A real media server (not Plex!)

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rheilke
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A real media server (not Plex!)

Post by rheilke »

Are there any plans to port other media server suites to QNap? I'm continually having to fight with Plex to get it to see new media, its methodology and setup requirements and presumptions are a major pain, and after it refusing to see new media *AGAIN*, I'm at the point of getting a Raspberry Pi and having it serve my media from an NFS mount on the NAS. I honestly don't see the attraction of Plex.

TIA
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dolbyman
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Re: A real media server (not Plex!)

Post by dolbyman »

what is a "real" media server ?

I use twonky

others use emby or lms ... please elaborate
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Moogle Stiltzkin
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Re: A real media server (not Plex!)

Post by Moogle Stiltzkin »

Plex kinda resembles netflix... in the way your media is layed out in the UI. But your streaming content you have digitally stored on your NAS, rather than stream from netflixes own servers.

Plex can direct stream or transcode content depending on the media type.

[youtube=]DJfpHxuGJd8[/youtube]


while mentioning plex... you probably want to know what the plex pass is for
[youtube=]5JTwDFvravY[/youtube]



Alternative to plex is Emby, which does more or less the same.

Plex vs Emby: The Transcoding Showdown
[youtube=]Li69XWC9I3g[/youtube]


Another good media alternative is the very popular kodi. Not only can you view your digital media library on lan, it also doubles up viewing streams via addons similar to netflix....*cough

[youtube=]7z9TDHgKO0U[/youtube]

[youtube=]jDvOTtUDo0g[/youtube]




Plex vs KODI vs Emby
[youtube=]l32XypxxiCc[/youtube]



and another method.... either an android box, roku, google chromecast, nvidia shield.... regardless of what you get, you'd still want a NAS for big storage which these devices can access via DLNA to playback from.



or.... what i personally do. Just create a shortcut on win10 desktop that can access the shares on the QNAP, double click to open using MPC-HC (megamix lav filters) for playback on a 24'' AH-IPS 1920x1200 monitor, Nvidia 1080gtx graphics, Aktimate Mini active speakers ^^; works great for anime.

If you want to stream to the living room with a bigger tv, then the choices are all the previous options. theres even a new method, the cinema28 that may be able to stream as well.


as for hardware there is xx82 series, or the x77, or x73.... is what i consider a real media server :) (if your not transcoding, then a lower end model will work just fine)

[youtube=]vTGtjF7Xe3A[/youtube]

[youtube=]LkYmYY74p1Q[/youtube]





as for setup is rather simple really. just a generic example.

step1: install the relevant qpkg onto qnap via qts app center, e.g. plex, emby....

step2: open the app/login .....

step3: the app will instruct you to add shares where your media is located.... it then starts scanning to index them into a library.

step4: browse from the library then play the media you want. Done :)
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schumaku
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Re: A real media server (not Plex!)

Post by schumaku »

rheilke wrote:I'm at the point of getting a Raspberry Pi and having it serve my media from an NFS mount on the NAS.
What's the point of running such a small system as a media server - and then using what media server software?
rheilke wrote:I honestly don't see the attraction of Plex.
Plex is one of the most comprehensive selection of media server, Apps, Web access, and Smart TV embedded client in the field.
rheilke
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Re: A real media server (not Plex!)

Post by rheilke »

Raspbian has more than enough juice to run MediaTomb or Kodi, especially in my small home environment. (If anything, it's overkill.). Plex tries to do too many things, has pre-conceived ideas about how your media is/needs to be set up, and, quite simply, doesn't work properly. It refuses to add new movies more than half the time. I'm tired of fighting with it. I never had problems with MediaTomb on my old server.

I'm now using the basic QNap media server for my movies, and so far, it seems to work just fine. Minimserver does my music without any hassles. So, why should I constantly fight with Plex? Buying a NAS was to make my life easier.
bridgey
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Re: A real media server (not Plex!)

