MAC MINI as plex server

I haven't used PLEX as a media server to other devices,

but I use it all the time as my home media center on

my base 2011 Mac Mini without issue. This includes

1080p HD material.

I was thinking h.264 files would work well with Plex.

When I share using h.264 in iMovie 06 the resulting file is quite small, about 1/50 the size of the .DV or .MOV versions. I've tried various settings but I always end up with very small files and lousy quality.

I don't want to save my movies permanently as .DV or .MOV because they take up about 30GB each.

i use my 2011 mini as a plex server, and it does fine. the only complaint i have is that it hogs all CPU cycles when it runs...sending my fan into overdrive. and that's even if i'm just using the plex client and not streaming video.

grim noxious wrote:

My question is , will the base model be sufficient enough to run plex media server

to say my ipad..

Very old question, but "new" responds. I would like to ask what you mean by "... run plex media server to say my ipad.."? What I do not understand: "... to say my ipad..". Do you mean that you would like to watch media on your iPad?

As Creeper74 said, the Plex media server is running in the background and is watching for changes.

The idea behind this is, that Plex is arranging all you media in one library / database. You tell Plex where media is stored - and Plex is watching for new / deleted files, will add / remove changes in its database and tries to retrieve metadata for new media.

For many people this idea is great...

But of course this idea has some major side effects:

1.) There is a background thread which is observing the folders (local "computer speed") and trying to get metadata ("internet speed" if you are browsing at the same time).

2.) Plex might rename you movies if the metadata is wrong. I was surprised about the movies I saw ... until I recognized that it was just caused by wrong metadata.

And last but not least: all you file names will be cataloged over the internet, because Plex is sending these informations to its own server. Which means: if you have videos and you would not like to tell someone else, then using Plex might be a bad idea.

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But I guess you just would like to enjoy your media on iPhone? Then I would suggest AirPlayIt... you can read more about this solution at a blog I have found.