Media Server

[micsim]

Hi, I have a mac, a pc and 2 "smart" (read Dumb) TVs. The computers are like sprinters, the dumb tvs are staggering along using a walking frame. Thats simply not good enough.
I want to watch TV, iplayer etc, stream stuff and so on, but I don't know where to start.
Please someone give me some help.
Thanks in advance.

 

[SpyderTracks]

Hi, I have a mac, a pc and 2 "smart" (read Dumb) TVs. The computers are like sprinters, the dumb tvs are staggering along using a walking frame. Thats simply not good enough.
I want to watch TV, iplayer etc, stream stuff and so on, but I don't know where to start.
Please someone give me some help.
Thanks in advance.

There's lots of ways to go about this, I can certainly give my experience of it, but I'm sure others will have different ways of going about it.

For me, I tend to avoid smart TV's or at least relying on their performance and app support for a particularly extended period. Samsung and LG I believe tend to have the best software support on their TV's. We had a Panasonic which quite literally never released an update for the life of the TV which we bought new, and as such apps just stopped working after not very long. That experience really put me off.

So the way I tend to do it is have a Smart Box, in my case an AppleTV which I've found has the best performance and support for the media streaming I particularly use. There is a FireTV Cube from Amazon, and Google have just released a GoogleTV one that looks pretty decent (their previous ones I found struggled generally). That takes over the processing from the TV, you get any kind of streaming TV service for normal TV stuff.

Then I also have all my digital content on a server upstairs that's on 24/7 and runs a media server called Plex. It's incredibly easy to install and configure, and extremely effective at streaming media around your house, it will do all that for free. For added benefit, you can pay a yearly subscription for around £30 a year (or £90 for lifetime license) which enables you to open the server to the internet (fully protected) so you can stream over that anywhere in the world. It also gives other benefits like live tv streaming (you'd need a TV card to do this) and lots of other benefits. Plex has apps on quite literally any device you can imagine, from IOS to Android, to Raspberry Pi to Windows, almost anything you can imagine.

My server is an actual physical server which cost about £4000 but there's no need to have that at all.

These days, the area that makes much more sense to invest in is a NAS Storage device, which is a tiny mini pc essentially that holds multiple disk drives and stores all your files. This connects directly to your router and then can be accessed anywhere in the world. These days, they're so capable that they can host server applications like Plex and become a full media server, but you do have to configure something appropriate to the resolution that you're trying to stream. Or of course, if you have everything already on the Mac, you can set that up as a media server just as easy.

So firstly, a few questions:

Do you have a library of digital media that you want to stream, or is it just the TV streaming services that you're accounting for?

If you are streaming your own content, what quality are you looking to stream in? 4k or 1080p?

What's your budget for this?

 

[Gavras]

Synology NAS set up as a media server, such as Plex.

Having a NAS is really just icing on the cake.

Backups, Music, films, photos

 

[SpyderTracks]

Synology NAS set up as a media server, such as Plex.

Having a NAS is really just icing on the cake.

Backups, Music, films, photos

I would wholeheartedly agree, NAS is the optimum choice for longevity, if funds allow as to get something nicely futureproofed can be costly.

 

[micsim]

There's lots of ways to go about this, I can certainly give my experience of it, but I'm sure others will have different ways of going about it.

For me, I tend to avoid smart TV's or at least relying on their performance and app support for a particularly extended period. Samsung and LG I believe tend to have the best software support on their TV's. We had a Panasonic which quite literally never released an update for the life of the TV which we bought new, and as such apps just stopped working after not very long. That experience really put me off.

So the way I tend to do it is have a Smart Box, in my case an AppleTV which I've found has the best performance and support for the media streaming I particularly use. There is a FireTV Cube from Amazon, and Google have just released a GoogleTV one that looks pretty decent (their previous ones I found struggled generally). That takes over the processing from the TV, you get any kind of streaming TV service for normal TV stuff.

Then I also have all my digital content on a server upstairs that's on 24/7 and runs a media server called Plex. It's incredibly easy to install and configure, and extremely effective at streaming media around your house, it will do all that for free. For added benefit, you can pay a yearly subscription for around £30 a year (or £90 for lifetime license) which enables you to open the server to the internet (fully protected) so you can stream over that anywhere in the world. It also gives other benefits like live tv streaming (you'd need a TV card to do this) and lots of other benefits. Plex has apps on quite literally any device you can imagine, from IOS to Android, to Raspberry Pi to Windows, almost anything you can imagine.

My server is an actual physical server which cost about £4000 but there's no need to have that at all.