Post by bridgey »

I have to agree with you. Looking for an alternate to Plex as well. Is Qnap looking to give it's community a choice? Plex support is poor to be generous and to get a playlist to stream with errors needs a minor miracle and you don't even need to go into the incorrect reading of metatags and the folder issues that are well documented all over the web.
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dolbyman
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Re: A real media server (not Plex!)

Post by dolbyman »

twonky

depending on your nas purchase date it's free (2016 or earlier) or cost 20 bucks
dgmckenzie
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Re: A real media server (not Plex!)

Post by dgmckenzie »

I use Kodi in the house and subsonic when I'm out.
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dolbyman
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Re: A real media server (not Plex!)

Post by dolbyman »

kodi is more a player than a server
gggplaya
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Re: A real media server (not Plex!)

Post by gggplaya »

If you want a nice UI with just standard movie playback and library organization/search, then Infuse(https://firecore.com/infuse) for the Apple TV4/5 is the best solution. Looks great, kids have no problems with the remote or UI, and it just plain works. Kodi works too, but I think all the advanced features cause the UI to be overly cluttered, i wasn't able to get my parents to understand how to use it, nor my kids. But Infuse, everyone can use it extremely quickly, and it looks great. You can swipe down and get subtitles from the internet, as well as offset the timing of subtitles, it's awesome and just plain works great for movie playback. If you don't need all the other frills and add-ons of kodi(which some are in a legal gray area), and just want to play movies from your NAS, infuse is the way to go.
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Trexx
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Re: A real media server (not Plex!)

Post by Trexx »

There are community packages for Emby as well which is "plex-like" media server. Also you always can leverage Docker packages in most cases as well, although you would lose some HW features like HW Transcoding.
Paul

Model: TS-877-1600 FW: 4.5.3.x
QTS (SSD): [RAID-1] 2 x 1TB WD Blue m.2's
Data (HDD): [RAID-5] 6 x 3TB HGST DeskStar
VMs (SSD): [RAID-1] 2 x1TB SK Hynix Gold
Ext. (HDD): TR-004 [Raid-5] 4 x 4TB HGST Ultastor
RAM: Kingston HyperX Fury 64GB DDR4-2666
UPS: CP AVR1350

Model:TVS-673 32GB & TS-228a Offline[/color]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2018 Plex NAS Compatibility Guide | QNAP Plex FAQ | Moogle's QNAP Faq
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gibxxi
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Re: A real media server (not Plex!)

Post by gibxxi »

Plex is 'OK' as a server, but it's UI is too 'dumbed-down' and restrictive for any end-user that has a bit more savvy and wants / needs the customization element that Kodi brings.

Plex, being a fork of Kodi (or rather XBMC as it was called when the two projects diverged) shares much commonality in it's settings windows, with Kodi, so native users of Plex won't have too much trouble navigating & configuring Kodi.

Those who want the best of both worlds can have Plex running as a back-end, with 'PleXBMC' (XBMC / Kodi Add-on) on top offering the Kodi experience. Similar setups exist for using Emby as the back-end in place of Plex. Why is this relevant? Well, because as good as Kodi is as a media player it has no back-end server (as yet), so remote streaming becomes difficult without some kind of dedicated VPN so as to get access to your content (on the NAS) remotely.

The other issue though is CPU power. A vast majority of the consumer-grade NAS devices QNAP make are based on Atom and Celeron CPUs, and the performance of Plex OR Emby on these kind of systems can be somewhat marginal, depending on other services running on the NAS at the same time. It's doable, but not without performance cost, and not without issue at times.

Been there, done it, tried it.
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NAS1: QNAP TS453-Pro (8GB, 4x4TB WD-Red), NAS2: QNAP TS453-Mini (8GB, 4x2TB WD-Red).
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Trexx
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Re: A real media server (not Plex!)

