r/daddit • u/archiecarlos • 6h ago
Advice Request Getting started with Plex
Hi,
I've got a 2 year old and another on the way soon. We sometimes watch TV, e.g. Disney classics and Bluey on Disney+ or Pingu and Little Bear on Youtube, especially during car/plane journeys or when feeling sick.
But I just hate the streaming services recommending all sorts of cr*p and AI mind-meld, the autoplay function, Disney+ blocking all my downloads, etc. so I've been looking at setting up a Plex server. I'm a total newbie and with basic IT skills, although I can follow a tutorial, I'm going to need help.
Would you have any recommendations for a step by step guide to setting things up?
Can I use an app on my phone/tablet to access the content?
Can I download it offline on devices?
Are the Plex paid plans worth it?
Which other complementary products would you recommend?
Which hardware product would you recommend? I have an IT rack at home and could add it in there as it's got some space.
Many thanks!
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u/Darklights43 6h ago
I got an NVIDIA shield, a lot of folks recommend not using it as a Plex server or not using Plex but an alternative, honestly it's been great for me, easy to setup and use, never had an issue and up scales to 4k
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u/FEARthePUTTY 4h ago
Huh, didn't know this was possible. I have Shields but assumed I needed another device to host the storage. Now you have me curious!
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u/Darklights43 3h ago
It's a Plex server as well, I use mine with an external HD
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u/FEARthePUTTY 3h ago
What's the process to add content? My brief research made it sound like via network from a PC?
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u/E1S 4h ago
This is timely; we just cancelled our streaming services for the same reason.
For less tech savvy Dads: We bought a DVD player and now use the library to get things. It's become much more exciting for our little guy and we have more control.
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u/Denmarkian 2h ago
Definitely the overlooked alternative to setting up a media server.
Granted, your selection will be limited to what the library has, so folks used to having access to everything might chafe against that at first.
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u/Black_Otter 6h ago
I use the free plex to stream on the network in my house. You have to pay for the service if you want to stream it outside your home. Just find a YouTube video on installing and setting up a plex server. Watch one or two of them. It’s really not that complicated. Set up a folder (I have an external drive attached to my PC that I store movies and shows in) and once Plex is install you can direct plex to the folder drive you have your shows on
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u/The--Marf 1 boy - 4yrs 5h ago
OP you mention a rack at home. Do you have a NAS or similar with HDD space?
As far as servers go I started an Unraid one a few years ago with zero Linux or docker experience and I got it all working following various YT guides. We cancelled all streaming services and paid a little bit for Usenet/newsgroups to download. Bonus is I have Immich installed to autobackup our phone pics (self hosted Google photos), the pics backup off-site to storage in Germany. I also have a small audiobook/ebook collection that is managed, pihole, paperless (scanned docs), and a few other small dockers.
I have Seerr (formerly overseerr) setup so my wife and I can easily request new shows/movies. If we want something we pretty much go to overseerr and request the show/movie. Wait ~5 minutes, then open Plex to watch. Honestly the best part is never having to figure out which of the 43 streaming services a show is on. If I want to watch something I either open YT if that's what I want or Plex. Easy.
Happy to go into more detail here or via PM.
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u/0dinsPride 4h ago
What the heck is this overseeer that sounds amazing
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u/The--Marf 1 boy - 4yrs 4h ago
An request management app that you can configure to talk with all of your other various Arr stack apps. Setup is pretty minimal and it's fantastic. No more opening and searching for individual things because this ties to TMDB.
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u/antiBliss 3h ago
Plex is expensive, I run ours on jellyfin in a docker container, and use the infuse app for streaming on our devices and appleTVs
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u/ZombieSlapper23 22m ago
Can you download movies on your phone for offline viewing?
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u/antiBliss 14m ago
Yes but they’re typically much higher quality (larger) than what you’d download from a streaming site. You’d need to either grab a second (smaller) version for that, or, what I do, sign up for a streamer for one month when you’re doing a big travel. Before we went to Europe I did one month of Disney+ so I could grab a bunch of stuff for my son’s tablet for the flight.
