PlexKodiConnect (PKC)

Combine the best frontend media player Kodi with the best multimedia backend server Plex

PKC combines the best of Kodi - ultra smooth navigation, beautiful and highly customizable user interfaces and playback of any file under the sun - and the Plex Media Server.

Have a look at some screenshots to see what's possible.

Please Help Translating

Please help translate PlexKodiConnect into your language: Transifex.com

Content

• Warning
• What does PKC do?
• PKC Features
• Download and Installation
• Additional Artwork
• Important notes
• Donations
• Request a New Feature
• Known Larger Issues
• Issues being worked on
• Credits

Warning

Use at your own risk! This plugin assumes that you manage all your videos with Plex (and none with Kodi). You might lose data already stored in the Kodi video and music databases as this plugin directly changes them. Don't worry if you want Plex to manage all your media (like you should ;-)).

Some people argue that PKC is 'hacky' because of the way it directly accesses the Kodi database. See here for a more thorough discussion.

What does PKC do?

PKC synchronizes your media from your Plex server to the native Kodi database. Hence:

• Use virtually any other Kodi add-on
• Use any Kodi skin, completely customize Kodi's look
• Browse your media at full speed (cached artwork)
• Automatically get additional artwork (more than Plex offers)
• Enjoy Plex features using the Kodi interface

PKC Features

• Amazon Alexa voice recognition
• Plex Watch Later / Plex It!
• Plex Companion: fling Plex media (or anything else) from other Plex devices to PlexKodiConnect
• Plex Transcoding
• Automatically download more artwork from Fanart.tv, just like the Kodi addon Artwork Downloader
• Automatically group movies into movie sets
• Direct play from network paths (e.g. "\\server\Plex\movie.mkv"), something unique to PKC
• Delete PMS items from the Kodi context menu
• PKC is available in the following languages:
  • English
  • German
  • Czech, thanks @Pavuucek
  • Spanish, thanks @bartolomesoriano
  • Danish, thanks @FIGHT
  • Italian, thanks @nikkux, @chicco83
  • Dutch, thanks @mvanbaak
  • French, thanks @lflforce, @ahivert, @Nox71, @CotzaDev, @vinch100, @Polymorph31, @jbnitro
  • Chinese Traditional, thanks @old2tan
  • Chinese Simplified, thanks @everdream
  • Norwegian, thanks @mjorud
  • Please help translating

Download and Installation

Install PKC via the PlexKodiConnect Kodi repository below (we cannot use the official Kodi repository as PKC messes with Kodi's databases). See the github wiki installation manual for a detailed guide. Please use the stable version except if you really know what you're doing. Kodi will update PKC automatically.

Stable version	Beta version

Additional Artwork

PKC uses additional artwork for free from TheMovieDB. Many thanks for lettings us use the API, guys!

Important Notes

1. If you are using a low CPU device like a Raspberry Pi or a CuBox, PKC might be instable or crash during initial sync. Lower the number of threads in the PKC settings under Sync Options. Don't forget to reboot Kodi after that.
2. Compatibility:
   • PKC is currently not compatible with Kodi's Video Extras plugin. Deactivate Video Extras if trailers/movies start randomly playing.
   • PKC is not (and will never be) compatible with the MySQL database replacement in Kodi. In fact, PKC replaces the MySQL functionality because it acts as a "man in the middle" for your entire media library.
   • If another plugin is not working like it's supposed to, try to use PKC direct paths

Donations

I'm not in any way affiliated with Plex. Thank you very much for a small donation via ko-fi.com and PayPal if you appreciate PKC.
Full disclaimer: I will see your name and address on my PayPal account. Rest assured that I will not share this with anyone.

Request a New Feature

Known Larger Issues

Solutions are unlikely due to the nature of these issues

• A Plex Media Server "bug" leads to frequent and slow syncs, see here for more info
• Plex Music when using Addon paths instead of Native Direct Paths: Kodi tries to scan every(!) single Plex song on startup. This leads to errors in the Kodi log file and potentially even crashes. See the Github issue for more details

Background Sync:
The Plex Server does not tell anyone of the following changes. Hence PKC cannot detect these changes instantly but will notice them only on full/delta syncs (standard settings is every 60 minutes)

• Toggle the viewstate of an item to (un)watched outside of Kodi
• Changing details of an item, e.g. replacing a poster

However, some changes to individual items are instantly detected, e.g. if you match a yet unrecognized movie.

Issues being worked on

Have a look at the Github Issues Page. Before you open your own issue, please read How to report a bug.

Credits

• PlexKodiConnect shamelessly uses pretty much all the code of "Emby for Kodi" by the awesome Emby team (see https://github.com/MediaBrowser/plugin.video.emby). Thanks for sharing guys!!
• Plex Companion ("PlexBMC Helper") and other stuff were adapted from @Hippojay 's great work (see https://github.com/hippojay).
• The foundation of the Plex API is all iBaa's work (https://github.com/iBaa/PlexConnect).

