KODI vs PLEX

Less is more. Even with 2 TV I still see no need for Plex. They are used by different people to view different content. In the odd occasion that I do watch something in my PC I'll use VLC or MPC-HC.
 
Rouxenator said:
Less is more. Even with 2 TV I still see no need for Plex. They are used by different people to view different content. In the odd occasion that I do watch something in my PC I'll use VLC or MPC-HC.
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See for us it's not just the (three) TVs but also the kids' laptops and tablets - so having one machine to serve all of them makes sense.
 
You can have one machine to serve them, in my case it's my desktop PC with 10TB of storage, and then my two OSMC Pies have it set as a source for media.
 
Rouxenator said:
My TV is not smart. I don't think it is wise to buy a TV with an OS that will probably be outdated in a few years time. My TV is nothing more than 50" LED display. It has a Pi3 connected which is where the "smart" is at.
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I'm 100% with Rouxenator here... Pi3 & OSMC all the way, any TV can do. Better if it supports remote CEC or whatever samsung uses. But Yatse on your smartphone and you good to go any way.
 
Rouxenator said:
You can have one machine to serve them, in my case it's my desktop PC with 10TB of storage, and then my two OSMC Pies have it set as a source for media.
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Why switch when Plex already does the job… and, most importantly, it's supported by all my devices.
 
As far as remotes go I like the Kore app on my phone. Youtube app also has a like to share stuff to Kore.
 
Rouxenator said:
You can have one machine to serve them, in my case it's my desktop PC with 10TB of storage, and then my two OSMC Pies have it set as a source for media.
Click to expand...

So you have the normal Plex setup (1 PC as media server and devices access it) and you have been complaining about Plex for 2 days now... because you don't want a separate device for the media server.
 
Icemanbrfc said:
Can i run this as a dual option or side by side with Windows? Not too clued up with Linux etc
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I have a windows host and a Linux VM where I have SABNZBD and Sonarr installed. Once the downloads are complete, the files get dropped in my host media directory.

I will probably install Plex in the VM tonight and let it monitor my Host media directory.

I have Plex installed on my Host atm.
 
For those Plex users:

I have a Samsung Smart TV connected to my network through a Powerline Adapter. I have been using it for some time now as the main Plex player in the house and have set it to direct play all media. However the larger sized media has trouble being pushed through and every now again it causes it to buffer.

Should I change the playback options to Direct Streaming (tried last night but still buffered) or Transcoding? I do want to try keep the quality though. Or is that just a symptom of poor network throughput?
 
FoXtroT said:
For those Plex users:

I have a Samsung Smart TV connected to my network through a Powerline Adapter. I have been using it for some time now as the main Plex player in the house and have set it to direct play all media. However the larger sized media has trouble being pushed through and every now again it causes it to buffer.

Should I change the playback options to Direct Streaming (tried last night but still buffered) or Transcoding? I do want to try keep the quality though. Or is that just a symptom of poor network throughput?
Click to expand...

Sounds like a network throughput issue. Try and monitor the upload speed from your media server while playing HD media (1080p or whatever you are struggling with). If it buffers and you see your upload speed is capped at a certain value, the easiest will probably to change the playback settings in PMS for your local connection speed. Set it to the closest value below what you achieve, then it should be fine. This might be at a lower quality than you would like.

You can also play with the Direct stream and Transcode settings. I used to get a lot of buffering on 1080p content, and changed the playback method, now it is perfect. Not sure which setting it is on now, but just change between them and monitor. There is probably a different amount of data being sent over the network if the player has to do the decoding vs just streaming.
 
furpile said:
Sounds like a network throughput issue. Try and monitor the upload speed from your media server while playing HD media (1080p or whatever you are struggling with). If it buffers and you see your upload speed is capped at a certain value, the easiest will probably to change the playback settings in PMS for your local connection speed. Set it to the closest value below what you achieve, then it should be fine. This might be at a lower quality than you would like.

You can also play with the Direct stream and Transcode settings. I used to get a lot of buffering on 1080p content, and changed the playback method, now it is perfect. Not sure which setting it is on now, but just change between them and monitor. There is probably a different amount of data being sent over the network if the player has to do the decoding vs just streaming.
Click to expand...

Thanks. I will play around a bit.

Unfortunately WiFi is just as bad in that part of the house, even if I put a Wifi extender nearby. Probably a poor network card in the TV as well which is why I switched to powerline. It has provided a more consistent experience so far but does still have its issues.
 
Not plex, but I had a similar issue with Playstation Media Server (now universal media server) on my PS3.
Transcoding normally encodes to MPEG-2, and at 1080p it would be 200mbit+. So I had to use gigabit ethernet to play everything smoothly.
 
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