Windows Help & Advice - UK (2020-03)

18 |^ |^ March 2020

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A DIY streaming service

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hese days, we consume

media – from music and

photos to movies and TV

• on a variety of devices
  in various locations.
  Digital media is both
  liberating and yet constricting at the
  same time. If you’ve built up a huge
  media library and want quick and easy
  access to it from any location, then you
  need a media server.
  A media server allows you to collect
  all the media you own the copyright to
  together in one location – your PC’s
  main storage, a USB-attached drive or
  even a network-attached drive – and
  then access it from just about any smart
  device you own – other computers, your
  phone or tablet, even the set-top box or
  smart TV in your living room. It provides
  you with a consistent experience
  wherever you happen to be, and allows
  you to start watching on one device,
  then finish on another without having to
  manually skip to the right place.
  Our media server of choice is Plex
  (www.plex.tv) – it provides an easy way
  to browse and watch or listen to your
  media, and thanks to its clever ‘On Deck’
  function, will line up the next episode of
  a TV show after you’ve finished
  watching the current one.

Choose the right hardware

Plex should ideally be left running 24/7,

so we recommend installing it on a

low-power device such as a high-end

network hard drive (QNAP, Synology or

WD My Cloud) or a Raspberry Pi 3 or 4.

Make sure all your home movies are

stored as MP4 files using the H.

video and AAC or MP3 audio codecs –

this is the closest to a universal format

you can get, most devices should be

able to play it directly. Handbrake (www.

handbrake.fr) is the best tool for video

conversion. Music should be MP3 for the

same reason – convert using MusicBee

(https://getmusicbee.com).

With your media in place, follow the

quick-start guide at https://support.plex.

tv/articles/200264746 to download, set

up and then start configuring your new

streaming media server (see the

step-by-step guide). By default, you’ll

be able to stream media on your own

network only; to open access to the

internet, select ‘Settings > Remote

Access’ to do so. If you’d like to share

your server with friends and family,

select Users & Sharing under your

account name – the benefit of doing this

is that you control which libraries they

can access, while they’ll also enjoy their

own personalised On Deck experience.

Set up a media library

Over time you too can build a frighteningly

large collection of personal media to stream.

1

Library basics

In the Plex app, click the

Settings button. In the left-hand

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section and click Libraries followed by

‘Add Library’. First, select your media

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videos (such as home videos). Name it

and click Next.

3

Advanced settings

Select Advanced in the left-hand

pane to tweak the library’s settings

• in most cases these can be left
  alone, but you may want to choose
  a different online agent to provide
  library information about your movies.
  Click ‘Add Library’ when you’re done
  and wait for it to be populated.

2

Select media folder

Click ‘Browse for media folder’

• remember it will need to be on a drive
  that’s visible to your server. Click inside
  the folder box and wait. After a short
  pause, a list of folders should appear,
  allowing you to browse to and select
  the folder containing your media.
  Click Add.