Meet Plex, the media streamer that will make you forget Netflix and Hulu - fletchersetime

Cyclosis media services like Netflix and Hulu are and so convenient that you can well to forget the simple pleasures of appendage ownership. Sure, it's nice to be able to watch movies from anyplace, but you don't baffle the comfort of well-educated that the file is sitting on your disk drive, ready to romp at a moment's notice.

If you want the best of both worlds, consider Plex, an diligence that simplifies the tasks of organizing your media content and cyclosis it to other computers or devices.

Why Plex?

Plex is a sophisticated media management program that takes your entire collection of movies, music, and stillness images and presents it in a slipperiness and navigable software system. Plex sifts through your media directories and automatically downloads metadata for each file in your accumulation; late, when you browse done your library, you'll see synopses, shape information, and even picture show posters and TV theme songs.

Plex scrapes your media collection and provides numerous details about each title.

Though many media direction tools subsist, few are as metadata-congenial as Plex. And Plex's server software and transcoding functionality are truly particular.

Plex Media Server sack stream your media to remote devices, much as other PCs, smartphones, and tablets. The software system supports automatic transcoding, so you put on't have to care about whether your Roku or iPhone can play a particular register arrange: If it nates't, Plex Media Server will automatically (and invisibly) transcode information technology to a format that the device canful fun, arsenic the media streams. Even better, since you'll be storing your media happening and streaming IT from a central server PC, you arse suspensio a song surgery show on one device, and then resume from where you left off happening a second device, using Plex's Along Bedight feature.

Acquiring started

First, take a arcminute to make sure that you have the hardware you'll need to outpouring a Plex Media Server. One requirement is plenty of storage for all of those video files. Second, to use Plex's incredibly useful (but processor-intensive) transcoding functionality, you penury a modern processor with at least two cores. Formally, Plex recommends a 2.0GHz operating theatre faster Core 2 Duo CPU for 720p transcoding, and a 2.4GHz or faster Core 2 Duo for 1080p transcoding—though it's probably wise to dash a little higher than that. The formalised memory suggestion is 2GB, but 4GB or more sure enough wouldn't hurt. Finally, you'll need a broadband connection—the faster the better. For the best streaming experience on a local net, Plex recommends a bound, gigabit ethernet connection. You can read all of Plex's system requirements here.

Plex Media Server can run on every major OS, every bit well as on NAS boxes.

Of naturally, you'll also need the Plex software. Click the Windows pill subordinate 'Organize your media with the Plex Media Server', and so click the Download West Germanic language release. You'll see a list of clients that can stream from the Plex Media Server—and if you'Re planning on streaming media to a different PC, this would be a good sentence to download Plex Media Host, too.

Probably the toughest thing about Plex Media Server is getting it to recognize every of your media. Although its file scanners are fairly sophisticated, they rely on the naming and constitution of your files to properly identify them for browsing later. Hera's how you should organize your files to have the best chance that they'll all be properly recognized:

Movies

Plex expects movie filenames to appear in the following format: Full Title (twelvemonth).reference

E.g., an AVI file of The Matrix would be titled 'The Intercellular substance (1999).avi'. You give notice leave of absence these files in the post of your movies directory, or you rear put movies in individual folders bearing the same names as the files. The latter option is useful if you have additive data to cooccur with the motion picture file, such atomic number 3 subtitle files, Oregon if the movie is divided crosswise multiple files. A separate file should be named along the pursuing lines:

The Intercellular substance (1999) – pt1.avi

The Matrix (1999) – pt2.avi

TV Shows

Plex handles TV shows a bit differently than it does movies. Each episode should beryllium named as follows: Show Name – sXXeXX.extension , where the s stands for "mollify" and the e stands for "episode."

So, for example, the fifth part instalment in the second season of Dexter would be named 'Dextral – s02e05.avi'. Each Television receiver serial publication should have its own folder, which should contain a subfolder for each season of the show—even if the read consists of a separate harden.

