What is Plex Media Server?
Nowadays, most consumers have some sort of streaming service as part of their entertainment budget. Netflix, Hulu and Amazon Prime all offer a streaming service with different options depending on which resolution or number of simultaneous screens a user wants to have access to. I’ve had my Netflix subscription since 2011 and Amazon Prime since 2014, and I’ve dabbled in Hulu when certain shows were on the air.
At the same time, I’m a bit of a digital hoarder. I currently have 2 terabytes worth of TV shows and movies sitting on my home desktop, even though I don’t have the time to watch that much content. The streaming services are a convenient way to start watching something, but they have problems: shows and movies may be locked to one service, meaning a user will need to buy another subscription in order to watch that content. Content also doesn’t stay available forever, meaning someone’s favorite show may disappear from the service they are paying for.
The dream is to have the content I own and store on my home computer available wherever I am. There are a few options to do this, but the best I’ve found is Plex Media Server. Plex is a program that installs on one computer and makes the content from that computer available on other devices such as phones, set top boxes, gaming consoles and smart TV’s. Plex can stream videos, music and photos.
Plex itself is free to use, but there is also a paid option that offers a lot more features. The free version isn’t anemic though, and it’s a very easy way to stream home media content from a central desktop to another device. The Plex Media Server program can install on Windows, Mac and Linux computers, a compatible Network Attached Storage (NAS) device, the Netgear Nighthawk X10 Wireless router, and even NVIDIA’s SHIELD TV set top box. There is also a newer option called Plex Cloud, which manages media stored on a OneDrive, Google Drive or Dropbox account — though this is currently a beta feature and users need to request an invitation. Additionally, users will need to pay for the cloud storage they require for their media collection. Because I built a gaming computer last year, I made sure I had a large enough hard drive for my collection and I use that as my media server.
That’s one of the largest caveats with Plex: users can run it from every type of hardware, but the experience is going to vary wildly. Plex uses the host machine’s hardware to process media into and push it to the device the media is being watched on. All the heavy processing happens on the host machine, so the media doesn’t use too much network data and ruin a mobile data cap. While the less powerful devices like the Nighthawk router and SHIELD TV can act as a server, the experience isn’t as great as a dedicated computer. Even lower end computers can cause frustration: my first server was a generic low end HP tower from Best Buy. Even when I used it with a solid mobile connection, the hardware in the server computer wasn’t powerful enough to stream a video without spending 10 minutes to buffer it first.
Plex’s free tier allows users to stream their media to their devices. For those that just want to stream media from their computer to their TV, this is a perfect option. The paid tier includes the ability to download media to any connected devices, camera uploads from mobile devices, DVR functionality (also a beta), and early access to new features. I purchased a lifetime pass to the paid tier when it was on sale for $120 — it’s normally $150 — primarily to download my content when I need to. I want to explore the DVR feature as well but haven’t purchased the necessary hardware yet. The DVR functionality requires an over the air antenna and a tuner in addition to the main server PC. I plan on setting this up in a few months, and I’ll do an article about it then.
The thing that sets Plex apart from other media server programs is how easy it is to use. I used Younity, a more basic media server program, for a few months and while it worked, it required more effort than Plex. Navigating the app meant drilling down in individual folders to find the content I wanted to watch, while Plex is as easy as Netflix or Hulu: click the icon you want to watch and it’ll start playing. So long as your files are named correctly, the Plex Media Server program will automatically recognize what show or movie they contain and provide cover art.
Whether it’s the free tier or paid tier, Plex represents the easiest way for users to stream their home media content. It does require some setup and a powerful enough home device, but it is well worth the initial investment for the saved time and saved heartache that comes when Netflix drops a show midway through a binge session.
