Got my PLEX setup up and running.

itschris

itschris

Moderator
First i want say thanks to BoredSysAdmin, Jonnythan, Grador, ADK Highlander, AccuDefTechGuy, Sholling, Sterling Shoote, Hocky, and those I missed for the ton of info and good advice in my other two threads: NAS Options for home network and Re-Ripping all my msic

I think what I'm trying to do is something that a lot of people want to do... at least it seems that way. The minute I share what I'm doing with guys at the office, they're hooked on the idea right away. So I'll quickly summarize what I'm doing, why, where I'm at, and what's worked and hasn't.

Basically.. this is what I set out to do...
1) Create an easy way for me and my family to utilize all our media
2) Then came the idea to be able to do that when we're away from home
3) Do it with a really nice interface that allows me to control my data
4) Do it all in the same way and..
5) Do it without spending a huge pile of money... which I guess is relative

So looking at number 1, I originally thought to build an HTPC but that seemed to limit some of the other goals. I began looking at PLEX. It's got both an excellent media server and media player and supports all sorts of mobile devices and clients (ROKU, Apple TV, and others)

One aspect of this was really easy. Install it all, setup the Plex apps on my phones and iPads and we're good to go. And honestly, this part which I just did last night was stupid easy. Seriously... even I did it without much help if any. I setup my libraries and within about 10 minutes I had a beautiful interface on my iPad with all my stuff. Just this morning I got the remote stuff up and running and was sitting in my office looking at our family pictures listening to ripped cd's on my iPad from 25 miles away. Awesome.

The next problem was, how do I get this to play through my system. The most important objective for me was to be able to easily sit and listen to all my music through my stereo while being able to sit on my couch. I realize there are a ton of ways to do this, but I wanted one comprehensive solution to do everything. I tried various DLNA devices like my BD player, using my Pio Elite's home networking features, hooking up my laptop, etc. All worked to some degree more or less, but each lacked something... be it good looking interface, flexibility, or flexible control.

So then I started thinking about Apple TV and its Airplay feature. I thought I'd connect HDMI from the ATV to my Pio Elite. Airplay will stream anything from the iPad to the ATV. So my thought is that I'd be able to have full control of my media via PLEX and then push it to my system via the iPad/ATV.

Now... there's still a bit of theory here. I just picked up the Apple TV tonight, but I drank too entirely too much wine at dinner and didn't have the motivation or clear head to sit amidst the rats nest of wires behind my cabinet. So thats the next step. So far, however, everything has been fantastic as far as controlling everything via PLEX with my phones and iPad.

A couple of other notes. I realize that this is not an elegant solution...say mechanically. I guess I'm streaming to my iPad, then streaming to my ATV. I'm thinking it's gonna work fine though.

A great wireless router is essential. I got a new NetGear WNDR4500 that works fantastic. My other router was not nearly up to the task.

An iPad is what really makes this whole idea of mine worthwhile. I'm not Apple guy. Until a few days ago, I only owned a 6 year old Nano that I got as a gift. I bought the wife an iPad several months ago, but I think I've actually only held it once when I initially set it up for her. I really had no interest, but I've changed my mind. I went and bought two more, one to keep at the house and one to travel with me... and I got my daughter one who just went away to school ... who by the way can now access all our movies, tv shows, and music from her place.

Getting your files in order is essential... I think Grador called me anal... which I can't really argue with too much :). i like things orderly. I've really taken the time to catalog and organize all my files. this included converting about 300 WMA loss rips to Apple Lossless so far. I found a very easy way to do this... open up your WMA folders in Explorer and have a Itunes open so they're side by side and simply drag the folder into iTunes. It was that wasy.

Another issue was getting iTunes itself straightened out. I learned that iTunes does not actually read off your file structure. So if you delete or reorganize folders ... say in Explorer... iTunes will not update. I thought I was an idiot for not realizing that, but apparently a lot of folks don't know it. I had sh*t everywhere in iTunes. Dupes, unique and like folder in multiple iTunes directories, etc. It was a mess. I literally just sat there using Windows Explorer to reorganize everything into a new folder (which is when I realized itunes didn't update). I backed up the files just in case. Then I opened iTunes and deleted all the songs and media. I then put Windows Explorer and iTunes side by side and just dragged the folders over and iTunes imported everything and put it right where it should be. When I pointed PLEX media server to the folder, it didn't even flinch when setting up the library.

