Ripping DVD’s

With the price of a Pi, you might consider a NUC...basically a little brick PC. Easy networking, and USB hard disks much easier/plug and play. Get Windows 10 trial for free and never register it...no need to. It will update and all functions available.

Plus, with a better server hardware, lower end clients work better, and the kids will be able to watch on a phone or iPad simultaneously.

You can also run other PC based navigation or monitoring software if thats in the cards.

Here a good recent article with some ideas...

https://www.smarthomebeginner.com/best-media-server-for-plex-2022/
 
Sorry for the double post...

But...for the apple people. A mini Mac will also work.
 
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I am not sure. Never played with an apple tv. I do know if you jail break an apple tv and load kodi on it it does work without inet. I have a friend that use the apple tv that way for his boat, that same way I am using kodi on the pi. But straight of the shelf I am not sure.

So the good news is I got Plex server running on a Pi 4B (latest available) and it does work without iNet with a few setting changes, it doesn't like it but it does work. I also tested it with a Samsung Tv plex app and it all just worked.

With the Pi getting the shared hard drive with the movies on it to be seen by the Pi and survive rebooting etc. was nothing less then a blood letting, so to speak. Extremely painful and like most linux things the biggest PITA there is. What did I just say? The external hard drive was plugged into the Linksys router and shared. I had to jump through many hoops to get the Plex server to see that shared drive and also see it again when the server was rebooted (turned back on). Just plugging the drive into the Pi isn't going to work either it must be permanently mounted in a location that Plex will be able to access and by default it can not access the drive.

I did get the hard drive to be seen when plugged into the Pi directly but had to jump through more hoops to get it moved to another location that Plex would be able to access the drive.

I don't recommend the non-tech savvy person to try and use a Pi for a Plex server it is very frustrating to get to work correctly. I have been hacking my way through Linux for many years and still find it difficult at best to just get things working the way they should.

Using Kodi is by far the easiest way to do this, but all of the Tv's must be connected together and watch the same thing.

Now for all of the Linux guru's that might read this, please don't post and tell me how easy this stuff is and how much you like it. I have been doing this for a very long time and absolutely hate Linux compared to Windows. I actually hate both but windows is the lesser of the two evils. I get some people like it and don't mind the extra work to get things going, not me ...
I'll confirm this, getting Plex running on a Pi, connected to an external hard drive was a bit of a PITA. I eventually got it running, but the performance of it was horrible. External HDD was plugged into a powered USB hub, hub was plugged in to the Pi, Pi was plugged into one of the router ports and the TV was wired to the router. Even with that configuration, every 30 seconds the content would buffer and pause for 5 seconds.

I finally gave up on that and went with a Pi running Kodi, HDD plugged into the Pi and the Pi plugged into the TV via HDMI. No issues at all, it simply works.
 
I'll confirm this, getting Plex running on a Pi, connected to an external hard drive was a bit of a PITA. I eventually got it running, but the performance of it was horrible. External HDD was plugged into a powered USB hub, hub was plugged in to the Pi, Pi was plugged into one of the router ports and the TV was wired to the router. Even with that configuration, every 30 seconds the content would buffer and pause for 5 seconds.

I finally gave up on that and went with a Pi running Kodi, HDD plugged into the Pi and the Pi plugged into the TV via HDMI. No issues at all, it simply works.

This! - What I was saying from the beginning.
 
With the price of a Pi, you might consider a NUC...basically a little brick PC. Easy networking, and USB hard disks much easier/plug and play. Get Windows 10 trial for free and never register it...no need to. It will update and all functions available.

Plus, with a better server hardware, lower end clients work better, and the kids will be able to watch on a phone or iPad simultaneously.

You can also run other PC based navigation or monitoring software if thats in the cards.

Here a good recent article with some ideas...

https://www.smarthomebeginner.com/best-media-server-for-plex-2022/

NUC's are great but are way more expensive then what I posted above. That said I have NUC at home and flies I use it for ripping movies and a spare desktop, but too expensive for the boat, at least for me.
 
@Irie308 Thank you posting this thread, and sorry that I basically hijacked it. But you made me re-explore what I was doing on the boat and will be switching back to a Roku again instead of the FireTv.

You can load Kodi on the Roku and use the router as a share for Movies when the iNet isn't working. That is the perfect solution and only one remote needed. Roku doesn't like no iNet but will still allow "Channel" access at the same time. So Plex and/or Kodi will still work.

https://fastestvpn.com/blog/how-to-install-kodi-on-roku/
 
I posted earlier in this thread that a FireTv will not work without iNet. I found a back door of sorts this weekend while testing this out. Even though it complains about no iNet and no home screen will appear, you can still get to settings and then applications and manage installed apps. In there select Plex and you can launch it and it will run. Plex will also complain but will run providing you have set the local network to not authenticate on the server.

Anyway I wanted to post this backdoor find.
 
@Irie308 Thank you posting this thread, and sorry that I basically hijacked it. But you made me re-explore what I was doing on the boat and will be switching back to a Roku again instead of the FireTv.

You can load Kodi on the Roku and use the router as a share for Movies when the iNet isn't working. That is the perfect solution and only one remote needed. Roku doesn't like no iNet but will still allow "Channel" access at the same time. So Plex and/or Kodi will still work.

https://fastestvpn.com/blog/how-to-install-kodi-on-roku/
No worries....this is good. The more suggestion the better. I will say that this has sunk lower on my priority list since receiving my starlink rv. Full 100mb speeds at anchor is a game changer.
 