Would anyone be so kind as to provide a channel for TFC? My wife would love to be able to browse her favorite TV shows and Filipino movies without having to browse to this website or pay for it through our TV provider. 

TFC has a paywall on it, which is absolutely fine. I am not looking to get this content for free (although, free is pretty awesome) just as long as I can configure the channel to provide my user/pass. 

They provide a free trial, which hopefully is enough to get this setup. If additional paid account(s) are necessary to facilitate developing this channel, I would gladly discuss the requirements with you.

Website: http://tfc.tv/

I mostly use Plex Web, or Plex for android. 

Thank you so very much in advance. Would help me cut the cord to my TV provider which charges me more for TFC than the website would charge, the website just isn't as convenient. Having it on Plex would change that.

Cheers,
TnT

Seriously, I don't don't know what you guys are doing, but you're not paying attention to the problems. This should be an easy one. I've reported it several times now. At random when the screensaver starts it changes the damn screen size or something and the only way to correct is to quit and start it again. What the **** is going on over there??

Don't ask for logs cause I've sent them several times already. If you take the time to read the **** posts.

I have installed the plex media server to my computer (I'm running "q4os", which is Debian-based). The installation went fine. I have set up the Plex media library.

But I can't cast from my server (on my computer) to my tv, which has a chromecast dongle.

The plex server recognizes the device. But what happens when I try to cast is that it starts to load, and never succeeds. On my computer screen, I get the little orange circle going round and round, and a message "casting to Chromecast 5266", but it never loads, and never transmits.

On the tv screen, I get the plex logo, and the "ready to cast" message [and that's all].

I don't think it's a hardware problem, because I can transmit successfully from my q4os computer to the chromecast using the "Videostream" plug-in. (I am using google chrome as my browser, not chromium.)

I don't think it's a permissions problem, because I added myself to the "plex" group. And I am able to watch movies from my plex media library on my computer screen.

I don't think it's my home network, because (1) the videostream plugin works, and (2) I'm getting the plex logo and messge on my tv screen.

Any advice? Thanks.

Hi, I have tried uploading the latest plex update to my Readynas 104RN, however whenever I try I get the following message -

Cannot install plexmediaserver-ros6-binaries_1.7.5.4035-313f93718_armel.deb.

I have tried with previous updates as well, but didn't upload either.

I am currently using 1.3.4.3285 and is working fine at the moment.

I have also upgraded the readynas OS to 6.7.5 and it still isn't accepting the uploads..
Any ideas?

Thanks in advance.

Today we announce the release of RasPlex 1.8.0.

This release focuses on fixing transcoding compatibility with PMS 1.3.x or newer and adding Voice Control (Alexa) support.

Big thanks to @benjaminwolf, @daniel.cull, @dlanor, @MagnumDoomguy, @DeadEyeFlint and @bkury for working hard to ensure it's polished and ready to roll!

New
- Voice Control (Alexa) support
- Support server terminated playback
- Use music metadata from Streaming Brain
- Only load first 200 items in a photo slideshow
- Addon repository is refresed on start
- Non-working Airplay setting is removed from preferences
- Updates the HIDRemote class to the latest version (thanks @xzcvczx )
- Update german language file (thanks @Eloo )
- Option to display server name instead of user name in home listing (thanks @Fmstrat )
- Updated to ffmpeg 2.8.11
- Embedded: Upgraded to LibreELEC 8.0 base OS
- Embedded: Dropped bundled hyperion (see https://hyperion-project.org/wiki/Installation-on-all-systems)

Fixes
- Fixes transcoding issues when using PMS 1.3.x or newer
- Re-downloads theme music if it failed first time
- Fixes a crash in search
- Fixes a crash due to missing openssl locking
- Fixes a memory leak when using ssa subtitles
- Fix pin pad alignment in default skin

Downloads
RasPlex for Raspberry Pi devices see RasPlex 1.8.0 GitHub page
OpenPHT for Windows, OS X, Embedded and Linux see OpenPHT 1.8.0 release post

Auto Update
RasPlex 1.8.0 is scheduled to be available on the pre-release update channel within the next 24-48 hours.

Bugs?
Please report bugs on GitHub, https://github.com/RasPlex/RasPlex/issues

Request Channel

So I wanted to let my users request movies and TV Shows to be added to my server, but I didn't want to install another service so I made a Plex Channel for it. Plex Channel Development isn't the greatest but I think it works well enough.

You can find the bundle on Github at:
https://github.com/ngovil21/RequestChannel.bundle

Features:

• Allow users to search OpenMovieDatabase, TheMovieDatabase, TVDB for movies and tv shows, retrieving summaries and posters.
• Manage the requests from users in one central location
• Couchpotato and Sonarr support is integrated for automation. New: Manage Sonarr shows from within the plugin.
• Pushbullet, Pushover, Email support is also included for notifications whenever a new request is made.

This will be a beta release so it may not be completely stable yet.