Post by Trexx »

gibxxi wrote:Plex is 'OK' as a server, but it's UI is too 'dumbed-down' and restrictive for any end-user that has a bit more savvy and wants / needs the customization element that Kodi brings.

Plex, being a fork of Kodi (or rather XBMC as it was called when the two projects diverged) shares much commonality in it's settings windows, with Kodi, so native users of Plex won't have too much trouble navigating & configuring Kodi.

Those who want the best of both worlds can have Plex running as a back-end, with 'PleXBMC' (XBMC / Kodi Add-on) on top offering the Kodi experience. Similar setups exist for using Emby as the back-end in place of Plex. Why is this relevant? Well, because as good as Kodi is as a media player it has no back-end server (as yet), so remote streaming becomes difficult without some kind of dedicated VPN so as to get access to your content (on the NAS) remotely.

The other issue though is CPU power. A vast majority of the consumer-grade NAS devices QNAP make are based on Atom and Celeron CPUs, and the performance of Plex OR Emby on these kind of systems can be somewhat marginal, depending on other services running on the NAS at the same time. It's doable, but not without performance cost, and not without issue at times.

Been there, done it, tried it.
Agree in general with all that you have said.

I think the "game changer" of late though has been the support in Emby & Plex (via Plexpass) for HW transcoding (Intel QSV for Plex). That has definitely helped improve the user experience for many Plex users running on Atom/Celeron class processors. While there are some limitations and trade-offs in terms of video "quality", it does help reduce the strain on the lower-end CPU's.
Paul

Model: TS-877-1600 FW: 4.5.3.x
QTS (SSD): [RAID-1] 2 x 1TB WD Blue m.2's
Data (HDD): [RAID-5] 6 x 3TB HGST DeskStar
VMs (SSD): [RAID-1] 2 x1TB SK Hynix Gold
Ext. (HDD): TR-004 [Raid-5] 4 x 4TB HGST Ultastor
RAM: Kingston HyperX Fury 64GB DDR4-2666
UPS: CP AVR1350

Model:TVS-673 32GB & TS-228a Offline[/color]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2018 Plex NAS Compatibility Guide | QNAP Plex FAQ | Moogle's QNAP Faq
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gibxxi
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Re: A real media server (not Plex!)

Post by gibxxi »

FWIW: The main issue I had at the point I tried it (And I've not ruled out trying again, since I have a lifetime PlexPass - Impulse buy) was the sheer length of time it took to get everything set up and content added. Not so much the playback.

I have two NAS devices (used to have 3, but decommissioned one), since I can't afford to spend money on 8x11TB+ drives I separate out my media across the two. Now It is possible to mount folders off one on the other for combined access, but also having to run Powerline devices here, and the clunky, convoluted way QNAP handles remote mounts, and the issues both Plex and Emby had consolidating or even being able to access the content for both, made me give up on it at the time.

Like I said though, it's doable. But for me, since I have no care or need for accessing my video-based content remotely on a consistent basis, I simply utilise QNAP's own 'Q-Apps' for remote access and Subsonic for my music. Others have different needs, granted.

EDIT: ...And for home use, I simply run 3x installs of Kodi on each of my main machines, directly accessing the media over SMB (Since QNAP's NFS support is also flakey) directly, with MySQL databases hosted on each NAS. It works well, and Kodi gives me the level of customization I can only dream of in Plex. For the record I don't run any 'dodgy' Kodi apps, in case people are wondering.

;)
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NAS1: QNAP TS453-Pro (8GB, 4x4TB WD-Red), NAS2: QNAP TS453-Mini (8GB, 4x2TB WD-Red).
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Re: A real media server (not Plex!)

Post by tjmack »

Quite like Serviio myself. Found it easy to setup shared folders unlike other servers.

Runs fine with multiple clients on various devices (Sony BD Player with its own DLNA client, VLC on iPAd and iPhone plus various Android stuff)

And I use a lowly HS-251.
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