(Part 2) Best products from r/PleX

Thanks for the clarification. Often helps frame things.

In general, it's far cheaper to just get Fire Stick 4Ks on all of your TVs to support direct play of 4K content. I say this because your new system is going to consume a lot more power, make more noise, and be a lot more expensive and still likely use subpar hardware transcoding to deliver streams. I made it a requirement that anyone who has access to my Plex MUST have a modern client. If I see someone transcoding, I kick em off. Obviously, if they are streaming on their phone that is different but that kind of transcode is not as bad a 4K. All plex users should implement this policy if you're providing such a wonderful service. :) You should do that either way as it will reduce the need for you to upgrade your next system faster. Transcoding is the ultimate killer of the CPU / computer.

In terms of your specific needs, and in response:

​

1. Containers are really the best way to do this. I don't know what kind of playing you're looking to do, but even on your new rig, you'll want to toy with things, so I would look into containers like Docker to run stuff. I run 2 Mac Minis. I have a 2012 that does grunt work and a 2018 that is the primary PMS with direct play (I can do around 20-30 streams at a time).
   
2. Yes, all computers will struggle with this unless you're investing a lot of money *and* want multiple streams. See my blurb above. There is no better answer than to require your clients to be reasonably new (2017/2018+ clients can direct stream 264/265 and 2019+ can often to 4K and with the holiday's coming around the corner you'll be able to pick up 4K streamers for $20-30 bucks. Hard to beat.
   
   1. I would keep your Mini to do more grunt work. They consume very little power and run super cool. My 2012 i7 Mini does a lot and I just threw https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00MWH4FL4/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1 and https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B078PY8L9F/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1 next to the back vent and boom, the Mini doesn't sound like it is dying. Those fans can be daisy chained, too, and sit next to my Direct Attached Storage (24TB+).
      
   2. I use Thunderbolt to connect the two Mac Minis. 10gbps direct IP connection is kind of incredible, cheap, reliable and has enabled me to avoid slow gbit Ethernet for big file transfers between the grunt (torrents, etc) and the Plex.
      
3. I am not sure I know why you want to do this but I *feel* the desire myself to do this. I've opted to not, given I get the same speeds via USB-C, Thunderbolt, etc and prefer being able to pop them into different places. That being said, this feels like the biggest win compared to your current setup. FWIW.
   
4. Yes. I feel this one too. I have a ton of 265 content that has to get transcoded. Even with my new Mini running one of the better i7 passmarks + decent hardware transcoding, it's still slow. You should definitely look into a nice graphics card that can do multiple transcodes in parallel. I believe the popular video card I often seen linked to is the NVIDIA Quadro P2000 https://www.dell.com/en-us/work/shop/accessories/apd/490-bdtn?mkwid=spUmcnowA&pcrid=101952148149&pkw=&pmt=&pdv=c&slid=&product=490-BDTN&pgrid=28021835709&pgrid=28021835709&ptaid=pla-954656674272&ptaid=pla-954656674272&VEN1=spUmcnowA,101952148149,901q5c14135,c,,490-BDTN,28021835709,pla-954656674272&VEN1=spUmcnowA,101952148149,901q5c14135,c,,490-BDTN,28021835709,pla-954656674272&VEN2=,&VEN2=,&dgc=st&dgc=st&dgseg=bsd&dgseg=so&acd=12309152537501410&acd=12309152537501410&cid=298721&st=&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI39rF-bb-5QIVBMNkCh1qkA_uEAQYASABEgImm_D_BwE&lid=5704670&VEN3=261103480203799925
   
   Finally, you're rad for showing your kids how to build stuff. I was lucky to have an uncle show me early on and it changed my life for the better. I want to point out one final thing ... make sure you measure the Total Draw of Power on your new setup. I was a bit surprised when my power bill went up over $50/mo with some new items. When you go beyond Minis and External Drives, you get into beefier power supplies, video cards, etc and they pull real power. Video cards in particular, these days, can pull as much as that Mini (or so I've read but could have read wrong). Even at idle, a beefier setup will pull more power down. Minis are incredibly efficient given the few moving pieces. I manage to keep my Media Server portion of the electricity bill (living in Northern California) to <$85/mo for 2 Mac Minis, 2 external DAS (always spinning disks), Routers, sensors, etc. Happy with it for now.
   
