:04:57.120 library folders that only contain a single form of media each don't mix your 00:04:54.000 --> 00:04:58.880 photos with your drm free digital movies 00:04:57.120 --> 00:05:03.360 then give a quick test to make sure your media is working and you are off to the 00:05:00.560 --> 00:05:07.199 races download the plex app on well pretty much anything log in and boom you 00:05:05.759 --> 00:05:12.160 have your media libraries at your fingertips yeah it's really that simple 00:05:10.000 --> 00:05:15.840 at least on your local network we'll talk about remote access a little bit 00:05:14.160 --> 00:05:19.039 later though we're going to give you some tips on how to manage your server 00:05:17.360 --> 00:05:23.199 but first we're going to show you how to get things up and running on my favorite 00:05:21.120 --> 00:05:28.560 streaming device the NVIDIA shield tv pro nice backpack Linus i know right 00:05:26.880 --> 00:05:32.240 it's super durable and comes with a limited lifetime warranty from 00:05:30.000 --> 00:05:35.520 ltdstore.com there are two versions of the shield tv with nearly identical 00:05:34.000 --> 00:05:39.919 features as far as most people are concerned but we need the pro version 00:05:38.080 --> 00:05:45.360 for our application because it supports expandable storage over usb 00:05:42.800 --> 00:05:50.560 first you'll download the plex app and the plex media server app then boot up 00:05:47.919 --> 00:05:55.680 the plex app click on enable plex media server follow the prompts wait for the 00:05:52.720 --> 00:05:59.919 server to configure and you're done now take your external hard drive and 00:05:57.680 --> 00:06:04.479 plug it into your NVIDIA shield click on the notification and tap to setup 00:06:02.400 --> 00:06:08.800 then eject the drive and take it to a computer you'll see that the shield 00:06:06.319 --> 00:06:13.120 created a folder aptly named NVIDIA shield this is the folder on the drive 00:06:10.880 --> 00:06:16.880 that the shield will be able to access move your media folders inside the 00:06:15.120 --> 00:06:22.080 shield folder and while we're on the computer log into app.plex.tv so you can 00:06:20.000 --> 00:06:25.919 configure your server in the next step plug your drive back into the shield 00:06:23.919 --> 00:06:29.360 then back on the plex browser app click manage libraries and add folders and 00:06:27.919 --> 00:06:33.680 select the folder on the drive that contains your media you should see plex 00:06:31.440 --> 00:06:37.680 begin to auto populate with your folders your plex server will scan the files 00:06:35.600 --> 00:06:42.080 find poster art metadata and all sorts of other fun stuff but this stuff will 00:06:40.160 --> 00:06:45.680 be stored directly on your shield meaning that your 16 gigs of internal 00:06:43.919 --> 00:06:49.759 storage could start filling up especially if you have a large media 00:06:47.199 --> 00:06:54.319 library we recommend moving the server location to an external drive but that 00:06:52.240 --> 00:06:59.039 puts us in a bit of a pickle because if we want to add media to our drive then 00:06:56.319 --> 00:07:03.199 we need to unplug our server that's no good but there is an easy fix just use 00:07:01.440 --> 00:07:07.120 the shield as a network drive where you can drop files in from your pc we don't 00:07:05.520 --> 00:07:12.240 have time to cover exactly how to do that here so check out lawn.tv's video 00:07:09.599 --> 00:07:16.479 we're gonna have that linked down below that looks inconvenient so here's the 00:07:14.240 --> 00:07:20.880 king's way of doing things on your own nas i mean you already have the server 00:07:18.400 --> 00:07:24.400 set up why not use it while plex is available on open source operating 00:07:22.560 --> 00:07:28.400 systems like truenas which is meant for storage our tutorial will be centered 00:07:26.400 --> 00:07:32.160 around unrated since that's what Linus and i both use at home if you've never 00:07:30.319 --> 00:07:35.599 configured a nas before i know it can sound a little intimidating but it's 00:07:34.000 --> 00:07:40.880 actually not that hard as long as you don't have to do it with Linus at your side check out Floatplane.com for a 00:07:39.039 --> 00:07:45.120 longer version of us building the server that runs our firewall here it was total 00:07:43.280 --> 00:07:48.080 absolute shenanigans we're going to assume you already have an unraid nas up 00:07:46.960 --> 00:07:52.080 and running but if you want to learn more about doing that you can check out our video about it down in the 00:07:50.960 --> 00:07:56.800 description the first thing you're going to need to do is set up a new share this will be 00:07:55.280 --> 00:08:01.120 the folder structure that will hold your media files and you can name it 00:07:58.319 --> 00:08:05.280 something like media or my stuff or files or not prawn 00:08:04.160 --> 00:08:11.039 and then you