Two years ago I decided to rip my DVD and Blu-ray collection. I set up a Plex server on my Synology NAS, a 918+ which has an Intel processor they can simultaneously transcode at least 2 HD streams on playback. I used a combination of AnyDVDHD, MakeMKV, and Handbrake. I also bought a program called Advanced Rename. Highly recommended as it does batch renaming of the files. It can pull movie and tv epidode title data from an online database. This makes file naming MUCH easier, especially for TV shows. I had 600+ discs so I dedicated a Windows gaming laptop to the job. It took about 18 months to get everything ripped, named, and to get the titles, background pictures, and sort info straightened out on Plex. It was well worth it, and my only recommendation to others who might want to try this is to understand the beginning it’s going to be a slog. But you will get through it!
Thanks for the input Mark! 600+, wow that is a lot. Fortunately for me, I don't have too many tv series to go through as that does seem to be more of a challenge. Thanks for the tips on that!
@@ShaneCreates i have over 4000 DVDs ripped to HD. made the switch from a butt load of USB RAID drives to a 50tb Synology DS1019+ about a yr ago. currently converting all my video_ts folders to MKV to take advantage of the current "player" options
@@beomille509 exactly right. I have literally hundreds of hours ripping, tagging, examining, labeling, and copying files to my Plex server. Lots of work.
You can also use an older Mac if you have one laying around and not using, or even just buy a used older Mac and turn it into your Home Server, add your movies to the Apple TV app to host them and then you can stream to any Mac, iPhone, iPad or Apple TV in your house, no need to pay for Plex or other solutions. No need to buy a NAS drive either, you can just use a DAS RAID enclosure and its much cheaper than a NAS. You could also use external SSDs to hold your movies. Currently I have 2 OWC Thunderbay 4 RAID drives attached to my MBP Server, one holds all my photography RAWs, the other is a clone of the first.
@@sethterwilliger9434 you suck at using MacOS. I’m using a MacBook Pro as a server with the lid shut and it working just fine. In fact, I’m in Mexico right now downloading some files from my server.
@@sethterwilliger9434 no monitor, in fact, the screen on my MacBook Pro server is broken. I just use screenshare from my other MBP to get into my server. Apple provides all the tools, you just gotta do your research and learn how to use it. Many tutorials on RUclips too.
THANKS SHANE! I have a huge DVD collection but any time we wanted to watch one I would have to go grab it out of the computer room and then place it in the DVD player. But NO, NOW I WANT A NAS!!! OMG! That is so slick! I wonder if I could also use it with my Apple Computers as a Time Machine? If so I will be buying one very soon. Oh hell, who am I trying to kid! I want one for my DVD Collection!!! Shane you just cost me a chunk of money dude! Thanks as always for the amazing and informative video!
Sweeet .. you HAVE answered some questions for me to help make ends meet .. Big time thanks .. YUP, my Daughters TOO are lovin this Thanks again Brother, Partner, Pals hahaha
Instead of having all those physical folders for "Christmas movies", "children movies", etc. use Plex's collections feature. I have all my movie folders are genre and have collections for Christmas movies, MCU, Star wars, DC, etc. you can add and remove collections with out having to change your file structure.
This is all fine and dandy, but how do you rip the dvds to usable files on the NAS? WinX? DVDfab? what did you use? kinda useless if you don't show us.
Question: Does Plex add subtitle by it self? Reason I started using Infuse Pro is that it has a build-in funtion for searching subtile so you don't have to add them yourself to the folder.
Great video, didn't even know this was possible. Setup looks simple and the interface of Plex on Apple TV looks clean and easy to use. Your b roll of the dvd's was really good!
Hey Shane, great video as always. I see this was made 2 years ago and was wondering how it’s held up. Is this still your preferred method? I’d like to make a digital library of my 1,000+ movies/shows.
FYI if your mkv file does not have subtitle tracks or the language you want, Plex lets you search for alternate subtitle sources on the internet and automatically use them
Shane, do you use this for Time Machine backups as well? Searched your content and didn't find anything yet but seemed like a tangent topic to this one, maybe a future video perhaps?
So about how many DVD's / Blue Rays movies can you hold on that NAS you have? I understand that Expansion of that NAS is a thing and it as well depends on the Size of the Hard Drives you place in your NAS I just would like to know how many movies you can load to that Drive as you have it set up? In this video you say you put in 2 x 14TB Drives.
To give you an idea, I probably have roughly 300 dvds stored on mine. I also use my NAS to archive old video footage (from RUclips videos) and I still haven't hit 50% storage capacity. Still just running off 2 x 14 TB drives.
Can you stream from Synology Nas to your client outside your network? Avoiding the Plex charge? You can listen to your music with Synology app. Wondering about movies. Thanks
Hey Shane. Thanks for this. I use this only for my movie server on our tvs. Is there a way to make the movie tiles smaller, so in other words, instead of like 6 movies per row, make it like 10 on a row. I have over 1000 vids. its murder scrolling down. Im assuming by just changing the size of the tiles, it will fit more. Also, on your tv screen you have the availability to see the letters of the alphabet on the right side, so if u want movies beginning with "G" you just click 'G" . I dont have that, just a scroll bar. Any idea what im missing? Any help would be appreciated
Using only .MVK is great because you don't loose any resolution, since it's there's no compression in the process. The downside is that .MKV files size varie between 20 to 30GB per BD. Now you're fine because you got 14TB of disk space to host all those big files, but those disks normally cost 500$ each, so 1000$ here + the NAS. What most of us end up doing is to get lower capacity disks but to compress each .MKV files in .MP4/.M4V format with HandBrake. This shrink a BD down to 4-5GB. I wish I'd be in your place because the compression process is about 2-3 hours each time. And I'm not talking about multiple technical issues between .MKV and Plex.
Yes I understand some like to compute down to mp4 and I was thinking about trying it just to compare the quality/size difference. But my mkv files have all been averaging about 5Gb each. That is for standard dvds. I haven’t done any blue rays yet.
trying to get my power rangers dvds on their become netflix is removing the shows in febuary but having issues getting the episodes to get them to show up ?