I have only tested this with PlexWeb and Android, so there may be more bugs on other platforms. Sometimes Plex won't want to show posters so you might have to manually change from list to another view format. Also in PlexWeb when entering in input, you have to use the searchbar, a new textbox won't pop up. On other platforms there you click the link and a box should pop up. The default Pushover key will have a limit of 7,000 hits per month, if you want to avoid this, you can use your own Pushover keys.

Let me know if there are bugs and feel free to fork the project on GitHub. If anyone would like to create some more icons that would be great as well.

* Note: Sharing Channels is currently a PlexPass only feature. See the following link on how to share channels
https://support.plex.tv/hc/en-us/articles/204232573-Restricting-the-Shares

If you find a bug with the plugin, please post here or send me a PM with the Log. The location of the log can be found here:
https://support.plex.tv/hc/en-us/articles/201106148-Channel-Log-Files

Changelog

3/24/17 - 0.9.0 - Added periodic checking for completed requests and user notifications
2/02/17 - 0.8.3 - Fixed adding movies to Radarr. Added year to movie titles during request.
2/02/17 - 0.8.2 - Added Radarr support for adding movies.
1/28/17 - 0.8.1 - Added Slack support for notifications, fix for Pushbullet, other minor changes.
8/25/16 - 0.8.0 - Added preliminary music with Headphones support, plus numerous minor changes.
3/15/16 - 0.7.5 - Added ability to toggle between alternative input menu and default device (use if menus options don't appear)
3/14/16 - 0.7.4 - Added ability to manage CouchPotato in channel
3/09/16 - 0.7.3 - Added Dutch translation by Ruvetuve
3/05/16 - 0.7.2 - Added support for search results in different languages using TMDB and TVDB. Fix for weekly limits in some clients
3/02/16 - 0.7.1 - Added French localization. Translation done by seb972.
2/28/16 - 0.7.0 - Users can view and delete their own requests.
2/27/16 - 0.6.9 - Added support for reporting problems with specific media files with ability to navigate through library.
2/19/16 - 0.6.8 - Use unique sessions for each login. Option to check admin user using plex.tv. Add Season Folder option to Sonarr.
2/17/16 - 0.6.7 - Add preliminary SickRage support. Ability to rename users.
2/16/16 - 0.6.6 - Fixed sending to Couchpotato when using TMDB. Also added posters when confirming request in Plex Web
2/15/16 - 0.6.5 - Fixes for managing users. More specific user information displayed and cosmetic improvements.
2/13/16 - 0.6.4 - Manage Sickbeard shows in the Channel, allowing for manually selecting of seasons and episodes
2/12/16 - 0.6.3 - Added rudimentary ability for users to notify admin user of problems. The issue will be sent to admin through notifications only. More features added to this in the future.
2/12/16 - 0.6.2 - Added ability to view changelog in the Plex Channel. Find under 'Manage Channel'.
2/11/16 - 0.6.1 - Changelog added. Version information will be added here. Added a ability to manage sonarr from the channel.

Screenshots

Day 114. Stranded on the Windows UWP Plex App. We have been without food and water for sometime. Bugs everywhere. Sync issues. Will help ever arrive? Its looking doubtful. The camp tries to keep their mood up but are starting to show signs of fatigue. Pray for us. SOS.

Hi,

Fired up my plex app on my Xbox One, which streams from my synology NAS. Updated both xbox one app and Synology PMS however for a load of files im just getting a black screen when trying to watch a file.

In one example, the file plays fine when launching from the PMS into a browser, but cannot get it to play over the xbox one. Ive tried various enabling/disabling of Direct Play/stream, nothing works

Grateful for any ideas.

These are the file details from MediaInfo - no reason why this wouldnt play is there?

General
Format : MPEG-4
Format profile : Base Media
Codec ID : isom (isom/iso2/avc1/mp41)
File size : 1.58 GiB
Duration : 54 min 22 s
Overall bit rate mode : Variable
Overall bit rate : 4 158 kb/s
Encoded date : UTC 2017-04-01 07:02:41
Tagged date : UTC 2017-04-01 07:02:41
Writing application : Lavf57.57.100

Video
ID : 1
Format : AVC
Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile : High@L4.1
Format settings, CABAC : Yes
Format settings, RefFrames : 6 frames
Codec ID : avc1
Codec ID/Info : Advanced Video Coding
Duration : 54 min 22 s
Bit rate : 3 778 kb/s
Width : 1 920 pixels
Height : 1 080 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 16:9
Frame rate mode : Constant
Frame rate : 23.976 (24000/1001) FPS
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
Bit depth : 8 bits
Scan type : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.076
Stream size : 1.43 GiB (91%)
Writing library : x264 core 148 r2721
Encoding settings : cabac=1 / ref=6 / deblock=1:0:0 / analyse=0x3:0x133 / me=umh / subme=8 / psy=1 / psy_rd=1.00:0.00 / mixed_ref=1 / me_range=16 / chroma_me=1 / trellis=0 / 8x8dct=1 / cqm=0 / deadzone=21,11 / fast_pskip=0 / chroma_qp_offset=-2 / threads=18 / lookahead_threads=4 / sliced_threads=0 / nr=0 / decimate=1 / interlaced=0 / bluray_compat=0 / constrained_intra=0 / bframes=6 / b_pyramid=2 / b_adapt=2 / b_bias=0 / direct=3 / weightb=1 / open_gop=0 / weightp=2 / keyint=250 / keyint_min=25 / scenecut=40 / intra_refresh=0 / rc_lookahead=50 / rc=2pass / mbtree=1 / bitrate=3778 / ratetol=1.0 / qcomp=0.60 / qpmin=10 / qpmax=51 / qpstep=4 / cplxblur=20.0 / qblur=0.5 / vbv_maxrate=24000 / vbv_bufsize=24000 / nal_hrd=none / filler=0 / ip_ratio=1.40 / aq=1:1.00
Language : English
Encoded date : UTC 2017-04-01 07:02:41
Tagged date : UTC 2017-04-01 07:02:41