can make a couple of subfolders for your categories like movies family videos tvs photos whatever 00:08:09.840 --> 00:08:14.479 you want go to apps and install the community 00:08:12.960 --> 00:08:18.400 apps plugin we'll have a link to that in the description follow the instructions 00:08:16.639 --> 00:08:22.000 search for plex media server and then hit the download icon from this screen 00:08:20.479 --> 00:08:26.479 we're going to need to input a couple of things first off in the host path 2 00:08:24.879 --> 00:08:30.240 where it says slash transcode you're gonna type in slash temp slash this is 00:08:28.800 --> 00:08:34.560 where files will live when they're being transcoded for a client in host path 00:08:32.080 --> 00:08:39.760 three which is slash data type in slash mount slash user slash whatever you 00:08:37.120 --> 00:08:43.919 named your media share earlier so not prawn or whatever you titled your media 00:08:41.760 --> 00:08:48.240 share then in key one which is titled plex claim you're going to input your 00:08:45.760 --> 00:08:51.839 plex claim code to get one head to plex dot tv slash claim and log into your 00:08:50.160 --> 00:08:55.519 plex account if you don't have one already you can make one at this step 00:08:53.440 --> 00:09:00.080 and then copy and paste that code into the text box leave everything else alone 00:08:57.920 --> 00:09:03.760 and then click apply then the app will automatically get downloaded via docker 00:09:01.920 --> 00:09:08.399 and set up to get started using your plex server go to the docker tab click 00:09:05.920 --> 00:09:12.000 the plex logo and then hit web ui this will take you to the web ui of your plex 00:09:10.399 --> 00:09:15.519 server and before you can actually start watching anything you're going to need 00:09:13.440 --> 00:09:19.519 to go into your settings and set up your library folders so each of those folders 00:09:17.200 --> 00:09:24.080 you made before let's say tv or movies select those then plex can actually see 00:09:21.680 --> 00:09:28.160 the media and you can watch see i told you it wouldn't be that hard back to you 00:09:25.839 --> 00:09:32.240 Linus but plex isn't just a bring your own media affair when you sign up for a 00:09:30.000 --> 00:09:37.040 plex account you also get access to 300 live tv channels and 50 000 on demand 00:09:34.640 --> 00:09:40.880 movies and tv shows completely free you've got things like i tonya or 00:09:38.880 --> 00:09:44.240 Anthony bourdain's the cook's tour and another cool feature is that plex will 00:09:42.560 --> 00:09:49.200 let you keep a watch list that includes not just your local files not just plex 00:09:46.399 --> 00:09:53.200 tv but media from every other streaming service too for free you get a ton of 00:09:51.680 --> 00:09:59.120 awesome features but if you're keen for a couple more things you can get plex 00:09:54.720 --> 00:10:01.680 pass for 4.99 a month 40 a year or 120 00:09:59.120 --> 00:10:05.040 dollars for the rest of your life you can upgrade your plex experience to 00:10:03.360 --> 00:10:08.720 take advantage then of members only features like hardware transcoding which 00:10:07.360 --> 00:10:14.079 if you plan on having a lot of people using your server is a must you can even 00:10:11.839 --> 00:10:17.600 use plex as a dvr with your set top box or antenna and record broadcast 00:10:15.760 --> 00:10:21.440 television or you can download media to your mobile device to watch on the plane 00:10:19.680 --> 00:10:25.760 there are even fun settings like playing trailers before your movie so that you 00:10:23.360 --> 00:10:29.120 can get the cinema experience right in your home if you're into that sort of 00:10:27.279 --> 00:10:33.519 thing do they have a feature where i can press a button to pay an extra 10 for my 00:10:31.200 --> 00:10:37.600 popcorn and new features are always being added with early access for plex 00:10:35.519 --> 00:10:41.680 pass members like support for multiple editions of movies so you don't have to 00:10:39.440 --> 00:10:45.600 find out 15 minutes into return of the jedi that you chose the version with 00:10:43.120 --> 00:10:49.200 that awful jedi rock song oh and we haven't even mentioned that 00:10:47.200 --> 00:10:53.040 plex has their own audio player targeted at audio files called plex amp which 00:10:51.279 --> 00:10:57.040 allows you to listen to your audio files at full bitrate and has the ability to 00:10:55.360 --> 00:11:00.959 link with your title account so that you have all your hifi audio in one slick 00:10:59.600 --> 00:11:05.440 media player now that your server's up and running you're probably ready for some tips and 00:11:03.519 --> 00:11:09.680 tricks if you want to watch content from your server on a mobile device you'll 00:11:07.200 --> 00:11:14.880 have to either have plex pass or pay a one-time fee for your mobile device also 00:11:12.720 --> 00:11:19.519 during setup