PC monitor, Plex, wide angle view, Raspberry Pi (1 Viewer)

[sallylillian]

The title is just keywords. I have a good NAS server solution at home running amongst other things a Plex server. It connects to a 4 tuner HDhomerun and I can stream live TV, set recordings, watch the library and all the normal stuff online wherever I am through Plex clients on my laptop or phone.
So with this background I am not installing any TV solutions as we know them on the new van. I will have a MiFi and WiFi all through hi gain roof antenna to a router so I intend to stream content from my home server to the van when ever we want to.
My idea is to just fit a circa 180 degree viewing Full HD PC monitor, with HDMI and USB. I want to run a Plex client on that somehow rather than cast from either my laptop or phone. So looking at options. Do I get say a Raspberry Pi and use that, but how do I manage on screen control of the Plex client app? Or do I just hang a Chromecast on the monitor and cast from the phones Plex client? Or..... open to suggestions.
On the monitor front as stated above but also perhaps 12vdc would also be good.
Any Plex nuts out there?

 

[Clarky]

WHOOSH!
That was the sound of most of that flying at warp speed straight over my head.

Despite that it sounds interesting.

Richard.

 

[sallylillian]

WHOOSH!
That was the sound of most of that flying at warp speed straight over my head.

Despite that it sounds interesting.

Richard.

It is, I have been playing with the solution for a couple of months and after a few glitches its been good. For the last 5 years I had remote programming on my Humax and used to dump content onto a USB stick or drive and put that into the back of the TV on the van. However as I am not having any TV antenna there is no need for all the TV tuner gubbins. I think I may end up with a Pi running Rasplex, but it would be good if there is another solution.

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[Gellyneck]

Only dabbled a few years ago with Pi and various software so NOT an informed \ definitive answer for you!
Think RasPlex running on a Pi 3A+ would work for you and the hardware includes WiFi up to ac so should connect directly to your WiFi network.
But you'll know all that!
Suppose my concern may be the streaming of your NAS server content to your WiFi as it'll use a considerable amount of mobile data at a cost? In addition, if you have a glitch with your NAS server \ router \ etc at home will there be anyone there to reset it?
As I said, you probably know all that and have factored it in but .........

 

[DBK]

I guess you've googled so may have found this item: https://www.howtogeek.com/283136/how-to-turn-a-raspberry-pi-into-a-cheap-plex-player-with-rasplex/
It suggest the Rasplex can be controlled by an iOS or Android app though I couldn't see how it connects to the Raspberry Pi but somewhere else I found you "cast" from the app to find the Plex client.

 

[Dilwyn]

Have you considered a mini PC to run Plex? There is a vast range at various budgets, - just Google.
Thanks for making me aware of the Silicondust HDHomeRun Quatro Tuner - I will probably be adding one to my setup having now done some research.

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[pappajohn]

Sounds a lot of expensive work to watch what is basically repeated shite on television.

 

[Stonemags76]

Amazon firestick has a Plex app.

 

[sallylillian]

Only dabbled a few years ago with Pi and various software so NOT an informed \ definitive answer for you!
Think RasPlex running on a Pi 3A+ would work for you and the hardware includes WiFi up to ac so should connect directly to your WiFi network.
But you'll know all that!
Suppose my concern may be the streaming of your NAS server content to your WiFi as it'll use a considerable amount of mobile data at a cost? In addition, if you have a glitch with your NAS server \ router \ etc at home will there be anyone there to reset it?
As I said, you probably know all that and have factored it in but .........

I think you may be right, but the firestick is something I will look at. I have UPS support for the QNAP and managed switch, router and FTTP modem. I also have it (the UPS) on a online switch so I can remotely power down to force reboots. Just need a GSM backup access to that. The QNAP is set that initial power failure gives it 2 minutes then it does a safe shut down, once power has completely gone, ie the UPS battery is flat, it will then restart when AC is returned to the UPS. I agree this lot falling over when we are away for 3 months could be a bugger!

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[sallylillian]

I guess you've googled so may have found this item: https://www.howtogeek.com/283136/how-to-turn-a-raspberry-pi-into-a-cheap-plex-player-with-rasplex/
It suggest the Rasplex can be controlled by an iOS or Android app though I couldn't see how it connects to the Raspberry Pi but somewhere else I found you "cast" from the app to find the Plex client.

Thanks I was wondering how it worked, but on that basis I might as well just plug in a Chromcast to the monitor and cast to that from the Plex app on the phone. Is that how you see it?

 

[sallylillian]

Sounds a lot of expensive work to watch what is basically repeated shite on television.

Excellent advice.

 

[sallylillian]

Have you considered a mini PC to run Plex? There is a vast range at various budgets, - just Google.
Thanks for making me aware of the Silicondust HDHomeRun Quatro Tuner - I will probably be adding one to my setup having now done some research.

Its quite good, I tried their server but it was nothing compared to Plex as indeed was Emby. I did think of a mini PC but they would be too much really for the small task.

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[sallylillian]

Amazon firestick has a Plex app.

