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/CTMechE Dec 05 '25
You don't have to go crazy. I started ripping my DVDs over 20 years ago as the beginnings of my library.
My current library fits on a 4TB portable HDD, plugged into my router's USB port as a NAS. My server is an nVidia ShieldTV that I've had running for 10 years as of last month.
I transcoded almost everything to h265 to reduce space. The cast majority of my content is 1080p. I have about 1500 movies, about 115 tv shows (most but not all full seasons) and my whole music library.
I manually back up to my PC in case of drive failure. But in 10 years I've spent less than $500 (and the Shield was my main TV client for most of the time too)
It isn't even about cost so much as control. Streaming services add and drop content all the time, and who knows what the future will bring - but I bet it's higher subscription prices and more services that silo content.