Help with offgrid (power, no internet) "streaming"

I’m looking to create an easy solution that is child/wife friendly. I’m hoping to get a set up going without internet. I however would like it to run like a Chromecast with plex.

I was thinking of a

Dell Optiplex 3020M Mini PC USFF, running windows 10

An external hard drive with content.

From here is where I have gaps. Could I set up a plex server offline on the device, with plex media player and use an Flirc remote with pre-programmed buttons?

Essentially, I’m trying to create the experience of watching Netflix on a Chromecast but with plex and a pc remote control of some sort (with pre-programmed buttons that load up content so kid and wife only have to press one or two buttons to get to their shows)

Thanks!

LunchEnjoyer,
@LunchEnjoyer@lemmy.world avatar

Think it could be worth looking into Jellyfin over plex in this case.

jadero,

I spent a decade without internet. I never did figure out how to get Chromecast to work. Even for plain screen casting it insisted on needing an internet connection. Most of my stuff at the time was YouTube rentals that allowed downloads, so I got the hardware that let me use HDMI to connect my phone to the TV.

christophski,

A decade without Internet? What were you doing?

jadero,

We bought a cabin at the lake with an eye to retirement. Dysfunctional workplaces led us to move there nearly 15 years early. We figured that if we were going to work anyway, we might as well do it in a restorative environment.

There is no cell service, landline service is noisy enough that my very nice modem is lucky to hit 20 kbps, and I knew too much about ExploreNet to tolerate their “service”. I’m no fan of Musk or the concept of Starlink, but the price/performance is stellar (sorry) and it’s nice to be able to get stuff done without having to drive in to the library, especially given that it’s only open 15 hours a week.

rbesfe,

Xplornet can die in a hole, I don’t like Elon either but if they didn’t want to lose business to starlink they should have tried to offer a decent product.

jadero,

Heh. I agree. My only experience with Xplornet was in trying to support people who had it. No internet is far preferable.

henrikx,

Might not be the best place to say this, but considering Plex relies on online authentication servers to function it might be better for you to look into Jellyfin which works fully offline.

TheGreenGolem,
@TheGreenGolem@lemmy.dbzer0.com avatar

You can just skip auth on local IPs.

Andi,

Not all clients work without Internet though.

Altomes,

Came here to say this, Jellyfin will be a better option for you

FigMcLargeHuge,

I second this. While I love my Plex, I found out one day when my internet was gone that it’s not so great when the internet is down. My plan is to keep a copy of Jellyfin on my Plex machine so if I am ever in that position again I just stop Plex and fire up Jellyfin.

whynotzoidberg,

I haven’t tested it, but the info text suggests that you can work around the auth issue by adding your subnet to “List of IP addresses and networks that are allowed without auth“ (found in Plex Settings > Network).

I haven’t run into a memorable problem before using Plex in spotty internet areas (while in an RV) or when moving (before internet). But I’ll probably test this setting out one of these days, just in case.

FigMcLargeHuge,

So that is when you have Managed Accounts. People in your house and subnet can access plex without having to log in. They just pop up and click on their account to watch. When the internet is out, what I noticed is that every device on the subnet was only able to select the Home Admin account, so individual selection of Managed Accounts was not available when you couldn’t reach the Plex mothership for authentication. Not completely unusable, but it wasn’t ideal. If OP wanted to use Managed Accounts, that’s not going to be possible with no internet. But with Jellyfin, it doesn’t need that to have managed accounts. I had Plex and Jellyfin running on a VM at one point, and was able to switch between the two so that I could keep both libraries up to date. I switched to a dedicated machine and haven’t put Jellyfin back on, but that is another solution for OP, just have both loaded on the machine, and use whichever one is best for them at the time.

fortniteplaya,

I don’t have much experience with Plex, but if you can map the buttons in autohotkey you may be able to set it up to perform certain tasks in Plex. Also for consideration you should look into getting a small NAS setup with raid 5 in order to keep your media safe in case of a drive failure.

Being offline should not be a problem as long as devices are on the same local network.

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