These days, the area that makes much more sense to invest in is a NAS Storage device, which is a tiny mini pc essentially that holds multiple disk drives and stores all your files. This connects directly to your router and then can be accessed anywhere in the world. These days, they're so capable that they can host server applications like Plex and become a full media server, but you do have to configure something appropriate to the resolution that you're trying to stream. Or of course, if you have everything already on the Mac, you can set that up as a media server just as easy.

So firstly, a few questions:

Do you have a library of digital media that you want to stream, or is it just the TV streaming services that you're accounting for?

Hello and thanks for your replies,

I have a lot of photos which would be good to see on the large screen, otherwise just TV. iPlayer is a must! In fact we use the main UK tv channels 90% of the time.

4k would be great.

I am willing to spend some thousands if it will mean watching will be a pleasure rather than a battle.

My initial thoughts had been a desktop type of thing with a bluetooth keyboard - mainly because this is familiar to me. I have no idea what a NAS drive would look like on the screen, could you help me by explaining that? Also can you recommend a couple of NAS drives at different price levels that would do the job?

If you are streaming your own content, what quality are you looking to stream in? 4k or 1080p?

What's your budget for this?

 

[micsim]

Synology NAS set up as a media server, such as Plex.

Having a NAS is really just icing on the cake.

Backups, Music, films, photos

Thank you, I will look at Synology

 

[SpyderTracks]

Thank you, I will look at Synology

The DS920+ is a worthwhile investment for 4k streaming, has 4 drive bays for some decent capacity and I think you can bump up the RAM to 6Gb if you feel the need:

Best NAS for Plex 2024

I test NAS systems extensively, and these are the best Plex NAS servers around.

www.androidcentral.com

I would personally pair that with a TV Box. For me, after about 5 years of trying all the competitors, I found that the AppleTV worked best with Plex. On the others I found the stream was often choppy which I couldn't work around. I've never had a problem with the AppleTV. I have to say though, I've not streamed in 4k.

Buy Apple TV 4K

Apple TV 4K has movies, shows, live TV, sport and gaming — in 4K Dolby Vision and HDR10+. Get Apple TV+ free for 3 months. Buy now at apple.com.

www.apple.com

Then you just install plex on it, you connect to it from a computer by typing in the NAS drive network address in a web browser.

Packages | Synology Inc.

Enjoy hundreds of amazing Synology NAS packages designed for your unique needs: backup, business, multimedia, collaboration, surveillance & more.

www.synology.com

This is how to connect to it, it's fairly recent so should be still applicable:

 

[SpyderTracks]

Another thing I forgot to add.. disk drives!

For media storage, personally a good 7200rpm HDD is what I’d go for, you can get proper NAS rated drives which are much higher quality than the mainstream desktop drives.

Best ones by a country mile are:

Western Digital Red Pros (the non pro is 5400rpm)

Seagate Ironwolf Pro

I settled on WD Reds in mine because I found them quieter, but in recent years there have been some misleading marketing on these drives leading to lawsuits

WD rebrands its Red hard drives after getting hit with a lawsuit

The lawsuit accuses WD of switching some of its Red HDDs for models that use "inferior" technology.

www.pcgamer.com

As far as I know, this didn’t affect the pro drives.

 

[SpyderTracks]

Also you need to bear in mind the throughput increase of streaming 4k is SIGNIFICANT at around 100MBS, so you'll need a robust network to cope with the traffic.

I invested heavily in a really good Mesh wifi setup which has given bulletproof operation for years now. Never had any breaks or stutters unless there's been a power outage or something like that that's unavoidable.

The best way of doing it is to hard wire from the router to synology to the TV box, but obviously that's not always possible.

 

[micsim]

Thanks for help

 

[micsim]

OK, so to recap as I have no technical background.

1. I run an ethernet from my router to a pc that sits in a convenient location by the television.
2. I connect the pc to the television with HDMI (yes my television has HDMI)
3. I put Plex software on pc.
4. I connect a NAS drive to the pc.

Is the above correct?
Where does Apple TV fit in?

Question;- Are there complications regarding graphics card compatibility?
Are there any other considerations?

Thanks again.

 

[Gavras]

OK, so to recap as I have no technical background.

1. I run an ethernet from my router to a pc that sits in a convenient location by the television.
2. I connect the pc to the television with HDMI (yes my television has HDMI)
3. I put Plex software on pc.
4. I connect a NAS drive to the pc.

Is the above correct?
Where does Apple TV fit in?

Question;- Are there complications regarding graphics card compatibility?
Are there any other considerations?

Thanks again.

This is a pretty basic guide and has other info as well.

