Jellyfin or Plex are probably your best choices. I believe you could even run the Plex server on your Nvidia Shield, though it might struggle to transcode 4k video I'm not sure.
this post was submitted on 18 Dec 2023
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Jellyfin or Plex, for sure. Plex is a fork of Kodi, and has a premium service you can buy. Jellyfin is the open source alternative. The program will search a specific folder for media, link it to known shows/movies, download the metadata/posters/trailers/etc and make it available for streaming.
The server will allow for direct play when possible, or will transcode the media into a different format if the streaming device isn’t capable of playing the file directly. This last part is where many people run into issues, as they’ll try to run it on something small like a raspberry pi, then get stuttering when trying to watch 4K streams, because the server isn’t powerful enough to transcode the media fast enough to keep up. So you’ll want to make sure that whatever you’re running it on is powerful enough to keep up. HP EliteDesk units are a popular choice, because they’re fairly cheap enterprise units with decently low power consumption, while also being powerful enough to keep up with transcoding.
For remote streaming, you’ll probably want a VPN; ISPs tend to get squirmy if they know you’re hosting a server for copyrighted content. It will also require port forwarding to be able to connect to anything outside of your local network. So your use case will definitely require port forwarding; When selecting a VPN, be sure to pick one that supports that.
As for setting up the server, it’s basically a matter of placing the media into specific folders, then telling the program how those files are organized. Plex will pull file data directly from the file names, so a program like FileBot to automatically pair files to known databases and rename them to Plex’s naming scheme will be a fantastic tool. It makes file management much easier, because you don’t need to worry about mis-matched shows. Then once the server figures out which files are which, it will automatically deal with the metadata, image downloads, etc…
Then for streaming, it’s a matter of connecting with your Plex/Jellyfin app, which will find your server and initiate the stream. With PlexPass, you can even do things like download files locally, then your device will simply update those files whenever it reconnects to your server. I use this on my iPad to watch stuff at work, then it automatically deletes the watched episodes and downloads the new ones when I get home every day. But not everyone wants to burn that much storage space for videos, so streaming remotely is also possible.
While I personally prefer Plex (I bought the lifetime PlexPass years ago) Jellyfin has surged in popularity recently because Plex has made some odd changes recently. So if you’re looking for a free service that has lots of support, definitely look into Jellyfin.
Plex is a fork of Kodi
Just as a side note, Plex has absolutely nothing to do with Kodi. Jellyfin is a fork of Emby, maybe you mixed them up.
Thanks for the very detailed advice. Definately some interesting things to follow up on. I got the plex pass when I bought the shield but never got it to connect remotely, but due to them putting ads in their films, I'm now thinking to switch to something else.
Videos you host will never get ads, unless they’re baked straight into the video file, (and at that point you need to reconsider where you downloaded them from.) Plex does have a sort of IPTV service that they run, which has ads. But most Plex users tend to ignore that part of the app, because that’s clearly not why they are using the server. Just use it for hosting your own stuff and you can ignore the Live TV/Movies & Shows stuff from Plex entirely.
Absolutely correct. I was referring to videos/films that I'm watching that are hosted by plex. Apologies if I didn't make that clear. The videos that it hosts for me do not have adverts.
Videos from your own server never get ads. The only ads you'll ever see in Plex are from the various streaming services that Plex aggregates. These streaming services and their ads have nothing to do with Plex expect that Plex indexes them for you.
Post this over in Selfhosted - it's right up their alley.
Some ideas, at a high level:
First you need/want a machine that can function as a media server, but also has low idle power consumption.
Second, a mechanism for secure access for streaming or syncing.
One simple, easy approach that isn't streaming, but would require copying files first, then watching: install Resilio sync on your file server, share your media folder, and use Resilio on your mobile devices. Then you can (from your mobile device) browse the share with Resilio, select files to sync, and when sync is completed use a local app (say VLC) to watch it.
If you keep mobile-quality media beside your high-quality media, it'll reduce sync time. After all, a phone doesn't need 1080 resolution.
Alternative, use a VPN/Mesh network to maintain access to your home network (Wireguard/Tailscale), then use native tools to copy, or use media servers/players to watch via the encrypted connection.
Great, I'll repost, thanks. What's a mesh network btw?
It's an encrypted network that's overlaid on other networks. Wireguard, Tailscale, Hamachi (that's an old one).
It's a virtual network using encrypted links to appear logically like its' own network. All your devices see each other, as if they were on the same LAN, even if they're halfway around the world.
I've used Plex to run a media server from my home in the past, been a few years though. I believe you can still do that with the free version. Then you just need to set up Plex to wake on LAN so the computer you're using for the media server will wake up when you want to watch something. This does require that the device is hardwired as WiFi doesn't offer wake options.
Thanks. I couldn't get plex to run from 'off site', it was probably something that I wasn't doing properly.
I'm not sure if it was the vpn or not, but it never connected even though I set the tunnelling like it said.
You don't need a vpn for this, plex has servers to let you connect to your home computer. I believe it's called remote connection . Check it out in your plex server settings.
One of the things that can prevent it from working is called double Nat where your server is behind multiple routers on your network, there are many guides for how to resolve this.
For me it was CG-NAT. Pretty much the same as the double NAT HeavyRaptor has pointed out, just now something you fix yourself.
I am lucky and for a reasonable price can have a fixed IP for my broadband.
That made Jellyfin work perfectly, over a VPN using Wireguard.
It was more difficult setting up Wireguard than it was getting Jellyfin working!
Free version doesn’t allow gpu for transcoding.
I'm using Emby for that and loving it (even paying the premium). It's free too for most features. If i got you right, you have your movies and a pc. Emby runs fine on linux/android/win. Setting up the server is child's play on win (haven't tried linux).
If you dislike it and like to tinker more (coz u have to) : Jellyfin (same base as emby).
Or you can pay and go the mainstream-route with plex.
If that is what you're looking for?
Emby sounds interesting, thanks.
It is. I switched after many years of plex because they started to annoy me. It was a long while ago and zero issues since. Big community and if you're stuck (which u won't) you'd get help there
Look at Kodi or Jellyfin. For kodi there's also libreelec (or openelec, not completely sure) so you dont have to tinker with the underlying OS much.
Call