Plex Home Server

[dobbles]

Ok, what the actual f%&k are you guys talking about??!?! I thought I was doing good with my plex server the last few years.... I backed up my physical media and then a buddy and I merged our together so we'd have more and then I'll rip movies from the library or redbox to grow my collection.

But I am apparently an ignorant toddler compared to all the complexity you guys have! Oddly, just this week I stumbled on this article: https://dailysysadmin.com/KB/Article...-media-server/ which I think talks about a lot of the same things you guys are talking about. I bookmarked it so I could come back and digest at my own pace in the future!

Do you guys have any basic learning I can do? Heck, I'd settle for a good place to get content as getting stuff at the library takes forever!

[1_Flames_Fan]

Honestly a paid plex server is the way to go if you don't want to have to do all the work yourself. Much cheaper than multiple subscriptions and you can get HDR and Dolby Vision content as well. Some will offer a short free trial to check out the content available. All you need is a plex account. Some are even free but the best ones are generally around $10-$15/month. Check out plex shares on reddit. I used to run my own server too but this is just much less of a hassle to deal with. To be fair though, I know everything can be pretty automated once it's all set up but I just don't have the time anymore with a 2 yo in the house. lol

[Hemi-Cuda]

Originally Posted by dobbles

Ok, what the actual f%&k are you guys talking about??!?! I thought I was doing good with my plex server the last few years.... I backed up my physical media and then a buddy and I merged our together so we'd have more and then I'll rip movies from the library or redbox to grow my collection.

But I am apparently an ignorant toddler compared to all the complexity you guys have! Oddly, just this week I stumbled on this article: https://dailysysadmin.com/KB/Article...-media-server/ which I think talks about a lot of the same things you guys are talking about. I bookmarked it so I could come back and digest at my own pace in the future!

Do you guys have any basic learning I can do? Heck, I'd settle for a good place to get content as getting stuff at the library takes forever!

The two big pieces to upgrade a Plex server are Radarr and Sonarr

Radarr - Movie library management service with automatic downloading and importing into Plex. Basically once you have it setup, you search for a movie to add and it will search through all of your configured indexers to find it at the quality you want, download it, rename the file per your settings, then move it into your Plex library. It will even re-download items once better quality rips are available, so for instance you can have a webrip 1080p movie that gets upgraded to a full Blu-Ray rip once it's released. It's a set it and forget it method for adding movies

Sonarr - Like Radarr but for TV shows. The greater value here is that once you add a TV show, it will automatically download and add every newly released episode to your Plex server

Basically both of those services turn your Plex server into an automated DVR system. The catch is that you need some sort of knowledge of either torrents or usenet, as those are the download options for radarr/sonarr. You also don't really want to just dive in and start downloading torrents if you've never done it before as it's a quick way to get nasty emails from your ISP and potential legal action, you need something to mask that traffic like a VPN

If all of this sounds brand new to you, definitely do a bunch of reading before diving in

[Hemi-Cuda]

Originally Posted by 1_Flames_Fan

Honestly a paid plex server is the way to go if you don't want to have to do all the work yourself. Much cheaper than multiple subscriptions and you can get HDR and Dolby Vision content as well. Some will offer a short free trial to check out the content available. All you need is a plex account. Some are even free but the best ones are generally around $10-$15/month. Check out plex shares on reddit. I used to run my own server too but this is just much less of a hassle to deal with. To be fair though, I know everything can be pretty automated once it's all set up but I just don't have the time anymore with a 2 yo in the house. lol

I found paid Plex shares pretty hit and miss. If you're trying to watch a newly released movie in 4K it's going to chug with so many other people also trying to watch that same file. And once you are watching something pausing or rewinding can be a total pain. Do not buy a Plex share for $15/mo and expect it to perform the same as Netflix or Disney+

[FlameOn]

Originally Posted by dobbles

Ok, what the actual f%&k are you guys talking about??!?! I thought I was doing good with my plex server the last few years.... I backed up my physical media and then a buddy and I merged our together so we'd have more and then I'll rip movies from the library or redbox to grow my collection.

But I am apparently an ignorant toddler compared to all the complexity you guys have! Oddly, just this week I stumbled on this article: https://dailysysadmin.com/KB/Article...-media-server/ which I think talks about a lot of the same things you guys are talking about. I bookmarked it so I could come back and digest at my own pace in the future!