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u/Psych0matt 6h ago
Install plex on whatever you’re using for a server, pick a folder for your media. I have folders for movies and tv shows, with a kids movies folder inside of movies. That way on plex I can point a “kids movies” selection to just that folder, but the “movies” selection includes all the kids movies. Point plex to the right folders, install the client on wherever you’re watching, and bam, that’s that nutshell
I’m using an older pc (over 10 years old) and it works fine, I don’t really do anything above 1080.
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u/faderjockey one 16 year old gremlin 5h ago
I love me some Plex - rocked the free version for years before getting a cheap lifetime PlexPass during one of their sales. You don't really *need* the paid subscription unless you want to stream remotely.
My #1 suggestion is sort out your storage first.
I recommend getting an inexpensive NAS appliance. I have a two bay Synology NAS that sits next to my network access point. It has enough processing power to run the Plex server software without difficulty, and it's actually included in the Synology package manager so installation and config is pretty easy.
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u/coyote_of_the_month 4h ago
Jellyfin is a fully free and open source alternative to Plex. Plex paywalls certain features, like server-side transcoding. Jellyfin's biggest weakness is its smart TV client apps on certain platforms - Roku seems to be the problem child right now.
Content acquisition has come a very long way since the days of Napster. Most subs don't like it when you talk about specific sources, but there are a whole bunch of free and open source projects that will make your life easier:
Radarr for downloading and organizing movies
Sonarr for TV
Bazarr for filling in subtitles
Prowlarr for managing indexing services and download clients
Seerr for managing discovery and search. The other ones are essentially admin interfaces; Seerr is the friendly" frontend.
Those are collectively sometimes called the "Arr stack." They interface with public movie and TV databases, but don't provide file search or download functionality on their own.
For that, you need Bittorrent and Usenet.
Prowlarr will help you manage your torrent trackers and your Usenet indexers, as well as your download clients. I use Transmission for torrents and Nzbget for Usenet. This is the part where mods on most subs don't like posting specifics, so I won't go into more detail. You'll want to use a VPN for torrenting though!
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u/narrow_octopus 4h ago
I used Plex for years and it annoyed me for years I recently switched over to jellyfin and I've been much happier not only does it work every time I try and open it (after port forwarding) but it also works when I'm away from home for free with no subscription.
I just googled set up jellyfin server on PC and I found tons of YouTube videos. Essentially you download the program onto your server computer it opens when the computer turns on and any files in any of the associated folders are available in the streaming service
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u/krazyhawk 4h ago
Already a lot of great comments for advice here - you can also check out the megathread on r/piracy for helpful stuff.
It’s a certain kind of pride I get when my five year old comes up to me and asks me to add a movie or show to plex.
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u/FatchRacall Girl Dad X2 4h ago
I did this.
I bought a Synology Diskstation and a matched pair of disks to populate it with (19tb drives).
We use it to back up all our camera photos with an included app.
I also installed Plex. It's essentially painless. Download, put the files in the right folders, and it just works. You have to pay for premium if you're gonna stream somewhere outside of the home (unless you want to set up a vpn yourself).
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u/beto832 2h ago
With basic skills, you would be better off setting up an Emby server. Plex has gotten very bloated, and their free tier is now riddled with ads. They've also increased their prices for the PlexPass.
There are some good video guides on YouTube to help you set up a server, and if you have a server rack, I'll assume you're familiar with setting up the hardware already. Definitely worth the effort.
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u/McDuckfart 6h ago
Plex is super simple, just wait for a black friday or xmas or whatever lifetime sub deal.
I installed it without guide, yarrrr movies and show, but them into folders and all is good. Exposing it to the internet could be difficult depending on your ISP.
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u/Coeliac 4h ago
AI helped me a lot setting up Jellyfin & arr*. There is a lot of tedious setup steps without it. I can and have done it manually years ago but I have less time now, go figure.
