3 Ways to Start Your Own Plex Server

Setting up your own Plex media server may seem daunting, but that's why Plex stepped up to sponsor this video where we tackle setting up a Plex media server three different ways.

Purchases made through some store links may provide some compensation to Linus Media Group.

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MUSIC CREDIT
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Intro: Laszlo - Supernova

Outro: Approaching Nirvana - Sugar High

CHAPTERS
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0:00 Intro
1:09 Why Plex?
2:43 Old PC = New Plex server
3:48 Which platform should you use?
4:40 Getting started with Windows
5:20 Getting started with Nvidia Shield TV
7:17 Getting started with a NAS and Unraid
9:27 More features with Plex
11:04 Tech Tips and tricks
13:18 Data breach
13:58 Plex Pro Week
14:18 Conclusion

[eroc]

In the interest of fairness (and in a video not sponsored by Plex) you should give Jellyfin a shake and give the community insight into an open source alternative that doesn't require an internet connection just to authenticate to its services, assuming you didn't set up your local LAN authentication settings in Server.

[LogicException]

I find the video practically like a pure promotional video, which is probably what it's supposed to be. The negative aspects of Plex (e.g. the not deactivatable home call reporting function) and possible alternatives, e.g. emby are in my opinion in no way critically addressed and at least tried to refute. Especially because the functionality of emby and plex is practically identical.

[GreyTsaki]

"Legally obtained" Now the lawyers are happy

[nyanmisaka]

In case anyone doesn't know, Jellyfin is the only one of its kind that can leverage hardware to convert Dolby Vision P5 to SDR so you don't see green or purple tints when watching WEB-DL movies.

[katbryce]

It is worth noting that Anthony has a Jellyfin server. I also use Jellyfin, on his recommendation, and prefer it to Plex.

[martinbcooper]

I'd love to see a comparison of the popular media servers out there: Plex, Emby, Jellyfin, Others.

[BennysRadio]

I switched to Jellyfin a long time ago. You can use it even without internet, as long as your home network works. For me that was kind of the main thing. It has it troubles with good apps though, still waiting for something to listening to my audio books properly. But movies and audio works fine :)

I would love a comparison between the main selfhost streaming services. Emby, Plex and Jellyfin ❤️

[Brandaxed]

For anyone wondering whether to use Plex or Jellyfin, i run both simultaneously on my server so users can choose what they prefer to use. As much as I would prefer to mainly use Jellyfin, it's not polished yet such as a "Skip Intros" button which is so useful for everyone when binging a TV series. Once you setup remote access on both apps and point it to the same library locations, it runs itself.

[Darqon]

I know that this was sponsored, but usually Linus loves to promote free and open-source software, and Jellyfin is the free and open-source version of Plex. Does all the same main functionality in almost the same exact way, hardware-encoding isn't behind a paywall, multiple editions of movies has been a thing forever. It doesn't have built-in live tv channels or on-demand media, but there are ways to add live tv if you have a digital tuner or know any M3U channels

[Dostro]

I'm going to jump on the Jellyfin bandwagon here. It also well deserves its own video, it is an impressive alternative that doesn't ever call home among other benefits.

[kastorcaster]

Man this didn't even feel like an LTT video, it felt like an infomercial featuring LTT cast. And I even like Plex already.

[elEd]

This video has been quite useful for me, but ironically more for the comments than for the content itself. I've been looking for a home media server but I kinda prefer OSS (or FOSS) so I'm quite happy to see so many people recommend Jellyfin. I'll give it a try

[elliotmarks]

i have been using Jellyfin for a year or so, and it has been working PERFECTLY! Open source, well maintained, and super easy to set up after fixing my double NAT.

[iloveediblestuff]

Another vote for Jellyfin. Was a long time Plex user... until they redshifted their focus into being a streaming service aggregator with each new update becoming less relevant for my needs(and adding more bloat in the process).

[mattsotomayor]

Synology NAS with Plex has been a part of my network for years, couldn't be happier with it.

[wizdude]

I'm a long term Plex user and I use option (4) not discussed in the video - I use an old PC running Ubuntu Linux and installed the official Plex packages. The same box also runs a bunch of other apps to "assist" me with keeping my TV library automatically up to date. I keep the actual media on my NAS. One feature I really love is that there is PlexAmp and Prism which both support CarPlay - so i can stream my music library in the car. My preferred playing device is an Apple TV. I also share my library with relatives over the internet. It's brilliant and works well.

[aedenspear]

This is nice. I liked Plex and it's been good but Jellyfin is better for me since I'm only making a media server for videos (Cartoons, Anime, Movies) on my LAN, no remote access, no forward facing anything (yet). Plus, they recently got hacked and I've been on a data privacy purge recently so, my migration is essentially done but I'm keeping Plex and Jellyfin running in tandem until I'm entirely sure that I've learned Jellyfin.

The two major things that made me switch are:
1) Paywalled hardware encode. No point in this. Jellyfin does it with a simple menu option. I have a GPU in my server (an old machine picked up on Ebay) and I want to use it. I've already done the work to get GPU passthrough working and then I just can't because you want money? NOPE.
2) Paywalled to watch my own media, on my phone, on my own LAN? NOPE.

[ChanceGiguiere]

I hope Linus covers Jellyfin and/or Emby at some point when talking about home servers.

[llMarvelous]

Congratulations on succeeding as fully-fledged advertising channel, guys! This is definitely a win!

[victorienminiere]

Interesting detailed presentation of a great service - but would have been fair to include a quick feature comparison with other available solutions out there, including Jellyfin, Kodi and potentially others.