Agree! No need to set up Plex Server. Infuse Pro is available for AppleTV, iOS and iPadOS and does it all. Only connect it via SMB or WebDav to your Synology and Metadata and cover fetching, possibility to connect to Trakt. I use this method to stream my movies, series from a Synology DS918+ to anywhere I want.
Shane I have roughly 600 DVDs/Bluray movies and TV shows in box collections. I’m thinking about getting the 4 bay synology but what size TB should I need just for my DVD collection. Also can I have each hard drive for a different function-(ie one for DVDs, one for Music/ pictures, one for files & the last one for security cameras) Thanks for your input
Thanx! But oh, hmm.. not sure you should place content inside plex’s shared folder. You should have another external folder on your nas and point your plex library to this folder.
12:31 Shane, I am a longtime follower. I have 3-400 DVD’s that I own, and want to rip and create a PLEX media server to be able to watch on all my devices. I use Apple devices. My question is what is the best way to rip? I have HANDBRAKE, a new Apple SuperDrive, 4-4TB External HD’s. I am waiting to get my Synology NAS until I can figure out how to get the DVD’s ripped successfully. Is there a step I’m missing? Will the Make MKV beta software allow me to rip my protected DVD and BluRay discs? I’m not concerned about disc space and like the features you pointed out in your RUclips video. Will you point me in the right direction to get the information I need to successfully complete my rips? Thank you! Kirk
Quite interested in this product. Couple questions A. How does many movies (blirays) can you add to a server B. Can you add additional drives to the server? What happens when you hit max capacity? B. Can this work with cds, sacd, DVD-audio. D. Talk about the quality... does a 4K bluray look better than a regular DVD.
A. completely depends on how much hard drive space you have/add. I know some people who have thousands of movies stored. B. Yes, there are multiple options for NAS available. The one seen in the video is a 4-bay but can be expanded to add additional if needed. You can get a NAS with slots for up to 12 hard drives (maybe more). C. Yes, it can work with audio. Not sure about the different formats, but you can always convert to a compatible format if necessary. D. Yes, Blu-ray is typically 1920×1080 where standard DVDs are 720×480
I have an external disc drive made by Apple. I don’t think it reads blu-rays tho, so if you need to copy blu-rays, just make sure you get something that can read them too.
Can you point Plex to a different folder/volume? I have Plex installed on my NAS, but have my rips put in the main volume in a folder named "Active Files" that stores DVD's, TV Shows, Google Sketchup, Scans (document scans), iTunes, Music, OneNote & money files. All my rips go into the Active Files folder and with around 2,000 DVD's, I don't really want to move/copy them over to the Plex library folder ... is it possible to point the Plex library over to the Active Files folder in my main volume?
As of this writing (12/21), the Plex Media Server for Synology is not offered in the Packages. It is necessary to go to Synology downloads and do it with the Manual Install button on Synology Packages. No biggie, it installs fine, just not via Synology.
Great video, thank you. Unfortunately I can't use Plex as my TV is ancient, so I play the movies through my old but smart dvd. I also have to convert the mkv's to mp4's. I know, go out and get a modern tv except none of what I've seen comes close to my picture.
If you have an always on computer, run plex server on it then buy a $100 usb hdd. I use small powered over usb drives connected to an old mac mini. You can now also take all your movies on the road with you and plug the drive into a laptop.
You have the incorrect RUclips link under "Naming & Organizing your Movie Files". It is the same link as "Synology NAS First-Time Installation & Setup Guide". Also, I don't see the link for the movie conversion software you used to "rip" your DVD's. Were you planning on listing that as well?
Nice video...and I was so excited that I spent about 2K on a 5 bay Synology NAS, SSD discs, upgraded memory, etc to use as my PLEX media server. I spent hours upon hours uploading my 400+ DVD collection to digital (took me 2 months) and I was so so so excited! I confirmed that I had the PLEX app on all my TVs - I was beyond ecstatic...THEN, after loading everything in my NAS, and then to PLEX.....I open the PLEX app on my TV (Comcast Xfinity provider), only to learn that the PLEX app on Xfinity will not allow access to your personal media files - yes, I mean the 400+ DVDs that I uploaded. All you can access through the PLEX app on Xfinity is the free content and live TV -- what a B*!%&! I am beyond disappointed. I'm not only mad at Comcast, but why would PLEX allow such an agreement knowing that most people set up PLEX to stream their personal media content!??!! The only workaround I've found so far is to open PLEX on my iPhone and cast it to my TV - not ideal but it works. Does anyone know if Verizon Fios has the same limitation?
Awesome! Thanks for the breakdown. Now adding Synology NAS to my wishlist! How’s the quality of the videos once you rip them and get them on there? I see it says 480p in the description of the movies. Also, about how long does it take to convert a video to the mkv format?
Kyle, yea that is one downside I suppose. Standard dvd resolution is 720 × 480 so it's not going to be as high of quality as purchasing full HD or 4k from iTunes. Worth noting that blue-rays do have higher resolution than dvds if you have those. And I'd say it generally takes me about 20-30 minutes to convert to mkv.
@@ShaneCreates Did you consider LEAWO PROFESSIONAL MEDIA full version software as a ripping software? I can rip blu-ray and DVD's and the length of time varies depending on the quality you choose to output.
I use MakeMKV to rip DVDs. Its free. My pc for ripping is built out of spare parts in a cooler master storm trooper tower with 8 DVD drives to rip my collection quickly. They don't make em with so many bays anymore. Use my old haswell PC for my PLEX server in an Antex P100 case. Holds 8 hard drives and is silent. You can use a 1000 series nvidia GPU to handle encoding and decoding your videos to the proper resolution. Seems the more VRAM the more 4K streams you can do simultaneously. I got a killer deal on a 2080ti for $400 recently so my 1080ti is pulling duty as my plex transcoder so I can share with family since they've also donated large dvd collections to the library.
