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.
- 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?
It really depends on how you want to deal with your media. I want the best copy of movies that I can get. So I need the server to transcode but that requires a beefy cpu for one stream or using a gpu ( intel iGPUs are great for this) for more. Unfortunately accelerated transcoding requires to pay for plex pass. If you really need hardware transcoding and don’t want to pay you could go with Jellyfin, though it’s harder to set up and doesn’t have clients for as many devices.
One thing is that there are reasonably frequent discounts on lifetime plex pass which is what I did.
