Good on you, you won't regret it. A few tips - install the unofficial IMDB metadata plugin (you will find in plex forums), and use the apple remote to control plex - fully functional and can even launch plex.
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Mac mini as Media Server?
- Thread starter jmine83
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Good on you, you won't regret it. A few tips - install the unofficial IMDB metadata plugin (you will find in plex forums), and use the apple remote to control plex - fully functional and can even launch plex.
Just to clarify, Homesharing permits a limited number of computers to copy media from a shared iTunes library. However, for play-only access, on the same network, iTunes Bonjour sharing permits an unlimited number of computers to access a shared library. This is how i share the home library to my other family computers without using up any iTunes authorizations. And they can still use Airplay if they want to piped it to an Apple TV or Express.
And its not a technical reason for Homesharing to be limited, it was politics! Without such limitations in place, content providers were not willing to support sharing features at all. Its a ridiculous arguement, and does nothing to thwart actual pirating. But many of those fat cats are pretty old and just don't get it anyway.
Thanks for the information.
That was my plan ... to put the master iTunes library on my Mac Mini Server and share it. I will follow through trying it out...
Could you tell me more about using Plex on a Synology NAS? I hadn't thought of that, and I have a Synology DS1512+ that I use for backup on all of the computers.
-howard
Plex can be installed on a Synology DiskStation through the Package Center. The list of supported Synology products is located in the summary for the Plex package (the DS1512 is supported.)
Once you've installed it, and started it up, you point your web browser to:
From there, you're able to configure your library sections, giving them each the location of your media on the DS1512.
Once that's done, it'll scan those locations and build the library inventory. That part can take hours, depending on the size of your library. I left mine overnight on a Friday night, and it was done when I got back to it the following afternoon (completed sometime during the night.)
However, I found the sorting to be rather lacking. For example, I used iDentify to fill in the media information for my library, and it all shows up perfectly in iTunes. But, when I bring up a TV episode from Season 1 of a show in Plex, it will have some episodes from a completely different TV series and season listed as episodes for Season 1 in that first TV show. It was very annoying, and I didn't have the patience, nor time, to sit down and figure out why. Also, some of the TV shows or episodes didn't appear in the Plex Media Library even though the scan was complete (also annoying.)
For those recommending Plex, I was wondering if you could help?
I have the plex server installed on my Mac Mini 2012, and it has automatically added channels for my iPhoto, and iTunes libraries, and I have also manually added videos which are working fine.
For the iPhoto library, for some reason when I go into any event/photo area, I see the thumnails for all the photo's but they will not open up. I'm not sure what to do to get this working. I have tried connecting using the web client from a machine within and outside of my network, but it is the same situation, I can't open any photos up at all, just see the thumbnail. Any help would be appreciated!
I have the plex server installed on my Mac Mini 2012, and it has automatically added channels for my iPhoto, and iTunes libraries, and I have also manually added videos which are working fine.
For the iPhoto library, for some reason when I go into any event/photo area, I see the thumnails for all the photo's but they will not open up. I'm not sure what to do to get this working. I have tried connecting using the web client from a machine within and outside of my network, but it is the same situation, I can't open any photos up at all, just see the thumbnail. Any help would be appreciated!