PLEX File management

[Zildjianmeister]

So I just entered the world of plex. Yes it has been a while and I'm behind the times. I'm starting my project of ripping my dvd's and standard blu rays.
I'm using a nas drive to store the data and run a plex server. A roku is the client (with plasma tv).

My question to the plex users of this site, how do you manage your movie files? I create create a mkv file for the movies with all the sound options, subtitles as it's a master file. My roku seems to handle everything I've thrown at it for now as I've only done a handful of movies. (I've not tried it with the stereo/home theater setup yet). I figure I can convert to mp4 for any movies it has issues with.

Do you keep the mkv files as a master and convert them all to mp4 and keep both? I thought of that but would seem redundant. My thought is to just convert to mp4 for the ones that need it and keep a master of that particular mkv and mp4 only for that particular movie. All others would just be MKV. Sound right? I've read elsewhere that some keep all the mkv files and convert all of them but again, that seems a bit much. Even though mkv is a larger file format. My thought is to always keep a master mkv file in case it does need to be compressed.

Thanks!
Z

 

[thrillcat]

Why convert to mp4 at all?

I use makemkv. I only rip the main feature, primary audio track (a few I’ve ripped a couple tracks on a case by case basis), and all English subtitles.

Those all live on a Windows 10 server in the closet, and I run PLEX in the theater on a shield, on AppleTV in the living room.

On the extremely rare occasion something needs to be transcoded, the server does it without a hiccup. Usually all that needs to be transcoded is lossless/DTS audio for the AppleTV. Everything else will Direct Play.


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[NINaudio]

Why convert to mp4 at all?

I use makemkv. I only rip the main feature, primary audio track (a few I’ve ripped a couple tracks on a case by case basis), and all English subtitles.

Those all live on a Windows 10 server in the closet, and I run PLEX in the theater on a shield, on AppleTV in the living room.

On the extremely rare occasion something needs to be transcoded, the server does it without a hiccup. Usually all that needs to be transcoded is lossless/DTS audio for the AppleTV. Everything else will Direct Play.

I do the same as thrillcat. No need to have both mkv and mp4. Just keep them in MKV format

 

[panteragstk]

I also agree.

The ONLY reason to have an .mp4 on hand is if you plan to sync to a mobile device and don't want to eat the space. Other than that, let the server transcode if it needs to.

 

[Zildjianmeister]

Thank you all for your responses.

I'm sticking with MKV. I forgot to add, I use the plex pass for the transcoding ability. I can tell it's transcoding as I see the processor usage jump between 25 and 45%. But, it all seems to work with no hiccups so I won't fix what's not broken

Z