What does Plex actually do?

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cshwone

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#275757 8-Sep-2020 04:53

Hi,

I run a Synology NAS with a Raspberry PI and Kodi for viewing media files. I like the Kodi interface and it all just works.

I hear all sorts of stuff about Plex - having a server installed on your NAS, running clients etc. What does Plex actually do for you that my simple NAS/Kodi set up doesn't?

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#2560009 8-Sep-2020 05:07

If you have one client - nothing. Kodi does more than Plex in this scenario.

The beauty of plex is multiple users and multiple clients. All your viewing history is synchronised and your can watch you movies and shows on any device. If you have a reasonable internet connection you can also stream from your PC remotely. When we go away on holiday we leave our server on and just stream to our iPads or a fire stick. You can also download for offline viewing in the quality of your choice (if you have plexpass).

I have Plex on all three TVs, my PCs, phones and tablets. It all goes to one database and viewing history. It's highly recommended by me if you have that sort of use case.

One player - don't bother.

cshwone

473 posts

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#2560019 8-Sep-2020 06:00

Handle9:

If you have one client - nothing. Kodi does more than Plex in this scenario.

The beauty of plex is multiple users and multiple clients. All your viewing history is synchronised and your can watch you movies and shows on any device. If you have a reasonable internet connection you can also stream from your PC remotely. When we go away on holiday we leave our server on and just stream to our iPads or a fire stick. You can also download for offline viewing in the quality of your choice (if you have plexpass).

I have Plex on all three TVs, my PCs, phones and tablets. It all goes to one database and viewing history. It's highly recommended by me if you have that sort of use case.

One player - don't bother.

Thank you. Very clear now.

Lias

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#2560029 8-Sep-2020 07:40

Plex basically turns your media library into your own little Netflix. You can share with friends, family, etc.

Information wants to be free. The Net interprets censorship as damage and routes around it.

surfisup1000

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#2560051 8-Sep-2020 08:42

I want plexpass, but not many sales lately.

Unless I am missing the emails ha.

rb99

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#2560075 8-Sep-2020 09:23

Handle9:

If you have one client - nothing. Kodi does more than Plex in this scenario.

The beauty of plex is multiple users and multiple clients. All your viewing history is synchronised and your can watch you movies and shows on any device. If you have a reasonable internet connection you can also stream from your PC remotely. When we go away on holiday we leave our server on and just stream to our iPads or a fire stick. You can also download for offline viewing in the quality of your choice (if you have plexpass).

I have Plex on all three TVs, my PCs, phones and tablets. It all goes to one database and viewing history. It's highly recommended by me if you have that sort of use case.

One player - don't bother.

Ditto, more or less, for Emby.

rb99

gehenna

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#2560122 8-Sep-2020 10:34

Quite a few threads on here about this topic, what is plex, how to get started, what are comparable solutions, etc and so on. Jump into those, there's great info in them.

gehenna

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#2560123 8-Sep-2020 10:35

surfisup1000:

I want plexpass, but not many sales lately.

Unless I am missing the emails ha.

There was a lifetime sale plastered all over the internet last week. Think someone posted it in the Bargains and Deals thread on GZ too. Subscribe to that for future notifications if someone posts it.

surfisup1000

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#2560157 8-Sep-2020 11:15

gehenna:

surfisup1000:

I want plexpass, but not many sales lately.

Unless I am missing the emails ha.

There was a lifetime sale plastered all over the internet last week. Think someone posted it in the Bargains and Deals thread on GZ too. Subscribe to that for future notifications if someone posts it.

I'm not sure it was as well plastered over the internet as you think.

I checked the bargains and deals thread, it wasn't posted.

I'm subscribed to cheapies.co.nz, also nothing. Last lifetime pass sale there was over a year back.

I see I missed an email back in May, that was unfortunate.

chevrolux

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#2560166 8-Sep-2020 11:34

Handle9:

If you have one client - nothing. Kodi does more than Plex in this scenario.

And just to add, with a very simple little config file, and an SQL database sitting on your NAS, you can achieve central storage of play/paused info, meta data etc within Kodi if you do add another Kodi player in the future.

MikeB4

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#2560177 8-Sep-2020 11:45

it perplexes me

davidcole

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#2560255 8-Sep-2020 12:51

chevrolux:

Handle9:

If you have one client - nothing. Kodi does more than Plex in this scenario.

And just to add, with a very simple little config file, and an SQL database sitting on your NAS, you can achieve central storage of play/paused info, meta data etc within Kodi if you do add another Kodi player in the future.

But isn't the issue then the lack of kodi clients? Ie Apple TV, Samsung TV, LG Tv?

Plex came from Kodi. THat's not a secret (well never was). It was forked for the playback component to add the centralised DB without the user really having to think about it.

It also added the trancoding ability on the server depending on the abilities of the client requesting the media. So when phones where a bit less powerful the same video file would come out of your 1080p tv with minimal encoding, but your phone accessing over the internet would need it heavily recoded to a lower resolution to be able to keep up with it.

From there I think they went really hard on clients, putting them out for most platforms, including most of the commercial ones. I think Kodi was still tared with the piracy brush which is why it never (IMO) made the jump to commericial players.....which given their shared history seems strange.

Previously known as psycik

OpenHAB: Gigabyte AMD A8 Brix, OpenHAB with Aeotech ZWave Controller, Raspberry PI, Wemos D1 Mini, Zwave, Xiaomi Humidity and Temperature sensors and Bluetooth LE Sensors
Media:Chromecast v2, ATV4, Roku3, HDHomeRun Dual
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chevrolux

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#2560310 8-Sep-2020 13:54

Oh for sure. Plex is certainly much simpler and has many more options for players, as well as the remote playback being significantly better with the transcoding options.

Just thought it worth saying it's very easy to chuck a handful of Raspberry Pi's around with Kodi on it connecting to a central NAS and DB.

tripp

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#2560313 8-Sep-2020 13:58

Plex is good for sorting out media library etc, The real magic starts when you use it with different software like sonarr and radarr :)

gehenna

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#2560328 8-Sep-2020 14:23

surfisup1000:

I'm not sure it was as well plastered over the internet as you think.

Maybe wasn't on GZ but was on a bunch of the usual suspect tech sites. I wasn't looking for it and it certainly showed up in front of me a good half dozen times. Looks like it was a birthday flash sale, so maybe put a calendar reminder in for it's birthday next year to take another look :) And follow Plex on the usual socials of course.

https://www.cordcuttersnews.com/get-a-lifetime-plex-pass-on-sale-for-just-88-today-only/

davidcole

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#2560330 8-Sep-2020 14:25

gehenna:

surfisup1000:

I'm not sure it was as well plastered over the internet as you think.

Maybe wasn't on GZ but was on a bunch of the usual suspect tech sites. I wasn't looking for it and it certainly showed up in front of me a good half dozen times. Looks like it was a birthday flash sale, so maybe put a calendar reminder in for it's birthday next year to take another look :) And follow Plex on the usual socials of course.

https://www.cordcuttersnews.com/get-a-lifetime-plex-pass-on-sale-for-just-88-today-only/

yeah I saw it a bit as well....but only give it cursory notice as I managed to get on on the ground floor of lifetime plex pass when it was about $25USD #flex

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