Using seedbox with Plex?

Hi folks,

I'm new to TI and just getting back into torrenting. I used to torrent all of my content several years ago, but stopped when my access to internet became shaky (moving a lot, lived in the boonies for a while, etc). I'm back to having a solid connection and excited to dive back into the community.

I've just started looking into a seedbox... and was, almost separately, looking into running Plex at home. Now I'm wondering (and excuse me if this is somehow a dumb question... you just don't know what you don't know, right?)... What's the best way to run Plex on a seedbox? I assume it's not as fast or reliable, but I would love the remote access and the simplicity of keeping everything in one place.

Presumably (and I don't know much about seedboxes tbh), I could just download everything straight to the seedbox... which Plex would automatically pull, organize, and make available? Sounds like a decent set up to me!

I'd appreciate any advice or comments! Thanks!

@TIgatorz From what I understand, it seems that you want to stream content from your seedbox. Here are some options I've discovered including Plex

Plex
Plex does the "heavy lifting" on the server side to transcode the video and this puts alot of demand on the seedbox servers. Because of such requirement, not all seedbox plans would support plex and those that support plex are generally priced higher. However, I've heard that feralhosting provides plex support at 10 euro/month although performance may not be as optimal as plans from other providers.

Cloud storage streaming
You can copy content to cloud storage such as gdrive and stream content from there using plex cloud if you have the plex pass or using a video player app such as infuse, kodi etc.

FTP streaming from seedbox
You can stream content directly from the seedbox through FTP. For computers, the kodi app should work. For phones, apps such as vlc, infuse, playerxtreme, oplayer should be able to do the job.

Ultimately, the solution depends on your requirements, are you looking for content organization or are you happy just streaming the files? Are you looking to streaming from the seedbox only or are you open to other alternatives such as streaming from the cloud?

@hellogoodbye thank you for all that info! These all seem like solid options.

I think I would prefer organization as well. Plex drew me in because of the fancy covers. I am somewhat familiar with Kodi - I had a sweet little firestick set up for a while, but I found the speed almost unbearable.

I am totally open to other solutions. In reality, I could probably just set up some kind of NAS, because most of my viewing will be staying home... At the same time, I do really like the portability of a cloud based solution. Apparently I need to do a lot more reading :)

Take a look at Bytesized hosting. Their service is more focused on Plex streaming with support for multiple simultaneous transcodes.

I recommend Plex too as nothing compares to it if you want a polished, streamlined experience.

I've used bytesizedhosting and I had a good experience, support was fast, peering was good. Only downside is the slightly higher cost which is to be expected for plex support.

I love Plex and use it on my NAS at home but you asked about using with a seedbox.

I use Seedboxes.cc they offer a Plex server, I do use this and it works well. Just copy the files to the relevant Plex directories on the seedbox then run the server interface in in your web browser to update. They have easy to follow instructions and if you do get stuck I have found their customer service to be excellent.

Bytesizedhosting looks like a solid option! I think this is one of the first ones I found when I googled this same question, so I'm glad to hear it's a good option. The pricing seems okay if it does what I need it to.

I'm still trying to decide between just going the NAS route, or going with a seedbox/cloud option. Either way, I think I will be setting up Plex.

Really appreciate the responses! Thanks all!

Has anyone run into the issue of Plex marking old movies as newly added on their Seedbox? Occasionally, when the libraries are updated, it marks all the movies as newly added. This does not happen on my local drives.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by mac011

Has anyone run into the issue of Plex marking old movies as newly added on their Seedbox? Occasionally, when the libraries are updated, it marks all the movies as newly added. This does not happen on my local drives.

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Is anything causing the 'date modified' to change on those files?


https://forums.plex.tv/discussion/10...ows-old-titles
https://forums.plex.tv/discussion/97...vies-and-shows

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Zy123

Is anything causing the 'date modified' to change on those files?


https://forums.plex.tv/discussion/10...ows-old-titles
https://forums.plex.tv/discussion/97...vies-and-shows

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Thanks for the links @Zy123. It must be some automated software I have running that is changing the modified dates.

i'd recommend the setup with a gdrive as storage, mounted via encrypted rclone-mount to the server running plex.

seedbox itself could be used for the fast download and upload/move to the gdrive, compared to slower home connections.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by pedroinvite

i'd recommend the setup with a gdrive as storage, mounted via encrypted rclone-mount to the server running plex.

seedbox itself could be used for the fast download and upload/move to the gdrive, compared to slower home connections.