Audio
ID : 2
Format : AAC
Format/Info : Advanced Audio Codec
Format profile : Main
Codec ID : 40
Duration : 54 min 22 s
Duration_LastFrame : -11 ms
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 384 kb/s
Channel(s) : 2 channels
Channel(s)_Original : 6 channels
Channel positions : Front: L C R, Side: L R, LFE
Sampling rate : 48.0 kHz
Frame rate : 46.875 FPS (1024 SPF)
Compression mode : Lossy
Stream size : 149 MiB (9%)
Language : English
Default : Yes
Alternate group : 1
Encoded date : UTC 2017-04-01 07:02:41
Tagged date : UTC 2017-04-01 07:02:41

Text
ID : 3
Format : Timed Text
Muxing mode : sbtl
Codec ID : tx3g
Duration : 54 min 10 s
Bit rate mode : Variable
Bit rate : 80 b/s
Stream size : 31.7 KiB (0%)
Language : English
Default : Yes
Forced : No
Alternate group : 3
Encoded date : UTC 2017-04-01 07:02:41
Tagged date : UTC 2017-04-01 07:02:41

Hola, tengo Plex Server instalado en un PC con Win10 x64. i7-4790k y 16Gb de Ram, SSD, y demás discos duros, en total 6.
El problema lo tengo al reproducir algunas películas en 4K, en concreto "los pitufos 2" "inferno" y "la la land", son películas que ocupan 44,5gb, 39,5gb y 68,7gb, respectivamente. Solo tienen el audio en castellano y subtílulos.
Si reproduzco cualquiera de estas películas desde el mismo PC, a través de Plex Server, se para la reproducción cada pocos segundos y después continua, así constantemente.
Sin embargo si las películas las reproduzco desde MPC (media player clasic) o VLC, o cualquier otro, van sin problemas.
Esto tengo puesto en Plex:

Calidad del Transcodificador:
Haz sufrir a mi CPU"

Tiempo de caducidad para el codificador segmentado:
20

Carpeta temporal para el transcodificador
B:\

(Tengo RAM DISK y he puesto aqui la carpeta temporal ya que es mas rapida) son 4gb la unidad B:)

Duración por defecto del transcodificador
120

Buffer por defecto del transcodifcador
120

Número máximo de conversiones de vídeo simultáneas
2

Al ver cualquier video, tengo seleccionado el modo ORIGINAL, con BluRay Remux se ve perfecto sin cortes ni tirones, tanto en PC como en el TV LG con webOS 3.10.23-p.13.biscayne.lm14a.6.
Sin embargo en el TV tampoco puedo ver los 4k, hace lo mismo que si lo visualizo en el PC, se para cada pocos segundos.
Y ademas no se activa el modo HDR.
Incluso bajando la calidad del vídeo de 4k a 1080p 8mb/s, no se ve fluido.

En el PC me aparece este mensaje, "El servidor no es lo bastante potente para convertir este video y verlo fluido."

Que puedo hacer para verlo fluido.

Dejo aquí la info de la peli "La la land"

Complete name : H:\4K\La Ciudad de las Estrellas (La La Land) 2160p DTS-MA Remux HDR.mkv
Format : Matroska
Format version : Version 4 / Version 2
File size : 68.7 GiB
Duration : 2 h 7 min
Overall bit rate : 76.9 Mb/s
Encoded date : UTC 2017-06-19 21:21:02
Writing application : mkvmerge v12.0.0 ('Trust / Lust') 64bit
Writing library : libebml v1.3.4 + libmatroska v1.4.5
Cover : Yes
Attachments : cover.jpg

