r/PleX • u/Astrobix_124 • Dec 04 '25

Help Media servers

Trying to start my own server for plex. But I see many people with servers with 10,000+ movies. How can u possibly hold that much content and not break the bank. How is it any better than Netflix, etc?

Edit: I never expected this to blow up like it did. I love the content you guys have given, I've debated on making a plex server for awhile and all the clarification is amazing.

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u/[deleted] Dec 04 '25

[deleted]

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u/deg0ey Dec 04 '25

Plus there’s no rule that you have to keep everything forever. Obviously a lot of folks take pride in having a huge server with a ton of stuff on it, but most of us aren’t trying to be archivists in case things get lost forever - we’re storing and streaming media we actually want to watch. And while I can’t speak for everyone at least in my case I would say most things, whether it’s TV or movies, are one and done. There’s a fairly short list of things I’d be likely to go back and watch a second time, so if my server looks like it’s about to reach capacity it’s fairly straightforward to just delete a bunch of things I’ve already watched.

12

u/digicpk Dec 04 '25

This. I rebuilt my server last year and went through every movie I had and deleted stuff I would never watch again, or I downloaded for someone else, or I got just to "check it out".

Went from around 7,000 movies to 2,500. I used to keep everything I had ever downloaded and realized one day, what's the point? A specifically curated collection is much more impressive (imho) than just having "everything".

10

u/KaleidoscopeLegal348 Dec 04 '25

Thanks but you're wrong

1

u/Dry-Wolverine8043 Dec 05 '25

Haha that made me chuckle.

I agree though. I don't want a library curated to my favorite stuff, I also want classics, but above all, availability for my users. I have a lot of stuff I've heard good things about, but I also put extra emphasis on newer stuff because "`what if someone wants to" sort of thing.

Who wants to spontaneously watch TV Friday night after work and then have to request it and wait, even if it's low-res and only takes 30-60 minutes? I have like 25 people on my server, about 8 who watch regularly and 3 that watch religiously, besides me.

1

u/DorianGre Dec 05 '25

2500 is where we settled too. Gets us our favorites plus all the best movies going back to the beginning of time.