Few questions regarding development and priorities (Plex)

[Evo]

Hi, so I'm using the trial and everything is great! I love it so far and haven't had a single problem.

 

This thread isn't for moaning or anything like that, I'd just like to ask a few questions about the project. I've gone through the forum and seen many posts regarding Plex, I have a 10TB encrypted drive myself setup with some suggested settings I've seen users/devs advise. I've looked into the features the app covers and it seems great.

 

My main question is, do you consider media streaming compatibility one of your main priorities? What I mean by this is, with the prefetcher and the way it currently operates it's great, but in the future as times move on is consideration for streaming and fast response/caching a priority to you?

 

Secondly what is your current stance with Plex itself? Obviously many members of the community use the program for streaming with Plex and I myself found the app while trying to hunt for a solution, I'm just curious to know how you stand with this. Again it's mainly towards your opinions on people using it and the future development of the project, please try exclude any opinions of Piracy as that's not what I'm trying to get at.

 

I also see the community tends to be pretty active so if anyone has any tips, suggestions or advise for a new user please let me know!

 

PS on a completely different note, who is in charge of the project? If at all possible I'd like to get in contact via PM or email (not regarding support or subjects mentioned in this thread).

[Christopher (Drashna)]

Performance is important, yes. But stability is the number one priority, always. 

 

That said, one of the things that Alex did test while developing is playing raw bluray movies from the drives.  And a lot of the prefetcher code is designed with that in mind (large, sequential files/data). 

 

So, while the goal is for all data to work, media should work very well. 

 

 

That said, increasing the minimum download size, slightly increasing the number of threads, tweaking the prefetching size, and .... increasing the overall cache size will all help with performance.  (most of these are under "Manage Drive" -> "Performance" -> "I/O Performance")

 

As for Plex itself, well we have a lot of users that do use it. Both with DrivePool, and with CloudDrive. A lot, actually.  And it should work pretty well.  Especially with some tweaking. 

 

Personally, I prefer Emby. But both are fantastic solutions. If you're considering either, you should definitely check out both. 

 

 

PS on a completely different note, who is in charge of the project? If at all possible I'd like to get in contact via PM or email (not regarding support or subjects mentioned in this thread).

 

Alex is the developer and owner of the company. 

 

However, I'm the tech support and customer service guy.  I'm the same person that answers tickets (via https://stablebit.com/Contact),actually. 

 

So, I'm the one that you'd get in contact with, for most anything. Any issues, problems, suggestions, feedback, licensing, etc.  

Also, the forums are a good place for discussion, but the Contact site gets checked more often and more aggressively. 

[Evo]

Performance is important, yes. But stability is the number one priority, always. 

 

That said, one of the things that Alex did test while developing is playing raw bluray movies from the drives.  And a lot of the prefetcher code is designed with that in mind (large, sequential files/data). 

 

So, while the goal is for all data to work, media should work very well. 

 

 

That said, increasing the minimum download size, slightly increasing the number of threads, tweaking the prefetching size, and .... increasing the overall cache size will all help with performance.  (most of these are under "Manage Drive" -> "Performance" -> "I/O Performance")

 

As for Plex itself, well we have a lot of users that do use it. Both with DrivePool, and with CloudDrive. A lot, actually.  And it should work pretty well.  Especially with some tweaking. 

 

Personally, I prefer Emby. But both are fantastic solutions. If you're considering either, you should definitely check out both. 

 

 

 

Alex is the developer and owner of the company. 

 

However, I'm the tech support and customer service guy.  I'm the same person that answers tickets (via https://stablebit.com/Contact),actually. 

 

So, I'm the one that you'd get in contact with, for most anything. Any issues, problems, suggestions, feedback, licensing, etc.  

Also, the forums are a good place for discussion, but the Contact site gets checked more often and more aggressively. 

 

Hi Christopher, thanks for the quick response! It's great to hear, the reason behind asking the questions was mainly due to planning. As the setup with StableBit and encryption will only be compatible with this program I wanted to make sure that in a year or two that media is still a large concern and you weren't planning to revamp with a different intention or anything so it's comforting to hear.

 

As for Emby I've seen it but haven't had any experience with it yet, I've used Plex now for around 3-4 years and cannot say I've had many issues. If you've tried both what would you personally recommend and if Emby why? I'm just curious if it has any extra features or offers something Plex doesn't.

 

Lastly as for the last sentence on my original post it's mainly regarding a business preposition and was hoping to get in contact, I'll use the contact form provided above.

 

Thanks again.

[Christopher (Drashna)]

Well, even if we do completely revamp the providers.... we make sure that we maintain backwards compatibility.   So, your existing drives will continue to work, even if we COMPLETELY changed things for that provider. 

 

 

As for Plex vs Emby:

• Emby uses more CPU cycles for transcoding, but produces better quality streams, IMO.
• the "CoverArt" plugin makes everything look soo pretty (and not so flat)
• Emby supports custom CSS, so you can heavily customize the web interface. 
• locally managed users (that work outside of your local network), so no need for all of your users to set up a plex account
• It runs as a system service on Windows natively, no need for NSSM or other "hacks"
• Importing an HTTPS certificate is much easier (at least, than it was a year or two ago) that it is for Plex
• Supports reading more metadata options, as well as saving them "locally" in the folders with the media
• IIRC, the TV support is a bit more robust (as it's been in Emby longer, and is more developed)

 

That said, I have a lifetime pass for both products.  They both work very well.  I just ended up liking Emby more. 

 

 

As for the business proposition, well, depending on what options you put, it may go directly to Alex. 

Otherwise, it may go to me. And depending, I can probably answer a majority of those sort of inquiries, as well.