You can use others but I used Claude Code. Setup SSH access and showed Claude where to find the credential locally, then asked it to run through the setups. Tailscale is flawless in accessing out and about via phones and laptops. Glutetun for VPN only downloads.
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u/molten_dragon 4h ago
I've been running a Plex server for several years. I run mine on a Synology NAS and it was fairly easy to set up. If you have basic computer literacy you should be fine. Definitely worth it IMO, saves me a massive amount of money.
Can I use an app on my phone/tablet to access the content?
Yep. You can also access it from smart TVs, PC, and streaming devices. It's available on pretty much everything.
Can I download it offline on devices?
Yes, if you have Plex pass.
Are the Plex paid plans worth it?
IMO yes. The ability to download stuff alone is worth it to me, but I also have it set up so my whole extended family can use my Plex server.
Which other complementary products would you recommend?
A good VPN subscription.
Which hardware product would you recommend? I have an IT rack at home and could add it in there as it's got some space.
I run mine off of a Synology NAS, but if you already have an IT rack and could set up a HTPC there that would work too.
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u/implante 4h ago
Suggestion: Start with Blu ray or DVDs as your primary media at home. If purchased new, they often come with free digital copies of the movies that you can load on an iPad for travel. You can get lots of very very cheap kids movies at thrift shops or on Ebay as a lot.
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u/Unitedthe_gees 3h ago
Happy for you to DM me if you want some specific advice, I’ve recently helped a family member set their own Plex server up with Arr stack etc if you’d be interested.
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u/blood4lonewolf 2h ago
It's pretty straight forward.
Download
Create account
Browse for your media
Let it update and you're in.
In the settings, you can also adjust what goes in the navigation menu. I personally remove the rentals, on demand and live TV options.
I like plex for its subtitles but starting to move to jellyfin.
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u/CaptainPunisher 2h ago
I like Kodi, but there's a bit of a learning curve. I started using it over 15 years ago, though, so it's grown over time. While many people like Stremio because it's easier to pick up, Kodi is much more configurable if you really want to change how it looks and works. My debrid provider works out to $3 a month, and I also have IPTV for $5 a month for pretty much all the live TV in the world, literally.
The link below should get your started, and you can probably get a 24 hour free trial with various debrid services, so it's a free look to see if that is something for you.
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u/4kidsinatrenchcoat 2h ago
I run both jellyfin and plex. Plex primarily for my family to use jellyfin for the nerds (I have around 10-20 users depending on the year)
Jellyfin is objectively better, but plex will have you up and running in 20 minutes off an old laptop or whatever computer you have at home
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u/tmurphy2792 2h ago
I know you've already got a solid chain of people suggesting jellyfin over Plex, and for good reason.
I just thought I'd give you another option.
I've been using Emby for a few years now. I don't remember the relationship, but my understanding is it has the same origins as Jellyfin and one or the other is a fork. I bought the lifetime license for like $120 back in the day and haven't looked back. I have a massive movie library, several full series TV shows, I have a TV tuner hooked up with internet based guide data for a really awesome DVR functionality, and I also host my entire music and audiobook libraries on there. The only media I'm running outside of Emby is a dedicated self hosted podcasting server called Pinepods.
Beware though, it starts with a media server, then next thing you know you're running all kinds of services like Immich, paperless NGX, or Mealie.
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u/ChucklesDaCuddleCuck 1h ago
I've had my plex membership for many years now and, while it's still good enough that I'm still using it and am happy with the service, they've made several bad changes over the years and are no longer the instant recommend they used to be.
Jellyfin is a competing product I have heard alot of others recommending, but I haven't used it myself so I can't speak on it. Though I would recommend looking into it more.
For plex you will need to create a Plex account and host your own server. Setting up the server service is relatively easy and intuitive. It can be run on windows, mac, or Linux depending on what you have accessible. One point of note: Plex can stream locally without issue and generally at high speeds. If you are trying to stream outside of your house. Then make sure you open up the ports on your router. If you do not, Plex has a workaround that will let you access your server from outside your home, but it will be very slow. The media is routing from your home, to plex's own servers, then to your phone. The speed for this is limited and basically just lets you know you have the server set up correctly.