   ​
   
   Edit: I checked the passmark on your CPU and it looks pretty good: https://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=Intel+Core+i5-8600+%40+3.10GHz&id=3251 but you will definitely need to rely on a video card for transcodes given that i5 passmark.
   
   Hope some of this is helpful.

>I'm a little afraid of USB drives

That's not really an issue for USB 3.0 or better drives these days. Some older devices may have compatibility issues, but I have had very good results with this enclosure:

Syba SY-ENC50104 4 Bay 3.5” SATA III HDD Non-RAID Enclosure

FWIW, I run Plex on Windows Server 2016 Essentials running on an HP Gen10 ProLiant Microserver... (it all sounds impressive, but the NUC you are using is likely faster, haha). In any case, this enclosure has worked 100% reliably over USB 3.0 connected to my system.

>The economy is better with DAS but with NAS i could store movies and photos and backups for the whole family...

Well of course you can do that with any PC as well. Windows has all the functionality you need to set up network shares for your family. They can be managed by user account, and made secure, just like on a NAS.

The one thing that a modern consumer NAS can do that is difficult to do using a non-server client OS is provide "personal cloud" functionality, in case you want to access files over the Internet while away from your LAN. Remote media streaming, however, is nicely handled by Plex.

In any case, good luck with whatever you choose!

Your budget is generous not "cheap" so with the goal of $1000 plex server here is what I would do...

EDIT: THIS WON'T TRANSCODE 4k... however thats ok because 4K transcoded are washed out... use high bitrate 1080P looks just as good if sitting 4' or further away.. if you want 4k for the HDR then use a player that can play 4k hdr(almost any tv does now.. i have a $600 65" TV that does it just fine)

​

• $110 a Node 804 Case(or really use any mATX case) https://www.amazon.com/Fractal-Design-Supply-MicroATX-FD-CA-NODE-804-BL/dp/B00K6OVG0I/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=Node+804&qid=1573235254&sr=8-1
  
• $48 - beQuiet 400Watt ATX PSU(even 400watts is twice what is needed mobo will use 100watts under load and hd use max 3atts each)
  
• $540 - 3x 12 TB HD Here: https://www.bestbuy.com/site/wd-easystore-12tb-external-usb-3-0-hard-drive-black/6364259.p?skuId=6364259&intl=nosplash <-- this is a 12tb WD Red drive just need to remove the shell.
  
• $32 - Kingston A400 256GB SSD for cache drive - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01N5IB20Q/ref=twister_B07YTKD3J6?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1
  
• $59 - unraid for up to 6 HD
  
• $45 - X9scm motherboard off ebay for $50 this looks good.. https://www.ebay.com/itm/Super-Micro-X9SCM-F-LGA-1155-Intel-C204-Micro-ATX-server-motherboard-with-i-o/352558745024?epid=127396627&hash=item52162385c0%3Ag%3AIfsAAOSw09xZ8mUk&LH_BIN=1
  
• $45 - intel Xeon E3-1230V2 (8,800 passmark) such as this... https://www.ebay.com/itm/Intel-Xeon-E3-1230V2-SR0P4-3-30GHz-4-Core-8MB-LGA-1155-Processor/133228992846?epid=28011033095&hash=item1f0511194e:g:Z4oAAOSwA5RdwFUZ <search ebay for "sr0p4" to find them
  
• $45 - 16GB of ECC Un -Buffered Ram: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Samsung-16GB-4x-4GB-PC3-10600E-ECC-Un-Buffered-DDR3-Server-Workstation-Mac-Pro/303346347609?epid=6016691535&hash=item46a0d9ee59%3Ag%3AuzUAAOSwmdxco3tX&LH_BIN=1
  
  Total of $924 for a system than can transcode 4x 1080P with ease and store 24TB of Parity protected Datam if you want 4k then just make sure your player can play it natively(which this system could with a video card in a VM)
  
  If you wanted rack mounted then this is a well priced case... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07957B2VF/ref=twister_B079C7QGNY?_encoding=UTF8&th=1
  
  If you want to be able to play from the Server then still use Unraid and make a VM with windows or a Linux plex OS and pass through a PCI-E Video card of some sort to the VM.
  
