Lets Build A Plex Server......That Does Offer Stuff As Well

GospelTruth

mrbiron wrote: »

Now for movies that come with the DVD/Blu/Digital, is there any difference between the Blu and Digital? Or, just stick with ripping the Blu?

This all depends on what you want with the intention of your server and your intent for each movie.

Personally, I register all our UtlraViolet digital copies through VUDU. It's a nice way to be able to watch movies on a tablet or iphone where video quality and 7.1 sound isn't so much required in my opinion. Using the VUDU app, you can also download the movie to your device so if you are offline you can still watch the movie. Nice if you are travelling and want to download some movies for the kids to watch on a longer trip. Also, I think VUDU is a nice app on our Roku to watch the digital versions for the kids movies. Easy for my wife to find the movies and let it play. Some of the movies actually are in UHD even though we purchased the blu-ray - the Lego movie comes to mind. Sound is only Dolby Digital Plus though. Digital HD movies look great on our 55" 1080p set, better than DVD rips that I put on Plex.

If I care about having the 7.1 sound and best quality picture, then I would rip the blu-ray to be displayed on your Plex server.

In my opinion, doesn't hurt to register your digital copies. However, I don't do the actual digital downloads through iTunes. I only register the UltraViolet copies. Some folks hate UltraViolet, but I find it has it's place. It does require an internet connection (unless you download the copy to your device) and watching all your movies that way may cause you to hit a data cap if you have one with your internet provider.

billbillw

Hey,
I was on vacation or would have offered some input to ripping. With MakeMKV, go into settings, somewhere you can set to advanced, and then set the minimum length to something in the range of 1800s-3600s. That way, you don't see all the crap (warnings, trailers, etc). It will only show you feature length or long special features. Most BluRay discs only have the movies left once you have that setting.

Disney movies almost always show 3-videos. Basically, they are the same, but some background signage is in different languages. The subtitles and audio are the same, but these are fixed background writing. For Star Wars, the scrolling intro probably varies.

The real troublesome discs come from Lionsgate. They try to make things very difficult to rip. Sometimes, you will see hundreds of videos in MakeMKV. Most have corrupted maps that don't match the original video. When you run across this, the best thing is to go to the MakeMKV forum under Bluray Error Reports and look for the movie. In those threads you can usually find discussion on which mpls to select.

Also, in that forum, under News and Announcements, there is a beta key that will give you more than the 30-day trial.

Not all movies have 7.1...just pick the best available soundtrack (DTS-HD MA or TrueHD (Atmos).

When you get around to using Handbrake, there are lots of other tips. Especially if it has TrueHD/Atmos soundtrack. Handbrake won't passthru those soundtracks.

As for discs, right now, I think the sweet spot is the 3TB Toshiba drives or the 4TB Seagate drives. With Toshiba, stick with the model DT01ACA300 (PH3300U-1I72 if in retail box) and not the P300 model.
The 4TB seagate has pretty good reliability according to this:
https://www.backblaze.com/blog/hard-drive-reliability-q4-2015/

mrbiron

Thanks for the info Bill! Had a long weekend and wasn't able to do much which leads me to the next issue.

I was rerouting wires to clean up the case therefore had to unplug my SSD, Optical, some fans. Nothing out of the norm. Went to start up the PC and was hit with the no operating system found, insert boot disk etc...

I was in a hurry and just powered down as my wife was having me rearrange the entire house. (yes, you read that right). my HT and 2.0 have now become one. What a weekend...

I'll check the BIOS tonight to make sure it is reading from the right location. Is there anything else i should be looking for/doing to remedy this?

EndersShadow

Its likely looking at the wrong HDD to boot from, mine does that all the time.....

billbillw

Double check SATA cable connections. Boot to bios and check that 1st boot drive is correct. I've had it happen before too.