I just started to following you,but I didn’t get it , how you transfer the dvd or blue ray to the Hd. I understand the app what makes mkv, but how you take the physical dvd to store it, I appreciate the explanation
Sorry, not sure I understand the question. I'm just using a regular disc drive on a mac. Pop in the dvd, open up MakeMKV app and save the mkv file to the NAS or your hard drive.
@@ShaneCreates sorry for my explanation, and thanks for a quick answer. So my question is reading the disc, de program can rip any dvd , Blu-ray . What do you recommend first organize the files and rename in case of series or the program can do all. My last part of the question cam this program can do UHD disc too?
@@xabierlanda8998 I think MakeMKV can do UHDs but I haven't tried. I know it can do blu-rays. Once you rip the files for a movie or series, it's best to name/organize them properly for Plex. Look at the linksI put in the video description to help with organizing and naming files properly. Hope this helps.
Did you try and use HomePod as your speakers when watching something on plex? I’ve noticed it’s always out of sync. Also wouldn’t it be sweet if Siri was able to open a movie in plex?
No I haven't tried...I don't use my HomePod as TV speakers usually. I do wish Siri could open movies in Plex, that would be cool. There is a Plex HomeBridge plugin. I haven't explored it yet, but I know you can do things like turn your lights a certain color when certain movies or shows start playing.
How are you digitizing your movies??? I have a Plex that I purchased for this purpose but could not figure out a good solution for digitizing the videos
From my understanding, the Synology Video Station app lacks some of the functionality of Plex, but it's entirely free so that's the benefit. Plex (even the free version) does everything I need it to and it's very popular with a proven track record, so I figured I couldn't go wrong with Plex. You should be able to use an external hard drive for plex also.
Hey Phillip. Regarding software? The MakeMKV application that I used should be able to copy Blue-rays and DVDs. I haven't done any blu-rays yet, but plan to once I get through all my dvds (I'll have to get an external blu-ray player to connect to the computer).
That’s soo cool! We do have a lot of DVDs and VUDU won’t recognize the DVDs we have to add them to our library due to different UPC codes. So, this will be very helpful to consider :) Thanks for the great vid!
Great video and this is something I’ve been considering but the hard drive space just stops me. I feel like it might be less expensive to just buy digital copies of a lot of my movies. However, we have a lot of older ones that you can’t purchase digitally. The ideal scenario for me would be to somehow have my ripped movies/tv shows in the same app/library with all of the movies/tv shows I have purchased from Apple over the years. But due to DRM (which is fair-I’m not trying to break the law or anything) I haven’t found a way to do that. Also, does Siri work with Plex by any chance? Can you integrate Plex with HomeKit shortcuts? Again, great video!
Thanks David! Unfortunately I don't believe the Plex app supports Siri shortcuts. However, if you are using homebridge or hoobs, there is a plex plugin that allows you to create some pretty cool homekit automations using Plex. For example: turn the lights pink when a kids movie starts playing or lock the doors when I play Nightmare on Elm Street.
Shane, after you use MakeMKV do you use a program like HandBrake to make those large MKV files more manageable or do you just put them into your movie file in your NAS? I HandBrake mine and I can’t notice any difference...
Hey Jim, no so far I've just been using the mkv files. I'm a little afraid of compressing even more thinking that may reduce the quality more than I'd like...
@@ShaneCreates I have a 24Tb in RAID 5 and my movie container is large even after I use HandBrake. Those files are large after the MakeMKV and I’m guessing will fill your movie file on your NAS. HandBrake is free just like MakeMKV - maybe try it on one DVD and see what you think (certainly not telling you what to do). I’d like to hear what your opinion is - there are a lot of Plex users out there.
@@jhk88rph Yea, I have handbrake already and have used it in the past for other things... so I might give it a shot just to see. What is your final file size after using handbrake?
Yo Shane I did the same thing 7-8 years ago. I ended up using Drobo and Plex to stream the media. I also ripped my Bluyrays and few HD-DVD I had. Project took 1 year, but was worth it. The Plex AppleTV app is awesome!
I have a huge library of music, tv shows, and movies on an external drive from iTunes. I also have ton of dvds. Is there a way to combine content you've ripped and existing iTunes library so you have one library to search from? I don't want to have to look through two movie folders or two tv show folders to find content. I'm very new to this so I appreciate anyone's advice so I can decide if I'm moving forward with a purchase or not. I also understand that iTunes has a server app. Is anyone using that? Thanks!
Better to go to the Plex.tv website and download the latest Plex synology update and install manually on your NAS, the version on the synology App Store isn't the most up to date.
i built a media server ages ago for my DVD, Blu-rays and a few of the older HD DVDs. But i built my own not using a nas. I have a 12Terabyte of storage. I don't have the protection you have tho. I use the emby server, had too many issues with Plex I use DVDFab
I am currently in danger of this happening to me. I am desperately trying to save up for another spare synology with everything backed up, twice if I can do it.
@@danielwilder7835 yes. I recommend you back up whatever you could as soon as possible. I really don’t understand the way these hard drive companies work. I contacted western digital and they basically washed your hands off of me saying that it is over the warranty time and I had to figure it out on my own. However, since rheology actually has better customer service and they try to help me to do data repair. But it’s not easy when it is on a NAS.
Wow, dude, that SUCKS! I’m reasonably comfortable with a disk array that has one disk for parity. I’ve thought about adding a second and I’ve also thought about backing everything up - but how? How would you suggest backing up many terabytes of data? The most reasonably priced service I’ve seen is Backblaze but for 40+ TB of data, it’s still pretty expensive. Not to mention my ISP’s data cap of 1TB/month. Even if I allocated 3/4 of that to cloud backup and tried not to go over 250GB per month for everything else, it’d still take over 50 MONTHS to back it all up! The only real alternative I can see is a second disc array and damn - talk about expensive! How are you planning to back up your media in the future?
@@donny_bahama you could temporarily sign up for more data until you’ve backed up. I am currently looking into some online data cloud back up. The thing that stops me is security.
