As per the title.

Anyone using Plex media server/clients?

Yup, running the server on a VM atop hyper-v, streaming to an iphone, windows phone, iPad and an Android tv box

Whats the android tv box your using?

I have been using a acer revo with openelec to run xbmc but got fed up with the library sync issues and mysql.

Ive put plex on my iphones, ipads and laptop. Currently hvae plex server on my unraid server but i am about to rebuild with some better hardware and virtulise. Whats your server/os and how many streams can you transcode at the same time?

Android box is a cheapo £40 jobbie from eBay, JUSTOP is the brand I think. Works well enough for the second TV.

My NAS vm is currently on my Atom based micro server, so I don't think it'd handle multiple streams at once very well.

I'm in the process of moving it to my main server, a Proliant 310e gen8 so should be laughing then

What hardware does the proliant have?

My unraid is currently an unlocked sempron which actually runs as dual core athlon x2. Seems to cope with one stream not tried any more than that.

Going for something s bit more powerfull to run unraid (media storage), whs2011 (backups) and probably a windows 8 vm (for general use). Just debating where i should install the plex server will probably go for the windows 8 vm.

The ML310e Gen8 has a quad core Xeon at 3.1Ghz and 16Gb RAM. Host OS is run off the interal SATA port leaving the 4 bay caddy for RAID 10

Nice. I am looking at something similar for my build just using a lot more disks. I have everything but cpu, mobo and ram.

Awesome. I might turn the microserver into an iSCSI node when I've moved everything over. Been itching to play with hyper-v's virtual SAN stuff but we use ESX at work...

Do you want to share Plex libraries?

I have a synology set up and stream plex to chromecast via ipad/android and playstation. It works very well.

What are you streaming cooper? HD? I would have thought a synology would be too underpowered.

I was looking at chromecast. Would be an easy way to stream to tvs when travelling etc. i wonder if/ how syncd data would stream from an ipad.

Not streaming full HD, 720p. If the file you need to stream is in the correct format for the device you are watching on, the NAS doesn't need to transcode. Therefore it doesn't need to be powerful. 214 play would be ample should you need to transcode on the fly though. I usually go over the top with this type of equipment but decided on a single bay set up with regular back ups to an external drive. The 2 bay raid configuration only safeguards against equipment failure rather than data corruption. The chromecast is good but limited at the moment to what can connect. Playstation and Xbox won't play MKV (ps4 won't play anything!) I'm thinking about buying a Roku 3 just to give it a try. It's only £80 and gets great reviews.

I already have 2 older Synology I was selling (and will again soon) but now am using whilst I play around with a few things.

I have too much content for a sensibly priced Synology or similar hence I moved to an unraid server which is far more expandable and flexible.

I may get a chromecast just to see but think I probably use something like a RasPlex as a permemant solution.

Sorry for trying to tell you how to suck eggs, I'm new to it all. Mine is perfect for what I need. We all use it as a cloud and my lad (in the RAF) can access it while away for music, movies etc. I back my photos up everywhere - laptops, hard drives, Google drive - and is the only folder I would hate to lose. Every thing else can be replaced if necessary.

Not at all mate - were all learning.

I was very happy with my Synology until I started running low on space then it became a bit of a pain and expensive to increase. Thats when I started looking around and found unRaid which has been great for me - I can add space whenever using pretty much any disk.

Anyway I have ordered a chromecast so will play about with it soon

Which Synology NAS have you got? I'm looking to upgrade my Netgear ReadyNAS to something fast enough to last a while and I'm favouring the DS1513+.

Me? I have 2 and 4 disk versions.

Personally, for the money (whats the best price you've found?) I would look into building your own. It will be cheaper and more flexible.

I think you could easily build something for half the cost which would be more than adequate for home use.

I guess it depends what features you would use and how easy you want setup etc to be.

With Hyperlink's help even I managed to build an unraid server.

So anyone can do it

It's just over £600 for the enclosure. I know I could probably build something for less but I think I'd prefer to pay a bit more and get something working straight from the box. I like the look of DSM 5.0, the apps which go with it and the neat enclosures.

Is there anything home-made which fits the above?

Depend what you mean by fits the bill i guess. What apps and/servies do you want to use? How much storage do you need and quick is it growing is the other question. I am currently adding around 100's of GB a week by ripping my blurays etc.

You could build a 6 disk unit for about a third of the cost and have the ability to expand to much more for only a hundred or so on top. Not plug and play like a synology etc but thats one hell of a saving.

I have DSM 5 on my synology Its nice but seriously I never really used most of the services. It does look a nice package overall but for me it was too much money for not enough. I rather pocket the money and put it towards more disks or something else.


Anyway back to Plex. Disppointed to see there is no provision for movie sets. Not a deal breaker but it seems like a silly omission. I do like the transcoded offline option though. Much easier than doing it manually.

I hadn't noticed the movie sets option, or lack of, but have noticed you can't sort music by Album Artist. Bit annoying...

Not done anything with music yet. Looking a sonos system at some point so not a huge issue. Plex is mostly a video thing for me.

@Hyper, yes that is quite a saving and I'll have a look down that route before I make a firm decision. I don't know exactly what I'll be running but I'll need at least 10Tb of usable space. Like you with your Synology my ReadyNAS used to be quite fast but now is really slow and I don't want to be upgrading the new kit any time soon.

I'm interested in running Plex, a couple of CCTV's, audio streaming so nothing too strenuous but I'd like a little future proofing as the kids are getting older and I'm sure they'll be using the server more. Real-time transcoding is something I don't need now but may be useful in the future.

Sorry for the tangent but it's useful to have other ideas.

What disk do you have now?

Also remember that its unlikely you will be able to just tranfer the disks full of data over to a new system so you need to plan how to transfer the data.

I have loads of external HDD's at the moment hence my need to upgrade to a 4+ HDD server. It's a bit of a mess - 2x1Tb mirrored drives in the NAS, 2x2Tb, 2x1.5Tb and a 1Tb, all external USB2.0 fanless drives. I'll need to buy a couple of 3/4Tb drives to get started and buy more when funds allow and transfer files over slowly. I've also got 2x500Gb portable HDD's which backup important data (mainly irreplaceable photos) every night. I keep 1 of them in the car and swap them over every week or so so I'm covered for fire damage.

The new gen 8 Proliant microserver looks pretty neat but isn't much cheaper. Maybe the cheaper DS414 would suffice at ~£350.

Hmm Well I think you really need 3 disks to start with. That way you can consolidate everything on all you disks onto a NAS and then sort it out from there. You could so it with 2 disks and juggle data between various devices but for me I would prefer to get copies of everything in one place, clear out whats not needed then rationalise the external disks. You will always have a copy then should you delete anything important by mistake.

Lucky a 4Tb can now be had for around £120, bargain!

Indeed. I think my next purchases will be 4tb disks (currently I only have 2tb disks).That will see me through to 36tb+ with my new case and hardware without swapping out disks. which we see me right for a long time.

You'll be pretty safe for at least a few years

I might just "borrow" all the 10k SAS drives from our old SAN and ser how many I can bodge into an Antec server case

Thats the plan

A bit of waste to use 10k disks for media but if they are "free"....

X-Case do some nice server rack mount cases.