Key Details of Plex Media Server. Editors' Review shelbybrown Mar 20, Pros The base version is very capable: If you just want to stream a video from your computer to your TV or a mobile device, the free version of Plex doesn't put up many roadblocks. Cons Adding media to your library can take a while: Your media library is easier to visually scan if you're using cover art instead of navigating by file name.
Full Specifications. What's new in version 1. Version 1. Release April 23, Date Added April 23, Operating Systems. Additional Requirements Direct X 9. Total Downloads , Downloads Last Week Report Software. Related Software. Apple iTunes Free.
Spotify Free. Share and listen to music files and playlists of your choice. TouchCopy Free to try. Transfer music, videos, photos, messages, and other media from your iPod, iPhone, or iPad to iTunes.
User Reviews. Show Reviews. If for whatever reason you want multiple Plex servers on a single network, Plex is cool with that, too. You can invite Plex-using friends to share and stream your media, and vice versa; you only need to know their email address or Plex username.
For obvious anti-piracy reasons, you can view or listen to, but not download, another user's media files. But for this guide, we'll focus on getting it running on a Mac. Plex does a good job of identifying and cataloging your media all on its own, but it still needs a little help from you. We'll give you a quick guide here, but for more information, consult Plex's help files. Before you begin, remember that any DRM-locked content you've purchased from iTunes won't work with Plex.
The files might show up if you point Plex toward the folder where they live, but Plex won't be able to play them. Make sure that each type of media you want to add to Plex has its own folder — for example, put all your movies in a Movies folder, and TV shows in a different TV Shows folder.
These folders don't have to live on the same hard drive, and if you happen to have one set of movies on one drive, and another elsewhere, you can add both to Plex as separate libraries, and they'll all show up under Plex's Movies category. Movies are pretty simple to prepare and add. You can just drop the files in your Movies folder, and Plex will generally recognize them by name.
If you want to make sure Plex doesn't confuse your film for a movie of the same title, make sure to include the year it was made in parentheses after the title:. You don't need that episode title, nor the year in parentheses, for Plex to recognize the file, but they certainly don't hurt. You definitely need the show's name and the season and episode numbers in every file name.
Here are a few examples that would all work:. Visit Plex's site to create an account. It's free, and the account will help you sign in to both your server and any player apps.
Download Plex Media Server for Mac on the computer you want to be your server. Make sure you verify the checksum before you open the downloaded file! Move the resulting Plex Media Server app into your Applications folder. When you open it, the only indication you'll see that it's running is a tiny Plex chevron icon on the right side of your menubar at the top of your screen.
When the grayed out 'Server is starting…' message disappears from that menu, the server's up and running. Plex will open your browser of choice and prompt you to log in with your account. If it doesn't, select Open Plex from the server menu.
Plex's Setup Wizard will find your server on your network and ask you to give it a 'friendly name' — a moniker that will help you identify your server and tell it apart from any others you might connect to. It'll also ask whether you want to access your server outside your home. If you say yes, it'll do its best to automatically adjust your network settings so that you can see the media on your server from anywhere with an Internet connection.
You don't have to add all of these at setup — my server only has movies and TV shows — and you can always add libraries later if you wish. When you're done, Plex will finish setup, start scanning the folders you specified to catalog your media, and then use the Internet to pull in artwork, descriptions, and other metadata for everything in your library. This might take a minute or two. Plex's Web app runs in your browser. Like Plex's other Player apps, it'll play all your music and video, but it has lots of powers the other apps don't.
To open the Web app on the computer running Plex Server, choose Open Plex… from the Plex menu on the right side of the menubar. That'll work anywhere, as long as you have an Internet connection. Open the Accounts menu and select Users. You'll be the only user listed, but you can add new ones or enable guest access. You can add existing Plex users to your server by entering their e-mail address or Plex account username, or create managed users under your own account — say, separate logins for your spouse and kids.
For each managed user, you can choose which libraries they have access to, and limit content by movie or TV ratings or particular labels you've given your media.
In the list of accounts, click the lock icon next to an account's name to specify a four-digit pin that user will need to access their account. That's a good way to keep smaller people away from inappropriate audiovisual experiences. Next, open Settings. Plex generally does a good job of making the different categories here self-explanatory, and of setting up your server so that you don't need to go tinkering with settings any more than you want to.
But let's review a few quick essentials. You can download or learn more about each update here. New versions tend to roll out about once a month, if not more frequently. Take a look in your application data folder. There should hopefully be a folder called updates. Previous version can be found in that folder. Unless you changed the application data location, they should be here:.
Plex needs a proper download archive, esp. Does anyone have a good link for Windows PMS version 0.
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