Video
ID : 1
Format : HEVC
Format/Info : High Efficiency Video Coding
Format profile : Main 10@L5.1@High
Codec ID : V_MPEGH/ISO/HEVC
Duration : 2 h 7 min
Bit rate : 72.6 Mb/s
Width : 3 840 pixels
Height : 2 160 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 16:9
Frame rate mode : Constant
Frame rate : 23.976 (24000/1001) FPS
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0 (Type 2)
Bit depth : 10 bits
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.365
Stream size : 64.9 GiB (94%)
Title : La Ciudad de las Estrellas (La La Land)
Writing library : ATEME Titan File 3.7.9 (4.7.9.0)
Language : Spanish
Default : Yes
Forced : Yes
Color range : Limited
Color primaries : BT.2020
Transfer characteristics : SMPTE ST 2084
Matrix coefficients : BT.2020 non-constant
Mastering display color pri : R: x=0.680000 y=0.320000, G: x=0.265000 y=0.690000, B: x=0.150000 y=0.060000, White point: x=0.312700 y=0.329000
Mastering display luminance : min: 0.0000 cd/m2, max: 1000.0000 cd/m2
Maximum Content Light Level : 1000 cd/m2
Maximum Frame-Average Light : 640 cd/m2

Audio #1
ID : 2
Format : DTS
Format/Info : Digital Theater Systems
Format profile : MA / Core
Mode : 16
Format settings, Endianness : Big
Codec ID : A_DTS
Duration : 2 h 7 min
Bit rate mode : Variable / Constant
Bit rate : 3 610 kb/s / 1 509 kb/s
Channel(s) : 6 channels
Channel positions : Front: L C R, Side: L R, LFE
Sampling rate : 48.0 kHz
Frame rate : 93.750 FPS (512 spf)
Bit depth : 24 bits
Compression mode : Lossless / Lossy
Delay relative to video : -1 ms
Stream size : 3.22 GiB (5%)
Title : DTS-MA Castellano
Language : Spanish
Default : Yes
Forced : Yes

Audio #2
ID : 3
Format : AC-3
Format/Info : Audio Coding 3
Format settings, Endianness : Big
Codec ID : A_AC3
Duration : 2 h 7 min
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 640 kb/s
Channel(s) : 6 channels
Channel positions : Front: L C R, Side: L R, LFE
Sampling rate : 48.0 kHz
Frame rate : 31.250 FPS (1536 spf)
Bit depth : 16 bits
Compression mode : Lossy
Delay relative to video : -1 ms
Stream size : 585 MiB (1%)
Title : AC3 Castellano
Language : Spanish
Service kind : Complete Main
Default : No
Forced : No

Text #1
ID : 4
Format : PGS
Muxing mode : zlib
Codec ID : S_HDMV/PGS
Codec ID/Info : Picture based subtitle format used on BDs/HD-DVDs
Duration : 1 h 58 min
Bit rate : 2 933 b/s
Count of elements : 516
Stream size : 2.49 MiB (0%)
Title : Forzados Castellano
Language : Spanish
Default : Yes
Forced : Yes

Text #2
ID : 5
Format : UTF-8
Codec ID : S_TEXT/UTF8
Codec ID/Info : UTF-8 Plain Text
Duration : 1 h 58 min
Bit rate : 9 b/s
Count of elements : 258
Stream size : 7.88 KiB (0%)
Title : Forzados Castellano
Language : Spanish
Default : No
Forced : No

Text #3
ID : 6
Format : PGS
Muxing mode : zlib
Codec ID : S_HDMV/PGS
Codec ID/Info : Picture based subtitle format used on BDs/HD-DVDs
Duration : 2 h 7 min
Bit rate : 11.1 kb/s
Count of elements : 2438
Stream size : 10.1 MiB (0%)
Title : Castellano
Language : Spanish
Default : No
Forced : No

Text #4
ID : 7
Format : UTF-8
Codec ID : S_TEXT/UTF8
Codec ID/Info : UTF-8 Plain Text
Duration : 2 h 7 min
Bit rate : 38 b/s
Count of elements : 1219
Stream size : 36.3 KiB (0%)
Title : Castellano
Language : Spanish
Default : No
Forced : No

Menu
00:00:00.000 : en:Chapter 1
00:01:38.723 : en:Chapter 2
00:07:45.882 : en:Chapter 3
00:11:18.678 : en:Chapter 4
00:16:47.006 : en:Chapter 5
00:18:09.838 : en:Chapter 6
00:23:42.421 : en:Chapter 7
00:26:45.395 : en:Chapter 8
00:31:53.494 : en:Chapter 9
00:32:44.545 : en:Chapter 10
00:40:08.030 : en:Chapter 11
00:43:47.666 : en:Chapter 12
00:46:56.522 : en:Chapter 13
00:52:50.125 : en:Chapter 14
00:55:15.603 : en:Chapter 15
00:59:29.357 : en:Chapter 16
01:00:27.624 : en:Chapter 17
01:06:37.535 : en:Chapter 18
01:09:02.680 : en:Chapter 19
01:13:40.416 : en:Chapter 20
01:24:56.591 : en:Chapter 21
01:32:29.544 : en:Chapter 22
01:38:20.895 : en:Chapter 23
01:41:50.020 : en:Chapter 24
01:46:46.566 : en:Chapter 25
01:50:42.969 : en:Chapter 26
01:56:58.511 : en:Chapter 27
02:04:18.659 : en:Chapter 28

Gracias y un saludo

Si puedo aportar algún dato mas decírmelo.

