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Digitaltrends
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I canceled my streaming services and built a Plex server — I’m never going back
- A writer for Digital Trends realized that they were spending far too much money on streaming services every month, so they decided to build a Plex server instead. They did a lot of research and then chose a small, inexpensive PC with an Intel N100, 16GB of memory, and 500GB of storage. The machine was set up to run remotely, without a keyboard, mouse, or monitor.
- One of the reasons Plex is a good choice is you can keep all the movies and TV-shows that you have. Rather than signing up for new streaming services, you can build a streaming library from movies and TV shows that you own. Converting all your physical media to digital is easier than before.
- The PC runs Windows and Chrome Remote Desktop so he can control it from another device. To configure the PC, he had to bypass Windows' login screen to make sure the PC runs all the time and to eliminate and need for manual management. This allowed him to install and set up Plex on his new server.
- There is a lot of set up required with a Plex, including mapping the network and configuring your server to stay live at all times. As the files can be large, the author used an 8TB external hard drive but emphasizes it's not the most reliable option for storing a large library. Furthermore, there are also security concerns when physically accessing the server, so learning SSH and setting up a RAID array can help improve security and reliability.
- The author has rarely used another streaming service since setting up his Plex server, and he's very happy about it. They admit this isn't a perfect solution but a good starting point, especially if you want to save money and utilize content that you've already paid for.
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