That looks the solution, thanks, I knew a fishing expedition would be the way to go.

 

[tonyl]

Not a 'Plex' nut but I do have a Raspberry Pi in our van as a basic media centre, as it handles the various Codecs better than simply plugging a hard drive into the TV. Can you not use a basic wireless mouse or keyboard (or one of those little combination gadgets) to control the Pi? The Pi hardware can definitely handle them, so unless Rasplex doesn't support them, you should be OK.

If you do go down the Pi route, make sure your power supply is up to the job. The Pi needs quite a bit of current and I would say is on the edge, even at 2.5A. If you haven't got an onboard hard drive, that will help, of course.

I've just change from Openelec (which has been a bit left behind) to Raspbian and that has given me a desktop as well as the Kodi bits for playing videos, so I could view internet pages on that too. It's also much better as a file manager, so I will be able to use it to back up camera memory cards while we are away. In fact, if there is a Plex server for Raspbian, would that not do the job and give you a few more facilities as well?

I'd be tempted to do something similar to your proposal, except that our rural location provides uploads at a snail's pace, so we could never stream stuff from there.

Just noticed your post about the Firestick, so maybe this is all unnecessary but I'll post it anyway.

 

[tonyl]

Does a Firestick work with a 'monitor', though? They normally expect to be plugged into a TV.

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[sallylillian]

Does a Firestick work with a 'monitor', though? They normally expect to be plugged into a TV.

Good question, it has a remote and as far as I could see it should. I am away at the moment but will check when I get back and see, thanks for the heads up.

 

[Just smiffy]

Sounds like you need to retire and relax....

I’m so glad I retired early...

It sounds like a rat race all this work stuff...

 

[Dilwyn]

ROKU Streaming 4K Smart TV Stick with Plex is another alternative to the Fire stick.
Both plug into a HDMI socket which many monitors now have. However, the monitor would need to also process the sound coming through the HDMI of the sticks as there is no separate sound take off.

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[sallylillian]

ROKU Streaming 4K Smart TV Stick with Plex is another alternative to the Fire stick.
Both plug into a HDMI socket which many monitors now have. However, the monitor would need to also process the sound coming through the HDMI of the sticks as there is no separate sound take off.

I will research both on my return, I have been looking at monitors with speakers or adding a sound bar.

 

[sdc77]

We have a firestick .. it's got plex on it and all our other tv solutions.
We found the that the quality and availability of wifi/data in the places we go just isn't up to quality streaming and we now rarely use it in the van.

 

[Stonemags76]

We have a firestick .. it's got plex on it and all our other tv solutions.
We found the that the quality and availability of wifi/data in the places we go just isn't up to quality streaming and we now rarely use it in the van.

We have found it works well with our MiFi (but uses about 1g per hour), or have found site WiFi to be adequate for the most part. Watch all catch ups with a vpn, and Netflix, Plex and prime (which use less data). Am listening to radio 2 through the Tune in app on a site in Spain now.

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[sdc77]

We have found it works well with our MiFi (but uses about 1g per hour), or have found site WiFi to be adequate for the most part. Watch all catch ups with a vpn, and Netflix, Plex and prime (which use less data). Am listening to radio 2 through the Tune in app on a site in Spain now.

Yes we use tune in too. But if we're in the van in an evening because of poor weather and we want to stream tv then we tend to devour data. Even with a 3 mifi we would run low of data quickly. We found a lot of site wifi to be a bit poor.
Leaves terrestrial in the UK. Pre recorded stuff or Spotify.
If we can get a decent connection we can have exactly what we get at home (We have no aerial or Sat dish at home) which is a decent iptv service with several hundred channels, amazon and netflix along with anything stored on drives (which we use less and less nowadays)

 

[Neilfg]

I moved away from Plex server about 2 years sgo, I found the client irritating and at the time it was just being used as a media file server, found it easier to sync file to a usb drive.

Our server was run as a VM along with WPress and a Wiki, the client was either smart TV, Firestick or Android.

May have to revisit it as it sounds like it may have moved on also we will be spending alot more time in the van.

 

[tonyl]

Regarding using a Firestick with a PC monitor, it seems that all you need is the monitor to be HDCP compliant, otherwise you will see an error message on some content. I expect most monitors nowadays will be compliant, as it isn’t a new standard. As another poster said, you would need to have speakers in the monitor and they would need to be OK operating from the HDMI, again something new monitors would be better at than older ones.

With the Pi, you could Bluetooth the sound to a speaker set up or even headphones, so that might be an option if you found a really good monitor without speakers.

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[sallylillian]

Thanks to @Stonemags76 I have a Firestick running on the Lenovo monitor today. I have HDMI splitter so have connected my Chromecast too. Which is good because the Firestick 4K has had its casting feature extracted. It has BBC iPlayer, Allfour, and ITV hub along with many others. But all works great, the monitor is HD and has built in speakers which may be OK but I will see (listen) and can easily add a sound bar if it proves necessary. So for just over £200 I have a a great little setup for our limited entertainment needs. Also it contains Alexa through the remote so you can stop and start, select apps etc.