Plex Media Server

[petr]

I think you are correct about the default, as adding it changed nothing with my setup (i.e. all settings were still in place after a restart).

Yes, I did have to access http://<jail_ip>:32400/web. Post updated! :)

Great info everywhere - I managed to get it all working as above, however, have any of you tried transcoding+subtitles? When I play movies normally, they transcode and play just fine, however, enabling subtitles means that the movie does not launch in the browser and the transcode process does not seem to be running either.. switching off the subs brings it all back again.

 

[amires]

Great info everywhere - I managed to get it all working as above, however, have any of you tried transcoding+subtitles? When I play movies normally, they transcode and play just fine, however, enabling subtitles means that the movie does not launch in the browser and the transcode process does not seem to be running either.. switching off the subs brings it all back again.

Yes I am having the same problem. Subtitles play fine on Plex Media Center installed on Win7 PC however it doesnt work with Plex for IOS (iPhone & iPad), Plex Web Client and Apple TV connected via PlexConnect. Also when I enable Universal Transcoder on Plex for IOS the movie does not launch at all. I hope these bugs gets fixed in future updates.

By the way it seems that PMS v0.9.8.6.175 is the latest version however I was not able to find any link to FreeBSD version of it.

 

[interpeix]

I have the same "subtitles problem", there is a post in Plex forums http://forums.plexapp.com/index.php/topic/78552-srt-subtitles-crash-the-transcoder-idx-works-fine/
But no solution, tested with 0.9.8.6 in Mac Os X works fine, but with 0.9.8.5(our version) crash :_( it seems that we need to wait

 

[amires]

I have the same "subtitles problem", there is a post in Plex forums http://forums.plexapp.com/index.php/topic/78552-srt-subtitles-crash-the-transcoder-idx-works-fine/
But no solution, tested with 0.9.8.6 in Mac Os X works fine, but with 0.9.8.5(our version) crash :_( it seems that we need to wait

great news, so this is fixed in 0.9.8.6.

 

[cyberjock]

great news, so this is fixed in 0.9.8.6.

And now you see why my first comment and question in this thread was "can it be updated".

My opinion about Plex on FreeBSD is that if I can't run a command(or commands) to update it relatively easily I don't think I want to mess with it just yet. It still has bugs and needs work.

Don't get me wrong, I'm ecstatic that the PBI exists. That proves it can and will be useful in the future. I just prefer to stick with my linux VM right now for Plex since its stable and doesn't have some of these bugs that the FreeBSD port has.

 

[amires]

And now you see why my first comment and question in this thread was "can it be updated".

My opinion about Plex on FreeBSD is that if I can't run a command(or commands) to update it relatively easily I don't think I want to mess with it just yet. It still has bugs and needs work.

Don't get me wrong, I'm ecstatic that the PBI exists. That proves it can and will be useful in the future. I just prefer to stick with my linux VM right now for Plex since its stable and doesn't have some of these bugs that the FreeBSD port has.

Well you can always copy your database somewhere else update the plugin and then move your data back. I have done this several times before plex plugin was available and I had to install it from freshports.

plex database is the entire contents of /usr/pbi/plexmediaserver-amd64/plexdata/

 

[interpeix]

The PBI plugin and the Port are in the same Plex versión. I have tried both with the same results, so we need to wait to the port will be upgrade :(

 

[interpeix]

There is a reply, on the plex forums, confirming that there some issues in that region.

Posted Today, 08:18 AM
Yes, there are a few issues with the FreeBSD port in that region. Lets hope it gets prioritised highly enough soon so you guys can enjoy the subs.

 

[amires]

There is a reply, on the plex forums, confirming that there some issues in that region.

What do you mean by region?
Looking forward for the subtitle bugs to get fixed. I was able to successfully run PlexConnect in the same jail as Plex Media Server and I can access my plex media via my Apple TV 3. The only thing that is preventing me to enjoy my setup is lack of subtitles.