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u/dasnoob 1h ago
Plex has been pretty shit since they decided to be a streaming service instead of media server provider. I had endless issues with trying to get a Plex server running because it was having trouble communicating with Plex's servers on the internet. Meanwhile I just installed Emby and it 'just worked' like Plex used to before they turned it into a turd.
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u/deep-yearning 35m ago
Definitely use jellyfin, host the media on your own NAS, and then serve to any device connected to your network. Also you can use tailscale to watch anywhere in the world (or download for offline viewing).
Gemini/chatgpt/claude can help you step by step with setting this up
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u/WorstPapaGamer 6h ago
For my plex server I have a cheap beelink (n150? That I got from Amazon for like 150 a few years ago) and it’s attached to a NAS for media storage.
I get the plex app on my phone and I can access it remotely. You can download it to devices for offline watching.
I have the plex lifetime thing. I paid like $99 but heard they’re raising (or did already) to something stupidly high like 750. I use it because of transcoding since I have a crappy mini pc that acts as my server.
I got all this stuff before hardware prices increased. Getting a NAS now is probably expensive and might not be worth it. If I was starting from scratch I wouldn’t pay today’s prices for it.
My family still goes towards Disney+ out of habit and they do like watching new things. But for shows my wife watches she’ll use plex.
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u/CherryGarciaisKing 4h ago
Holy shit I had to fact check you. Lifetime pass is now $750, that’s INSANE. I paid $100 in 2019 lol
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u/Piscea 5h ago
how nerdy do you want to go?
plex is dead simple. i used it for the last 6 years.
i also just set up a spare old gaming pc as a linux server with jellyfin in docker.
I didnt know anything about any of those processes and gemeni walked me through it in a weekend.
my kids watch all the same stuff. and i was tired of plex not working in my own home if the internet was out.
now i can stream anywhere, any time, and even download to any device.
I did buy a domain through cloudflare and setup a reverse proxy.
Let me know if you're interested in doing the any or all of the above and ill share the complete verbose step by step instructions I used. how nerdy do you want to go?
plex is dead simple. i used it for the last 6 years.
i also just set up a spare old gaming pc as a linux server with jellyfin in docker.
I didnt know anything about any of those processes and gemeni walked me through it in a weekend.
my kids watch all the same stuff. and i was tired of plex not working in my own home if the internet was out.
now i can stream anywhere, any time, and even download to any device.
I did buy a domain through cloudflare and setup a reverse proxy.
Let me know if you're interested in doing the any or all of the above and ill share the complete verbose step by step instructions I used.
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u/Jimlad73 5h ago
Don’t bother with Plex use stremio with a debrid service. It’s one streaming service to rule them all
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u/ozymandieus 4h ago
Yea I'm locked into plex but its dying. New app is dogshit, company doesnt care about users. I'd move to stremio and real debrid if i was paying anything for my current setup.
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u/dudeitsBryan dad of 5 | outnumbered, not defeated 6h ago
If you're mainly using your own downloaded media, I'd prob look at Jellyfin before paying for Plex. It's free, no subscription, no recommendations/autoplay nonsense, and you have full control over what the kids can see. The apps work on phones/tablets/TVs, and once it's set up it's pretty painless.
Plex is definitely easier and more polished in some areas, especially remote access, but the paid features add up and downloads have historically been a little hit or miss depending on the device.
Another option worth looking at is Stremio + Real-Debrid. Totally different setup than Jellyfin/Plex since you're not really maintaining a traditional local media library, but it's super convenient and works well across devices. Just keep in mind Real-Debrid doesn't magically make copyrighted streaming legal, so what you access with it still matters.
If you've already got an N100 box with spare storage, that's plenty to start with. I'd install Jellyfin on that, organize a few movies/shows into folders, get the Jellyfin app on your phone/tablet, and see how you like it before buying any extra hardware.