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Unlimited hoarding on Google's cloud? Sign me up ;)

You guys may want to check this out:
https://github.com/Admin9705/PlexGui...me-Plex-Server
Has nice flowcharts

@hellogoodbye Awesome chart.

In case anyone finds this thread and is curious...

Right now I'm trying out a bytesized seedbox. Plex was very easy to install. I wanted to keep my budget low, so I went with their smallest box. Because of that, I didn't upload all my existing content. So I'm ultimately running two Plex servers - one from the seedbox, one from my laptop. I'm using the Plex app on my smart tv.

It's not the most elegant solution, but it's giving me a chance to try some things out and see what I actually need in practice (instead of just in theory).

What I like:

1) Love having a seedbox in general. I feel like such a better torrent-er lol.
2) Love the Plex and the simple integration. I download straight to the dedicated Plex folders and then it just pops right up. Very easy.

What I don't like:

1) Having two Plex servers means that I have to switch between if I want to browse my movies. It's easy to switch. And the search function still searches both servers. It's not awful, but not as comprehensive as I want it to be.
2) My laptop isn't great, so most of my older collection is on an external HD that's just plugged into the USB. It's cumbersome, but it works.
3) The cost if I wanted to store all my media on my seedbox. For the kind of space I ultimately want, I'd be spending close to $100 (USD) per month. That's just not realistic for me.
4) Some technical issues... Having issues with low audio volume. I'm not sure if it's the files, Plex, or my TV, but I had to watch Age of Ultron with the volume at 100 last night :/


Going forward, I'm looking at a NAS (and running my Plex server there). Higher upfront cost, but it'd be worth it. I will probably torrent movies to the seedbox and have a script that automatically copies them to the NAS. I'll keep the seedbox as small as possible and rotate old torrents off as I run out of space, while still seeding as long as possible.


ANYway. Not looking for anything else. I just know I find threads like this through googlin' all the time and wish people would write down what they did. Thanks for your input everyone!

the gdrive teamdrive approach seems very interesting for a really huge combined collection or the next level.

if you get a business gsuite-account you would already have unlimited storage space right from the start. ;-)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by pedroinvite

the gdrive teamdrive approach seems very interesting for a really huge combined collection or the next level.

if you get a business gsuite-account you would already have unlimited storage space right from the start. ;-)

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It does sound like a good option... Might be a little over my head technically, but I'll look into it!

@TIgatorz
hey mate, tell me which seedbox service you use for plex.
maybe I can suggest you some steps. Thanks

compared to a seedbox service you could get your own dedicated root server.

main advantage is that you have full rights to do/install whatever you want, without any restrictions.

This is very useful, kudos to the contributors!

I'm somewhat in the same position as you, getting back to torrenting!

I tried out seedboxes.cc, and it seems like a good solution with a very nice user interface. They even have some kinda torrentinvites.org promotion with a discount, promo code SPRING2018

Very easy to set up Plex, and you can use FTP or rutorrent to organize your files..

I run Plex on my home server to host streaming for my media, and also run a separate VM on the same server strictly for torrents (dl/ul). Issues I've run into using cloud storage for Plex are: 1) space (I have a LOT of data and it doesn't fit without paying for add'l space); 2) speed (spinning up a stream is slower over the cloud that hosting in-house).

Plex is cool in that your stuff is always accessible from anywhere, regardless of where the media bits are stored. I actually store mine on a 4TB USB3 drive connected to the server. The server has a Samsung 1TB SSD which would be even faster, but those bits are costly compared to the USB drive. I also have a second 4TB USB3 drive mirroring the first for backup.

When in doubt, I always prefer the in-house, owned-hardware option given that most internet speeds these days are more than sufficient to host and stream via Plex, in addition to ul'ing/dl'ing torrents at the same time. Up-front cost is high--depending on the setup--but there is ZERO recurring cost and you control 100% of everything. There is something to be said for that. Have never run into an issue yet where my own h/w or bandwidth has been the bottleneck.