We at Synology are dedicated to developing new features and delivering added value to our products, however, we also want to encourage 3rd-party software developers to explore more of the potential of DiskStation. If this is your case, you can find our developer guide of 3rd-party apps running on DiskStation.
Today, I would like to introduce Plex Media Server – a solution for your local and online media, which seamlessly connects your Plex clients. Thanks to Plex’s great work, Plex Media Server is available on x86-based DiskStation. You can get it in the Package Center in DSM directly.
Plex Media Server is not only a good application for home theatres; it is also the first package for Synology DiskStation developed by 3rd-party developers. This means a lot to us – DiskStation is becoming a platform for all software developers, and we hope that in the future more of them will join this “eco-system” and deliver more versatile applications on to our platform: DSM on Synology DiskStation.
How does Plex Media Server work?
In my previous blog post, we talked about hosting your own personal multimedia cloud on DiskStation, enabling you for example to watch your favorite movie collections, anytime, anywhere. So what’s new with Plex Media Server on your DiskStation? Well you can watch movies with the client – Plex Media Center on Windows & Mac, and more importantly, on iPad, iPhone and Android devices with the paid app. A version for Windows Phone is also on its way. I’ve tried Plex for a couple of weeks, and I would like to share my impressions and favorite features on Plex Media Server.
Collecting Movie Information Online Automatically
How many times have you downloaded lots of movie files, created a lot of folders to sort these videos, then had a difficult time to browse and find the movie you want, the ones you’ve already watched and those you haven’t? Well, now that’s just a bad memory: Plex automatically searches an online database, and with just the filename of the movie, retrieves the introduction, rating, genre and director, as well as recording what you’ve watched and what you haven’t.
Watching Videos on iPad (as well as iPhone & Android devices)
I often like to just lie back in bed and watch movies on my (new) iPad. With Plex, I can do just that! Watching all of my movies on my iPad becomes easy, no matter which video format: AVI, MKV or MP4, Plex Media Server handles the transcoding for me. It makes things much simpler, doesn’t it? Now I can really lie back, relax and enjoy the movie.
Last but not least, when I have to stop watching a movie before the end, Plex is able to keep track of where I stopped and will prompt me to continue watching it from there when I resume watching.
After spending the whole weekend watching movies on my iPad and Plex Media Center on my computer, Plex really left me with a great feeling. There are, however, some issues and limitations: for example, I’ve found that some movies with AAC 5.1 audio codec sometimes may not sync with videos during playback; With Plex Media Server running on DiskStation (like DS1512+), video transcoding by enabling subtitles puts too much CPU load on the device – another limitation found so far. However, I personally like the whole idea of Plex Media Server and hopefully in the future all of us will have a great “personal movie cloud” experience!
Awesome!
Any chance of an ARM version (without transcoding)?
I have the DS 409+ and can’t see it in the package center, I thought my model was x86 based but I also can’t see it in the list here http://www.synology.com/support/news.php?lang=enu&news_id=340. Any thoughts?
No sign of it yet in the Package Center of my DS1511+ . Or won’t it show up until I install DSM 4.0-2219? Now I am on DSM 4.0-2198.
Please update your DSM to 4.0-2199 for the Plex Media Server package.
Works on my 411? How do I know if my 411 is x86?
Hi, DS411 is not x86-based actually, but you can still run it on your PC and map the network drive in which video files are stored.
What’s the best product I can buy to have great performance with Plex Media Server ?
Hi, currently Plex Media Server does not do video transcoding on most of our devices, so we would suggest you to get a computer running Plex if you’re very concerned about it.
If you don’t need to transcode videos, i.e., you don’t need subtitles, I believe Plex Media Server will work fine on DS1512+.
Too bad it doesn’t work on the DS410. I can still run it on the PC and reference the mapped drives so it’s not a big deal. I just wish the DS would play more movie formats inside the browser then it does.
Hi all! I was trying Plex for Synology, but my PS3 is quite rebel and doesn’t detect the Plex Media Server DLNA. I visited Plex website and saw that there are two versions, 0.9.5.3.30 without DLNA and WP7 support, and 0.9.6.0.11 beta with DLNA and so on. So I thought that the package I’ve installed was the first one… but the package is correct, so what may be wrong?
