

It can also be installed directly on many pre-built NAS solutions from Netgear, Qnap, Unraid, Drobo, and Synology (see /downloads for a complete list).Īccording to these instructions, Plex Media Server acts as a server, collecting all of your media and sending it to the desired device. Plex can be installed and run on a standard computer running Windows, OS X, Linux or the free Freebsd operating system. The first thing you need to decide is what hardware you want to use for your installation. Plex Media Server works like any other program and can run on a variety of platforms. Read on, and we will explain more and describe the advantages of this solution! Determining the Plex Media Server Hardware However, depending on the model, it’s not certain that your NAS can send all of the material to all devices. If you already have your own NAS, you can install Plex directly on it. Regardless of brand, model or geographic location. We will then use the free Plex Media Server software to distribute our entire media library so that it can be accessed from any of our network devices. In other words, a storage computer is connected to the network.

Plex’s apps have a built-in slideshow mode, so it’s a great background option if you’re honoring someone’s graduation or anniversary.We want to store all our video, music, and image files on network-attached storage in this manual.

It’s a nice way to grab interesting shows from over the airwaves and save them for later viewing.Įxtra goodies: Stream your photos and musicīeyond video, Plex is also a handy way to bring your music collection and personal photos to other devices around the house.įor photos, just open the Media Manager, hit the “+” icon in the left sidebar, choose Photos, and then add the folder you want to share. Converting the files is an option, but I like that the recording and viewing process is automated. Plex only recognizes these files if you add the library as a “Home Videos” folder, rather than a “TV Shows” folder in the media manager. The one problem I ran into was getting Plex to recognize the files, which Windows Media Center saves in Microsoft’s proprietary. Point Plex to Windows Media Center’s recording folder, and presto! Whole-home DVR for you. So now when I use the Plex app on my Roku or Fire TV, any show I’ve recorded on my PC is automatically available for viewing. (More on that in a future column.) Every recording goes into a “Recorded TV” folder on my desktop, and I’ve told Plex media server to serve up any video that appears in that folder. I recently purchased a cheap USB TV tuner for my desktop computer, and set it up to view and record broadcast TV through Windows Media Center.
