Streaming my ENTIRE dvd Collection on the Apple TV - Setting up Plex on a Synology NAS

Nice video...and I was so excited that I spent about 2K on a 5 bay Synology NAS, SSD discs, upgraded memory, etc to use as my PLEX media server. I spent hours upon hours uploading my 400+ DVD collection to digital (took me 2 months) and I was so so so excited! I confirmed that I had the PLEX app on all my TVs - I was beyond ecstatic...THEN, after loading everything in my NAS, and then to open the PLEX app on my TV (Comcast Xfinity provider), only to learn that the PLEX app on Xfinity will not allow access to your personal media files - yes, I mean the 400+ DVDs that I uploaded. All you can access through the PLEX app on Xfinity is the free content and live TV -- what a B*!%&! I am beyond disappointed. I'm not only mad at Comcast, but why would PLEX allow such an agreement knowing that most people set up PLEX to stream their personal media content!??!! The only workaround I've found so far is to open PLEX on my iPhone and cast it to my TV - not ideal but it works. Does anyone know if Verizon Fios has the same limitation?

Author — VG

Hey Shane, great video as always. I see this was made 2 years ago and was wondering how it’s held up. Is this still your preferred method? I’d like to make a digital library of my 1, 000+ movies/shows.

Author — Turbo King Disc Golf

Great video, didn't even know this was possible. Setup looks simple and the interface of Plex on Apple TV looks clean and easy to use. Your b roll of the dvd's was really good!

Author — Adam's Tech Life

Great video and this is something I’ve been considering but the hard drive space just stops me. I feel like it might be less expensive to just buy digital copies of a lot of my movies. However, we have a lot of older ones that you can’t purchase digitally.

The ideal scenario for me would be to somehow have my ripped movies/tv shows in the same app/library with all of the movies/tv shows I have purchased from Apple over the years. But due to DRM (which is fair-I’m not trying to break the law or anything) I haven’t found a way to do that.

Also, does Siri work with Plex by any chance? Can you integrate Plex with HomeKit shortcuts?

Again, great video!

Author — David Quirk

Yo Shane I did the same thing 7-8 years ago. I ended up using Drobo and Plex to stream the media. I also ripped my Bluyrays and few HD-DVD I had. Project took 1 year, but was worth it. The Plex AppleTV app is awesome!

Author — Eryck Bredy

That’s soo cool! We do have a lot of DVDs and VUDU won’t recognize the DVDs we have to add them to our library due to different UPC codes. So, this will be very helpful to consider :) Thanks for the great vid!

Author — Alexander Rico

Great vid! Are there important differences (quality, transferability, etc) in saving files as .mkv rather than .mp4? Safe to assume Plex can handle both formats?

Author — Aaron & Chelsey Berstler

When I first started buying Disney movies for the kids I’d always make sure I got the disks with the digital copy so I’d have all of them in iTunes when we traveled. We have a ton of DVD’s too and it’s such a daunting task to even consider but thanks so much for the idea!

Author — ndcoach29

Hey Shane. Thanks for the video! Was very helpful. Been looking for something like this for awhile now but am a pretty newbie with the whole NAS environment. Was curious if most of your videos were streaming back in 1080-p onto your tv's? Have you tried 4k with the ds920+? Really looking for right now just a great home media server to stream to all my devices no matter what they are. Really looking for a good picture, stream onto big tv in family room without issues. The backup of the NAS is just icing. Does the ds920+ still suit all your needs? Or would you recommend another Synology NAS now over the 920? Curious to hear your thoughts. Have similar setup to you, streaming from 4k Apple tvs. Thxs.

Author — Chris Fraschetti

THANKS SHANE! I have a huge DVD collection but any time we wanted to watch one I would have to go grab it out of the computer room and then place it in the DVD player. But NO, NOW I WANT A NAS!!! OMG! That is so slick! I wonder if I could also use it with my Apple Computers as a Time Machine? If so I will be buying one very soon. Oh hell, who am I trying to kid! I want one for my DVD Collection!!! Shane you just cost me a chunk of money dude! Thanks as always for the amazing and informative video!

Author — William W.

I moved from Plex to DS Video from Synology. No Plex Pass required and same functionality. Would love to see you compare the two possibilities

Author — lukyluke993

Shane, and all reading here,

A lot has transpired since my last post.
1. While DSM 7 itself is still Beta, package development is complete.
2. The package was completely rewritten fresh. It now includes a Synology-style GUI (menu options) and supports 8 languages.
3. Preview thread testing is complete. There is a large group using the package
4. I've authored documentation to introduce the changes of DSM 7 as well as walk through the DSM 6 -> DSM 7 migration process..
5. Why is there a migration?
a) We don't have 'root' (admin) privileges anymore. There is only one way to bring a DSM 6 installation into DSM 7. This is by "migrating" (discussed in detail in the docs)
b) There is no "Plex" user anymore. We were forced to change it. It's now "PlexMediaServer" and is a Service-class username.
c) The Plex share is no longer used for maintaining PMS metadata. Everything below "Application Support" has been moved to the new DSM 7 location.
It's "just another place to put stuff" now.
6. We are about to make DSM 7 packaging available on the Plex.tv/downloads page. (The packages are available in the Preview thread & Preview Issues thread) :)


I'm always available to answer questions.


ChuckPa,
Plex, Inc.

Author — Chuck

Using only .MVK is great because you don't loose any resolution, since it's there's no compression in the process. The downside is that .MKV files size varie between 20 to 30GB per BD. Now you're fine because you got 14TB of disk space to host all those big files, but those disks normally cost 500$ each, so 1000$ here + the NAS. What most of us end up doing is to get lower capacity disks but to compress each .MKV files in .MP4/.M4V format with HandBrake. This shrink a BD down to 4-5GB. I wish I'd be in your place because the compression process is about 2-3 hours each time. And I'm not talking about multiple technical issues between .MKV and Plex.

Author — johnnygoodface

Shane, do you use this for Time Machine backups as well? Searched your content and didn't find anything yet but seemed like a tangent topic to this one, maybe a future video perhaps?

Author — James Adams

Love Plex too. It is way better than the Video Station. Enjoy! Greetings from Switzerland

Author — Flurin Amsler

FYI if your mkv file does not have subtitle tracks or the language you want, Plex lets you search for alternate subtitle sources on the internet and automatically use them

Author — Charles Jones

Happy to see your channel growing steady. Been watching for a while. Great content.

Author — Gears and Gadgets

Hey Shane. Thanks for this. I use this only for my movie server on our tvs. Is there a way to make the movie tiles smaller, so in other words, instead of like 6 movies per row, make it like 10 on a row. I have over 1000 vids. its murder scrolling down. Im assuming by just changing the size of the tiles, it will fit more. Also, on your tv screen you have the availability to see the letters of the alphabet on the right side, so if u want movies beginning with "G" you just click 'G" . I dont have that, just a scroll bar. Any idea what im missing? Any help would be appreciated

Author — Monty Deane

Excellent, I built my Plex server on a raspberry pi 3B+. I put my entire music library on it. It only uses $5/yr in electricity running 24/7.

Author — Horizon 42Q

Awesome! Thanks for the breakdown. Now adding Synology NAS to my wishlist! How’s the quality of the videos once you rip them and get them on there? I see it says 480p in the description of the movies.

Also, about how long does it take to convert a video to the mkv format?

Author — Ktkyletaylor