Over the years the method through which we view media entertainment has transformed. We went from video tapes and VHS players, to DVDs, to Blu-Ray discs, to now instant streaming applications. The problem is that some have accumulated substantial libraries of movies on DVDs and Blu-Ray discs, like myself. What would be great is if there were a way to gain access to all that content the same way we do on streaming platforms like Netflix. Turns out, there is! It's called Plex. Plex is a media server platform through which you can gain access to all of your media (movies, TV shows, music, photos, etc.), and the best part is, it's FREE! All it takes is storage device large enough to store all of your media and a computer. Let me walk you through my personal setup. Components
Overview Here was my process in a nutshell: First, set up a storage device for where all of the content will be stored. Second, rip DVDs and Blu-Ray discs and save the files on that storage device. Third, download and install the Plex Media Server software. Finally, configure and organize the server's content. Storage For storage you want to find a device large enough to store all of you media, with room to spare. It's always better to have more than enough storage than not enough storage! I learned this the hard way as I am quickly running out of space. My current set up consists of a 2TB Western Digital Network Attached Storage (NAS) device. This is basically just an external hard-drive that can be accessed through your network. You could just use a regular external hard-drive, but I happened to have this one prior to my media server setup. However, I am quickly running out of storage space with 2TB. One thing to keep in mind is that a typical DVD movie will generate a file size between 3-7GB, while a Blu-Ray movie will generate a file size between 25-40GB! At that rate my 2TB NAS will be able to handle about 60 Blu-Ray movies, but that doesn't account for all my photos, my TV shows, my music, or person/drone footage. All that to be said, if you have a lot of movies I would recommend you err on the larger side as you will continue to add content in the years to come. Getting Content onto the Storage Device In order to get my movies and TV shows onto the storage device I had to purchase Blu-Ray disc drive for my computer. I used this to rip (basically copy) the content from the disc and create a file on my computer. To do this I used a free software called MakeMKV. The process is fairly straight forward: insert the disc into the Blu-Ray drive, open the software and select the drive as the "Source", and run the software. The software reads the disc and produces multiple options for what you can copy to file. I selected the largest file size only, as I don't need all the other options taking up precious space. Once the copying is completed I moved the file to proper directory on my NAS (I had one labeled Movies, one labeled TV Shows, and so on). I repeated this process for all of my movies and TV shows. Keep in mind that this process can take quite some time, so I found it best to run it while working on other things. It probably took me about two weeks to copy 35 movies and about 15 seasons of various TV shows. Downloading and Installing Plex Media Server Plex is a free service (with the option to upgrade to a premium service) that provides a streaming platform for media, such as movies, TV shows, photos, music, etc. The installation is pretty straight forward. Download the package that fits your computer's configuration (32-bit vs. 64-bit), then run the downloaded setup file to install and setup the media server. Once installed, the software will prompt you to create folders for you media, such as Movies, TV Shows, Images, etc. These folders will point the server to the location of those particular files on your storage device. After the software updates the folders your content will begin to populate. This content will then be available from any device on your network as long as it has the Plex app installed. To access outside the network there are a few additional configurations necessary.
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