Hey Guys I hope you can help answer this.  I have 2 homes where I have Plex servers setup.  Basically have similar media on both.  What I need is my watched status to sync between the servers.  Meaning if I watch 30 Rock Season 3 Episode 1 on Server 1 it syncs via My Plex login on server 2.  What I do not want is to stream frpm server 1 to server 2.  I want to play my local content at each location but have it know that I watched 30 Rock Season 3 Episode 1 both locations know this.

Plex seems to do everything but this.  I am missing something?  Or is it not possible to do what I want.

This is important as when I travel I use my laptop as a Plex server for my ipads and again in multiple homes.  Right now I have towrite this stuff down.  A real pain.

Bob Silver

Ich habe lange gesucht, gelesen dass einige andere auch eine Lösung suchen aber selbst noch keine richtige Lösung gefunden.

Bedarf:
Das Zusammenfassen von Sammlungen zum Beispiel James Bond Collection oder Star Wars Collection.
Im Moment besteht nur die Möglichkeit solche Sammlungen über einen Filter Sammlung zu gruppieren. In einer Filmlibrary tauchen dann aber doch alle Filme der Sammlung normal in der Liste aller Filme hintereinander auf und somit wird die Liste oft sehr lang. Nun kann man auch für die Sammlung eine eigene Library anlegen - was aber bei vielen Sammlungen dann die Liste der Librarys sehr lang macht.

Ansatz:
Ich habe versucht es über die Serien zu integrieren.
Also eine Hauptlibrary - "Sammlung". Darunter jeweils einen Ordner James Bond und/ oder Star Wars und so weiter.
Darunter dann die Ordner JamesBondS01 - mit dem FilmS01E1, Ordner JamesBondS02 mit dem FilmS02E01 und so weiter.

In Summe komme ich damit meinen Anforderungen schon sehr nahe. Ich kann die Plakate und Hintergrundbilder manuell hinzufügen für jeden Film, den Namen des Filmes manuell hinzufügen.
Problem und Schönheitsfehler in der Plexübersicht der JamesBond Sammlung steht dann unten nur Staffel1 1Folge, Staffel2 1Folge ...etc. - das entsprechende Cover/Plakat darüber zeigt zwar den jeweiligen Filmtitel - aber schöner wäre, wenn darunter auch der Name des Films (bzw. der "Staffel" oder "Folge") wäre.

Gibt es eine Möglichkeit dort den fixen Begriff Staffelx zu verändern?

Eigentlich sollte solch eine Lösung doch für das Plexteam relativ einfach oder zumindest einfacher zu integrieren sein, als eine Änderung innerhalb der Filmbibliotheken (Gruppierungsmöglichkeit unabhängig vom Filter Sammlung).

VG
Micha

Few months ago, I’ve stumbled upon Nighthawk X10. Netgear says it the fastest router in the world and I do believe it is with all the tech built in, but for me the main feature is Plex Media Server on router with Quad-Core CPU. I think I’ve read and seen every possible review online and while they are interesting and very detailed I wanted to know how Plex performs on a router.
To start off this isn’t a sponsored review, however Netgear did sent me this unit for testing, but all opinions are my own. Just FYI, this isn’t another unboxing and Router/Plex setup video review.
I don’t have any fancy charts comparing WiFi coverage, network speeds, signal strength, etc. I won’t be comparing Nighthawk to any other router. For over a week, I was using Nighthawk with Backup Internet next to my existing one.
I’ve set up Plex Media Server, I’ve tested different playback settings on different clients, I’ve done some network speed testing, not only WiFi but also Ethernet. Next step was to replace my current router with Nighthawk and see how it perform in “real life” scenario.
I wanted to focus mainly on Plex, but Nighthawk is just packed with so many things. I would be shame not to mention them in few sentences.

The look:

First impression, it’s huge I would say it’s as big as my 13’ Notebook. Router comes in very nice, eye catching box. I know looks is highly subjective but I find Nighthawk X10 nice and sleek. Very good build quality, no cheap squeaking plastic or wiggling antennas. Throughout the plastic mesh on top of the router you can see huge heatsink with fan. I took four 720p transcoding streams to start the ****.

You can control router LED either by hardware switch that is located at the back of Router or from web interface. Hardware switch can be set to either on or off position. Software gives third option to keep the LED on but disable blinking.

Initial setup:

Easiest way to setup up Nighthawk is by using an application for iOS and Android called NETGEAR Up.
Just start it and follow on screen instruction. Default wireless settings are printed out on sticker on top on the router. While setting up WiFi my fat fingers made spelling error in password. Fortunately for me, NETGEAR Up displays the values I have provided after personalization. Netgear advertise it: “Router installation that works”. It does, highly recommended.

PLEX:

Installation takes less than five minutes. In Router interface check “Enable Plex Media Server” and plug an USB drive for Plex data. You can use any of the two USB3 ports. What happens if you decide to change USB port later on? Router will rescan drive and restart Plex. That simple. Removing USB drive with Plex Media Server library will stop the service.
You have access to whole PMS folder via Network Share. This come handy if you want to manually install an add-on.