Do you guys have any basic learning I can do? Heck, I'd settle for a good place to get content as getting stuff at the library takes forever!

Rather than digitizing or re-encoding movies from physical media, just download it from either Torrents or Usenet (think message board where ppl just dump their movies encodes and where a lot of high quality movie releases get posted). Usenet will cost you since ISPs no longer bundle it with internet but is private and you don't share content with anyone and Torrents are P2P which is unsecure as others have pointed out so you will need to use a VPN to hide your traffic.

To get started with Usenet you need a good Usenet Indexer (i.e. Search engine for Usenet) and usenet subscription are key to getting lots of content fast OR a good VPN and then torrent if you aren't worried about getting things fast.

Here's a good primer on Usenet Indexers (i.e. search engine) and their associated costs
https://www.reddit.com/r/usenet/wiki/indexers
Primer on what Usenet is in reddit's usenet wiki
https://www.reddit.com/r/usenet/wiki....2Fusenet_wiki
Then a Usenet Provider like Frugal Usenet or Eweka Usenet.

For Torrents. RARBG listed in your guide is good. I'd recommend a VPN like IPVanish or Private Internet Access for security.

Once you've chosen what to do, you enter your credentials into your usenet or torrent downloader of choice like SabNzBd (usenet downloader) or Deluge/Qbitorrent (torrent downloader). These can get linked into Radarr (searcher and manager for movies) and Sonarr (searcher and manager for TV) like in the guide you posted. Both of these programs are like PVRs that will search for, download, decompress, and move the files to your plex folder so Plex can automatically pick it up.

Everything working together should look like this. Stolen from Reddit. You can ignore the nginx/docker stuff if you don't do your own domain. Ignore VPN if you don't do torrent and only do usenet.


Spaceinvader One's Youtube channel has some really good videos on how to set these up step by step if you don't feel like reading the guides. They are built for users on the Unraid OS, but if you are using Windows instead you can just skip past the install sections to the configuration parts of the videos. Hope this helps

Spoiler!

[Raekwon]

Ok decided to just stay with Windows 10 as the server I switched to was already installed. Used NZBgeek/Frugal/NZBget I started with SabNZB as its what I Used in the past but found it to not work nearly as well as NZBget.

Setup Overseerr for requests now I just need to properly configure outside access, I tried to find a way to setup torrent as well with my seedbox but it didn't want to work and seemed like more of a hassle than its worth. I still plan to configure a backup block server but waiting to see how things go.

Overseerr is really slick the interface looks great and can't be sorted by site Netflix/D+ etc.

[FlameOn]

NZBGet is better in servers where you don't have a lot of processing power, but starts choking when you you are downloading multiple files simultaneously and maxing out connections. SABNzbd doesn't have that issue and has some more advanced features, like scheduling, post-process scripting, etc. but is more resource intensive. Both integrate well with the *arr programs tho.

If you are going with primarily with Usenet, do you still need a seedbox?

[Raekwon]

Originally Posted by FlameOn

NZBGet is better in servers where you don't have a lot of processing power, but starts choking when you you are downloading multiple files simultaneously and maxing out connections. SABNzbd doesn't have that issue and has some more advanced features, like scheduling, post-process scripting, etc. but is more resource intensive. Both integrate well with the *arr programs tho.

If you are going with primarily with Usenet, do you still need a seedbox?

No I wouldn't, when I'm confident it does everything I need I will cancel the box for sure.

[FlameOn]

Originally Posted by Raekwon

No I wouldn't, when I'm confident it does everything I need I will cancel the box for sure.

Yea if you wanna keep doing the torrents as backup Eweka Usenet does bundle IPVanish VPN that would be useful for that over Frugal. You can set torrent providers at a lower priority so its all automated.

EDIT: Apparently Eweka may not bundle IPVanish now, not sure. You'll have to check with them now.

[Hemi-Cuda]

So what benefits would usenet offer over torrents besides speed if you already have everything behind a VPN?

[FlameOn]

Originally Posted by Hemi-Cuda

So what benefits would usenet offer over torrents besides speed if you already have everything behind a VPN?

Not relying on seeds on some public torrents. You don't have have seeds, you ain't getting the content. If you are on private trackers where seeds are always plentiful I guess that's not an issue, but then you are probably limited to the content they track.

Usenet also gives you full speed access to anything posted over 10+ years with some providers exceeding 5000+ days retention.