ZLTFUL

billbillw wrote: »

As for discs, right now, I think the sweet spot is the 3TB Toshiba drives or the 4TB Seagate drives. With Toshiba, stick with the model DT01ACA300 (PH3300U-1I72 if in retail box) and not the P300 model.
The 4TB seagate has pretty good reliability according to this:
https://www.backblaze.com/blog/hard-drive-reliability-q4-2015/

I think you misread their report. Backblaze rates their HGST/Hitachi drives as the most reliable. With Seagate being the least reliable of their 3 and 4 TB drives.

billbillw

ZLTFUL wrote: »

billbillw wrote: »

As for discs, right now, I think the sweet spot is the 3TB Toshiba drives or the 4TB Seagate drives. With Toshiba, stick with the model DT01ACA300 (PH3300U-1I72 if in retail box) and not the P300 model.
The 4TB seagate has pretty good reliability according to this:
https://www.backblaze.com/blog/hard-drive-reliability-q4-2015/

I think you misread their report. Backblaze rates their HGST/Hitachi drives as the most reliable. With Seagate being the least reliable of their 3 and 4 TB drives.

Nope, didn't read it wrong. You have to dig further than the simply the most reliable statistic. Price/availability is a factor.

Seagate was dismal early in their 3TB, I would not recommend one to my worst enemy.
However, if you look at the article linked, BackBlaze has been using 4TB Seagates almost exclusively for the last couple years (29,000+units) with failure rates below 3%.

The currently available Hitachi drives are more reliable (less than 1% failure rate), but they are much more expensive. 1% vs 3% failure rate is not significant in my mind.

That's why I said they are the 'sweet spot', not the most reliable. I have been using a pair of the 3TB Toshiba for more than 2 years in a 24/7 NAS server with zero issues. My next drive purchase will probably be Seagate 4TB.

mrbiron

By the way, i got this easily running. BIOS had the wrong order.

Tonight i am dropping my 4TB WD Red in so that i can actually start going to town. Don't remember how much FLAC i have on it which may be in the ballpark of 2TB. That leaves me plenty of room to get the ball rolling....for now.

Still haven't tried Handbrake yet and am still in the hunt for HDDs.

txcoastal1

FYI
As I was planning my new NAS my IT guy said stay clear of the WD red 3tb either use their 2tb or the 4tb. He orders by the cases, and had a high failure rate out of the 3tb has had little to no issues with the 4tbs

mrbiron

Thanks for the heads up. I've been looking at 4tb minimum because i'm a baller!

maingey

EndersShadow wrote: »

mrbiron wrote: »

nguyendot wrote: »

It's expensive, but once they hit the used market they are significantly more affordable.

I think "affordable" is well out of reach for 50TB plus hardware for most.

And to think, all i want to do is start off with a couple 4TB drives, save some movies and photos. Have backup and call it a day.

I'm sure if you called "uncle tony" he might "know" a guy that could help you out with that......

I'm in the same boat... If "needed" I can compress my stuff down a bit to save on storage, but the case can hold 11 HDD's and I plan to try to fill all the slots with em first lol.....

What case do you have? Reading on my phone makes for a slow go not sure if you've stated.

mrbiron

maingey wrote: »

What case do you have? Reading on my phone makes for a slow go not sure if you've stated.

Silverstone GD-07 & GD-08


So i need to get my read on. Was toying around with my Kindle Fire, Plex bought and loaded. I was experiencing stutter every 5-6 seconds. The file size is only 6GB but there is probably something i'm doing wrong. My guess is it may have something to do with the kindle's wireless capabilities, which the device is really slow to begin with. Just haven't had time to sit on the Plex Forum to look for answers.

This weekend I will be ripping more as well as trying Handbrake. Still need to set up the Xbox One. I currently have plex on my phone, amazon tv, and kindle fire at this point and will most likely stop there.

To be continued...

ZLTFUL

Mr. B, I had the same issues with my Kindle Fire. Switched to one of our iPads and had no such issues.
Only other time I have issues is when I try to watch DVD rips on the HTPC via the web server interface. Through Plex for HT, no issues at all.

mrbiron

So i just ordered one of these puppies. WD Black 5TB
With promo code from newegg, brought it down to $180 which made it the cheapest $/GB ratio of .0351 that i could find in this size. 5 year warranty which is a huge plus.

