Plex jail on SSD does not improve PS3 DLNA performance

[Fuganater]

"If I put my Plex jail on a SSD, will it run faster?"

This is a really popular topic of discussion on the forums so I decided to try it out. We have been using Plex DLNA in my house every day for the last 3 months. We stream videos to our PS3 and my entire network is Cat5e with gigabit switches. My main Movies dataset has about 800 movies and my TV Shows dataset has just over 7000 episodes. Needless to say, I have a ton of data (4+TB between just these 2 datasets). When browsing the folders, mainly the movies because they are all in 1 big directory, the PS3 can only load about 10 titles every 2-3 seconds. So if you need to get to a movie that starts with T, it takes quite a while.

I had all of my jails on my main pool which was a RAIDZ2 setup. Yesterday I got in 2x Crucial BX200 240GB SSD which I quickly installed in my server and created a mirror with them. After I transferred all my jails (thanks to people on the forums) I deleted my old jail dataset and went to try out Plex DLNA on my PS3. I have to say that browsing the titles has not gotten any faster. Also the time it takes for the movie posters to load also has not improved.

Just wanted to share my findings.

 

[Jailer]

It's a limitation of DLNA and the PS3, mine was the same way (until the blu ray drive died).

Get a proper Plex client and your experience will be much better.

 

[Fuganater]

It's a limitation of DLNA and the PS3, mine was the same way (until the blu ray drive died).

Get a proper Plex client and your experience will be much better.

Well that is good to know. Only reason we don't use the Plex client is because it is so freaking slow to load the app. Will have to give it a try. Not a huge issue for me but I would need to teach my wife and kids how to navigate it.

 

[Jailer]

A raspberry pi2 is a cheap client and is immensely better than the PS3.

 

[Fuganater]

A raspberry pi2 is a cheap client and is immensely better than the PS3.

Issue is is that I have no experience with raspberry pi...

 

[depasseg]

Get a $25 chromecast and use the app on your phone to cast it to a TV.

 

[danb35]

Issue is is that I have no experience with raspberry pi...

You don't really need any. Follow the instructions to install Rasplex and you'll be good to go.

 

[Jailer]

Issue is is that I have no experience with raspberry pi...

It's simple.

https://forums.plex.tv/categories/rasplex

 

[Fuganater]

Get a $25 chromecast and use the app on your phone to cast it to a TV.

Google products don't work in China so that is a no go. I'd also rather not tie up 2 devices just to watch a TV show. That is way too complicated for my wife and kids (2 and 6 year old). Right now they know how to navigate to the Plex Server and drill through the folders to get to their shows/movies.

It's simple.

https://forums.plex.tv/categories/rasplex

Thanks I'll check it out.

 

[Jailer]

Google products don't work in China so that is a no go. I'd also rather not tie up 2 devices just to watch a TV show. That is way too complicated for my wife and kids (2 and 6 year old). Right now they know how to navigate to the Plex Server and drill through the folders to get to their shows/movies.

All the more reason to go with a dedicated Plex client. The warden is technologically challenged so I have to dumb down all tech related items so she can use them.

Rpi+Rasplex+harmony remote=happy marriage.

 

[pirateghost]

I'd also rather not tie up 2 devices just to watch a TV show.

It doesn't tie up 2 devices. The device hands off the session to the chromecast and the chromecast handles the stream.

But I have just switched to raspberry pi 3's from my 2's and rasplex is by far the easiest solution, and they support CEC so you can use your TV remote to browse and select your media from the plex client.

 

[Fuganater]

Found a nice little Pi 3 kit on Amazon for $75. Probably would be a good first setup right?

 

[pirateghost]

Yeah, I wound up paying $55 for a pi 3 and a 2.4A power supply. $45 each for a couple without power supplies.

The pi2/3 running rasplex has been the best media center I have ever had, since my first setup over 12 years ago.

 

[Caladin9]

Does the RPI2/3 push 4k or 1080P to the TV?

 

[pirateghost]

Does the RPI push 4k or 1080P to the TV?

1080. If you want 4k you need to move to the odroidc2 or the pine64

 

[depasseg]

OP - I think you need to change the title of this thread to Plex jail on SSD does not improve PS3 DLNA performance.

 

[Mirfster]

Rpi+Rasplex+harmony remote=happy marriage.

Which Harmony Remote are you using? I might want to look into it...

 

[Fuganater]

OP - I think you need to change the title of this thread to Plex jail on SSD does not improve PS3 DLNA performance. :)

Done

 

[Jailer]

Which Harmony Remote are you using? I might want to look into it...

An older 880 refurb but any of them will work.

 

[pirateghost]

My receiver and TV both support all the CEC functions and I can use the TV remote to control everything. I definitely do not miss my buggy ass harmony remote.