[EldrickOnIce]

Tbqh, I don't understand all of this.
Is the notion higher quality video/audio, or what?
I use Kodi, Seren addon, real debrid subscription, and a trakt account. There is nothing I can't watch, in what I consider to be excellent quality debrid links, and trakt does a nice job of managing new/watched episodes across all devices
Am I simply glossing over substandard video/audio quality, or what else am I missing here?

[Raekwon]

Originally Posted by Hemi-Cuda

So what benefits would usenet offer over torrents besides speed if you already have everything behind a VPN?

I prefer torrent especially with a private tracker but I use a seedbox not only for the anonymity (which a VPN would take care of) but I don't want my connection use for seeding and with the private tracker you need to seed. Doing it this way makes the automation I want so much harder with torrent than with Usenet. So no real benefits.

Originally Posted by EldrickOnIce

Tbqh, I don't understand all of this.
Is the notion higher quality video/audio, or what?
I use Kodi, Seren addon, real debrid subscription, and a trakt account. There is nothing I can't watch, in what I consider to be excellent quality debrid links, and trakt does a nice job of managing new/watched episodes across all devices
Am I simply glossing over substandard video/audio quality, or what else am I missing here?

Looks like you use programs to stream the content rather than download and store so yeah I'm sure quality would be better it would be your option on how high to go, I don't go past 1080p for most stuff anyway because of the size, also for my setup I want to have the ability to download a movie anytime I want remotely so its there when I get home and so friends/family can do the same. No wrong answers just different strokes for different folks.

[DownInFlames]

Yeah Plex is more about organizing your content. Not everyone who uses it cares about quality.

[Azure]

Originally Posted by Krovikan

OMBI > Radarr/Sonarr > NZBGet > Plex /done

Reverse proxy it via Nginx to get yourself a nice local domain, ie nzbget.something.ca

Make sure all your services have passwords on them for legal reasons and use Let's Encrypt on the reverse proxy. You can also use Docker to make things easier to manage.

Ditch BitTorrent, it's a red flag for most ISPs and can get you in legal trouble, also make sure you are in a country like EU/Canada for PII purposes for your Usenet service; and for the love of Pete always use TLS services, nothing unencrypted.

All of this information is provided for entertainment purposes only, I take no responsibility for you using it for illegal activity.

Nerd.

[Azure]

I use Plex on Synology.

Share with about 8-10 people. Everything is in a format so that nobody needs to transcode.

I use torrents behind a VPN for everything & manually rename everything with Filebot.
I have thought about setting up Sonar and Radar, but my process now works fine I guess.

Plex is awesome though.

[Hemi-Cuda]

Originally Posted by DownInFlames

Yeah Plex is more about organizing your content. Not everyone who uses it cares about quality.

Plus with Plex once you download something the bandwidth cost to watch it is zero. Handy with kids who want to watch the same shows over and over again to not saturate your line, and no interruptions if your internet goes out

[Hack&Lube]

Originally Posted by EldrickOnIce

Tbqh, I don't understand all of this.
Is the notion higher quality video/audio, or what?
I use Kodi, Seren addon, real debrid subscription, and a trakt account. There is nothing I can't watch, in what I consider to be excellent quality debrid links, and trakt does a nice job of managing new/watched episodes across all devices
Am I simply glossing over substandard video/audio quality, or what else am I missing here?

You are looking from the media consumption/streaming side to find content to watch which means you are always restrained to whomever is hosting that service and the limitations of their platforms and limitations to their library when you are looking for something to watch.

Plex + automation is building your own in-house media content library and potentially offering an entire ecosystem to your friends and family where everything is available in the highest quality, categorized properly (unlike most steaming services), and even where they can request movies and shows and the system will automatically go out and gather it in mere minutes and store it locally.

Basically, start your own basement Netflix 101.

[Azure]

It used to be with just Netflix, it was cost effective.

Now there are 4-5 streaming platforms, each around $15-$20 per month, so suddenly it costs $100 / month to be able to stream what you want, plus extra for sporting channels, etc.

For $100 / month ongoing, you can easily pay for a Plex Server.

[CaptainReboot]

For those with Plex, there is a plug in called Tautulli. It adds some additional monitoring. It keeps some good stats, like what's being played, what's the most watched, users and their history, stream quality, etc.. I also have email alerts setup when it's down, when someone plays something, and when new media is added.