  Of course since its unraid you can now easily run the Plex Server, Sabnzbd, sonaar,radaar and all the other goodies you need to automate your system for the ultimate watching experience as unraid has a great docker experience.

In terms of consumer NASes, the only two choices IMO are QNAP and Synology. Others will get the job done, but they just don't have the features and polish nor can you expect support because they're made by companies who make other things as well. QNAP and Synology primary products are NASes.

The difference between the two. QNAP has slightly more powerful hardware and even higher end hardware if you want to pay a premium. Synology's strength is their software which is very very polished and easy to use. QNAP however is constantly updating their software and it's constantly getting better to. I have an old QNAP TS-439p running off an og Intel Atom from 2009 and it's still getting all the latest updates and features and is a different machine then when I got it, for the better though. It's not my primary NAS anymore but it's still kicking.

Unfortunately, in terms of hardware you'd be comfortable running Plex on, consumer NASes are kind of in no mans land at the moment. And even if you only direct stream, Plex can still hit lowend hardware hard, especially if the NAS is doing other things.

The QNAP TS-451 @ $530 has a quadcore Celeron, but it's passmark is about 1100, when 2000 is recommended for a single 1080p transcode. This is the NAS for you IMO if price is your main concern. You might run into a problem occasionally but it'll get the job done.

The QNAP TVS-471 @ $990-1090 for the Pentium and Core i3 respectively, will give you peace of mind but is very expensive as you can see. The Pentium has a passmark score of 3330 enough for 1-2 simultaneous transcodes, and the Core i3 has a passmark of about 4900, enough overhead for 2-3 simultaneous transcodes.

That's what I mean by no mans land, there's not an inbetween option at the moment, or sweetspot IMO for consumer made NAS's and Plex yet.

In terms of hard drives. Stick with WD Reds and HGST Deskstar NAS drives. Avoid Seagates, especially their 3TB models.

I have a Z400 with 8 drives internally, 7x3.5 with 1 SSD. I converted the top two drives with an evercool 5.25 to 3.5 converter with fan: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0032UUGF4/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

To handle the drive management and not get screwed if raid fails, I use drivepool, which is great, and allows you to view the files on another PC using just basic windows if the mobo craps out, has great tools for duplication and managing drives with SMART errors if you also get the scan software.

​

has been awesome and bulletproof for me, recommend it.

Awesome. Thanks for the reply, so using this card looks like it would be better to build my own capture DVR rather than using the haupauge pvr?

So I'd essentially build a small efficient pc running Linux, add the colossal 2 as hdmi input and then use the ir blaster with the scheduler to change channels.

Would this pc need anything else other than a cheap motherboard/cpu/memory/hdd/psu and colossal 2 capture card?

Edit: quick hit of research says I would also need this? http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B004F9LVXC/ref=pd_aw_fbt_147_img_2?ie=UTF8&refRID=15JKGZ2G9EX913KRTHQT

Wow, SanDisk ultra 1tb drives are down to $125?? Thats a great deal. I didn't realize 1 TB SSDs had dropped so much in the last few months. Got to love Amazon price tracking on camelcamelcamel

https://camelcamelcamel.com/SanDisk-SSD-PLUS-Internal-SDSSDA-1T00-G26/product/B07D998212?context=search

https://camelcamelcamel.com/Samsung-Inch-Internal-MZ-76E1T0B-AM/product/B078DPCY3T?context=search

​

I just bought a hootoo tripmate nano, it's a small USB powered router, it can do exactly what you want, it can connect to a wired or wireless network and it creates his own wifi network to accept up to 5 devices. I paid 25$ CAD on amazon for it.