@@donny_bahama Synology Nas has a USB 3 port on the back. You could just buy a large USB based backup drive or even a USB DAS like those made by Terra master and back your Synology up to that. It's what I do. I gave up on Backblaze, in the long run I found it cheaper to use my own drives.
Pretty cool Shane I've been using plex for a few years already, stopped using for a while Since found neighbors could view you library thru Xbox. But if ok with that go ahead. The security thing you got may stop that not sure
Hey Shane. Thanks for the video! Was very helpful. Been looking for something like this for awhile now but am a pretty newbie with the whole NAS environment. Was curious if most of your videos were streaming back in 1080-p onto your tv's? Have you tried 4k with the ds920+? Really looking for right now just a great home media server to stream to all my devices no matter what they are. Really looking for a good picture, stream onto big tv in family room without issues. The backup of the NAS is just icing. Does the ds920+ still suit all your needs? Or would you recommend another Synology NAS now over the 920? Curious to hear your thoughts. Have similar setup to you, streaming from 4k Apple tvs. Thxs.
Hey Chris. Yes, I’m still very happy with this setup. You shouldn’t have any issues streaming higher resolutions as long as you have a good wifi. Or if everything is hard wired, like your Apple TV, then even better. Although, if you are streaming dvd copies, like I am in this video, those files will usually be 420p (standard dvd resolution). But if you have higher quality video files saved to your NAS, you shouldn’t have any issues with those.
@@ShaneCreates Ok perfect! Thank you so much for the reply. Truly appreciate it! We have very good WiFi. 500/500. Upstairs is hardwired, downstairs where the bigger tv is no. But still very good WiFi down there. Have you found also that mp3 format is better for Apple TV? Have a lot of files saved in MKV. Just curious. I’ve been trying to decide between the 920+ and the 1520+. Same thing as yours but one more drive bay. Lot of 720 and 1080p stuff, few 4K stuff but happy with the 1080p quality.
I'm saving my blue rays until I'm completely done with all the dvds, but I'm just planning on getting an external blue ray player, connect it to the mac, and use makeMKV to save it to the mac.
Two years ago I decided to rip my DVD and Blu-ray collection. I set up a Plex server on my Synology NAS, a 918+ which has an Intel processor they can simultaneously transcode at least 2 HD streams on playback. I used a combination of AnyDVDHD, MakeMKV, and Handbrake. I also bought a program called Advanced Rename. Highly recommended as it does batch renaming of the files. It can pull movie and tv epidode title data from an online database. This makes file naming MUCH easier, especially for TV shows. I had 600+ discs so I dedicated a Windows gaming laptop to the job. It took about 18 months to get everything ripped, named, and to get the titles, background pictures, and sort info straightened out on Plex. It was well worth it, and my only recommendation to others who might want to try this is to understand the beginning it’s going to be a slog. But you will get through it!
Thanks for the input Mark! 600+, wow that is a lot. Fortunately for me, I don't have too many tv series to go through as that does seem to be more of a challenge. Thanks for the tips on that!
@@ShaneCreates i have over 4000 DVDs ripped to HD. made the switch from a butt load of USB RAID drives to a 50tb Synology DS1019+ about a yr ago. currently converting all my video_ts folders to MKV to take advantage of the current "player" options
You can also use the Synology to to replace your aging Airport Time Capsule to backup your computer with Time Machine.
So, how did you convert your DVD's to NAS - you know as the title stated???
He says MakeMKV but I tried this and it was rubbish (video was jerky), so went back to handbrake.....
Setting up Plex is no problem - ripping a ton of discs the right way however, is a hell lot of work.
@@beomille509 exactly right. I have literally hundreds of hours ripping, tagging, examining, labeling, and copying files to my Plex server. Lots of work.
You can also use an older Mac if you have one laying around and not using, or even just buy a used older Mac and turn it into your Home Server, add your movies to the Apple TV app to host them and then you can stream to any Mac, iPhone, iPad or Apple TV in your house, no need to pay for Plex or other solutions. No need to buy a NAS drive either, you can just use a DAS RAID enclosure and its much cheaper than a NAS. You could also use external SSDs to hold your movies. Currently I have 2 OWC Thunderbay 4 RAID drives attached to my MBP Server, one holds all my photography RAWs, the other is a clone of the first.
using a mac for a server sucks. you have to leave it open all the time or if u connect it to a monitir u have to leave the monitor on all the time
@@sethterwilliger9434 you suck at using MacOS. I’m using a MacBook Pro as a server with the lid shut and it working just fine. In fact, I’m in Mexico right now downloading some files from my server.
@@charminbaer2323 is it plugged into a monitor that is on. I’m using one as well. It still annoying that u have to leave the monitor on all the time
@@charminbaer2323 aren’t u just a rude little prick
@@sethterwilliger9434 no monitor, in fact, the screen on my MacBook Pro server is broken. I just use screenshare from my other MBP to get into my server. Apple provides all the tools, you just gotta do your research and learn how to use it. Many tutorials on RUclips too.
THANKS SHANE! I have a huge DVD collection but any time we wanted to watch one I would have to go grab it out of the computer room and then place it in the DVD player. But NO, NOW I WANT A NAS!!! OMG! That is so slick! I wonder if I could also use it with my Apple Computers as a Time Machine? If so I will be buying one very soon. Oh hell, who am I trying to kid! I want one for my DVD Collection!!! Shane you just cost me a chunk of money dude! Thanks as always for the amazing and informative video!
Haha thanks for watching! And yes, you can certainly use a NAS with time machine for backups of your Mac. 😃
Show us how to install the movies to our apple tv hard drive. I got a big hard drive so i can install the few movies I have.
What burner did you use ?
Hey Shane can you look into making a video using your NAS with video cameras like the Eufy 4K cameras to really keep everything local
Hey Victor, thanks for the suggestion!
How do the DVDs look when you play them at Original Quality instead of Convert Automatically?