Same drive can be use also to store media, but you need to remember that changing USB port will change mounting point and your media will be unavailable. Current firmware supports only USB drives for media storage but Netgear provided me a beta version that allows accessing network attached storage.
My setup. Plex library is located on external USB3 Toshiba DPT105, SanDisk Extreme 32GB is used for Transcoder temporary directory. My media is located on ReadyNAS Pro 6 running ReadyNAS OS 6.

For testing purposes I’ve created 3 libraries:
*TV Shows 720p (720HD TV, ~1GB/file)
*TV Shows 1080p (1080p BluRay, ~4GB/file)
*TV Shows 4K

I know 4K content will be transcoded to 1080p and both PMP and OpenPHT will max out my 6700k in DirectPlay because there is no hardware acceleration (at least not on Windows) but I just wanted to see if I can play it. My mobile clients used for testing are iPhones 5/6/7 and an iPad 4 all connect to 5Ghz network.
Overall performance of Plex running on Nighthawk is impressive. My main PMS is running on 2012 MacMini with Quad-Core i7 and I don’t see any difference in responsiveness, processing new content, loading metadata, etc.

Playback - Transcoding (Quality set to 2Mbps):

• TV Shows 720p - I was able to run three different streams without any problems. Enabling forth stream was causing buffering on random device on rare occasion
• TV Shows 1080p - 1 stream was running flawlessly, if you start second stream just after first one started you might get buffering on rare occasion
• TV Shows 4k - just for the sake of “yes, we can”, I’ve managed to play on iPad transcoded to 8Mbit/s. Can’t say playback was smooth. It was buffering for 1 minute for every 2 minutes of playback, but then again even my i7-3615QM is struggling with 4K content

Playback - Direct Play (Quality set to Original, 1080p)

• clearly, I wasn’t prepared for that and I must repeat this one with more devices. In both cases 720p and 1080p I was able to play content on 5 iOS devices and 1 Notebook connected via Ethernet without slightest problem.

BIF creation + chapter creation is very CPU intensive task and for 1080p BluRay file it took around 25 minutes.
Setting up remote access can be frustrating and problematic sometimes right? Opening ports, forwarding ports, UPnP on or off? With Nighthawk just enable remote access and save changes. Is that simple.

Ethernet + WiFi speeds and coverage:

Current router is located in living room. The worse WiFi coverage is in my Office, located 8 meters and two concrete walls away. Below results of speedtest in following order: 2,4Ghz 1 meter away from router, 5Ghz 1 meter away from router, 2,4Ghz in Office and 5Ghz in Office. My Internet connection is 100/10.

Current router:

Nighthawk:

As you can see, massive, massive improvement. More important than just numbers is the fact that whole flat has outstanding WiFi coverage. No longer I need to weave my phone in air searching for WiFi 
Wireless copying speeds (copying back and forth a folder between testing station and USB connected to Nighthawk) – my testing station is Lenovo X240 (Core i5-4300U, 4GB DDR3, Samsung SSD, Intel Dual Band Wireless-N 7260).

• WiFi 2,4Ghz - 16,6 MB/s
• WiFi 5Ghz - 26,2 MB/s

Wired connection

Few worth mentioning features:

• Default wireless security is set to WPA2 for all networks
• LAN Setup – flexible Subnet Mask, you can use any mask you want

• Traffic Meter can be used to either just monitor the usage of internet or to control it

• Amazon Cloud Drive backup, you can backup content of any USB connected device directly to Cloud. This feature is really ease to setup and use and should motivate people to do backups.

• Access control give you another layer of security. If enabled even if someone manages to connect to your router, will be denied accessing network. Furthermore, it works also for Ethernet clients.

• 2,4 and 5Ghz guest networks

Conclusions:

Buying a wireless router for home use can be real headache. There are many models to choose from and without doubt you can find something for 100 euro or less.
If you need more from your network, if you watch 4k content, play online games, you need to transfer large files between devices, you have a NAS or you planning to get one, Nighthawk will definitely meet your expectations.
I love cutting edge technology. Even though I don’t have currently 802.11AD device or NAS with 10Gbit/s connection I’m ready. Furthermore 6 Ethernet ports, 2 of them supporting link aggregation, Quad-Core CPU, great WiFi coverage and speeds, latest MU-MIMO technology, HT160 support all that makes a Nighthawk X10 worth recommending.

And Plex, yes, I have to mention it again. If you set your clients such as AppleTV, FireTv, PS4/XBxox, various Smart TV to direct play, Nighthawk won’t have any problems with playback. Also, Netgear gives you 3 months Plex Pass for free.
Nighthawk is truly amazing piece of technology. Is it expensive? Would I buy? Yes, and yes. Good wireless router is not the place to try and safe money, it’s a backbone of your network. Nighthawk X10 will not only meet your needs today but for the years to come.

Still to be tested:

• VPN Server
• Link aggregation

Cons:

• My Sandisk Extreme does not fit in USB1

Please leave a feedback, constructive criticism or questions. I will try to answer all of them.