Thanks a lot!
We’ve published the one without beta. It is 0.9.5.3, and will update to 0.9.6 when it is not beta version anymore.
I would REALLY LOVE if you had ruTorrent as an officially third-party supported package. It would allow me to re-purchase my DS412+ in a heartbeat!!!
I will tell our developers and thanks for your suggestion
Please can you update the Plex media server. Two bugs that many have reported now for over a month
1. Cant acccess media server manager through DSM when clicjing on icon. There is a convoluted way of accessign it if you read through the plex forums.
2. No DLNA suppirt with version 0.9.5 I have tried downloading the Beta for 0.9.6 but after installing in DSM through package installer I continulayy get the message Plex is not supported on this sytem. Its prettty pointless having Plex if it does not support DLNA.
thanks
We would suggest you to contact Plex Inc. directly for support
I have a 411j. Am I able to download this as well? If yes, where can I find it?
Thnx
Hi, Plex Media Server is currently for selected models at the moment.
Hi darren, is there any plan for the future that PLex will run on the 411j?
Holg
Hi, Plex Media Server is provided by Plex Inc., so we would suggest you to contact Plex directly.
Does this work on the DJ110J
Isn’t supported on DS212+ as of this writing. Any plans?
Is it supported on DS209+II?
Package center doesn’t have it and am running DSM4..0-2219 (states latest version)
Are there any updates if this will soon be compatible with the DS212+? Thanks
Disappointing actually… I waited and waited for the DS412+ to come out… but Synology wasn’t willing to share when it would be released… I finally bought a DS212+ a couple of months ago. One of the primary applications was DLNA. I soon discovered that there aren’t any good DLNA players out there… PLEX was going to be the answer… only to find out that it is not supported on the DS212+.
What can I say… disappointing… DS412+ is now out… what can I say… disappointing…!!
I am sorry for your situation, would you please write a message to contact us with the link below? http://www.synology.com/company/contact_us.php?lang=enu
We can reply you via e-mail. Thank you.
Hi,
Does Plex work on a Synology DS209 with DSM DS209 2228 ???
I have just upgraded the DSM from my old DS209 and discovered this application but it is not available within the DSM Package Center from my DS209.
I also have bought the Plex iPad application but I do not know how to configure it with my DS209.
Any help will be appreciated.
Thanks in advance.
Any chance of getting this for the DS410?
Hi, for Plex Media Server support other than x86, Please contact Plex directly.
No joy at all on the DSM1511+ w/ DSM4.0-2228
After (somewhat excitedly) installing via the package center, trying to hit the webpage for the Plex manager yields a 404 not found error. SSH’ing in and poking around shows plex processes appear to be running, but Plese doesn’t show up on my network (that is, no clients see it).
Oh well, the updated DSM 4 looks nice. The DLNA server is definitely improved too. Maybe next version of DSM will have better luck with Plex.
Hi, if you’ve encountered any issue of Plex Media Server, we encourage you to contact Plex directly.
For the record, I’m getting the exact same error on my 1512+ with DSM4.0-2228. When I click Plex in the main menu it launches “192.168.0.5:32400/manage/index.html” which simply produces an “404 Not Found” error.
And now I found the solution: For anyone who encounters the same problem, it appears that the Plex version installed through DSM is outdated. Download the latest version for Synology here instead and manually install it: http://www.plexapp.com/linux/linux-pms-download.php
I have the exact same issue and tried your solution, however the version on the server and the latest version offered by Plex are both v0.9.6.3.143-4466fb5.
Anyone else have an idea?
The issue was that I was logging in outside of our network using the remote address. Once I configured MyPlex inside our network with local address and opened the port it connected. The only issue I have now is that I can login inside network via local address but no login will work remotely.
Hi all.
I just purchased my first Synology, a DS412+ since running PMS was of major importance to me which necessitated the Intel dual-core CPU. I really love it so far, but I’m running into a few snags as I’ve learned to expect.
I had no problem installing the stock Plex Media Server, v0.9.6.3 that showed up under the “Available Packages” tab of the Package Manager. However, there were some strange behavior when it came to scanning my TV Shows library structure, which had no such problems under my previous Mac OS v0.9.5.x setup, so I decided to try and upgrade to the latest version, v0.9.6.7 to see if that resolved it.