I will be using it in a different scenario, I'm using it to have wifi in my car for all passengers.

It can also accept a USB drive and will share it via smb or their app (ios and android) and play the files from there. It says Chromecast is supported as well. But I haven't tried Chromecast just yet.

https://www.amazon.ca/TripMate-Wireless-Powered-Storage-Sharing/dp/B00HZWOQZ6

https://www.amazon.com/HooToo-Wireless-Performance-TripMate-Hotspot/dp/B00HZWOQZ6

I'm Canadian. Trick is you buy the drives when there are good deals. I don't see any right now, but $400 is a bit high for 10 TB even in Canada. This 10 TB drive is CAD$300 or $315 after taxes on the Canadian Amazon store. This 8 TB drive is only CAD$184 on Amazon Canada, meaning you could get 16 GB for $368+tax.

Is the NAS really worth it for the premium price in storage? Guess it matters how much you care about redundancy. I personally don't because I can just re-download stuff fairly quickly if anything happened (~1.5 days for 16 TB and 1 Gbps connection) and nothing in my hard drive is that sensitive. Of course you might have other circumstances that make the premium price worth it.

Dell Off Lease Desktop - $180 free shipping

just replace the HDD with like a 5TB Green($110) and then use "WDIDLE3 /d" to reduce head parking

Fire Stick - I like the Fire Sticks better than the Chrome sticks.

If VPN is always on, then you won't be able to access the media stored on that machine, as it won't be on the same network.

I don't use Sick Beard myself, I just curate my own media.

RDP works great, just get a copy of Windows 7, or Linux and then use VNC.

If you want something easy and capable, look for deals on the Lenovo TS140. Depending on your intended usage, you can get something very usable for $250.

For example, on this link the i3-4130 has a ~4700 Passmark that is capable of about 2 simultaneous 1080p transcoding streams. It has 4GB ECC memory so that's about the least amount of memory I would want for a server.

The Xeon E3-1246v3 CPU has about 10k Passmark. That's a badass home server! With 8 or 16GB ECC configurations for about $500-550, it's a steal. That would afford you an entire suite of server apps running without any performance issues all while transcoding up to 4 to 5 1080p streams.

EDIT: Note that you will need to buy storage and an OS (if you want Windows). I personally use Ubuntu.

• 6TB HGST NAS $270
  
• 6TB WD NAS $267

Hoping I'm not too late to the thread for this week! If not I'll repost on Friday.

I want to make a standalone Plex server, which I might end up using for some other pet projects but for the purposes of this thread assume it's just a Plex server. My server peaks at 5 simultaneous streams, currently running on my main desktop PC. I want something very small to handle this, and with unlimited potential to expand storage.

Here is what I'm thinking.

1. An Asrock Deskmini with a 7700K in it, and an NVME drive. Here's the part list for it. Is 16GB sufficient, or should I pay the extra to go up to 32GB?
   
   
2. Low power Synology NAS for storage. Just 4 bays for now (I have 4 drives to put in it!), but it's cheap enough that I can buy another a couple years down the line and have double.
   
   I wouldn't mind paying a bit less for everything, but I specced out a $1000 mini-ITX machine, and this basically costs the same, but in a much nicer form factor.
   
   Thanks in advance!

I am truly surprised that no one has mentioned the Nvidia Shield TV for this application. The device can be had for well under $200 and you can attach external drives to it.

