Steam controller pairing mode. (Getty) Many have grown dissatisfied with the limited streaming options of services like Netflix, YouTube, and Vimeo. And while there isn’t one perfect home media solution for everyone, physical media enthusiasts and file sharers alike will find a happy medium in a dedicated media server. These servers work like HTTP servers, but offer a dedicated user interface plus many other features, depending on which option you decide to go with. And though some incorporate streaming services, these options are best left to those who already have a strong media collection and are seeking a way to enjoy it in a curated manner. So whether you want to streamline your entertainment, reorganize your business media, or house a semi-legal collection of ripped movies, consider these options for home media servers below. (Plex) Possibly the most popular media server software out there, Plex offers an easy setup and a highly flexible system for managing your media. Plex can be setup on any hard drive, ideally a NAS (network-attached storage device), but since my PC is on pretty much 24/7 I had no problem making my main machine the host for my own Plex account.

RELATED: How to Set Up Plex (and Watch Your Movies on Any Device) Many different media servers support DLNA, including the immensely popular Plex media server—so you can set up the Plex media server on your computer and use DLNA on another device to access your media, if you want. Plex’s own media player offers more features, but your Plex library can also be accessed from any media player that supports DLNA. It is not allowing access from this PS4. Check the settings of the media server.” Tried googling, but only found this little bit of info: 'Your DLNA server has access protection. Make sure to adjust your DLNA media server settings to grant your PlayStation 4 system access.' Could someone in layman's terms please explain to me how to fix this.

Setting up your Plex server is a largely automated process, and getting a stream set up on the other end is usually as simple as downloading the free app for your chosen platform, be it a smart TV, web browser, XBox One, PlayStation, or Apple TV. Remote access is ready out of the box, and does not require any port forwarding or extra setup.

One of the first things you’ll notice about Plex is that its menus are beautiful on every platform. The menus were fast and easy to navigate, though I did run into some hiccups trying to brows my stupidly large music collection.

If you have multiple terabytes of media content with metadata, cover art, etc., it will only populate this information as fast as your connection permits. Aside from this folder-specific issue, the menus are beautiful, fast, and easy to navigate from every platform I tested. Plex transforms your library, adding metadata like cover art and IMDB results to enhance your viewing experience. Like other options, Plex also transcodes on the fly and automatically adjusts its performance and quality for available bandwidth. During my testing, I had no trouble with streaming wirelessly on my older router and mid-tier Internet service, nor did I encounter any codec errors from playing an incompatible file. While the bulk of Plex’s features can be enjoyed for free, you do have to upgrade to a Plex Pass if you want to enjoy some nicer features.

These include access to some nice features of the otherwise free Plex mobile apps, the ability to sync a cloud storage system, and much more. The Plex Pass has a couple payment options, the most economic for a serious user being the lifetime pass for $149.99. The remaining question will no doubt be: is a Plex Pass worth the price? Kensington driver for mac.