UPDATE1 - AC speeds and Cloud Backup:

Testing Laptop is Dell Lattitude E5470 with Intel Wirelless AC-8260.
Small files - it's a folder with mp3 files:

Large file - one 2,25GB img file
Notebook and router are located in the same room.

Look at those speeds, especially while copying large files. Never seen such high numbers over WiFi.
I run the same test from my Office (8 meters away, 2 conrete wall) and I was getting speeds between 30-40MB/s.

Few words about Amazon Cloud Backup. First of all you need to connect your Amazon account. Then you choose what will be included in Backup.
Either full drive or selected folder(s). Now interesting part, you can either scheduled backup or set up Real-time backup.

I've tested both methods, they work flawlessly and reliably, so no more excuses that setting Backup is hard Smiley Happy
Real-time backup works very fast but don't forget this isn't bidirectional sync. Local changes will be backed to the cloud but not the other way.
There are two things I would like to see implemented in the future: option to pause/stop backup and ability to set upload speed.

There was an update to Plex recently. You can enable automatic updates, when new version is available if you want. I preffer to do everything manually.
Whole process is limited to two mouse clicks and took maybe 1 minute.

General happiness factor - excellent

UPDATE2 - Plex Sync:

Personally I don't use Plex Sync. I just stream everything.
Ok, so we are syncing 1080p BluRay, 4GB file:

I've started sync from iPad:

Status from Plex web app:

Downloading to iPad, and synced item ready to play:

I was getting converting speeds between 0.7x and 1,7x and it took around 40 minutes for that item to convert from 1080p to 4Mbit/720p but don't forget, it's still "only" a router

Is there some reason PLEX wouldn't properly scan a share named "Documentaries" that's categorized as "TV Shows" ?

Is PLEX somehow limited to one category that's configured as TV Shows?

I already have a TV folder that's very completely populated, and PLEX scans it very well.  All TV shows in their own sub-folders. 

I already have a MOVIE folder that's very completely populated, and plex scans it very well.

I have a /movie/HALLMARK folder, categorized as MOVIE folder, again, scanned well.

I have /movie/CLASSIC SCI-FI folder, another MOVIE folder: successful

I have a /movie/BUSTER KEATON folder....works fine.

etc.etc.etc.  You get the idea- several shares, using the MOVIE category.  All work fine.

Until yesterday, I only had ONE TV category, but I waned to segregate the rather LARGE collection of non-indexed documentay videos I've amassed.  I've accepted the fact they'll never be as cleanly integrated into my collection.  The infrastructure just doesn't exist to automatically populate their information.  And I'm fine with that, but I wanted to gather them all in one place, so that when I'm in the mood to watch an obscure documentary, I can just select that category and cherry-pick a show.  Easy-enough....I thought.

I copy about 100 of the documentaries into the sub-folder /tv/Documentaries, create the category in PLEX, point it at the folder....It never populates....says there's 0-items in there.

I change the folder name to /tv/Docs, reconfigure PLEX...same result.

I delete the category and re-add it....same result.

I delete the category AGAIN and re-add it, THIS TIME choosing the cateogry HOME MOVIES....BANG!  PLEX instantly begins adding the files...same folder, same place, same files, but PLEX never saw them until I chose HOME MOVIES instead of TV SHOWS while creating the category...

Why?

Bonjour,
J'ai consulté les deux tutoriels concernant la configuration et le paramétrage de Plex en français, néanmoins, je n'ai pas réussi à trouver solution à mon problème sur ce forum

J'ai installé Plex récemment, (j'ai lu le guide des nommages de fichiers d'ailleurs) j'ai un dossier nommé "Plex" sur un de mes disques, avec dedans un autre dossier nommé "Films" et dedans 2 films.

Ceux-ci semblent ne pas être reconnus par Plex.
Voici le chemin de mes fichiers :
(...)\Plex\Films

Si une bonne âme passe par là...

I have a young child and I want to give him my phone after starting a show, but I don't want him to accidentally pause, fast forward, stop, etc. Is there any way to disable the default ui until a specific key combo is struck? This would be a feature I'd pay money for.

Ciao a tutti , qualcuno disposto a condividere le proprie librerie?

It looks like with the recent security related changes in the plex server, I am now unable to manually add a server connection to a server (server ip address change).

When trying to add the manual connection, I get:

Unable to add connection. 

A connection to a server couldn't be established using the details you provided.

Error code: 401

I am using Version 1.7.5.4035 of plex media server and version 3.8.0 of the player on TiVo Bolt.

I am trying to play a variety of different x264 files in 720p and 1080p in mkv container. They all direct stream but none of them direct play. Any idea why? Thanks.

Hi everyone,

I bought a VPS few weeks ago and setup different services. Everything was find until I finally setup my plex server on it. The videos were laggy because I didn't take a server with enough power.
So I took a better on with an i5 instead of an Atom.

I re-setup everything and erase my old server.

When I go through the web app, the service told my that there is an unclaimed server. But I cannot do anything to claim and access it.

I look around for a day to find out but I still get stuck.

Any hint of how can I fix this ?

Thanks.