Plex Flex

Started by ono, December 29, 2021, 12:13:27 PM

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ono

Flex your Plex here.

https://imgur.com/a/GMvDaTD

After having run Plex off of my computer for a few years with a smaller selection of movies and TV, I decided to take the plunge and get something more robust.  I bought a Synology NAS back in September and ripped all my DVDs and Blu-rays to it.  Was fun times.  Got almost 600 titles in features (it has some shorts in it too though).  Haven't done TV shows yet.  Made collections by director, a couple of actor collections, and some desired lists, for ease of finding thing.  It's great to have this available from anywhere.  It's especially useful to be able to reference the file of the movie from any computer on your network if you're looking for a key scene or something like that.

wilder

Really cool, ono! I've considered doing this eventually but the time investment seems impossible. A few questions:

Assuming it took you through December with 600, you averaged 5 discs a day?

How long does it take to rip each disc, and does that include bonus discs and extras, or only the features themselves? Are they full disc rips or compressed files?

What kind of drive did you use to rip? Are disc drives used to rip meaningfully faster or slower than others? Is it possible (and financially feasible) to use some kind of multi-drive setup to rip multiple at a time and collapse the process?

ono

I have an external DVD drive and I bought a Blu-ray drive recently for those.  Not sure what brand, but I can dig them up tomorrow if you're looking for recs.  I happened to have the DVD drive already and the Blu-ray drive was only like $70 I think.  It takes 20-30 minutes depending to rip a DVD and maybe an hour or two to rip a blu-ray, depending on what's on there.  Because I had the two drives, I was able to get through it faster, but I only had the idea after I had gotten like a third of the way through.  Was unsure I could have both going at once until I actually tried.  So yes, you can speed up the process with multiple drives.  I did do full disc rips and I've named some of the files appropriately so Plex will recognize them as feature films or extras of the film.  I'm fortunate that I work at home, so I'd have the cycle going while I was working.  You get into a rhythm after a while.  It didn't take the entire 4 months.  Once you get used to things it'll go faster than you think.

There are a select few DVDs that can't be ripped properly.  I had a lot of trouble with The Unbearable Lightness of Being (so I ended up downloading the movie -- the features I ripped legit tho), and Hard Eight is so old the encoding is such that I can't seem to get the extras off of it.  Different time.  Would like to have those Sundance scenes available, but no dice.

wilberfan

Quote from: ono on December 29, 2021, 12:13:27 PM
Flex your Plex here.

After having run Plex off of my computer for a few years with a smaller selection of movies and TV, I decided to take the plunge and get something more robust.  I bought a Synology NAS back in September

Well, what do you know about that?   After seeing "NAS" everywhere for years, I finally decided to figure out what the fuck it is!  A couple of weeks ago I got a Synology DS920+ .    I didn't like Plex immediately.  Uninstalled it and have been using Emby ever since.  It's a pretty nifty setup, I must say.  Although at this point I don't have a big interesting in 'keeping' a lot of movies.  I've got a couple dozen things saved, but my DVD/VHS collection is pretty miniscule anyway... 

Yes

I had a great one before my laptop broke and it didn't sign me into my library. I have to rebuild

And I'm also down for anyone to invite me to theirs!  :yabbse-grin:

wilder

Quote from: ono on December 29, 2021, 06:33:12 PM
I have an external DVD drive and I bought a Blu-ray drive recently for those.  Not sure what brand, but I can dig them up tomorrow if you're looking for recs.  I happened to have the DVD drive already and the Blu-ray drive was only like $70 I think.  It takes 20-30 minutes depending to rip a DVD and maybe an hour or two to rip a blu-ray, depending on what's on there.  Because I had the two drives, I was able to get through it faster, but I only had the idea after I had gotten like a third of the way through.  Was unsure I could have both going at once until I actually tried.  So yes, you can speed up the process with multiple drives.  I did do full disc rips and I've named some of the files appropriately so Plex will recognize them as feature films or extras of the film.  I'm fortunate that I work at home, so I'd have the cycle going while I was working.  You get into a rhythm after a while.  It didn't take the entire 4 months.  Once you get used to things it'll go faster than you think.

Thanks, that sounds a lot more feasible than expected. Something to consider doing down the road!