It has plenty of oomph as a Plex Server for your described use case. This concept gives you:

• All the transcoding goodness you want without mucking with filetypes and formats
  
• Small footprint
  
• Low power consumption
  
• Can be run essentially headless
  
• Cost effective
  
  Hopefully /u/Cravenspurs is still reading this thread!
  
  edit: formatting

Then take it up with Amazon's copywriters.

https://smile.amazon.com/Fire-TV-Stick-4K-with-Alexa-Voice-Remote/dp/B079QHML21/ref=sr_1_3?crid=1QFBZD2QABW7U&keywords=fire+stick+4k&qid=1567641510&s=gateway&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&sprefix=fire%2Caps%2C421&sr=8-3

​

>Enjoy brilliant picture with access to 4K Ultra HD, Dolby Vision, HDR, and HDR10+. Experience immersive sound with Dolby Atmos on select Prime Video titles.
>
> Supported audio Dolby Audio Dolby Atmos Dolby Atmos
>
> Audio Support
>
>Dolby Atmos, 7.1 surround sound, 2-channel stereo, and HDMI audio pass through up to 5.1. Dolby Atmos is not currently supported on Netflix titles.

Anyway, it looks like they also updated the FireTV Cube, so that is an option now as well after Oct 10, 2019. Says it has a 6-core CPU instead of 4-core like the stick.

It's funny you mention the 418j, that's what I was looking at as well lol. That or the 918+. That 5th bay would be nice, but I'm not sure I'd care to pay another $150 for it.

​

I know this is probably an ignorant question, but I've never actually worked on the administrative side of NAS before. Can the drives within the enclosure be referenced individually, or do they show up as a single network entity? For example, if I wanted to use 3 bays for Plex storage, and a 4th for backup purposes that I directly manage myself, is that doable with an enclosure like that?

​

Additionally, are there any particular HDD compatibility issues I should be aware of with Synology enclosures? For example, if I wanted to toss a few of these in there, should I expect any speed bumps? Am I also correct in assuming that, for these purposes, the impact of a larger HDD cache or anything above 5400 RPM would be nominal at best?

I agree with swiftpanda16, plex probably isn't the right tool in this case. YouTube might be better?

Or skycoach.

If you're set on using plex, you could get a portable router like the Hootoo Titan and use that to connect your phone and laptop without internet.

Edit: It just occurred to me that the Hootoo can act like a NAS, just connect a flash drive and have everyone download the app. That may also work well.

If you're just adding a couple HDDs to your PC then don't worry about going over your power supply's rated use.

But if you're curious have a look at this http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/answers/id-2148649/psu-calculator-trust.html



My advice is to not buy external drives because you will always buy more HDDs and eventually you'll have 5-10 externals each taking up a power socket and lots of floor space.

Instead I would recommend buying a large (6-10TB) internal drive. That way you will end up with fewer HDDs so that means less power use, less SATA cables/slots used etc.

If you buy small 2-5TB then you'll need another in a short while, where as if you get an 8TB it'll take a lot longer.

When storing media it's a when and not an if you need more drives.


But to answer one of your questions, just buy one of these 8TB drives. Inside are WD Reds IIRC which isn't a shabby drive at all. Have a look around to see if you can get the same product cheaper, sometimes bestbuy etc has it on sale.

It's a really good question actually. With a RPi build, I have a little wireless keyboard that I use when nothing else is working (or ready). It comes in super handy when you first start setting an RPi up or if the device has a bit of a jam. For normal operations, I run headless like you saw, and just VNC into the machine for updates and changes (or SSH). Below is a link to the one I have for ref

https://www.amazon.com/Rii-Wireless-Keyboard-Lightweight-Controller/dp/B00I5SW8MC/

Take a look at SnapRAID. Great for media storage and drives can be added one at a time. Also supports different drive sizes.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B076ZH262B

I ordered this to easily add 4 more drives. It has to share bandwidth, but it works fine for serving media. Supports USB3 or ESATA.

Check out /r/DataHoarder for more information.

Hey Guys, I'm planning on building a Plex Server/Nas box. I would like to FreeNas as the OS but I am open to any options. I usually stream to clients they use Direct play but sometimes I transcode 2 streams at once.

Would it be better to buy a Xeon TS140 for $370 and add 8GB of ECC Ram to it or build one with different parts?

I am planning on starting with either 2 or 3 3TB Western Digital drives or 2 4TB Western Digital Drives. Then adding more later down the road.