This will allow for roughly 180 bluray or 640 dvd's without compression. Unfortunately, you have to format which will drop those numbers. At this point, this one drive might be all i need for quite a while with the slow rate that i am going at.

Plus, i still have a 4TB drive waiting in the wings.

billbillw

Or, you could handbrake them and get 500 blurays/2500+DVDs. Its worth the effort. Your movie collection will build up faster than you think. I'm at nearly 200 already and I've only been doing this since late 2012 or so.

mrbiron

I still plan on using handbrake. Those figures were purely to illustrate the storage capacity. 2500 dvd's may take a while...

I did find a huge hole in my setup. For some ungodly reason, i was using Plex server on my PC instead of downloading Plex HT. I wasn't one of my finest moments. i'm now playing with that program as well.

EndersShadow

@mrbiron

I've moved to just using external clients to run PLEX.

Downstairs even though the HTPC is right there my wife prefers using the Xbox One to get to it, and then we have 2 Rokus (loft & bedroom) we use.

The Plex HT was a decent Kodi alternative on the PC, but I still found I preferred using apps on the external clients. Makes it easier too since the location of the HTPC doenst matter as much anymore (hence moving it to the loft to free up rack space).

Someday when I am more into video than I am now I will get into handbrake and downsize my rips. Probably sooner rather than later I just need some time to let the process run, and given my library and the fact I just have a Pentium processor, its likely going to take some time.

mrbiron

My PC is currently sitting next to my rack that holds my One. I didn't get to setting it up over the weekend partially due to just wanting to sit down and watch a movie versus setting up the One which, i assume is all of 2 minutes.

This build is still very much in it's infancy and i will slowly develop it. My only enemy, right now is TIME and i run short of it every damn day of the week. Plex does not fall into my daily chores as i'm sure is the same for you. I think i need to take a week off from work...maybe a month.

In the words of Peter Gibbons, "i'm just gonna stop going".

EndersShadow

mrbiron wrote: »

My PC is currently sitting next to my rack that holds my One. I didn't get to setting it up over the weekend partially due to just wanting to sit down and watch a movie versus setting up the One which, i assume is all of 2 minutes.

This build is still very much in it's infancy and i will slowly develop it. My only enemy, right now is TIME and i run short of it every damn day of the week. Plex does not fall into my daily chores as i'm sure is the same for you. I think i need to take a week off from work...maybe a month.

In the words of Peter Gibbons, "i'm just gonna stop going".

No worries bro, just throwing it out there that most folks (wifes, kids, etc) will find it easier to access via the app on a client rather than use the computer.

The other thing to do is setup your PLEX Server to automatically scan your drives and update itself without you needing to do anything.

And lastly once you rip a movie, and its added, make sure to check its pulling the right poster image. Lots of my rips need to have the image its showing updated by me in PLEX so it is easier to figure out what movie it is.

mrbiron

Finally installed the drives. Just over 9TB should be enough to keep me busy. I "tried" to clean up the case last night but A) having a PSU that isn't modular sucks but kept the budget low my case lacks the ability to hide wires effectively. Apparently Cooler Master didn't care about wire hiding 9 years ago. C) the PSU wires are really short and to rigid to make any bends. Oh well....

So I finally played the original Toy Story for my daughter. It's the 10yr anniversary dvd. It only plays at 480 which almost makes it unwatchable. Did I select something wrong in Makemkv or is this really it? Since it only took 15 minutes to make, I might delete and try it again.

EndersShadow

If it's a DVD that's right lol. I have the same thing with some of my older DVDs like Balto. I will check my copies of toy story but I think they are also 480.

mrbiron

Yuck!

mrbiron

So, lets reopen this puppy.

I am having an issue and after searching the Plex Forum, nobody has a solution. Streaming to my Amazon Fire TV Box, in my daughters room, i have to jack the volume up to ridiculous levels. In some cases, 100% TV volume. When playing Amazon content, the volume can be set to normal levels.

When playing direct, (PC -> HDMI -> Receiver) it works fine.

Anyone know why this is happening?