universal media server installation guide

UNIVERSAL MEDIA SERVER INSTALLATION GUIDE HOW TO
UNIVERSAL MEDIA SERVER INSTALLATION GUIDE MAC OSX
UNIVERSAL MEDIA SERVER INSTALLATION GUIDE 1080P
UNIVERSAL MEDIA SERVER INSTALLATION GUIDE PORTABLE
UNIVERSAL MEDIA SERVER INSTALLATION GUIDE ANDROID

Plex clients that provides a simple front-end user interface to access media.

Media Manager that points Media Server to media folders and automatically scrapes the meta data and organizes them into a beautiful media library.

Media Server that runs on your Windows, Mac OSX, or Linux computer.

UNIVERSAL MEDIA SERVER INSTALLATION GUIDE ANDROID

There are also mobile front-end apps available on iOS, Android and Windows Phone operating system. In addition to it’s own front-end software, Plex Media Center, the back-end server application is compatible with many other front-ends such as XBMC (with Plexbmc add-on). The Plex Media Center is actually a fork of the open-source project, XBMC, but particularly the Plex Media Server is closed-code and actively developed by the Plex team.

UNIVERSAL MEDIA SERVER INSTALLATION GUIDE MAC OSX

Plex Media Server is a back-end application that you have running all the time at home on various platforms such as Windows, Mac OSX and Linux. Now, set up is completed and you can start copying media files to the storage space.

I decided to use two-way mirroring resiliency type to protect my data from a single drive failure.įinally, click “Create storage space”, and your storage pool will be created.

Next, enter a name, drive letter, and resiliency type for your storage space. In order to be able to utilize RAID-style resiliency features, you should use at least two hard drives. You will see a list of available hard drives that can be incorporated into your pool. Select the “create a new pool and storage space” option, and you will be prompted to create your first storage space. In this section, you will learn in practice the steps you need to take to keep your data safe with Windows storage spaces.įirst, go to Control Panel and select administration options under System and Security. In fact, after installing 2 x 1TB spare hard drives to the media server case, it took me only a couple of minutes to configure the system. I was positively surprised how easy it was to set up storage spaces. This new capability is called Storage Spaces that is included by default in Windows. You may be surprised to learn that Windows allows you to organize hard disks into storage pools, which use RAID-style mirroring and parity techniques to keep your media files safe.

Gigabit Ethernet recommended for HD streamingĬlick here for a complete list of the recommended components.

UNIVERSAL MEDIA SERVER INSTALLATION GUIDE 1080P

3 GHz dual-core processor (2.4 GHz is a minimum for 1080p transcoding).

When building your own media server, it is good to keep these basic recommendations in mind: This system has a Silverstone GD06 case, which supports five hard drives and is augmented by two hot-swappable bays to improve flexibility. I converted my existing value HTPC system with Intel Core i3 processor into a media server because I needed to have a powerful enough system to transcode media files smoothly.

Energy efficiency: Consume as little power as possible.

Reliability: Provide peace of mind with minimal amount of maintenance.

Streaming: Stream media to HTPC using SMB and other protocols.

Storage: Store and backup media files with RAID capability.

Music: Play music on all devices from a shared library.

Meta data: Automatically scrape movies, music, and TV series meta data.

UNIVERSAL MEDIA SERVER INSTALLATION GUIDE PORTABLE

Transcoding: Transcode media to portable devices.

Contents of the GuideĪfter completing this guide, you will be able to build a media server that meets the following criteria: In my previous guide, I have already covered Plex with unRAID media server, but this time I decided to use Windows with Storage Spaces, because unRAID + Plex combo was not working reliably enough for me while Windows + Plex has proven to be working exceptionally well. Plex Media Server represents the state of the art when it comes to managing and sharing your media library between various devices such as a home theater computer, media streamer, iPad, and mobile phone.

UNIVERSAL MEDIA SERVER INSTALLATION GUIDE HOW TO

In this complete guide, I will show you how to build a simple setup with Plex Media Server and Windows Storage Spaces feature that will make all of your media easily accessible from almost any device.

Universal media server installation guide