Sweeet .. you HAVE answered some questions for me to help make ends meet .. Big time thanks .. YUP, my Daughters TOO are lovin this Thanks again Brother, Partner, Pals hahaha
Does pled support 1080p and 4K? As well as any encoding for 7.1/7.2 audio? Or Dolby atmos
Instead of having all those physical folders for "Christmas movies", "children movies", etc. use Plex's collections feature. I have all my movie folders are genre and have collections for Christmas movies, MCU, Star wars, DC, etc. you can add and remove collections with out having to change your file structure.
Very cool, I'll check that out. Thanks for the tip!
I saw Everything Under The Sun. Sublime is one of the most diverse bands ever! Awesome collection!
Yes!! 🙌🏻
This is all fine and dandy, but how do you rip the dvds to usable files on the NAS? WinX? DVDfab? what did you use? kinda useless if you don't show us.
A quick suggestion - please don't move your mouse as much when you re doing a demo, it's quite distracting... I know it's a habit, I do it as well...
Noted, thanks for the feedback.
Yeah, I got a bit sea sick...lol
@@sdv73168you guys are babies
How about 4K bluray’s?
I moved from Plex to DS Video from Synology. No Plex Pass required and same functionality. Would love to see you compare the two possibilities
Thanks for the info, I'm new at this and very interested. How do I take my hard copies and make them digital?
Question: Does Plex add subtitle by it self? Reason I started using Infuse Pro is that it has a build-in funtion for searching subtile so you don't have to add them yourself to the folder.
Great video, didn't even know this was possible. Setup looks simple and the interface of Plex on Apple TV looks clean and easy to use. Your b roll of the dvd's was really good!
Thanks Adam!
@@ShaneCreates At 18:14, it loos like you have it set to "Convert automatically" instead of "Play Original Quality"
@@ShaneCreates What settings do you recommend for DVD MKVs?
How good does the quality look? Especially if you do play at original content?
Hey Shane, great video as always. I see this was made 2 years ago and was wondering how it’s held up. Is this still your preferred method? I’d like to make a digital library of my 1,000+ movies/shows.
This is still what I'm using.
Thank you ☺️👏🏾😁, exactly what I was looking for.
5:00 Video Station uses hardware transcoding, Plex won't unless you use the paid version.
Brilliant info. Game changing. Cheers.
OK I watched the video and Plex is okish but pulls a lot of CPU of the NAS and your ripped videos seem to be only 480p?
FYI if your mkv file does not have subtitle tracks or the language you want, Plex lets you search for alternate subtitle sources on the internet and automatically use them
Good to know, thanks!
At 18:14, it loos like you have it set to "Convert automatically" instead of "Play Original Quality"
What’s the maximum bitrate?
Best Chanel on RUclips 🙌 those effects tho come on
Thank you!! 🙏🏻 🙏🏻
Hi Shane thanks again for that nice vid and explanation. WOuld you like to share who you setup your drives and redundancy of them?
I was getting ready to donate my dvd’s until I saw this video. thanks will certainly give it a go.
Shane, do you use this for Time Machine backups as well? Searched your content and didn't find anything yet but seemed like a tangent topic to this one, maybe a future video perhaps?
this might be a tuff question, but do the region codes matter when burning the dvd's? after they are burned, can they be streamed?
So about how many DVD's / Blue Rays movies can you hold on that NAS you have? I understand that Expansion of that NAS is a thing and it as well depends on the Size of the Hard Drives you place in your NAS I just would like to know how many movies you can load to that Drive as you have it set up? In this video you say you put in 2 x 14TB Drives.
To give you an idea, I probably have roughly 300 dvds stored on mine. I also use my NAS to archive old video footage (from RUclips videos) and I still haven't hit 50% storage capacity. Still just running off 2 x 14 TB drives.
Something I am a little confused about, if I spend money on a NAS, do I also have to buy hard drives to put in it? Or do they come with it?
Looking for a blue ray player to rip my movies. Can you suggest an inexpensive unit? Thanks
What did you use to rip the dvds to the NAS?
Excellent, I built my Plex server on a raspberry pi 3B+. I put my entire music library on it. It only uses $5/yr in electricity running 24/7.
nice!
Thanks! That was awesome!
What did you use to upload your Blu-ray DVDs?
Can you stream from Synology Nas to your client outside your network? Avoiding the Plex charge? You can listen to your music with Synology app. Wondering about movies. Thanks
Hi man, can I do the same with a QNAP nas?
You can still use the dvds after this right?
Yes
Great but didn’t tell us how to get the videos from disk to drive.
Hey Shane. Thanks for this. I use this only for my movie server on our tvs. Is there a way to make the movie tiles smaller, so in other words, instead of like 6 movies per row, make it like 10 on a row. I have over 1000 vids. its murder scrolling down. Im assuming by just changing the size of the tiles, it will fit more. Also, on your tv screen you have the availability to see the letters of the alphabet on the right side, so if u want movies beginning with "G" you just click 'G" . I dont have that, just a scroll bar. Any idea what im missing? Any help would be appreciated
It's how it should be, man. Good job 👍
Well done Shane.
Using only .MVK is great because you don't loose any resolution, since it's there's no compression in the process. The downside is that .MKV files size varie between 20 to 30GB per BD. Now you're fine because you got 14TB of disk space to host all those big files, but those disks normally cost 500$ each, so 1000$ here + the NAS. What most of us end up doing is to get lower capacity disks but to compress each .MKV files in .MP4/.M4V format with HandBrake. This shrink a BD down to 4-5GB. I wish I'd be in your place because the compression process is about 2-3 hours each time. And I'm not talking about multiple technical issues between .MKV and Plex.
Yes I understand some like to compute down to mp4 and I was thinking about trying it just to compare the quality/size difference. But my mkv files have all been averaging about 5Gb each. That is for standard dvds. I haven’t done any blue rays yet.
trying to get my power rangers dvds on their become netflix is removing the shows in febuary but having issues getting the episodes to get them to show up ?