No worries....this is good. The more suggestion the better. I will say that this has sunk lower on my priority list since receiving my starlink rv. Full 100mb speeds at anchor is a game changer.

starlink rv, is that tracking capable for wind and wave movement? If so, yeah I would say it is. But isn't that a fixed dish? How is that going to work while on anchor?

Looks like the eastern part of the LI sound is covered though, I wish the Chesapeake was.
 
WOW! This is a lot of work and expense.

Getting movies into digital format sure is and why I recommend DVD Fab, put the disc in and rip, done. But it can take years to get a large collection going since it takes ~hour for FA to rip to 720P MP4 file.

I recently had ransom ware take out my whole collection (over 2500 movies and > 100 tv series) and had to start over. Pretty much all winter to rip ~1500 dvd's. I don't bother with Blue-Ray triple the time to rip and huge space. But Fab has solutions to download from prime and netflix as well, so you can really speed the process up if you use there software (Multiple purchases and different pieces of software)

But yeah. no easy way to do this. But a Plex server in your house is the best, so why not on the boat as well.
 
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starlink rv, is that tracking capable for wind and wave movement? If so, yeah I would say it is. But isn't that a fixed dish? How is that going to work while on anchor?

Looks like the eastern part of the LI sound is covered though, I wish the Chesapeake was.
Not to derail my own thread...LOL, but the starlink map is quite misleading. Technically I don't have coverage in my area if I ordered the home version. Since i ordered the "rv" version i can take it with me with what they term "reduced service at high congestion times". Since I'm pretty much the only one I've see with it in the anchorage there is no congestion. It technically works the same way the kvh dishes work except its not for use while underway. When we swing at anchor it repositions itself. All that is needed is a clear shot at the northern sky. Tested it out this past weekend in RI and it did not disappoint. Was also able to log in and do some work. So my need for onboard media is diminished since I have unlimited streaming capacity.
 
Not to derail my own thread...LOL, but the starlink map is quite misleading. Technically I don't have coverage in my area if I ordered the home version. Since i ordered the "rv" version i can take it with me with what they term "reduced service at high congestion times". Since I'm pretty much the only one I've see with it in the anchorage there is no congestion. It technically works the same way the kvh dishes work except its not for use while underway. When we swing at anchor it repositions itself. All that is needed is a clear shot at the northern sky. Tested it out this past weekend in RI and it did not disappoint. Was also able to log in and do some work since I was on call. So my need for onboard media is diminished since I have unlimited streaming compacity.

That is sweet for sure. Will have to look into this one. Thanks for derailing your thread with this info.
 
Got my Pi4 server built and working at home. Loaded a couple hundred movies on it. taking it to the boat this weekend to install and test. Wish me luck. I have a couple of Vizio TV's woth Plex apps to install and got fire sticks on the 2 other TV's so let's see what happens.
 
Getting movies into digital format sure is and why I recommend DVD Fab, put the disc in and rip, done. But it can take years to get a large collection going since it takes ~hour for FA to rip to 720P MP4 file.

I recently had ransom ware take out my whole collection (over 2500 movies and > 100 tv series) and had to start over. Pretty much all winter to rip ~1500 dvd's. I don't bother with Blue-Ray triple the time to rip and huge space. But Fab has solutions to download from prime and netflix as well, so you can really speed the process up if you use there software (Multiple purchases and different pieces of software)

But yeah. no easy way to do this. But a Plex server in your house is the best, so why not on the boat as well.
Or set up a TrueNas server running Sonarr and Radarr, using SABnzbbd to download. I pay about $50/yr for a NZBDGeek license and can download all the content I want.

It was a bit of a pain getting it all setup, but it's been running flawlessly for about 2.5 years now. I can download new releases and then copy them over to a HDD and take that to the boat to plug in to the Pi running Kodi.
 
Or set up a TrueNas server running Sonarr and Radarr, using SABnzbbd to download. I pay about $50/yr for a NZBDGeek license and can download all the content I want.

It was a bit of a pain getting it all setup, but it's been running flawlessly for about 2.5 years now. I can download new releases and then copy them over to a HDD and take that to the boat to plug in to the Pi running Kodi.

Yeah the news readers are the way to go if you have the time. I use to use them all of the time, just got lazy after I got hacked and had to start over. There are tons of good readers and sub services. I use to use giganews who did both service and reader all in one.

But great point for anyone wanting to do all of the movie downloads.
 
Orlando or anyone…
Trying to get raspberry to boot with unbunto and automatically launch Plex. Any tips on this? We cannot find the Plex file to trigger launch at start up.
 
Orlando or anyone…
Trying to get raspberry to boot with unbunto and automatically launch Plex. Any tips on this? We cannot find the Plex file to trigger launch at start up.

Grant - Plex should automatically start. It runs in the background and there is no visual indicator that it is running. You may need to assign it a Static IP address so it will always be accessible from the same IP Address.

Guessing at where you are actually at and what is going on, please post back what you can actually do now,
Did the server ever run and you then lost it's connection?
Have you been able to access Plex at all?
Have you added movies?
What client are you using to access Plex?

Very basic info:
Web browser allows configuration of Plex server and can also watch movies.
Clients like FireTv and Roku can only watch movies and configure itself.
When default info is used to install, http://Your IP Address:32400/web/ will access the web page.

Also as an alternative, you may want to run another image of Plex that is completely setup already: https://www.tomshardware.com/how-to/raspberry-pi-plex-ubuntu

This article may help with the static IP: https://www.ionos.com/digitalguide/server/configuration/raspberry-pi-plex/
 

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