I really want to get started.
I have a big library of files on a HDD. I will run it off my home computer, and it will be exclusively for my home network.
Question 1: Is it fine to run my desktop computer as a server and a client? I don’t actually know how Plex works yet, so I may be describing it wrong. Currently I watch things on my Desktop Computer. I want to continue this but through Plex instead of just using VLC. If I do add more clients, only one will be viewing at a time. I do have a Raspberry Pi available, but was hoping to use it as a client at a later time instead of a server,
Question 2: Can I scan my media folder in Plex to get started, and then later rescan my Plex library after I rename files? I haven’t reorganised all my files yet, a lot of them should be fine but I don’t have time to do it all now. Some of them I may never bother renaming or reorganising. I don’t mind Plex having to do all the posters and stuff again.
Question 3: What does Plex do for the re-encoding? I think I read that Plex encodes the video files. Does this create new files on the HHD? My drive is pretty full. I don’t have enough space for duplicates in another codec. Does this process replace the files? Will I have to have my Plex drive only contain converted videos? Is there a process to encode from my storage drive to my Plex drive without disturbing my storgate drive? Space is at a premium and I don’t want to risk Plex altering my media on my storage drive.
Thank you.
Hi!
To answer your first question, yes, you absolutely can use your desktop computer as server and client at the same time. Just bear in mind you’ll need to have it powered on 24/7 to have access from other clients, be it locally or from outside.
Plex has multiple options to scan the library when changes have been detected and does a sweep of the whole library at intervals you set up. You can also trigger a library scan manually if you want. Don’t worry about changing names, it will detect and move around the library without any trouble.
About the encoding part, Plex encodes the stream that is being sent to the client, if necessary. There’s the possibility of creating “optimized” files that would take up space in your HDD, but re-encoding streams so that the client can play the files won’t take space AFAIK.
I hope this answers your concerns, cheers!
- Yes its fine to watch on the same pc as the server
- I believe Plex by default will occasionally scan your library, and there is an option to have plex watch for changes in the media folders so it knows when something is added or removed and update your library, so you would be able to go in and rename your files without even needing to tell plex to rescan, as it would do it automatically
- There are 2 ways Plex can do this: the usual option is on the fly transcoding, meaning Plex will transcode the file in real time as you are watching it, this takes no storage space other than a bit of temporary space. The 2nd option is to pre-transcode other versions that plex calls optimized versions, these versions are saved to your storage. The optimized versions option is usually only used if your server doesn’t have the power to transcode on the fly.
Excellent. Thank you very much.
So it sounds like for now, I can just transcode on the fly. My first phase will be just watching the files on the same computer that connected to the hard drive. It has a good graphics card and CPU. This is just really to test if I like using the program.
When I go to phase 2, it sound like I will then consider setting up a dedicated server with pre-transcoded files. Would I be correct in thinking a Raspberry Pi on my LAN with pre-transcoded files on a HDD directly plugged to the RPi?
The good thing is that you don’t need to have the storage directly attached to whatever is running plex, as long as the storage is available to the server.
As for the transcoding part, there’s a few things to think about. Will you always be the only person streaming from it? Will it always be at home in your network? Do you need soft subtitles? If you are watching locally only with no subtitles, it mostly negates the need for transcoding as long as the media files you have are compatible with the devices you watch on. You can do what’s called direct streaming where Plex does no transcoding at all because the client can decode the media as is. For a low power server like an RPi this would be the ideal way to use Plex. If you plan on using plex remotely or letting other people use your plex library remotely or use subtitles that need to be burn onto the video, then you will need transcoding. In that case, some of the newer RPis can usually barely transcode a single 1080p fast enough for watching video, but that varies by exactly which model you get. Do realize that if you do the pre-transcoding it will essentially max your RPi into that one task, so trying to have more than the Plex service on it likely would not work out well. It can also take a considerably long time to finish the transcoding, as an example a 20minute episode might take 40 minutes to transcode, so you won’t have the target quality until later, so you have to plan ahead if you want to watch something.
Hey this is basically how I use mine until I finally get around to creating some type of home server. It works extremely well though I mostly cast to other TVs.
Everyone else has answered your questions but I can confirm those answers as well.
- Yeah, that’s fine. Your experience on the same machine as the server will likely not be much different than that if anotherachine on your home network.
- That should be fine, Plex can scan on a schedule or when files change/get added/whatever. I am not 100% sure, but I think it will even still remember your watch statuses due to how it detects and matches movies with places like themoviedb.org. It is a very good idea to at least have stuff like movies/TV split up in advance so you can set up your libraries right.
- It re-encodes on the fly, but will need some disk to store those files temporarily. Also, depending on the media (codecs for audio/video, container, subtitles, etc) it may not have to re-encode them at all. E.g. an mp4 with h264 video and aac/mp3 audio and no subtitles should be streamable to any device without having to do anything.