I did add a post in /r/buildapcforme but I didn't get any responses yet. Link

I got one of these Wireless Keyboard Mouse for my PlexPi. Works GREAT! It's got normal remote keys, keyboard keys, AND it's a gyro mouse ala wiimote almost.

Edit: Two additional things. It's RF so you don't need line of site like FLiRC and it costs about the same.

What was happening? This sounds like it could be a HDCP issue. You can bypass most issues with one of these if anyone was wondering. Apple devices cause tons of these issues in conference rooms, especially when splitting signals. Good to know you saved the day!

Hi!

I am very new to Plex and am currently running some videos from an external HDD by using an old MBP. My fear is that if the disk fails, I lose everything so I was wondering what to do and someone I talked with suggested I got a QNAP like this one: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B015VNLGF8/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER

I, however, have never used anything like that so I'm not sure what would happen. If I get something like that, I understand that I need to buy HD to put in and it offers some redundancy but can I connect the one I already have? And then, how do I run Plex on that? It seems to be more of a device to serve media to a tv than to stream.

Thanks in advance for any help!

I would suggest a ShieldTV, either the 2017 model or the 2019 Pro model, whichever is cheapest, for the Plex server. It supports hardware encoding in Plex and is also a top-notch streaming box. That'll run you $200 or so.

Then I would buy the cheapest 4-bay Synology NAS available, the DS418j, for $290, and fill it with 8TB drives. Ideally WD USB3 external drives which you can shuck to save money. They're frequently on sale for $130 or so apiece. This will give you 24TB of redundant storage so if a drive dies you won't lose any data.

That should come out very close to $1k, but if you have some money left over after that you can spend it on hats. Lots of hats.

https://www.amazon.com/Synology-bay-DiskStation-DS418j-Diskless/dp/B074VB8DY7

Thanks for your help. I'll check the activity to see what its doing when I get home tonight. Here is the tech breakdown and compatibility list according to amazon. It doesn't mention file types at all though. I can't imagine such a brand new device being incompatible with matroska or mp4.

http://www.amazon.com/Amazon-W87CUN-Fire-TV-Stick/dp/B00GDQ0RMG#tech

For that price you're better off getting a brand new Lenovo ts140 with a xeon for $370. Cpu is more powerful than either you mentioned

I have a desktop set up as my Plex server now, but I'm looking into a Synology NAS to increase storage capacity. If my PC streams everything fine at the moment is there any reason to get the Synology Play over the regular version?

I use something like this not this exact one though mine is older. http://www.amazon.com/Rii-Wireless-Keyboard-Mouse-Touchpad-Black/dp/B00I5SW8MC/ref=sr_1_cc_1?s=aps&ie=UTF8&qid=1393633742&sr=1-1-catcorr&keywords=Rii+keyboard

I mostly use the plex app from my tablet as a remote its a much nicer experience

What's the difference between these two hard drive bays which one is best for my use?

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B078YQHWYW/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B074VB8DY7/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&th=1

> but how much storage space can you really get in a NUC without lots of external hard drives

A 4-bay external enclosure such as this one is comparable in size to (or perhaps a bit smaller than) a typical 4-bay NAS. They list a limit of 8TB per drive so 32TB per enclosure, or 64TB if you go for the 8-bay version. The NUC has 4 USB-A ports and 1 USB-C port, so you could theoretically hook up 5 enclosures to the NUC without buying a USB hub. Assuming 5 4-bay enclosures with each drive being 8TB, that's 160TB.

My backup process is to fill up a drive with media, image it to a backup drive, then drive the backup drive offsite. Not as fancy as RAID, but I get the bonus of having the data offsite and saving money on a RAID-supporting enclosure, which tend to be more expensive.

Scenario: Where you are going, all you have is a TV with an HDMI port.

Resolution: You make the network.

What is needed:

• Plex Pass
  
• Plex Client: Android Tablet, or other that allows media sync like Windows 10 Store Plex App.
  
