You may have heard recently that Plex is raising the cost of a lifetime Plex Pass to $750. Honestly, that’s way too much, since there are free alternatives for streaming local media, such as Jellyfin. The good news is that most people don’t need the Pass, and with or without that plan, Plex may still be worth it — particularly if you want the bonus of ad-supported movies and shows you don’t need to host yourself.
If you’re new to the platform, there are a variety of settings you should probably change immediately to ensure things run smoothly. The fact is that streaming 4K or even 1080p videos can be demanding on your PC or network, and it’s extremely irritating to have a favorite movie or show interrupted by buffering.
I should note that many tweaks will require a Plex Pass. My recommendation is to try the service as it is out of the box, and only worry about getting under the hood if you’re running into hurdles.
QuizMedia server trivia
The ultimate streaming challenge
From local libraries to remote streaming — how well do you really know the world of media servers?
StreamingSoftwarePlexNetworkingHistory
Which media server software uses the name of a Star Trek alien species as its branding?
Correct! Emby takes its name from a playful riff on ‘M.B.’ but is also associated with sci-fi culture in its branding and community. Emby started as a fork of the Media Browser project and has grown into a full-featured media server platform.
Not quite — the answer is Emby. While several media server platforms have sci-fi-inspired communities, Emby has strong ties to that aesthetic in its branding history. It began life as Media Browser before rebranding.
What is the name of Plex’s free, ad-supported streaming feature that allows users to watch content without a subscription?
Correct! Plex TV (sometimes called Plex’s free streaming) offers thousands of movies and TV shows supported by ads, meaning you don’t need a Plex Pass or a personal media library to enjoy content. It’s a smart way Plex competes with other free streaming platforms.
Not quite — the correct answer is Plex TV. Plex Pass is actually the premium subscription tier that unlocks features like offline sync and live TV, not the free ad-supported service. Plex TV lets anyone stream a large catalogue without paying a penny.
Jellyfin was created as a fork of which other media server project?
Correct! Jellyfin was forked from Emby in 2018 after Emby moved to a closed-source model for some of its components. The Jellyfin community wanted to keep development fully open source and free, which remains its core philosophy today.
Not quite — Jellyfin was forked from Emby, not the platform you chose. The split happened in 2018 when part of the Emby codebase became proprietary. Jellyfin carries on as a completely free and open-source alternative.
What does the acronym DLNA stand for in the context of media sharing?
Correct! DLNA stands for Digital Living Network Alliance, a set of interoperability guidelines that allow devices like TVs, phones, and computers to share media over a home network. Many media servers support DLNA to ensure broad device compatibility.
Not quite — DLNA stands for Digital Living Network Alliance. It’s an industry-wide standard designed to let consumer electronics share media seamlessly over a home network. Support for DLNA is a common feature in media server software.
Which media server application is primarily designed around a plugin and add-on ecosystem and is often installed on dedicated hardware like an Amazon Fire Stick?
Correct! Kodi is famous for its highly extensible add-on system, which allows users to customise their media experience dramatically. It runs on a wide range of hardware including Amazon Fire Sticks, Raspberry Pis, and Android boxes.
Not quite — the answer is Kodi. Kodi’s defining feature is its massive library of official and community-built add-ons. It’s one of the most flexible media centre applications available and runs on an impressive variety of devices.
What type of storage device is most commonly recommended as the backbone of a home media server build?
Correct! A NAS (Network Attached Storage) device is the go-to recommendation for home media servers because it offers large storage capacity, RAID redundancy options, and is always accessible over the network. Brands like Synology and QNAP dominate this space.
Not quite — the most recommended solution is a NAS, or Network Attached Storage device. NAS units are designed to run continuously, offer large drives in RAID configurations for data safety, and integrate neatly with software like Plex and Jellyfin.
What is ‘transcoding’ in the context of a media server?
Correct! Transcoding is the process of converting a media file in real time from its original format or bitrate into one that the playback device can handle. It’s one of the most CPU-intensive tasks a media server performs, which is why powerful hardware matters.
Not quite — transcoding refers to converting media from one format or bitrate to another on the fly. This is essential when a client device can’t play the original file natively. It’s demanding on processor resources, which is why media server hardware specs matter so much.
In what year was the Plex media server software originally released?
Correct! Plex was first released in 2008, growing out of the open-source XBMC (now Kodi) project as a macOS-focused fork. Over time it evolved into the cross-platform, client-server media ecosystem it is today, with apps on virtually every major platform.
Not quite — Plex was first released in 2008. It originally began as a fork of XBMC tailored for macOS before expanding into a fully independent platform. Its growth over the following decade turned it into one of the most recognised names in personal media servers.
