Sponsored: Running Plex On A Router Is Better

[thiggins]

There's no need to run Plex on a dedicated server any more.

Read on SmallNetBuilder

 

[System Error Message]

cool but the question is, can real time transcode be a thing?
On asus it has always been possible to have plex but without live transcode.

part of the reason to run it on a dedicated server is for live transcoding especially when your upload is limited.

I do however like more features that introduce more network features to the home

 

[Rhialto]

Is it pay only, no free DLNA like on PC/NAS?

 

[sfx2000]

cool but the question is, can real time transcode be a thing?
On asus it has always been possible to have plex but without live transcode.

the Alpine in the X10 has the horsepower to do transcoding - not sure how many codecs it supports, but even x86 has different capabilities there depending on what chip is in play, along with the client platform capabilities...

It's really hard to put a blanket statement for yes or no there...

 

[NETGEAR Guy]

Checked this with engineering who confirmed that live transcoding is supported for up to 2 1080p streams

 

[Xentrk]

I successfully installed Plex media server on a Raspberry Pi 3. Works great. I streamed my music collection and movies on a TV that I had ripped to a WD 1TB drive connected to the router's USB 3.0 port. I connected an HDMI cable from the Pi to the TV. I have not tried to transcode to other devices such as Android or iPad or connect remotely so I can't speak to how well it performs under those conditions.

 

[System Error Message]

Checked this with engineering who confirmed that live transcoding is supported for up to 2 1080p streams

Thanks
So i guess video encoding chips in router SoCs have a role now.

 

[axiomatic]

So live transcoding for me is solved. Instead of running PLEX from my QNAP NAS or a VM or a real PC, my NVidia ShieldTV is far superior to even my own gaming PC with a NVidia GTX 1080. Seems that the Tegra-X1 in the ShieldTV is a beast for encoding/transcoding. It handled Transcoding of my copy of Deadpool to my Samsung 4k TV over gigabit Ethernet and only was at 43% utilization! My QNAP-NAS could not do this. So this is good as I wasn't as in to my ShieldTV as I thought I was, but damn if it is not the perfect PLEX server.

 

[sfx2000]

cool but the question is, can real time transcode be a thing?
On asus it has always been possible to have plex but without live transcode.

part of the reason to run it on a dedicated server is for live transcoding especially when your upload is limited.

I do however like more features that introduce more network features to the home

I can see where @System Error Message is coming from - it's nice to see a consumer Router/AP with enough horsepower to do live transcoding for Plex (along with other services)...

At the same time, though, those resources used for transcoding might be better used for additional client capacity, etc related to the routing functionality.

Serious A/V folks - they probably have a dedicated Plex (or other) server with a massive amount of storage capacity - in the order of 10-100 TB in some cases - with plenty of compute resources, memory, etc...

I get a bit concerned that sometimes the OEM's put too much functionality into a single box, thus creating a single point of failure - whether it's SW stability (bugs happen), HW failures (this happens), or Security problems (because this is what it is...).

But this is what consumers on the high-end want, and the X10 does deliver here - and kudos for the effort.

SEM, myself, and some others - we're probably not the target audience for a device like the X10..

 

[System Error Message]

I can see where @System Error Message is coming from - it's nice to see a consumer Router/AP with enough horsepower to do live transcoding for Plex (along with other services)...

At the same time, though, those resources used for transcoding might be better used for additional client capacity, etc related to the routing functionality.

Serious A/V folks - they probably have a dedicated Plex (or other) server with a massive amount of storage capacity - in the order of 10-100 TB in some cases - with plenty of compute resources, memory, etc...

I get a bit concerned that sometimes the OEM's put too much functionality into a single box, thus creating a single point of failure - whether it's SW stability (bugs happen), HW failures (this happens), or Security problems (because this is what it is...).

But this is what consumers on the high-end want, and the X10 does deliver here - and kudos for the effort.

SEM, myself, and some others - we're probably not the target audience for a device like the X10..

its for the home owner who doesnt have much tech, only what is widely available to consumers like phones, tablets, consoles, PCs who arent very knowledgeable about tech so while many wouldnt buy a router the ones that do will see this as an advantage, a quick and user friendly way to introduce functionality. Most of the world doesnt even know about plex or even about setting up a media server to share media locally rather than using online services to store their media.

 

[HellDiver]

its for the home owner who doesnt have much tech, only what is widely available to consumers like phones, tablets, consoles, PCs who arent very knowledgeable about tech so while many wouldnt buy a router the ones that do will see this as an advantage, a quick and user friendly way to introduce functionality. Most of the world doesnt even know about plex or even about setting up a media server to share media locally rather than using online services to store their media.

So, you're expecting that sort of user to even know that they can change their router? 90% of the people I know who aren't "good with technology" still use the junk router their ISP supplied. I know people who move ISP just to get a better router "because BT has the best wifi signal according to their ads". I hear people complaining about their internet being slow - they're running 80Mb VDSL though the junk Poloroid or DLink their ISP supplied that only has 2.4GHz N wifi, and they've got 4 iPads, 3 laptops, 4 streaming boxes and a half dozen phones all hanging off the wifi...

Setting up a new router is beyond these people, and setting up Plex is probably far beyond their capabilities. That's why the Amazon Firestick or AppleTV are so popular - plug them in, and they work. Assuming the ISP provided router can cope...

 

[System Error Message]

So, you're expecting that sort of user to even know that they can change their router? 90% of the people I know who aren't "good with technology" still use the junk router their ISP supplied. I know people who move ISP just to get a better router "because BT has the best wifi signal according to their ads". I hear people complaining about their internet being slow - they're running 80Mb VDSL though the junk Poloroid or DLink their ISP supplied that only has 2.4GHz N wifi, and they've got 4 iPads, 3 laptops, 4 streaming boxes and a half dozen phones all hanging off the wifi...

Setting up a new router is beyond these people, and setting up Plex is probably far beyond their capabilities. That's why the Amazon Firestick or AppleTV are so popular - plug them in, and they work. Assuming the ISP provided router can cope...

What i mean is that if you're gonna be buying one of these routers you're gonna know how to enter in your internet details. You'd have to know otherwise you wont be able to use it. So setting plex up on one of these routers is much easier than trying to install it on a linux file server and configuring it manually. Plex works seamlessly using layer 2 offering the usual media services so many devices will be able to use it straight away from the network for those who like streaming services on their network or through some service.

Many dont set up their own file servers so this is a quick and easy option for those who'd buy such a router.