If you haven’t been keeping a close watch, Plex is something of a controversial app these days. Its interface is increasingly littered with features outside its main purpose, which is streaming local media. That wouldn’t be such an issue if the cost of a lifetime Plex Pass hadn’t shot up to $750, forcing all but the most diehard new users to stick to monthly or annual subscriptions if they can’t get away with free functions.
That said, it’s still hard to top Plex, since alternatives like Jellyfin aren’t as polished. Whether you just want to test the software or you’re prepared to go all-in, here are some of the pitfalls I’ve learned to avoid over many years of using the software.
Avoid library freakouts
With an external SSD that has ample space, it can be tempting to use it for all your storage needs. A 2TB drive with a few gigabytes of documents and photos is going to waste, and memory prices aren’t exactly conducive to buying more SSDs on a whim.
If you’re in the habit of disconnecting an SSD to take files on the road, though, Plex Media Server will temporarily lose access until you reconnect. That might be obvious, and bad enough if you share Plex with other people in your household. Unfortunately, there’s also the risk that Plex won’t immediately recognize your drive when you do reconnect, say if Windows assigns a different drive letter (e.g. H:/ instead of G:/). Plex also won’t be able to scan for changes and automatically assign metadata while your drive is MIA.
You can and probably should use an external SSD for a Plex library, but it should be dedicated to that task, and left plugged in as long as possible. This is why some people turn to NAS (network-attached storage) systems. They might be expensive, but by being connected to your router instead of your computer, they’re always accessible. I’d also recommend creating some sort of backup unless you don’t mind rebuilding your library from scratch.
Ignoring folders and filenames when adding new content
A chore that pays off in the long run
Whether you’re ripping Blu-rays and DVDs or acquiring files from other sources (ahem), you should always spend some time properly naming and organizing your files. Plex does attempt to identify titles as best it can, but relies on file and folder names to help, so adding items without thinking can result in chaos. David Lynch’s Dune, for instance, should probably be named “Dune (1984)” to distinguish it from Denis Villeneuve’s 2021 version. You should also add which cut you’ve got of something if there are multiple edits, and always assign season and episode numbers to shows. “Twin Peaks S03E08” signals that you’re dealing with Season 3, Episode 8.
Folders may actually be more important than filenames. Plex specifically recommends against mixing movies and shows in the same location, and for that show example I just mentioned, stashing it under “TV Shows/Twin Peaks/Season 3” would avoid any ambiguity as long as the episode was indicated. SRT subtitle files, meanwhile, need to be located in the same folders as their parent videos, and use matching filenames. This is one of the reasons why Plex suggests that even movies get separate folders, no matter if there’s a single video file in each one.
Insisting on maximum quality for rips and playback
Live within your means
When building a Plex library, you do have to treat it a bit like a national archive, by which I mean preserving things at the best possible quality. You don’t want to have to re-add files later or cope with a pixelated mess. Ideally, all of your videos would be 4K HDR files, encoded at the highest possible bitrates.
That can be a mistake for two reasons. The first is that a single 4K Blu-ray rip can consume dozens of gigabytes, even with compression in effect. Just 30 movies would probably fill up half a terabyte, never mind trying to save the entirety of shows like Frasier or Star Trek: The Next Generation. Second, trying to transcode high-quality 4K can be extremely demanding for some computers and Wi-Fi networks, resulting in painful levels of buffering.
There’s no one-size-fits-all answer to this dilemma. My suggestion would be to do the math on whether your collection will fit in available space, and test whether high-bitrate 4K can stream smoothly. If you run into issues, it may be better to stick to 1080p files. That’s virtually guaranteed to play smoothly while consuming a fraction of the storage, and it’s actually difficult to tell the difference versus native 4K on most TVs. If you have the storage but not the bandwidth or processor power, you might try forcing Plex to downscale playback of 4K files, whether via client apps or Media Server itself. That way, you’ll have access to improved fidelity when your hardware does take a leap forward.