the server will attempt to configure remote access so you can get 00:11:16.959 --> 00:11:22.880 to your media files from outside of your own wi-fi network 00:11:21.120 --> 00:11:26.880 this configuration uses universal plug-and-play or upnp which 00:11:25.279 --> 00:11:31.760 should work fine as long as you have a router that's less than 10 or so years 00:11:29.120 --> 00:11:36.720 old but if you have a unique home router configuration or if you disabled upnp 00:11:34.399 --> 00:11:41.279 because it's a fundamentally flawed feature that carries enormous security 00:11:38.480 --> 00:11:45.760 risks then that might not work thankfully plex's massive knowledge base 00:11:43.680 --> 00:11:49.600 and large and enthusiastic community means that almost any issue you'll 00:11:47.440 --> 00:11:54.399 encounter well someone else has probably had it too and there's likely a solution 00:11:52.240 --> 00:11:58.720 if upnp isn't an option you can either open the ports manually or use something 00:11:56.560 --> 00:12:02.560 like nginx reverse proxy to make sure that your server is secure again check 00:12:00.880 --> 00:12:05.839 out the description for a link to the software and a tutorial for setting it 00:12:04.399 --> 00:12:11.680 up with plex if your system struggles with transcoding your media you can optimize 00:12:09.440 --> 00:12:15.279 your media ahead of time this function converts your media to a file size and 00:12:13.600 --> 00:12:19.279 format that's ideal for specific scenarios like streaming to your tv or 00:12:17.839 --> 00:12:22.639 to your mobile phone so you don't have to deal with buffering or processing 00:12:21.040 --> 00:12:28.399 when you're just trying to enjoy your content on that subject if you don't want to see 00:12:26.079 --> 00:12:32.560 anything other than your own content like the free tv shows and movies here's 00:12:30.639 --> 00:12:36.800 how to turn that off in the left hand menu you have your pinned libraries so 00:12:34.639 --> 00:12:40.720 just hover over that click the dots and select remove from pinned this will hide 00:12:39.279 --> 00:12:44.560 the content of those libraries from the side menu and from the plex home page 00:12:42.800 --> 00:12:48.240 should you ever change your mind you can see all of your servers and their 00:12:46.160 --> 00:12:52.800 respective libraries and from here you can pin them if any of your content gets 00:12:50.160 --> 00:12:57.120 misidentified or is missing metadata you can manually set them like this 00:12:54.959 --> 00:13:00.720 but you should be able to mostly avoid this if you follow plex's published best 00:12:59.040 --> 00:13:04.240 practices for file naming we're going to have that linked down below and if 00:13:02.800 --> 00:13:08.560 renaming all your files sounds incredibly tedious don't worry tiny 00:13:06.800 --> 00:13:11.920 media manager is your knight in shining armor allowing you to batch process 00:13:10.480 --> 00:13:14.880 these tasks now all of this is super cool but we do 00:13:13.600 --> 00:13:18.959 need to take a second to acknowledge something inconvenient timing for this 00:13:16.720 --> 00:13:23.600 collaboration but plex was just in the tech news due to a recent data breach 00:13:21.600 --> 00:13:28.399 this past august usernames email addresses and encrypted passwords were 00:13:25.920 --> 00:13:33.360 accessed from plexus servers that sucks however plex immediately 00:13:31.279 --> 00:13:36.959 alerted their customers and encouraged users to change their passwords even 00:13:35.200 --> 00:13:41.200 though the passwords that were stolen were encrypted this is a good response 00:13:39.360 --> 00:13:44.320 and it's also nice to know that plex isn't storing credit card data on those 00:13:43.200 --> 00:13:49.600 servers this kind of thing is a downside with any centrally authorized service and i 00:13:48.079 --> 00:13:53.200 sincerely hope that they can do better in the future but 00:13:51.279 --> 00:13:56.880 i do applaud them for their transparency and that's the reason we were still 00:13:55.040 --> 00:14:00.320 comfortable working with them back to the stuff they'd rather i talked 00:13:58.240 --> 00:14:04.880 to you about next week is plexus pro week between september 19th and 23rd 00:14:02.480 --> 00:14:08.160 2022 it's a great time to learn how to take your personal media experience to 00:14:06.399 --> 00:14:11.199 new heights and throughout the week plex will be highlighting experts and 00:14:09.519 --> 00:14:15.199 community members to discuss the various features and benefits of plex pass we're 00:14:13.519 --> 00:14:19.279 also included in the lineup by the way so be sure to check out the video next 00:14:16.880 --> 00:14:23.120 week at the link down below if you enjoyed this video why not check 00:14:20.880 --> 00:14:28.399 out our video about my home server you can learn more about unraid or zfs 00:14:25.680 --> 00:14:28.399 cool right