The PLEX / Emby / Jellyfin Thread (Home Media Server)

raksrules

Well-Known Member
Elite
Since many of us have either repurposed some old hardware or have RPi or some NUC being used to create a media server, I thought about opening this thread where people can ask questions on the software side of things w.r.t any of the media server apps you use like Plex, Emby or Jellyfin or if any other that I am not sure of.
You can also comment on what kind of setup you have, how much storage you utilize for the server, best practices you follow, tips for fellow users.
Or people with queries can ask them here and someone else can help them.
You can also talk about applications that consume content from any of these media servers or connect with them directly or indirectly (sonarr, radarr, jackett etc).
 

hotshot05

Well-Known Member
Skilled
I am using Jellyfin on the Gigabyte Brix S (Intel J5005, 8 GB RAM, 2 TB HDD + 2 TB m.2 SATA SSD)
The HDD is used for torrent downloading mainly. Use the SSD to store the files in the folder from which Jellyfin picks it up.

Jellyfin android app works well. I had uploaded old travel videos (Panasonic camcorder videos which are in a strange format. Normal android phones need MX Player to play it. The Jellyfin android app can play those files without a hitch) and some shows and movies. All work well on Android app of Jellyfin.
 

Kmkaks

Member
Disciple
This thread is godsend. Can someone recommended a good tutorial video or read to do this streaming properly? I am unable to stream any decent rips to Apple TV via plex irrespective of upgrading wifi to 5ghz. It’s almost always buffering, and never allows fast forward/rewind. The server is an ryzen 2500u laptop with hdd.
 

msankadi

Well-Known Member
Adept
Can't believe kodi hasn't been mentioned yet. Have been using it for years, it keeps getting better and better. Now i dont even need to use madvr and kodi in itself plays hdr flawlessly on windows to my projector.
I guess for those with non hdr displays might still want to use madvr through kodi though


I hve a nuc which runs kodi that is connected to my projector.
 

chetansha

Well-Known Member
Skilled
I am currently using netgear r7000 flashed with merlin xw rt firmware, attached a 500gb usb hdd (ext4), using as torrent downloader and store music.
I access the same on android player which i have installed kodi. Player connected to tv / mx5021.
At one time had 16tb of storage, dumped everything after i got airtel 100mbps broadband .
 

djdgr8

Member
Disciple
Kmkaks said:
This thread is godsend. Can someone recommended a good tutorial video or read to do this streaming properly? I am unable to stream any decent rips to Apple TV via plex irrespective of upgrading wifi to 5ghz. It’s almost always buffering, and never allows fast forward/rewind. The server is an ryzen 2500u laptop with hdd.
Click to expand...
This seems like you are trying to connect to plex via the internet instead of direct connection. You might wanna take a look at that.
 

t3chg33k

Well-Known Member
Adept
I use Jellyfin Server on my Windows tablet with Core M 5Y10 processor and 4 GB RAM. Have never had any issues with the server struggling, but of course I don't use transcoding.

On the client side, my Samsung TV directly displays the Jellyfin server as a "source" whereas I use Kodi with the Jellyfin plugin on Fire TV. On other devices, I use the client app. Worst case, I can still stream from the browser on a device which does not have a client. Also, like the fact that video speed and subtitles are integrated with Jellyfin as I normally watch all movies at 1.5-1.8x speed.

The storage though is a 2TB USB 3.0 HDD connected to my router, as I also access it over SMB/FTP for other files.
 

raksrules

Well-Known Member
Elite
Kmkaks said:
This thread is godsend. Can someone recommended a good tutorial video or read to do this streaming properly? I am unable to stream any decent rips to Apple TV via plex irrespective of upgrading wifi to 5ghz. It’s almost always buffering, and never allows fast forward/rewind. The server is an ryzen 2500u laptop with hdd.
Click to expand...

It appears that your server is trying to transcode the videos and make it work on apple tv. It is not your wifi which is bottleneck, transcoding is. I suggest try to have a x264 video and see whether it works fine.
Also in jellyfin at least, I can turn off transcoding for a particular user and that is something I have done as I use ipad and it cannot handle x265 videos in jellyfin app (but apps like nplayer work ok for all formats).

Just so you know, jellyfin team will be working on a TVOS app which will handle most formats without transcoding. I guess for now it would be good for you to use vlc player and play videos over upnp / samba.
 

raksrules

Well-Known Member
Elite
t3chg33k said:
I use Jellyfin Server on my Windows tablet with Core M 5Y10 processor and 4 GB RAM. Have never had any issues with the server struggling, but of course I don't use transcoding.

On the client side, my Samsung TV directly displays the Jellyfin server as a "source" whereas I use Kodi with the Jellyfin plugin on Fire TV. On other devices, I use the client app. Worst case, I can still stream from the browser on a device which does not have a client. Also, like the fact that video speed and subtitles are integrated with Jellyfin as I normally watch all movies at 1.5-1.8x speed.

The storage though is a 2TB USB 3.0 HDD connected to my router, as I also access it over SMB/FTP for other files.
Click to expand...

I am disappointed that jellyfin app on Android or IOS or firestick don't have playback speed control. Only way to have that is to play video in browser.
 

t3chg33k

Well-Known Member
Adept
raksrules said:
I am disappointed that jellyfin app on Android or IOS or firestick don't have playback speed control. Only way to have that is to play video in browser.
Click to expand...
Jellyfin is listed as uPnP server though, so can be directly accessed using VLC or any other player with speed controls.
 

hotshot05

Well-Known Member
Skilled
t3chg33k said:
I use Jellyfin Server on my Windows tablet with Core M 5Y10 processor and 4 GB RAM. Have never had any issues with the server struggling, but of course I don't use transcoding.

On the client side, my Samsung TV directly displays the Jellyfin server as a "source" whereas I use Kodi with the Jellyfin plugin on Fire TV. On other devices, I use the client app. Worst case, I can still stream from the browser on a device which does not have a client. Also, like the fact that video speed and subtitles are integrated with Jellyfin as I normally watch all movies at 1.5-1.8x speed.

The storage though is a 2TB USB 3.0 HDD connected to my router, as I also access it over SMB/FTP for other files.
Click to expand...
Is it possible to install and run the Android version of Jellyfin on the Firestick? Is it compatible with the remote?
 

raksrules

Well-Known Member
Elite
hotshot05 said:
Is it possible to install and run the Android version of Jellyfin on the Firestick? Is it compatible with the remote?
Click to expand...

Jellyfin is available on firestick app store directly. No need to sideload or anything. And yes fully compatible with remote but interface is different than web and not so great but functional.
 

raksrules

Well-Known Member
Elite
t3chg33k said:
Jellyfin is listed as uPnP server though, so can be directly accessed using VLC or any other player with speed controls.
Click to expand...

That is true but then the update of my watch status or rather remembering location of the video where I stopped etc is not available and doesn't get updated on server.

I was using nplayer to play videos over ftp on my iPad as jellyfin app didn't play many formats and nplayer cannot sync with jellyfin server. But now I use infuse which can sync watch history and everything with jellyfin server fine.