Since v0.9.6.7 is not available in Package Manager directly via Synology, I downloaded the latest Synology build, an “.spk” package for v0.9.6.7 from the PLEX download site to my local hard drive. I made several attempts to install it manually via the “upload” function in DSM 4.0′s Package Manager, but alas I have had no success. I even tried downloading v0.9.6.6; but still no joy.
When I open the Install dialog in PM I am able to select the local .spk file via the “choose” button without issue. But when I click the “upload” button (presumably to initiate the installation) it pops up some sort of progress dialog that appears to be doing something but it never makes progress or times out or anything. It just sits there with no means to cancel or abort. It will sit like that for hours if I let it. The only way to kill it and interact with PM after that is to close the DSM browser window and start a new DSM session.
The first attempt was with the original v0.9.6.3 PMS installed but not running. I then rebooted the NAS and repeated the attempt. Next I uninstalled PMS via PM; deleted the PLEX share and user account and tried again. And finally I tried it with 0.9.6.6 instead of ‘.7. The result was the same in each case.
I’m inclined to believe this is a newb/operator error thing, and so I apologize if this boils down to a stupid question, but does anyone have some knowledge or advice that might help me to get PMS v0.9.6.7 installed and running on my DS412+?
Thanks for any help.
Hi Caravan Shaker,
We would suggest you to contact Plex or our support for installing issue of Plex Media Server0.9.6.7.
Synology Support
https://myds.synology.com/support/support_form.php?lang=enu
Hi Guys! Don’t waiste time for this application! Hd video don’t work correctly on Synology from CPU and Memory usage. I have 1511+ Synology with 1GB Ram and it can’t play HD video on Ipad without droppings. CPU and Memory usage up 100%!!!!!! Dear Synology Team inform users that can be problems with HD video. Problem in that users buy Ipad/Iphone Plex ippl for $4.99 and then understood that impossible to wach HD video.
A lot of topics in Plex forum about this problem!!
Hi, may I know what is your device (iPad 2 or new iPad?) and what’s your bitrate settings of Plex? If you set the bitrate setting to be 10Mbps or more, and disable subtitle, it should work well.
Hi Darren I have Ipad 2 and New Ipad. I see problem on 2-3 Mb bitrate with 720 p on 6-10 GB MKV 1080 p files. 2.66ghz Core 2 Duo, 4GB Ram is needed for transcoding 1080 P. I don’t know which Synology has it….Many users hold on Synology big MKV HD video files and want to see them on fly. Plex Media server on Synology can’t do it. Only dedicated powerfull PC on MAC with media server on board can do the task….It’s not only my problem – many topics on Plex forum about it.
Hi, you can try Direct Streaming which only transcode the audio part of the file, taking less CPU resource and make the playback smooth.
I installed this on a DS1511+ and it was working fine. I removed the Movies section and then couldn’t add it back. Then I removed TVShows and the same thing happened. Now I can add any sections, no agents are listed and uninstall and reinstall doesn’t help.
How can I remove it completely and start afresh? Tried deleting Plex/library/Application Support but that didn’t solve it (and I couldn’t remove some bundles).
“now I CAN’T add any sections” – sorry for the typo.
Will Plex transcode based on connection speed? Can it adjust bitrate based on bandwidth constraints (ie 3G vs Broadband)?
Is there a DMS which can allow us to edit the dlna profile/resolution properties of an asset?
I have a synology ds 1512 running that to a sony GSZ google tv desktop box. I have no trouble playing 1080p movie files of any size even up to 15 gigs (highest I’ve tried so far).
But the one problem I have is with subtitles, it increases the CPU load to maximum and makes it freeze.
Is there a work around or third party app I could use, rather than plex on the sony desktop box that will do the transcoding, rather than using plex on the desktop box, and then having the 1512 doing the transcoding?
I’m basically just trying to figure out something to use for subtitle movies that will do the transcoding on the receiving end (sony desktop box) rather than using the 1512 to do transcoding on the backend when it is pushing it.
Any help would be appreciated! Love the product overall.
I wish I had something better than a DS413 now to support transcoding. Be sure check your Synology’s hardware specs to make sure it’s good enough to do what you want before investing. Not all models can do everything Plex offers.