Plex
A community for discussing Plex Media Server. Plex Media Server is a smart software that makes playing movies, tv shows, and other media on your computer simple.
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Rules
Rule 1 - Don't be a dick
Don't be a dick. This includes any kind of trolling, baiting, etc. Bigotry may result in an instant permaban.
Rule 2 - No misleading or non-descriptive titles
No misleading or non-descriptive titles. Try to be brief but detailed.
Rule 3 - Keep post and comments relevant
Posts must be related to Plex and Plex-related products, apps. etc. Try to keep comments relevant to the parent comment and to the post.
Rule 4 - Keep discussions of "media aqcuistion" limited to means and methods only.
Discussions regarding media acquisition should be limited to the "how" not the "what", as this is not the place to discuss piracy of specific media. There are other communities for that, and we don't want to get this community defederated from instances where it's a forbidden topic. Posts/comments discussing specific acts of piracy ("How do I find X show?" or "Where can I download Y film?")will be removed. For further clarification see this post
Rule 5 - No asking / offering Plex shares.
No asking / offering Plex shares. There are other communities for that.
Rule 6 - No low-effort / spam / meme posts
No low-effort / meme posts. These are considered spam, and will be removed. Repeat offenses may result in a ban.
Rule 7 - No referral / self-promotion / affiliate links, personal voting / campaigning / funding, or selling posts
No referral / self-promotion / affiliate links, personal voting / campaigning / funding, or selling posts. These are considered spam, and will be removed. Repeat offenses may result in a ban.
Useful Resources
- Plex FAQ - Frequently Asked Questions about using Plex Media Server and client apps with many useful links
- Plex App Setup Guide - Visual guide for first-run setup of Plex apps on smart devices
- c/Plex Add-ons Guide - Detailed info on many of the most popular Plex add-ons with links to setup guides and other resources. Mantained for this community.
- Servarr Wiki - The consolidated wiki for Lidarr, Prowlarr, Radarr, Readarr, and Sonarr.
- TRaSH-Guides - Guides mainly for Sonarr/Radarr/Bazarr and everything related to it.
- Awesome-arr - a complete list of Plex-related companion apps, user scripts, etc.
- Plex Hardware Transcoding Cheat Sheet - NVidia GPUs
- Organizing and Naming Your Media Files
- Troubleshooting Server Connections
- Plex User Forums
^This^ ^is^ ^a^ ^community^ ^page^ ^and^ ^is^ ^not^ ^affiliated^ ^with^ ^Plex,^ ^Inc.^ ^in^ ^any^ ^way.^
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The primary use case of Plex is to allow you to view and listen to your own media files: movies, tv shows, music. If you have a lot of those types of media files, then Plex is very useful. It can do a few other things, like let you view your photos and watch some free movies/tv offered through Plex the company, but I don't think the majority of those who run Plex really care about those.
The short version is that you install Plex, point it at your media files, let it index those files and download all the metadata (cover pictures, actors, etc.), and then watch. Plex has apps for most media players these days, including Chromecast. You would install the Plex app on your Chromecast, log into your Plex account/server from the app, and then you'll be able to browse and consume your own media files. You do need to buy a Plex Pass to consume your content from a mobile device.
To use it from your office, as long as your company isn't blocking it on the network, then you would just log in through the browser and consume your media files that way. One thing to recommend Plex over Jellyfin or Emby for the relative newbie is that Plex handles the authentication and relaying of traffic between your server, so if you're not comfortable setting up a reverse proxy or VPN to access things on your server from the outside world, Plex handles that for you.
If you have any more questions I'll do my best to provide helpful answers.