One thing about PLEX though... its not a transcoder so whatever device you have will have to be able to play your file formats natively. I have a two year old HTC EVO that I setup with PLEX... it plays everything except the Apple Lossless stuff. I'm not sure if it will play WMA lossless files...I don't think so. If it did, I could just setup another library pointing to the WMA versions, but I have a lot of one-off stuf in iTunes which is why I'm using that source as the library. We just pre-ordered a couple of the new iPhone 5's, but I'll be sticking with Android myself and will probably pick up a new Galaxy III this weekend. I'm not sure if that'll change anything on the Android side.

So, that where I'm at. I'm hoping I'll get around to hooking up the Apple TV tomorrow which is a pretty cool little device in it's own right. I think I'll probably have to fight off my wife once she discovers it because she'll want to AirPlay her gaming apps like her Restaurant, her Pet Store and all the other stupid sh*t she does on her iPad to the big screen. Tonight she was playing her restaurant app and told me she had a lot of customers come in and actually said it with a straight and somewhat serious face. I asked her if she could take a well deserved break from Nancy's Bistro and head to the real kitchen and whip me up some wings... that's when I got the bitter beer face and the finger. So I grabbed my bottle of wine and came in here and started typing this all out.

Thanks for indulging me.. I'll add more as I figure stuff out.
 
adk highlander

adk highlander

Sith Lord
I asked her if she could take a well deserved break from Nancy's Bistro and head to the real kitchen and whip me up some wings... that's when I got the bitter beer face and the finger.
I nearly spit my wine when I read this.:D:D

Glad to hear you are getting things up and running and thanks for the laugh.
 
itschris

itschris

Moderator
Glad Plex working for you
Plex Server might be even more interesting since it has version for some NAS boxes :D:rolleyes:

Download Plex Media Server for Linux
All this stuff is so overwhelming. I'm a finance guy. I start reading one thing only to have to stop to go learn about something else in the article I was reading to learn in the first place!:eek:

I'm slowing circling the wagons and getting a working knowledge of how all these pieces fit. I was actually reading about NAS integration with PLEX last night. I just ordered two 3TB drives for my current PC. That should keep me going until I figure out my longer term storage solution which will like just be another computer full of drives... maybe... I dunno. I'm still working on understanding what's so special about an "NAS Box" with no drives and why it costs so much... but that's another day.

If i can get out of here at reasonable time, I'm gonna setup my Apple TV up tonight and see what happens. I've also been looking into PLEX's Remote feature which can control any PLEX client... so... I may just end up hooking up a computer to my system and running things that way if the remote control is as slick as the regular media app.... another day as well.

I also have to install another DVD writer. I smoked mine last night. After about 200 discs being ripped over the course of 4 nights... it gave up the ghost.
 
itschris

itschris

Moderator
Alright... any doubt of my plan has been erased. I hooked up my Apple TV HDMI to my receiver... used a network cable to connect to my router which is two feet away (I thought it'd be better to have a hard connection).

I hit AirPlay, hit mirroring and all my music folders were now gloriously displayed on my TV. I scrolled through my music with my iPad and found my Army of Anyone folder clicked and BOOOOOM!! Amp kicked on and music was pounding through my system. I was sitting back in the living room away from my system drinking wine selecting song after song. Works like a total charm!

No issues to report yet. I haven't done any real critical listening yet to see if there are any quality issues, but so far it sounds like CD quality to me, but then again I'm almost 5 glasses deep into a very nice South African cab so my listening skills are suspect at the moment!

But so far.. its doing exactly what I was hoping and I have exactly what I've been wanting.

Thanks again for all the help along the way.
 
scoyne88

scoyne88

Audiophyte
I just finished setting up Plex for my iphone, I love it already. Im having some trouble getting my music to show up, but for movies and TV on the go it is great!
 
itschris

itschris

Moderator
I just finished setting up Plex for my iphone, I love it already. Im having some trouble getting my music to show up, but for movies and TV on the go it is great!
Is your library setup in PLEX Media Manager? I'm totally digging the setup. My wife was sittting out by the pool all day today just playing music on her iPad. She likes how the interface is setup. Now I don't have to listen to her complain. :D

Yesterday, I had about 3 hours two myself. I was sitting in my office just selecting song after song and blasting it through the system via AirPlay to the Apple TV. It's awesome.

Apple TV's own interface is pretty nice as well, but lacks some ease of use, but it's stll pretty nice too.
 
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