Look at des app on Apple TV infuse
Agree! No need to set up Plex Server. Infuse Pro is available for AppleTV, iOS and iPadOS and does it all. Only connect it via SMB or WebDav to your Synology and Metadata and cover fetching, possibility to connect to Trakt.
I use this method to stream my movies, series from a Synology DS918+ to anywhere I want.
I came here just to say the same thing. No need for PLEX server with Infuse and i can watch my movies anywhere i am with a WebDAV share. Love it.
Shane
I have roughly 600 DVDs/Bluray movies and TV shows in box collections. I’m thinking about getting the 4 bay synology but what size TB should I need just for my DVD collection. Also can I have each hard drive for a different function-(ie one for DVDs, one for Music/ pictures, one for files & the last one for security cameras)
Thanks for your input
Can't you just download them which would save a lot of time
I use Plex server and use Infuse app on my ATV 4K/iPhone/iPad. Much cleaner and fits the aesthetic more
I keep hearing about Infuse, I'll have to check it out. Thanks for the tip!
With Infuse you can use a Plex sever or not, but i use it without. It’s awesome, easy to configure and i can watch my library anywhere in the world.
Thanx! But oh, hmm.. not sure you should place content inside plex’s shared folder. You should have another external folder on your nas and point your plex library to this folder.
Yes, you are correct. I have since fixed that and updated the video description and pinned comment. Thanks for the tip.
12:31 Shane,
I am a longtime follower. I have 3-400 DVD’s that I own, and want to rip and create a PLEX media server to be able to watch on all my devices. I use Apple devices. My question is what is the best way to rip? I have HANDBRAKE, a new Apple SuperDrive, 4-4TB External HD’s. I am waiting to get my Synology NAS until I can figure out how to get the DVD’s ripped successfully.
Is there a step I’m missing? Will the Make MKV beta software allow me to rip my protected DVD and BluRay discs? I’m not concerned about disc space and like the features you pointed out in your RUclips video. Will you point me in the right direction to get the information I need to successfully complete my rips?
Thank you!
Kirk
Will Plex play ISO’s?
No you'll need to convert them.
Quite interested in this product.
Couple questions
A. How does many movies (blirays) can you add to a server
B. Can you add additional drives to the server? What happens when you hit max capacity?
B. Can this work with cds, sacd, DVD-audio.
D. Talk about the quality... does a 4K bluray look better than a regular DVD.
A. completely depends on how much hard drive space you have/add. I know some people who have thousands of movies stored.
B. Yes, there are multiple options for NAS available. The one seen in the video is a 4-bay but can be expanded to add additional if needed. You can get a NAS with slots for up to 12 hard drives (maybe more).
C. Yes, it can work with audio. Not sure about the different formats, but you can always convert to a compatible format if necessary.
D. Yes, Blu-ray is typically 1920×1080 where standard DVDs are 720×480
@@ShaneCreates - thanks for the excellent information!
Can you recommend good how to for digitizing dvds? Specifically, software that digitizes blu rays and dvds etc
I'm using MakeMKV...mentioned briefly at 15:34
Did you use any specific burner tech? My iMac doesn’t have a DVD drive, and I’ll probably get one to do this at some point. Thanks.
I have an external disc drive made by Apple. I don’t think it reads blu-rays tho, so if you need to copy blu-rays, just make sure you get something that can read them too.
Hi
This is very interesting in as the process for me. What is a good DVD ripper? I am trying Prism freebie (NCH) but facing issues -
Can you point Plex to a different folder/volume? I have Plex installed on my NAS, but have my rips put in the main volume in a folder named "Active Files" that stores DVD's, TV Shows, Google Sketchup, Scans (document scans), iTunes, Music, OneNote & money files. All my rips go into the Active Files folder and with around 2,000 DVD's, I don't really want to move/copy them over to the Plex library folder ... is it possible to point the Plex library over to the Active Files folder in my main volume?
How do you convert your DVDs into files that can be loaded onto the Synology Drive?
I used the MakeMKV software.
@Shane Whatley Do you recommend getting a SmartTV even though you have an AppleTV?
I need the Soundtrack of your Intro
As of this writing (12/21), the Plex Media Server for Synology is not offered in the Packages. It is necessary to go to Synology downloads and do it with the Manual Install button on Synology Packages. No biggie, it installs fine, just not via Synology.
Great video, thank you. Unfortunately I can't use Plex as my TV is ancient, so I play the movies through my old but smart dvd. I also have to convert the mkv's to mp4's. I know, go out and get a modern tv except none of what I've seen comes close to my picture.
does the apple tv plesk app work offline?
The Apple TV streams your Plex library over your network, so no, I don't think there is a way to play offline.
If you have an always on computer, run plex server on it then buy a $100 usb hdd. I use small powered over usb drives connected to an old mac mini. You can now also take all your movies on the road with you and plug the drive into a laptop.
You have the incorrect RUclips link under "Naming & Organizing your Movie Files". It is the same link as "Synology NAS First-Time Installation & Setup Guide". Also, I don't see the link for the movie conversion software you used to "rip" your DVD's. Were you planning on listing that as well?
Thanks Frederick. I fixed the Plex link. Here's the mkv link: www.makemkv.com
@@ShaneCreates Thank you.
Nice video...and I was so excited that I spent about 2K on a 5 bay Synology NAS, SSD discs, upgraded memory, etc to use as my PLEX media server. I spent hours upon hours uploading my 400+ DVD collection to digital (took me 2 months) and I was so so so excited! I confirmed that I had the PLEX app on all my TVs - I was beyond ecstatic...THEN, after loading everything in my NAS, and then to PLEX.....I open the PLEX app on my TV (Comcast Xfinity provider), only to learn that the PLEX app on Xfinity will not allow access to your personal media files - yes, I mean the 400+ DVDs that I uploaded. All you can access through the PLEX app on Xfinity is the free content and live TV -- what a B*!%&! I am beyond disappointed. I'm not only mad at Comcast, but why would PLEX allow such an agreement knowing that most people set up PLEX to stream their personal media content!??!! The only workaround I've found so far is to open PLEX on my iPhone and cast it to my TV - not ideal but it works. Does anyone know if Verizon Fios has the same limitation?
i was about to do this now i seen this idk did u fix it???
