Like Netflix or Hulu, the Plex streaming service offers thousands of movies, shows, sporting events, documentaries, and more. But Plex’s real claim to fame is letting users stream their digital media libraries to almost any internet-connected device. Stream your DVD and Blu-ray movie collection and your personal videos, music, and photos.

Here’s a look at what you need to do to get started streaming movies, TV shows, and your digital media with Plex.

How to Get Started With Plex’s Basic Service

When you create a free account at the Plex website, you can access a variety of movies and TV shows, web shows, news sources, podcasts, and music through the Tidal music service. Here’s how to get started using Plex’s basic service.

Plex is perfect for anyone who owns a lot of movies on DVD and Blu-ray. It’s even better if you digitized your media collection.

Using Plex With Your Digitized Media Collection

What makes Plex special is its ability to stream a user’s digital library, including digitized DVDs and Blu-rays, home videos, music, photos, and more.

Go to the Plex website and select Sign Up in the upper-right corner.

Enter your email address and a password, then select Create an Account.

Select Launch in the upper-right corner to access Plex’s free streaming content.

From the left menu pane, explore free movies, TV, web shows, news, podcasts, and music.

To stream Plex content on other internet-connected devices, select your account icon in the upper-right corner, then choose Get Plex apps from the drop-down menu.

Select the Apps and Devices tab, then select and download the app on your device’s platform.

Optionally, select Go Premium in the upper-right corner of the main page to upgrade to Plex Pass and get additional features. Plex Pass costs $4.99 monthly, $39.99 yearly, and $119.99 for lifetime use.

You’ll need Plex Pass to stream and record live television and stream to multiple mobile devices. Without Plex Pass, you’ll pay a one-time fee per mobile device to enable streaming.

To use Plex to stream your media, you need a digitized media collection, a computer that meets Plex’s specifications for streaming music and video, and a home network. You also need a broadband internet connection with decent upload speeds if you want to stream through Plex when you’re away from home. Most importantly, you’ll need the Plex Media Server software.

Plex Media Server

Plex Media Server is the software that integrates your digital library with the Plex platform, allowing you to stream your content. Once Plex Media Server is up and running on your computer, stream to your phone, game console, other computers and laptops, and most television streaming devices, such as Apple TV, Roku, and Android TV.

Digitizing Your Movies and Music to Use with Plex

If you have a library of DVDs, Blu-rays, and CDs, convert that media to a digital format to stream with Plex. Tools such as Handbrake and other DVD-ripper programs make this process easy.

The easiest way to digitize your music collection is to use iTunes or Windows Media Player. With these programs, whenever you insert a CD into your computer’s disc drive, you can convert it into digital music files.

How to Add Your Media to Plex

Here’s how to use the My Media feature of the Plex streaming service.

  • Create a free Plex account as shown above, or log in to your Plex account and navigate to the home page.
  • From the left menu, select the plus sign (+) to open the Add Your Media to Plex page.
  • Select Get Plex Media Server, and the Downloads page opens.
  • On the Plex Media Server tab, choose your platform and select Download.
  • This is where you store the digital media files you’ll stream with Plex.
  • Open the downloaded file, and then open the Plex Media Server application.
  • The application opens in a browser window, and you’re asked to sign in to your Plex account.
  • Read through the How Plex Works page, and then select Got It.
  • You may be prompted optionally to sign up for Plex Pass. Close this window if you don’t want to do that right now.
  • Plex detects the available servers. Name the server and select Allow me to access my media outside my home. Select Next.
  • Select Library to add a media library, and then select Add Library.
  • To add a new library of digital media files, go to Libraries in the left menu and select the plus sign (+).
  • In the Add Library menu, select the library type you want to add, then select Next.
  • To organize your media library, create separate libraries for different genres of movies, TV shows, and music by entering a unique name before selecting Next.
  • On the next screen, select Browse for Media Folder, and locate the media folder that you want to import. When you locate the folder, select Add Library.
  • Repeat these steps to add all your movies, TV shows, music, photos, and other media files to Plex.

Streaming Your Media With Plex

Once you have Plex Media Center installed on your computer and the Plex app installed on your devices, you’re ready to stream. Make sure your computer is powered on and connected to the internet, and you can stream to any of your devices whenever you want.

Create a free Plex account as shown above, or log in to your Plex account and navigate to the home page.

From the left menu, select the plus sign (+) to open the Add Your Media to Plex page.

Select Get Plex Media Server, and the Downloads page opens.

On the Plex Media Server tab, choose your platform and select Download.

This is where you store the digital media files you’ll stream with Plex.

Open the downloaded file, and then open the Plex Media Server application.

The application opens in a browser window, and you’re asked to sign in to your Plex account.

Read through the How Plex Works page, and then select Got It.

You may be prompted optionally to sign up for Plex Pass. Close this window if you don’t want to do that right now.

Plex detects the available servers. Name the server and select Allow me to access my media outside my home. Select Next.

Select Library to add a media library, and then select Add Library.

To add a new library of digital media files, go to Libraries in the left menu and select the plus sign (+).

In the Add Library menu, select the library type you want to add, then select Next.

To organize your media library, create separate libraries for different genres of movies, TV shows, and music by entering a unique name before selecting Next.

On the next screen, select Browse for Media Folder, and locate the media folder that you want to import. When you locate the folder, select Add Library.

Repeat these steps to add all your movies, TV shows, music, photos, and other media files to Plex.

Streaming with Plex works best on high-speed home networks. If your home internet connection can upload data at a high enough speed, use Plex to stream outside your home network.

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