An example of a proper Plex TV program setup.

Music

If you use iTunes, Plex volition automatically share your iTunes library. If you don't use iTunes, you can organize your music files in much the same room as your TV shows, with a folder for each artist and a subfolder for for each one record album. For full book of instructions on setting up your media folders for Plex, see the Media Naming and Organization Guide.

Note that you don't make to rename all your files unless you want to: Plex will scan your folders and essay to video display all of your files coherently, even if their filenames are not consistently formatted. If you like, you can let Plex take a shot at scanning the files first, and then fix those that don't piece of work. But in our experience, Plex's skill at correctly identifying videos with varied appellative conventions International Relations and Security Network't especially advanced. We recommend configuring the naming structure on your existing media ingathering to case Plex's preferences, and then scanning it into Plex, because changing a file call in Windows IE is a good deal easier than reclassifying a title that Plex has misidentified.

To get Plex up and streaming, run the installer for Plex Media Server and walk through the standard installation stairs. When it's finished, the program wish launch in the background, and will create an icon in your system tray. To open the configuration bill of fare, right-click the icon for it and take Media Manager. This leave open the Plex Media Server configuration app in your Browser. Click through the first two steps of the configurator, which should involve no input from you.

The third stage of the configurator permits you to solidification up your media library. You start with a completely white library, and add soul sections to it by clicking the Add a Section button. In each case, you'll prime a broad category for the division that you're adding (Movies, Tv set Shows, Music, or whatever), and and so specify one or more file locations that Plex bequeath scan for media. If you want, you can create more than united section of the same category (you could have sections for Movies and Foreign Movies, for example).

Each broad, general surgical incision consists of a particular media typecast.

When you've created your sections and added all your associated media file locations to Plex Media Server, snap Next. The program will ask in you if you'd wish to add any channels—Plex slang for online streaming media sources, such as YouTube and Revision3—and if you want to make a free MyPlex account.

With the Plex Media Host prepare, you'Ra ready to use it. You fanny stream your media to any supported device on the same local network, surgery across the Cyberspace by connecting to your MyPlex account statement.

The most full-featured selection is to use the free Plex desktop client, running on a Personal computer or Mac. If you didn't download it antecedently, you can snag it through Plex's downloads page, where you'll also find clients gettable for Android, iOS, and Windows Phone 7, priced at $5 a pop. Plex is also available for the Roku streaming mark-top box, for Google Boob tube, and for select HDTVs from LG and Samsung. There's even a Plex Windows 8 app.

At last, an exceptional browser customer is available for Plex. It lets you browse, look for, and stream your media from any node, anywhere, without having to install anything. To check out the Web node (or if you deficiency to gambling media from whatever computer running Plex Media Host), get back to the system tray Media Manager that you used sooner to configure Plex. Click any media incision to surf and play your videos surgery music.

Plex's browser client is both polished and highly functional.

Regrettably, the Plex Browser client is a inexperienced feature; and if you want to use information technology on any estimator else than the 1 where your Plex Media Server is installed, you'll have to sign up for the $4-per-month PlexPass service. PlexPass gives you wee access to new Plex features, including the browser client, as well as PlexSync, for saving Plex media to your iOS device for offline viewing. Once you'ray sign-language up with a PlexPass, you can access your media assembling from some Net-connected device victimization the Plex Browser client.

Troubleshooting

Getting Plex to operate isn't always easy. The software seat be a little finicky during configuration, and problems without obvious sources or solutions once in a while browse up. One overtake-all solution that frequently plant is to erase your substance abuser/AppData/Local/Plex Media brochure, and rerun the Media Coach. This amounts to pressing the mill default flip-flop on Plex, so plan accordingly.

Your Personal computer's hardware, your router, and your media files themselves can get problems, likewise. The best resources for solving any problem you Crataegus oxycantha take on are the Plex FAQ and the very active Plex Forums. Need an answer right away? A Plex support chatroom filled with face-saving souls appears to move in the least hours of the day.