If you spent 2k on the NAS, can you spend a tiny bit more on an Apple TV to get around this issue?
Do I have to buy the server and the drives or drives come with the server ?
You have to buy them separately.
@@ShaneCreates any recommendations for a good entry level unit? All I really want to do is add a about 50-50 dvds to stream to my Apple TV.
Thank you my brother for friends video out
Awesome! Thanks for the breakdown. Now adding Synology NAS to my wishlist! How’s the quality of the videos once you rip them and get them on there? I see it says 480p in the description of the movies.
Also, about how long does it take to convert a video to the mkv format?
Kyle, yea that is one downside I suppose. Standard dvd resolution is 720 × 480 so it's not going to be as high of quality as purchasing full HD or 4k from iTunes. Worth noting that blue-rays do have higher resolution than dvds if you have those. And I'd say it generally takes me about 20-30 minutes to convert to mkv.
@@ShaneCreates Did you consider LEAWO PROFESSIONAL MEDIA full version software as a ripping software? I can rip blu-ray and DVD's and the length of time varies depending on the quality you choose to output.
I use MakeMKV to rip DVDs. Its free. My pc for ripping is built out of spare parts in a cooler master storm trooper tower with 8 DVD drives to rip my collection quickly. They don't make em with so many bays anymore. Use my old haswell PC for my PLEX server in an Antex P100 case. Holds 8 hard drives and is silent. You can use a 1000 series nvidia GPU to handle encoding and decoding your videos to the proper resolution. Seems the more VRAM the more 4K streams you can do simultaneously. I got a killer deal on a 2080ti for $400 recently so my 1080ti is pulling duty as my plex transcoder so I can share with family since they've also donated large dvd collections to the library.
I just started to following you,but I didn’t get it , how you transfer the dvd or blue ray to the Hd. I understand the app what makes mkv, but how you take the physical dvd to store it, I appreciate the explanation
Sorry, not sure I understand the question. I'm just using a regular disc drive on a mac. Pop in the dvd, open up MakeMKV app and save the mkv file to the NAS or your hard drive.
@@ShaneCreates sorry for my explanation, and thanks for a quick answer. So my question is reading the disc, de program can rip any dvd , Blu-ray . What do you recommend first organize the files and rename in case of series or the program can do all. My last part of the question cam this program can do UHD disc too?
@@xabierlanda8998 I think MakeMKV can do UHDs but I haven't tried. I know it can do blu-rays. Once you rip the files for a movie or series, it's best to name/organize them properly for Plex. Look at the linksI put in the video description to help with organizing and naming files properly. Hope this helps.
@@ShaneCreates thanks for your time, have a wonderful weekend
Did you try and use HomePod as your speakers when watching something on plex? I’ve noticed it’s always out of sync.
Also wouldn’t it be sweet if Siri was able to open a movie in plex?
No I haven't tried...I don't use my HomePod as TV speakers usually. I do wish Siri could open movies in Plex, that would be cool. There is a Plex HomeBridge plugin. I haven't explored it yet, but I know you can do things like turn your lights a certain color when certain movies or shows start playing.
How are you digitizing your movies??? I have a Plex that I purchased for this purpose but could not figure out a good solution for digitizing the videos
I'm using MakeMKV..mentioned briefly at 15:34
Happy to see your channel growing steady. Been watching for a while. Great content.
Much appreciated! Thanks so much for watching!
Why did you choose plex over the Synology app?
What will the difference be if I use a WD external HD via my TVs usb vs the NAS and ATV?
From my understanding, the Synology Video Station app lacks some of the functionality of Plex, but it's entirely free so that's the benefit. Plex (even the free version) does everything I need it to and it's very popular with a proven track record, so I figured I couldn't go wrong with Plex.
You should be able to use an external hard drive for plex also.
@@ShaneCreates thanks for the clarification
Network tour?
Nice video I have an iMac Can you suggest a burner that will burn Blu-ray and regular DVDs compatible with my iMac
Hey Phillip. Regarding software? The MakeMKV application that I used should be able to copy Blue-rays and DVDs. I haven't done any blu-rays yet, but plan to once I get through all my dvds (I'll have to get an external blu-ray player to connect to the computer).
best source for external devices for Macs is OWC. their site is macsales (dot) com they have multiple options for external CD/DVD/BD readers/burners
Good video...
That’s soo cool! We do have a lot of DVDs and VUDU won’t recognize the DVDs we have to add them to our library due to different UPC codes. So, this will be very helpful to consider :) Thanks for the great vid!
Thanks for watching!
Great video and this is something I’ve been considering but the hard drive space just stops me. I feel like it might be less expensive to just buy digital copies of a lot of my movies. However, we have a lot of older ones that you can’t purchase digitally.
The ideal scenario for me would be to somehow have my ripped movies/tv shows in the same app/library with all of the movies/tv shows I have purchased from Apple over the years. But due to DRM (which is fair-I’m not trying to break the law or anything) I haven’t found a way to do that.
Also, does Siri work with Plex by any chance? Can you integrate Plex with HomeKit shortcuts?
Again, great video!
Thanks David! Unfortunately I don't believe the Plex app supports Siri shortcuts. However, if you are using homebridge or hoobs, there is a plex plugin that allows you to create some pretty cool homekit automations using Plex. For example: turn the lights pink when a kids movie starts playing or lock the doors when I play Nightmare on Elm Street.
Shane, after you use MakeMKV do you use a program like HandBrake to make those large MKV files more manageable or do you just put them into your movie file in your NAS? I HandBrake mine and I can’t notice any difference...
Hey Jim, no so far I've just been using the mkv files. I'm a little afraid of compressing even more thinking that may reduce the quality more than I'd like...
