NAS and Plex - egnomerator/misc GitHub Wiki
After setting up my NAS with a Plex server I'm now able to do basically everything on my Xbox One from games, to Netflix/HBO/Hulu, to home movies/music/photos!
I recently got my hands on a 2-bay Synology NAS with a couple of 4TB drives. So, I got to work setting it up with a Plex server and some media organizing automation for a result that requires little maintenance and a lot of payoff.
My setup process consisted basically of the following:
- NAS hardware installation
- NAS software installation/configuration
- FileBot installation onto NAS and configuration for preparing Plex-compliant named media files
- Plex installation onto NAS and configuration
Synology makes it easy to get the NAS device up and running, and there is an abundance of documentation available, so there isn't really a point in duplicating documentation efforts in terms of how-to instructions.
- Super easy hardware installation
- Super easy software setup
- Intuitive Web Interface to the DSM OS
FileBot is an awesome automation tool that can be used to setup scheduled tasks for renaming files. You basically point it to a source directory containing all original media files, and provide a path to an output directory for the renamed files--it can be configured to create hard links instead of copying the files.
There are many settings for granular configuration, and it's basically just a script generator, so documentation can be found for writing the scripts instead of using the GUI for even more granular control.
Using the GUI:
- Within the Synology NAS web UI "desktop", there used to be a FileBot GUI "window" that would appear
- Maybe this is still the case and it's version dependent, I don't know the dependencies, but I have to open a new tab and connect to the FileBot node server via this URL
http://<Synology-NAS-IP>:5000/webman/3rdparty/filebot-node/index.html - Connecting to that URL brings up the same GUI but as a full browser tab rather than as a "window" within the Synology NAS web UI "desktop"
[FileBot Update - August 6, 2018]
Just found out that this software requires a license as of version 4.8.2
- inexpensive thankfully ($6 for a year or $54 life-time; either way the license is x-platform)
- purchase here
Bottom Line: Bottom Line: Pretty much ready to go out-of-the-box (especially with FileBot handling file renaming automation)
Just create a Plex account, install Plex on the NAS and start the Plex server, open up the web interface and add a library. That's it. Now anything with a browser can play media served by the Plex server.
Aside from using a browser, the Xbox One has a Plex app available that has a pretty nice UI. This can be activated with a code similar to how you would add the Xbox One as a device connected to Netflix.
This is a simple but slightly counterintuitive process. Here is a maybe over-thorough set of instructions.
NOTE
- Package Center settings must be set to allow Synology Inc. and trusted publishers
- Must add the Plex package signing public key if not already done
- Alternatively, allow any publisher
In the Plex server's Web UI under Settings/Server the current version will be specified and there will be an indicator that the version is up to date or there will be a link to download the new version.
- Download the update file from the Plex server's Web UI to the local machine (don't physically put it on your NAS)
- Click Manual Install from the Synology NAS Package Center application
- Point to the update file that was downloaded onto the local machine
- Click Next and the update will be applied (existing database will be preserved)