If you have an extensive collection of locally stored media, you've probably heard of Plex. Along with Kodi, this is one of the best apps for managing, watching, casting, and examining all of your content.
The app can support videos, music, and images, and works with a dizzying array of formats within each category. Plus, you can access your media remotely – you don't even need a Plex Pass media on your computer, Plex is essential software. But do you actually have to pay for a Plex Pass? Let us find out… Read more.
Unlike Kodi, however, Plex is easy to set up and use. While customizing Kodi is a minefield of add-ons, repos and settings, Plex works right out of the box.
However, that doesn't mean there aren't some options you should adjust. We have already shown you some Plex tricks and tips. 8 Plex tricks and tips you really need to know 8 Plex tricks and tips you really need to know Plex is amazing software. Simply put, you can stream your media anywhere in the world, on any device, at any time. But there's much more to Plex than that… Read more – here are five of the most important settings all Plex users need to know about.
1. Organize your agents
Plex can automatically pull in metadata for your content. Although you need to format the filenames of your content. The optimal naming of media files on Plex The optimal naming of media files in Plex Read More in a very precise way to make it work, however, it is worth it.
Sure, Plex can add movie posters and TV episode names, but the metadata goes much deeper. It will know which actors were in a show, which TV station the show aired on, who directed each movie, and what the various critics on the major review sites think about the content.
After adding the metadata, you can use it to find related shows, other movies that certain actors have been in, and so on.
However, this will not work if you do not set up your agents correctly. You need to make sure Local media assets is set among other metadata sources. Otherwise, Plex uses existing local metadata in the file as the primary source. In many cases this metadata is not correct.
To change the order, go to Settings> Server> Agents. Using the tabs at the top of the screen, go to Movies> The Movies Database. Drag Local Media Objects (Movies) below The Movie Database. Then go to Shows> TheTVDB and move Local Media Objects (TV) down TheTVDB.
2. Limit upload speed
One of the best features of Plex is the ability to stream content outside of your network. It has two main uses: You can watch your videos on the go. How to view your Plex media from anywhere. So you can watch your Plex media from anywhere. One of the most overlooked features of Plex is remote access, which allows you to view all of your videos media from anywhere in the world. Read more, and let friends and family have access to your content so they can enjoy your library.
Setting up remote access is easy. Just go to Server> Remote access and click Enable remote access.
However, you may also want to adjust the upload speed. This is especially true if you don't have fast upload speeds from your ISP or multiple people are streaming content at the same time. If you limit the speed, your home network internet speed will not be affected. Fix your internet speed with these Windows tweaks. Correct your Internet speed with these Windows adjustments Data consumption. Read more from slowing down to crawling.
Go back to Server> Remote Access and scroll down until you get to Upload Speed. You can set the maximum speed of your internet by filling in the adjacent field Internet upload speed. Below, you can set the maximum amount of Plex that can be used. Expand the dropdown menu to make your selection.
Note: By default, Plex limits itself to 80 percent of your total speed.
3. Manage transcoding
Plex can transcode your videos to be playable on other devices.
For example, desktop PCs and laptops typically have powerful processors that can handle most file formats, codecs, resolutions, and subtitles. However, mobile devices and set-top streaming devices may have difficulties. So Plex can adapt your videos to be compatible with other devices.
The downside of transcoding is that it is very computationally intensive. If your Plex server is running on a non-dedicated computer, you may not want to use up all your CPU power. Even if you have a dedicated server, you may run into its limits when transcoding many elements at once.
The solution is to adjust the settings of your transcoder (Settings> Server> transcoder). There are three values you need to know:
- Transcoder quality: you can specify the quality of the transcodes using the drop-down menu. The higher the quality, the slower the transcode will be.
- X264 background transcode preset: This setting determines the speed of background encoding when you use Mobile Sync, Cloud Sync, or Media Optimizer, for example. The slower the transcoding, the smaller the file size and the higher the quality, the slower the time.
- Maximum number of simultaneous transcoding sessions: This is the most important setting for the majority of users. Logic dictates that the more simultaneous transcodes you allow, the higher the load on your CPU will be. Take into account the performance of your CPU, whether it is a dedicated server and how many people are streaming at the same time, and set an appropriate number. You may need to do some trial and error.
4. Optimize your media
The Optimize function is best used as a "pre-transcoder." You can select specific videos and convert them to a different format.
For example, if you know you want to watch Toy Story, Beauty and the Beast, and Batman On your iPad, you can optimize the video files ahead of time when you're at work next week. This means that they will be ready to play on your selected device immediately. No further transcoding is required.
Media optimization is also useful if you know that many people will be watching a video remotely at the same time, as this reduces the pressure on your CPU.
You can optimize a single show, a series or even your entire library. To get started, navigate to the content you want to adjust, click the three horizontal dots, and select Optimize.
In the new window you can select whether you want to optimize a certain number of videos or only the unwatched videos. More importantly, you can set the quality of the optimization. You can choose Optimize for Mobile, Optimize for TV, Original Quality, or Custom. The Custom setting allows you to specify a specific device, resolution, and bitrate.
If you are setting up a long list of items for optimization, you can manage the queue by going to Switch Status> Conversion. You can manage your already optimized files in Settings> Server> Optimized versions.
5. set your streaming quality
Each Plex app has its own streaming quality settings. Therefore you can choose different settings for your computers, mobile devices, streaming boxes etc. Choose.
The settings you choose determine the quality and resolution of all video played on the device. The lower the setting, the lower the video quality will be. However, it will load faster and use less bandwidth. So it's worth making these settings for each Plex client you use.
They have three settings to customize: Local quality, remote quality, and online quality.
- Local quality: applies to all videos played over your local network.
- Remote Quality: Applies to videos you stream from your server when you are away from your LAN.
- Online quality: affects the quality of video streams from online and private channels 20 Unofficial Plex channels you should install now Use the unsupported AppStore to share new Plex content to watch now. Here are the best unofficial Plex channels to install. Continue reading .
Mobile users can also customize remote network streaming and remote Wi-Fi streaming.
What settings do you change??
In this article, we've shared with you five of the most important settings to adjust if you want a smooth Plex experience. You'll also get some case studies on how to change each setting.
If you're a Plex expert, we'd like to hear from you. What other settings do you think should be brought to the attention of new users? You can leave all your suggestions in the comments below. Or share this article with your Plex friends.