Plex media server is slick

Lazybones · June 05, 2012, 12:29:54 AM

http://www.plexapp.com/

Although the DLNA support isn't as good as serviio it is rapidly improving between releases... However that isn't the best part, the plex server is super easy to setup, has a nice web UP and the plex iOS app works almost flawlessly to stream your library outside your home network even over 3G seriously even subtitled stuff works...

The DLNA server seems to work very well with the WDTV, it even displays images for season folders which is a semi rare DLNA feature to support.

Xbox support is fairly sold as well over DLNA

Like boxee you can setup an online account and use a bookmarklet on your browser to queue up stuff like youtube vidoes to later play on your plex clients... I tested this out with a youtube clip and it played great both on my xbox and on my iPhone over 3G...

worth checking out...

The iOS version is not free..

Lazybones · June 06, 2012, 07:22:30 PM

So DLNA trans-coding works rather well with the XBox and it will display thumbs for the videos.

ON the WDTV DLNA works even better with Series and Season folders getting poster thumbnails and video thumbs for the video.

I tired DLNA on my 2010 Samsung blueray player and found it didn't really work, on serviio playback is decent on this device and I get video thumbs but on plex at the moment it doesn't have a dlna profile and fails.

I was a little disappointed and was going to write a DLNA trans-code profile for it, till I noticed there was a Samsung sub-forum on the Plex forum...

Turns out there is a Plex APP for the Samsungs if you switch it to developer mode..

Take a look at this (this is a "app" on my samsung blueray player):

Lazybones · June 06, 2012, 07:24:11 PM

Also purchased the Plex App for iOS and it works great even over 3G... seriously I can stream my home movie content trans-coded anywhere.

So now my WDTV seems a little out of place because it doesn't have a Plex app.. IT can play everything and shows thumbs for folders but when using it you miss out on the metadata unless you use its own direct folder access and scraper, which is redundant.

I believe the Roku units come with this kind of Plex app, making me really consider selling my WDTV and grabbing one of the new Roku units.

Tom · June 11, 2012, 11:40:56 PM

So I've set it up.. But do you notice any kind of serious cpu use from the mediaserver? What are you running it on?

When I'm streaming from my phone, and let it auto pick the bitrate, I see upwards of 400-500% cpu use (quadcore system with hyperthreading, so 5+ "cores" end up in use).

You guys are going to have to let me know if my plex use impacts minecraft at all

Lazybones · June 11, 2012, 11:46:36 PM

Transcoding is always CPU intense, you may want to artificially limit the plex user/app to 2 cores.

I am running it under Debian on old dual core AMD x2 based system.

Tom · June 12, 2012, 12:12:46 AM

Quote from: Lazybones on June 11, 2012, 11:46:36 PM
Transcoding is always CPU intense, you may want to artificially limit the plex user/app to 2 cores.

I am running it under Debian on old dual core AMD x2 based system.

Yeah, limiting it is an option, but you think if its using that much, it /needs/ that much, so limiting it is only going to cause for some rather choppy playback. Seriously on this new Sandybridge Quadcore with HT, it can and will use 5 or more cores on a quadcore system

I'm not having much luck finding any official way to limit plex's cpu use, other than never using high bitrates.

Lazybones · June 12, 2012, 12:13:00 AM

As for the bit rate, on my phone I assume on 3G I want to limit my use as much as possible so I don't blow my cap on my plan.

So I limited the streams to 320kbps, 240p when on 3G

Tom · June 12, 2012, 12:17:49 AM

Quote from: Lazybones on June 12, 2012, 12:13:00 AM
As for the bit rate, on my phone I assume on 3G I want to limit my use as much as possible so I don't blow my cap on my plan.

So I limited the streams to 320kbps, 240p when on 3G

I was just playing back locally and letting it auto pick. When I put it down to 1.5mbps, then the cpu use was around 300%.

Thorin · June 12, 2012, 12:57:57 AM

Wait a minute, you're running _other_ stuff on your MC server? How... unpure!

We won't know if it's actually affecting it since we don't know when you're Plexing.

Yes, that's a new word.

Tom · June 12, 2012, 01:09:29 AM

Quote from: Thorin on June 12, 2012, 12:57:57 AM
Wait a minute, you're running _other_ stuff on your MC server? How... unpure!

We won't know if it's actually affecting it since we don't know when you're Plexing.

Yes, that's a new word.

If the server all of a sudden craps out... That's a good sign. Like its there but the lag just skyrocketed, and comes back 22 minutes later?

Lazybones · June 12, 2012, 02:03:10 AM

Sent you an invite with some of my video sections shared... (plex lets you share video between accounts)

Will have to watch if it impacts my cap but wanted to check out the feature.

Tom · June 12, 2012, 12:59:47 PM

Quote from: Lazybones on June 12, 2012, 02:03:10 AM
Sent you an invite with some of my video sections shared... (plex lets you share video between accounts)

Will have to watch if it impacts my cap but wanted to check out the feature.

Heh. I'll have to check it out. Maybe share mine.

Lazybones · June 12, 2012, 01:04:49 PM

Quote from: Tom on June 12, 2012, 12:59:47 PM
Quote from: Lazybones on June 12, 2012, 02:03:10 AM
Sent you an invite with some of my video sections shared... (plex lets you share video between accounts)

Will have to watch if it impacts my cap but wanted to check out the feature.
Heh. I'll have to check it out. Maybe share mine.

I am still doing some sorting on my other Library sections so I only shared the primary already sorted ones, however I may bring in some new content from my Archive folder as I believe it is clean for meta import.

Tom · June 12, 2012, 01:54:08 PM

Quote from: Lazybones on June 12, 2012, 01:04:49 PM
Quote from: Tom on June 12, 2012, 12:59:47 PM
Quote from: Lazybones on June 12, 2012, 02:03:10 AM
Sent you an invite with some of my video sections shared... (plex lets you share video between accounts)

Will have to watch if it impacts my cap but wanted to check out the feature.
Heh. I'll have to check it out. Maybe share mine.

I am still doing some sorting on my other Library sections so I only shared the primary already sorted ones, however I may bring in some new content from my Archive folder as I believe it is clean for meta import.

I still have a lot of sorting to do. Turns out it doesn't treat symlinks specially at all. And one of my media folders has a link inside it to one of my other folders.. One that happens to be 2.2TB in size. So yeah. Fun times.

Lazybones · June 12, 2012, 02:05:13 PM

Quote from: Tom on June 12, 2012, 01:54:08 PM
]I still have a lot of sorting to do. Turns out it doesn't treat symlinks specially at all. And one of my media folders has a link inside it to one of my other folders.. One that happens to be 2.2TB in size. So yeah. Fun times.

Ya sorting previous stuff sucks, I moved nearly all my mess out into separate folders, then focused on easy stuff to correct. I have posted several tools in the past that help with naming.