How to set up Plex on a Synology NAS

Get your own media server up and running in no time!

www.windowscentral.com

 

[SpyderTracks]

OK, so to recap as I have no technical background.

1. I run an ethernet from my router to a pc that sits in a convenient location by the television.
2. I connect the pc to the television with HDMI (yes my television has HDMI)
3. I put Plex software on pc.
4. I connect a NAS drive to the pc.

Is the above correct?
Where does Apple TV fit in?

Question;- Are there complications regarding graphics card compatibility?
Are there any other considerations?

Thanks again.

The Apple TV basically replaces the “smart TV” capabilities of your tv. But it will do it all much better generally. That acts as the bridge from your NAS drive to the TV.

So essentially:

Router - Ethernet cable - NAS - Ethernet / wireless - AppleTV - HDMI - TV

 

[Gavras]

The Apple TV basically replaces the “smart TV” capabilities of your tv. But it will do it all much better generally. That acts as the bridge from your NAS drive to the TV.

So essentially:

Router - Ethernet cable - NAS - Ethernet / wireless - AppleTV - HDMI - TV

To be fair if going through this amount of tinkering I would be getting a WiFi 6 capable Mesh setup.

everything then just slots in nicely.

 

[SpyderTracks]

To be fair if going through this amount of tinkering I would be getting a WiFi 6 capable Mesh setup.

everything then just slots in nicely.

Fully agree with this, if you’ve got the budget, a good mesh WiFi setup will be superb.

 

[micsim]

If Apple TV bypasses the "smart" bits of the television, it could be as simple as;-

Router - Ethernet - Apple TV

Add a NAS if that works and I want photos etc?

Is that possible?

Thanks

 

[SpyderTracks]

If Apple TV bypasses the "smart" bits of the television, it could be as simple as;-

Router - Ethernet - Apple TV

Add a NAS if that works and I want photos etc?

Is that possible?

Thanks

That's missing the media server?

The NAS holds all your data, your movies, music, photos etc, they are all accessed via plex on the AppleTV from the Plex media server on the NAS.

NAS stands for Network Attached Storage, it's basically a mini server that can be configured as various different types of server including file and media.

 

[micsim]

Yes, but it proves that the Ethernet and Apple TV will work properly, once that is done I can add the NAS.

Thanks for your generous help.

 

[1dogman1]

Hi all
thought i might add a cheaper option

Build a Raspberry Pi NAS — The MagPi magazine

Got a lot of digital stuff? Make it available anywhere in your home with your own Raspberry Pi network-attached storage

magpi.raspberrypi.org

I built this earlier in the year with two 2TB ssd's in a raid.
It is also set up as a media server

I stream at 1080p as my TV is not 4k but i understand as long as you hard wire the Ethernet it should cope. It has ran 24/7 for 8 months without a hitch and provides all the storage and streaming i need. It will run PLex and most other services.
Couple of things to mention.
Use a Pi4
buy two good Powered USB hubs for the SSDs
consider booting from an ssd as it is more robust than an SD card

I am not a Pi Geek and this was my first project and am amazed at how something so cheap can be so good and it was easy if you follow the instructions. And like here if you get stuck people are willing to help on the forums

 

[SpyderTracks]

Hi all
thought i might add a cheaper option

Build a Raspberry Pi NAS — The MagPi magazine

Got a lot of digital stuff? Make it available anywhere in your home with your own Raspberry Pi network-attached storage

magpi.raspberrypi.org

I built this earlier in the year with two 2TB ssd's in a raid.
It is also set up as a media server

I stream at 1080p as my TV is not 4k but i understand as long as you hard wire the Ethernet it should cope. It has ran 24/7 for 8 months without a hitch and provides all the storage and streaming i need. It will run PLex and most other services.
Couple of things to mention.
Use a Pi4
buy two good Powered USB hubs for the SSDs
consider booting from an ssd as it is more robust than an SD card

I am not a Pi Geek and this was my first project and am amazed at how something so cheap can be so good and it was easy if you follow the instructions. And like here if you get stuck people are willing to help on the forums

Pi's are definitely amazing as a budget option, they're so versatile for so many different uses. I come across them a lot in the audio world as well as DAC's and Streamers.

Just to confirm, you would still need a receiver if you were to go with a Pi setup unless it was plugged directly into the TV, so the appleTV or "smart" capability for the TV would still be required. Plex is supported on the Pi as well.

We should really create a sub forum for the Raspberry Pi, it's becoming more and more common for tinkerers in so many different fields.

Thanks for adding that

There's another guide here: https://pimylifeup.com/raspberry-pi-plex-server/