Guide to Plex install v.1.19 on FreeNAS-11.3-U2.1

[nikinp]

Dear Freenasers - first of all Merry Christmas and thanks for being such a supportive and passionate community.

As with many of my experiences on Freenas and Plex all was fine having installed using Plugin and then I had issues with the camera upload and so I tried to upgrade and then it all went wrong..... So now I would like to start fresh.

It seems that from the Plex forums, Camera upload works under Plex v.1.19. However, I need a idiots guide to installing that since I do not know how to install that version through the plugin (it installs 1.21 which has issues with Camera upload).

I found the following written by @danb35 - thank you. However, I don't know how I can use it to install v1.19 https://github.com/danb35/freenas-iocage-plex and if there is a simpler better approach to that.

Thanks in advance and stay safe

 

[danb35]

However, I don't know how I can use it to install v1.19

It will install whatever version is current in the FreeBSD repo. I can't vouch for camera upload, though; I use Nextcloud for that rather than Plex.

 

[SweetAndLow]

pkg install plexmediaserver will install 1.21.1 version as of today. Does that version have the correct fix? It's kind of hard to install an older version on freenas.

 

[nikinp]

It will install whatever version is current in the FreeBSD repo. I can't vouch for camera upload, though; I use Nextcloud for that rather than Plex.

I did some reading about Nextcloud. I understand that it can backup live photos from IOS. I assume it also creates the jpeg file. Plex doesnt handle live photos, so I am wondering how you use plex as a viewer having backed up to Nextcloud. Do you manually separate the livephotos?
Also I couldnt read anywhere if the the Nextcloud plugin on Freenas offer the livephoto functionality
Many thanks

 

[nikinp]

pkg install plexmediaserver will install 1.21.1 version as of today. Does that version have the correct fix? It's kind of hard to install an older version on freenas.

I am on 1.21.0.3616 which doesnt work and plex forums shows loads of users downgrading to 1.19 to get it to work

 

[danb35]

I am wondering how you use plex as a viewer having backed up to Nextcloud.

I don't.

Also I couldnt read anywhere if the the Nextcloud plugin on Freenas offer the livephoto functionality

I'd guess so, but am not really sure--I have a different solution for Nextcloud on FreeNAS:

GitHub - danb35/freenas-iocage-nextcloud: Script to create an iocage jail on FreeNAS for the latest Nextcloud 28 release, including Caddy, MariaDB or PostgreSQL, and Let's Encrypt

Script to create an iocage jail on FreeNAS for the latest Nextcloud 28 release, including Caddy, MariaDB or PostgreSQL, and Let's Encrypt - danb35/freenas-iocage-nextcloud

github.com

See also:

Scripted Plex installation

danb35 submitted a new resource: Scripted Plex installation - Script to install Plex Media Server Yes, it's another of my scripted jail installations, this time for Plex Media Server. It puts metadata outside the jail, uses the latest packages, and automatically updates every week. See...

www.truenas.com

 

[nikinp]

I don't.

I was wondering if you would share what you use as a viewer for personal video/photos on andriod TVs as an alternative to plex. The more I look at it, there seems to be issues all over the place

 

[Jailer]

As of today Plex is at version 1.21.1.3795. I don't know if you can install an older version if you are using the plugin but you can install older versions of previously installed packages if you used the package manager to install it.

Most users don't share your opinion of having "issues all over the place" when using Plex. I'm sure bugs come through from time to time but I've never had any issues with Plex server and I've been using it for over 6 years now. All the issues I've run into have been player issues.

 

[danb35]

I was wondering if you would share what you use as a viewer for personal video/photos on andriod TVs as an alternative to plex.

I can't, really, as I do none of those things--I don't have an Android TV, I don't use an alternative to Plex, and I rarely view personal photos/videos on a TV--but when I do, I usually use Plex to do it.

 

[Basil Hendroff]

It seems that from the Plex forums, Camera upload works under Plex v.1.19.

I'm not sure where you're getting your information from, but Camera Upload hasn't worked reliably in a long time through all versions of PMS since it was first introduced. Camera Upload is a function of Andriod and iOS versions of the Plex player and that's where the issue stems from. It's buggy as hell! Refer to this active Plex forum thread that, in a few days time, will be a year old [BUG] Plex Android mobile beta - Camera Upload issue.

Setting up the Plex Photo library has been a bit of a slippery slope for me, plagued with multiple issues most of which haven't been addressed to date. Here's a list of a few I've personally lobbied in the Plex forum to try to get fixed:

1. Plex Photos - A Personal Journey (Tricks, Traps & Troubleshooting)
2. [BUG] Plex Photos Android TV beta - Video Orientation Issue
3. [BUG] Plex Photos - Issue with Videos and Albums
4. [BUG] Plex Android mobile beta - Camera Upload issue
5. [BUG] Plex Photos Android TV beta - Timeline slider issue
6. [Bug] Custom Filter UI doesn’t appear in Photo libraries

All these threads are nearly a year old. Plex, appears to be all about regular updates featuring UI improvements and the latest whiz-bang features. In terms of resolving outstanding, long-term issues, as an organisation, Plex rate very poorly in my mind. I get the feeling that Photo libraries is something they wish they'd never released. It's received very little attention throughout 2020.

You may find this TrueNAS forum post comparing photo/video backup alternatives useful. None are perfect. All have their limitations. What is clear is that the worst performer for reliable photo backup is Plex.

 

[nikinp]

I can't, really, as I do none of those things--I don't have an Android TV, I don't use an alternative to Plex, and I rarely view personal photos/videos on a TV--but when I do, I usually use Plex to do it.

OK. Thank you. It seems that there is a hardware issue that affects playback of videos on some Sony TVs relating to the RealTek hardware where video playback orientation is affected. I was assuming this was a Plex issue but it seems deeper. This thread relates to people observing it on Kodi and from my testing, also on VLC on Andriod. https://github.com/xbmc/xbmc/issues/16990

 

[nikinp]

I'm not sure where you're getting your information from, but Camera Upload hasn't worked reliably in a long time through all versions of PMS since it was first introduced. Camera Upload is a function of Andriod and iOS versions of the Plex player and that's where the issue stems from. It's buggy as hell! Refer to this active Plex forum thread that, in a few days time, will be a year old [BUG] Plex Android mobile beta - Camera Upload issue.

Setting up the Plex Photo library has been a bit of a slippery slope for me, plagued with multiple issues most of which haven't been addressed to date. Here's a list of a few I've personally lobbied in the Plex forum to try to get fixed:

1. Plex Photos - A Personal Journey (Tricks, Traps & Troubleshooting)
2. [BUG] Plex Photos Android TV beta - Video Orientation Issue
3. [BUG] Plex Photos - Issue with Videos and Albums
4. [BUG] Plex Android mobile beta - Camera Upload issue
5. [BUG] Plex Photos Android TV beta - Timeline slider issue
6. [Bug] Custom Filter UI doesn’t appear in Photo libraries

All these threads are nearly a year old. Plex, appears to be all about regular updates featuring UI improvements and the latest whiz-bang features. In terms of resolving outstanding, long-term issues, as an organisation, Plex rate very poorly in my mind. I get the feeling that Photo libraries is something they wish they'd never released. It's received very little attention throughout 2020.

You may find this TrueNAS forum post comparing photo/video backup alternatives useful. None are perfect. All have their limitations. What is clear is that the worst performer for reliable photo backup is Plex.

Thanks Basil. I'll certainly have an indepth read of those posts. I've asked a separate question in the thread you posted.