 

[amires]

Plex 0.9.8.6 for FreeBSD seems to be available now.

http://svnweb.freebsd.org/ports/head/multimedia/plexmediaserver/
http://www.freshports.org/multimedia/plexmediaserver/

 

[interpeix]

mmm, quick test on the new version, same results, same bug :(

And with this new version, you need to open ports for myPlex connect to your PMS. With previous version I can connect from my office with OpenVPN to PMS without problems

 

[amires]

mmm, quick test on the new version, same results, same bug :(

And with this new version, you need to open ports for myPlex connect to your PMS. With previous version I can connect from my office with OpenVPN to PMS without problems

So the subtitle bug is still there :(
Lets wait for next version :)

 

[amires]

If anyone is interested here is change log for plex 0.9.8.6 :

NEW:
- Transcoder support for the Plex Chrome app.
- Media index files are now available for all users, not just PlexPass members.

FIXES:
- Speed up scanning with database optimizations.
- Another fix for "Recently Viewed Shows".
- View settings are now stored per-account.
- Much less memory used when loading iTunes XML.
- Fix a few field-reported crashes.
- (Windows) Make sure taskbar icon is created.
- (Mac) Fix menu spinner not showing during a scan.
- (DLNA) Use correct MIME types for AAC.
- (DLNA) Update profiles for Bravia 2010 and 2012 models.
- Speed up remuxing H.264 from WTV files.
- (API) Media items on details endpoints weren't sorted correctly.

 

[Krutet]

If anyone is interested here is change log for plex 0.9.8.6 :

NEW:
- Transcoder support for the Plex Chrome app.
- Media index files are now available for all users, not just PlexPass members.

FIXES:
- Speed up scanning with database optimizations.
- Another fix for "Recently Viewed Shows".
- View settings are now stored per-account.
- Much less memory used when loading iTunes XML.
- Fix a few field-reported crashes.
- (Windows) Make sure taskbar icon is created.
- (Mac) Fix menu spinner not showing during a scan.
- (DLNA) Use correct MIME types for AAC.
- (DLNA) Update profiles for Bravia 2010 and 2012 models.
- Speed up remuxing H.264 from WTV files.
- (API) Media items on details endpoints weren't sorted correctly.

So whats the easiest way to update my running Plex media server on my nas? Can I just press install on the new pbi in the plugins manager or how do I do it? Do you know?

 

[amires]

So whats the easiest way to update my running Plex media server on my nas? Can I just press install on the new pbi in the plugins manager or how do I do it? Do you know?

No unfortunately that will just install a new instance of plex plugin. To update your plugin you must first create a backup of your plex database and move the backup outside of the jail then you have to delete the plugin, install the new version move your backup back in and then start the plugin.

 

[kckopp]

No unfortunately that will just install a new instance of plex plugin. To update your plugin you must first create a backup of your plex database and move the backup outside of the jail then you have to delete the plugin, install the new version move your backup back in and then start the plugin.

What if you were to backup the database, whack the old plugin, then install the new version, mount the backup in the newly created jail and symlink to the backup? I would imagine that this would work and would make future upgrades easier. Thoughts?

edit: Done. Appears to work alright and next time there is an upgrade, if upgrade proper hasn't been sorted out yet, I can just delete the old PMS plugin, setup the new PMS plugin and symlink to my database (deleting the contents of Plug-ins folder as precaution, and chown -R plex : plex from new jail) without having to move all my PMS metadata around.

 

[amires]

What if you were to backup the database, whack the old plugin, then install the new version, mount the backup in the newly created jail and symlink to the backup? I would imagine that this would work and would make future upgrades easier. Thoughts?

edit: Done. Appears to work alright and next time there is an upgrade, if upgrade proper hasn't been sorted out yet, I can just delete the old PMS plugin, setup the new PMS plugin and symlink to my database (deleting the contents of Plug-ins folder as precaution, and chown -R plex : plex from new jail) without having to move all my PMS metadata around.