@@ShaneCreates I have a 24Tb in RAID 5 and my movie container is large even after I use HandBrake. Those files are large after the MakeMKV and I’m guessing will fill your movie file on your NAS. HandBrake is free just like MakeMKV - maybe try it on one DVD and see what you think (certainly not telling you what to do). I’d like to hear what your opinion is - there are a lot of Plex users out there.
@@jhk88rph Yea, I have handbrake already and have used it in the past for other things... so I might give it a shot just to see. What is your final file size after using handbrake?
@@ShaneCreates HandBrake brings a large file down to 2-3Gb
@@jhk88rph Ok gotcha. My mkv files are around 5Gb each now. I'll give it a shot and see how it goes. Thanks!
But how did you get them converted onto the hard drive?
I used MakeMKV - 15:34
Sorry, but why would you use this instead of Netflix/Disney+ ?
Yo Shane I did the same thing 7-8 years ago. I ended up using Drobo and Plex to stream the media. I also ripped my Bluyrays and few HD-DVD I had. Project took 1 year, but was worth it. The Plex AppleTV app is awesome!
Nice!
you should do a viewer question/suggestion video!
Good idea, thanks for the suggestion!
How much time does it take you to rip each 90 minute movie from disk to an electronica file?
I'd say around 20-30 minutes. It's definitely a process to convert a large library.
Where’s the part on how I convert our dvds to computer.
15:34
I have a huge library of music, tv shows, and movies on an external drive from iTunes. I also have ton of dvds. Is there a way to combine content you've ripped and existing iTunes library so you have one library to search from? I don't want to have to look through two movie folders or two tv show folders to find content. I'm very new to this so I appreciate anyone's advice so I can decide if I'm moving forward with a purchase or not. I also understand that iTunes has a server app. Is anyone using that? Thanks!
Better to go to the Plex.tv website and download the latest Plex synology update and install manually on your NAS, the version on the synology App Store isn't the most up to date.
Thanks for sharing this. I did the manual update too. Users should see a prompt when using Plex to instal the latest version if not already installed.
i built a media server ages ago for my DVD, Blu-rays and a few of the older HD DVDs. But i built my own not using a nas. I have a 12Terabyte of storage. I don't have the protection you have tho. I use the emby server, had too many issues with Plex I use DVDFab
Nice. Thanks for sharing!
I did this 5 years ago and last year my 3 WD red hard drives all crashed one after another. I still haven’t recovered. Back your stuff up.
I am currently in danger of this happening to me. I am desperately trying to save up for another spare synology with everything backed up, twice if I can do it.
@@danielwilder7835 yes. I recommend you back up whatever you could as soon as possible. I really don’t understand the way these hard drive companies work. I contacted western digital and they basically washed your hands off of me saying that it is over the warranty time and I had to figure it out on my own.
However, since rheology actually has better customer service and they try to help me to do data repair. But it’s not easy when it is on a NAS.
Wow, dude, that SUCKS! I’m reasonably comfortable with a disk array that has one disk for parity. I’ve thought about adding a second and I’ve also thought about backing everything up - but how? How would you suggest backing up many terabytes of data? The most reasonably priced service I’ve seen is Backblaze but for 40+ TB of data, it’s still pretty expensive. Not to mention my ISP’s data cap of 1TB/month. Even if I allocated 3/4 of that to cloud backup and tried not to go over 250GB per month for everything else, it’d still take over 50 MONTHS to back it all up! The only real alternative I can see is a second disc array and damn - talk about expensive! How are you planning to back up your media in the future?
@@donny_bahama you could temporarily sign up for more data until you’ve backed up. I am currently looking into some online data cloud back up. The thing that stops me is security.
@@donny_bahama Synology Nas has a USB 3 port on the back. You could just buy a large USB based backup drive or even a USB DAS like those made by Terra master and back your Synology up to that. It's what I do.
I gave up on Backblaze, in the long run I found it cheaper to use my own drives.
how long did it take to rip all these dvds...??
It's a process...I'm still working my way through them.
Pretty cool Shane I've been using plex for a few years already, stopped using for a while
Since found neighbors could view you library thru Xbox. But if ok with that go ahead. The security thing you got may stop that not sure
Turn off DLNA and that won’t happen anymore
Oh wow...don't want that!
Hey Shane. Thanks for the video! Was very helpful. Been looking for something like this for awhile now but am a pretty newbie with the whole NAS environment. Was curious if most of your videos were streaming back in 1080-p onto your tv's? Have you tried 4k with the ds920+? Really looking for right now just a great home media server to stream to all my devices no matter what they are. Really looking for a good picture, stream onto big tv in family room without issues. The backup of the NAS is just icing. Does the ds920+ still suit all your needs? Or would you recommend another Synology NAS now over the 920? Curious to hear your thoughts. Have similar setup to you, streaming from 4k Apple tvs. Thxs.
Hey Chris. Yes, I’m still very happy with this setup. You shouldn’t have any issues streaming higher resolutions as long as you have a good wifi. Or if everything is hard wired, like your Apple TV, then even better. Although, if you are streaming dvd copies, like I am in this video, those files will usually be 420p (standard dvd resolution). But if you have higher quality video files saved to your NAS, you shouldn’t have any issues with those.
@@ShaneCreates Ok perfect! Thank you so much for the reply. Truly appreciate it! We have very good WiFi. 500/500. Upstairs is hardwired, downstairs where the bigger tv is no. But still very good WiFi down there. Have you found also that mp3 format is better for Apple TV? Have a lot of files saved in MKV. Just curious. I’ve been trying to decide between the 920+ and the 1520+. Same thing as yours but one more drive bay. Lot of 720 and 1080p stuff, few 4K stuff but happy with the 1080p quality.
You should look into Emby. Is actually much better and it has no bloatware
Agree, love Emby.
Using DS Video is imho easier and totally free of charge. It would be interesting how you get bluray discs to a file using a Mac.
I'm saving my blue rays until I'm completely done with all the dvds, but I'm just planning on getting an external blue ray player, connect it to the mac, and use makeMKV to save it to the mac.
How do you convert you dvds?
I use MakeMKV app.