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Direct Play and Direct Stream
Skip the middleman
One of the primary reasons you need an app like Plex or Jellyfin is transcoding. Some videos won’t be in an ideal format for your TV or media streamer, so the Plex Media Server software can perform that conversion on the fly without permanently replacing the original file. This process creates delays, however, and it’s increasingly unnecessary — a lot of TVs can even handle the MKV files hobbyists prefer.
In the Plex app on your TV (or other client device), head over to Settings -> Advanced -> Video & Audio to check that Allow Direct Play and Allow Direct Stream are enabled. This will let the software skip transcoding when possible. On your computer, though, it’s still worth making sure that hardware acceleration is enabled by going to Settings -> Transcoder and flipping on Use hardware acceleration when available. More on that feature later.
Direct Play is the ideal option, but on top of the right filetype, requires that a video be in a supported bitrate and resolution with the right codec(s).
What’s the difference between Direct Play and Direct Stream? Direct Play is the ideal option, but on top of the right filetype, requires that a video be in a supported bitrate and resolution with the right codec(s). Direct Stream kicks in if the resolution and video codec can work, but the filetype is wrong. In some situations, Direct Stream may still need to convert the audio codec, say if the file is in DTS but your TV only supports Dolby formats.
If you’re going to use these options, you might also consider going to the Settings -> Quality tab in the Plex web interface, unchecking Use recommended settings, and upping video quality to Maximum. That might sound counterintuitive, but forcing Plex to downgrade may make it less likely that Direct Play will work in some scenarios. Besides, there’s not much point to owning a 4K Blu-ray rip if you’re not going to aim for that level of fidelity.
Manual quality settings
Only if necessary
If you’re convinced that your network just isn’t up to snuff, it’s possible to force Plex to use lower resolutions and bitrates regardless of what an original file is rendered in. Yes, this is bound to be a disappointment if you’ve amassed a 4K video library, but it’s better to be able to stream in 1080p than not at all, and your TV will upscale as best it can. At some point, naturally, you’ll have to fix router congestion or hook up an Ethernet cable.
The quality gap between 20Mbps and 8Mbps 1080p is going to be palpable on a TV, and in 2026, it’s simply not worth dipping into the 720p options.
To get started, open the Plex web interface on your computer, then head over to Settings -> Quality. At the top you should see an Automatically adjust quality checkbox. If this isn’t already ticked, that may be all you need to solve your issues — try playing a test video on your TV. If it was already on, uncheck Use recommended settings under Home Streaming, then select an option from the pulldown menu. There’s a mirror menu if you have remote access enabled.
As a rule, it’s best to choose the highest possible resolution/bitrate combo. The quality gap between 20Mbps and 8Mbps 1080p is going to be palpable on a TV, and in 2026, it’s simply not worth dipping into the 720p options, much less 480p. A Wi-Fi 6 router should be plenty capable of handling 8Mbps, no matter what else is running, and the lower the native resolution, the worse things will look. Your TV can’t add detail where there wasn’t any before — just smooth it over.
Transcoding performance
Pick your poison
When I said that transcoding causes delays, I might have actually been underselling the concern. The fact is that real-time transcoding is one of the most demanding tasks for a PC, and if you don’t have a rig equipped for gaming or video editing, it can (potentially) bring your machine to a crawl.
When you head over to Settings -> Transcoder in the Plex web interface, the main thing to focus on is the Transcoder quality menu. Automatic is the default setting, and generally preferable. If you’re running into buffering problems, though, it may be worth switching to Prefer higher speed encoding. Otherwise I’d stick to Automatic. If you do have a high-performance PC, you can experiment with Prefer higher quality encoding or even Make my CPU hurt to maximize image quality, but you probably don’t need to bother.
Often, dedicated GPUs are more powerful than the CPUs they’re paired with, so GPU acceleration will provide an enormous boost. In fact the only reason I can imagine skipping hardware acceleration is if it’s not an option at all.
If your Plex plan and PC support it, enable Use hardware acceleration when available without a second thought. While Plex warns that this might actually reduce video quality and compatibility, it’s ridiculous not to take advantage of a dedicated graphics card if you have one. Often, dedicated GPUs are more powerful than the CPUs they’re paired with, so GPU acceleration will provide an enormous boost. In fact the only reason I can imagine skipping hardware acceleration is if it’s not an option at all. Conceivably, you might leave it off if someone wants to play games on your PC at the same time. That’s still a bad idea, but it probably won’t be possible at all if your GPU is too busy transcoding The Fellowship of the Ring.
Advanced users can adjust the number of simultaneous GPU, CPU, and background transcodes. Personally, I’ve never found any reason to mess with these settings. Most people only have one stream being processed at any given time, the main exception being if you’re sharing a Plex server with friends or family. At that point, you may want to impose limits to keep your computer usable for basic tasks.