Great solution I havent thought of that :) so basically what you did was moving plexdata folder outside of jail then you used a mount point to mount it to a folder inside /mnt then you made symlink to this mount point. right?

 

[kckopp]

Great solution I havent thought of that :) so basically what you did was moving plexdata folder outside of jail then you used a mount point to mount it to a folder inside /mnt then you made symlink to this mount point. right?

Exactly.

 

[amires]

Exactly.

Great, how did you manage the permissions? Did you have to a create plex user and group in freenas webui? Even if you chown from inside jail files are still stored as root:wheel in freenas filesystem since it is does not have a user called plex or maybe I am missing something here?

 

[kckopp]

Great, how did you manage the permissions? Did you have to a create plex user and group in freenas webui? Even if you chown from inside jail files are still stored as root:wheel in freenas filesystem since it is does not have a user called plex or maybe I am missing something here?

I did not worry about adding the plex user or group outside of the jail in the freenas webui. I only managed ownership from inside the jail as below.

Code:

[me@freenas] /# jls
  JID  IP Address      Hostname                      Path
    3  -              plex_1                        /mnt/tank/jails/plex_1
[me@freenas] /# jexec 3 /bin/tcsh
root@plex_1:/ # chown -R plex:plex /mnt/tank/PlexPluginDB/Plex\ Media\ Server/
root@plex_1:/ # ls -alR /mnt/tank/PlexPluginDB/ | less
total 8
drwxrwxrwx  3 nobody  nobody  3 Sep 13 19:51 .
drwxr-xr-x  6 root    wheel    6 Sep 13 20:57 ..
drwxr-xr-x  12 plex    plex    13 Sep 13 20:17 Plex Media Server
 
/mnt/tank/PlexPluginDB/Plex Media Server:
total 33
drwxr-xr-x  12 plex    plex    13 Sep 13 20:17 .
drwxrwxrwx  3 nobody  nobody    3 Sep 13 19:51 ..
drwxr-xr-x  4 plex    plex      4 Sep 13 19:52 Cache
drwxr-xr-x  2 plex    plex      2 Sep 13 20:00 Crash Reports
drwxr-xr-x  2 plex    plex      2 Sep 13 19:52 CrashReports
drwxr-xr-x  3 plex    plex      3 Sep 13 20:00 Library
drwxr-xr-x  3 plex    plex    26 Sep 14 11:17 Logs
...

Here is what the permissions look like from outside of the jail

Code:

[me@freenas] /# ls -alR /mnt/tank/PlexPluginDB/ | less
total 22
drwxrwxrwx  3 nobody  nobody  3 Sep 13 19:51 ./
drwxrwxrwx  20 nobody  nobody  42 Sep 13 19:43 ../
drwxr-xr-x  12 972    972    13 Sep 13 20:17 Plex Media Server/
 
/mnt/tank/PlexPluginDB/Plex Media Server:
total 33
drwxr-xr-x  12 972    972      13 Sep 13 20:17 ./
drwxrwxrwx  3 nobody  nobody    3 Sep 13 19:51 ../
drwxr-xr-x  4 972    972      4 Sep 13 19:52 Cache/
drwxr-xr-x  2 972    972      2 Sep 13 20:00 Crash Reports/
drwxr-xr-x  2 972    972      2 Sep 13 19:52 CrashReports/
drwxr-xr-x  3 972    972      3 Sep 13 20:00 Library/
drwxr-xr-x  3 972    972      26 Sep 14 11:17 Logs/
...

The files are not owned root:wheel rather a user and group that the freenas filesystem is not aware of.

I'm not sure that the uid of the plex user:group would change with subsequent PMS plugin deletion and re-addition for future upgrades but would still go through the steps of re-chowning the PMS database in the next upgrade. Also not sure if the contents of Plex Media Server/Plug-ins/ necessarily need to be deleted for upgrades but it doesn't hurt as PMS rebuilds the contents when they are not there.