• Mobile Router: HooToo TripMate Titan is what I use.
  
• Roku Stick.
  
  Initial setup, Must do before you leave!
  
  
• Connect your Plex Client as normal to the network and sync your media.
  
• HooToo: Update firmware, Setup the Router security.
  
• Add HooToo to the Internet.
  
• Add the Tablet and the Roku to the HooToo.
  
• Setup Roku, add Plex App.
  
• Roku: Run Plex, go to Plex.tv/link to get the code to sync to your account.
  
• Plex Client: While the device is attached to the HooToo, Open up the Plex App
  
• Roku: At the top right where it shows the Plex Server, select the Plex Client from the drop down.
  
• Test the connection.
  
  Now you have an independent network with Plex running with 0 delay. I make sure to power on the HooToo Router prior to powering on the Roku.
  
  
  

You could look at something like a 4-bay Qnap or Synology:

https://www.amazon.com/QNAP-TS-451-Personal-Quad-Core-Transcoding/dp/B015VNLGF8/ref=sr_1_31?ie=UTF8&qid=1551036590&sr=8-31&keywords=synology

https://www.amazon.com/Synology-bay-DiskStation-DS418-Diskless/dp/B075N17DM6/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1551036686&sr=8-4&keywords=synology

I have a synology (not this one in particular) and I love it but as far as I am aware Qnap makes damn fine products as well.

Ever tried anything like this? Seems like it wouldn't require any extra components. Just add the driver and go.

Do you have a portable hard drive of any kind? If so This might be helpful

You can plug a portable hard drive or thumb drive into the travel router and each of your three iPads can stream a different movie at once. It also comes in handy while traveling to hotels. While it does not have its own cellular data it does work great off line or when connected to a public WiFi

I see this one at Amazon for $183: https://www.amazon.com/Book-Desktop-External-Drive-WDBBGB0080HBK-NESN/dp/B01LQQHLGC/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8

Does this means it's a fairly standard price or is the Amazon one different?

How cheap can you normally find this drive?

Thanks!

Looks like it is also on sale on Amazon. About $15 difference between eBay and Amazon.

The new version of the Fire Stick that just came out a couple days ago is getting good reviews.

It has Plex support.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00GDQ0RMG/?sa-no-redirect=1

Scroll down to all the logos.

Hp mediasmart ex475 @ 5.5TB

It's aging and it's storage is now less than a single new HDD, however for a time it was the best i've ever used. I'll upgrade eventually, but I haven't found the right box yet.

We had problems with Roku, I just don't care for their devices.

If money is no issue, get an nvidia shield. It will play practically everything, and already has plex built in. I ended up getting two for my in-laws. As for other devices, I'm not familiar with them. From my understanding the amazon fire devices tend to be a bit underpowered, you may want to consider android based devices.

All tech is going to have an initial "getting use to" phase. The shield wasn't too bad for my in-laws to get use to, though they definitely needed help early on.

It's actually $179, exactly like Apple TV 4K that OP bought.

Can confirm, While the rumor is future OS updates on Roku will allow you to connect around splash pages at hotels etc, I too always bring a travel sized router with me. I went with the HooToo travel router as it was on sale for $15 in December.

1TB is 127 on Amazon right now
https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-Inch-Internal-MZ-76E1T0B-AM/dp/B078DPCY3T/

$139 at Amazon. [link]

Edit: Just noticed this post is for Australians.

/u/Zenijin

https://www.amazon.ca/Western-Digital-External-Drive-USB-3-0-WDBBGB0080HBK-NESN/dp/B01LQQHLGC

$189.99 for the 8TB on Amazon right now.

You can also look to get some 5.25 inch bay hard drive bay. Amazon has some for $25

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0032UUGF4?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_asin_image

Define small?

Shield

The MyBook is $160 regularly $299 on Amazon while the EasyStore is $150 regularly $180 also on Amazon. There is a price difference there and if they contain the same drive then why even bother making a whole seperate product out of it? I'm not arguing that you're wrong but it doesn't make very much sense.