Plex-Help me understand

Yes it is a personal media server....yes you can get content from other people's servers if they give you access.

If you don't have a dedicated PC for it to feed off a hard drive of media, then you could still benefit greatly from someone else willing to share their server with you via adding you as a friend.. You then have access to all their media.

If you like I can add you to my server?

As others have said it can be both but I primarily use it for personal media to be viewable on all TV's in the house. I have a home theater PC that I store everything on and can watch throughout the house.

You need some kind of dedicated machine to run the Plex server software. The client apps can't play videos directly without connecting to a server.

Sorry, I didn't get back to this thread right away.

I added you to my server called BC.

You just have to confirm from your e-mail account or on plex and accept it.

Then on the drop down menu select my BC server.

I have so many movies, I know you were looking more towards children's movies.. which I have so many.. but I do have a ton of movies in general.. so be careful. I try not to have anything too x-rated, but it's such a large server.

Let me know how it works for you. You can also make PLAYLISTS on plex for free. You could even name a playlist for example.. disney movies.. then add all the disney movies you can think of.. etc.

sure what is your e-mail or username associated. you can remove it after


edit. i went ahead and added the same username as your TD name, so I assume that's you. just accept it.

quote:

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Can I play my own movies through plex off of my router, or do I need a dedicated computer for that?

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You can't use a external hard drive to run plex, but you can use a NAS.

I run mine through a desktop computer i have. yes i have a desktop computer. I've looked into buying a NAS, they just aren't cheap, and i still need the computer to download my movies.
My biggest issue is the storage and backup of the movies. I have 4TB of movies right now. paying for cloud storage of that much is ridiculous. I can buy a new external hard drive every year for cheaper than cloud storage. I'm just gonna always have 3 hard drives backing each other up. If one crashes, throw it away and replace it.

Would you mind adding me?

Anyone have any experience with Synology pre-built NAS? They seem like a good inexpensive option (if the processor and ram included are good enough that the system doesn’t lag).

I looked into building my own, but I’ll get to $500 easily and then have to run FreeNAS, which is sure works fine but I’d still have to figure out.

For now I’m just using my day-to-day desktop PC as a NAS for just a few kids movies. Works fine as far as I can tell, so I’m not clear on the absolute need for a dedicated NAS.