Stream your personal media library to your TV via PS4
Note from Wololo: This tutorial on How to Stream your personal media library to your TV via PS4 was initially published by /Talk member RiotDX, as part of our monthly tutorial contest. RiotDX lost the contest to Orangpelupa’s excellent tutorial on how to redownload P.T. Silent Hills, but his tutorial was pretty good nonetheless, so we’re featuring it here!
I don’t know about you guys, but I’ve got a very large digital library of TV shows and movies stored on my computer, and I was looking for a simple way to stream it to my TV without wasting a ton of bandwidth like some of the other methods do. Then I stumbled upon this method here:
Step 1
Create a free Plex account here and install the free Plex Media Server on your computer. Set it up, and specify the folders where your video/music libraries are stored, and Plex will automatically download metadata to organize them. This metadata includes all movie and show information, including covers, so your media library will show up like this:
Step 2
Download and install the free Plex app for PS4 from the PSN store. Follow the on-screen setup instructions to pair your PS4 app with your computer’s Media Server. SIDE NOTE: Plex streaming apps are also available for quite a few other platforms including Android, so you can also use this trick to stream from your PC to a phone or tablet.
Step 3 (Optional)
By this point you should be able to stream your media to your PS4 with no issues, but you may run across a minor annoyance where Plex downloads metadata for the wrong movie or show. I’ve run across this issue with some shows like Doctor Who, where Plex will misinterpret episodes from the newer series as being from the older series and download the applicable information from them instead. The episodes themselves stream just fine, but for someone with OCD like myself, I like to have my library pristine. To fix this, simply open your media server on your computer, click on the show that’s wrong, and click on the 3 dots on the left side of the screen. The menu that opens will have a “Fix Incorrect Match” option, and that’s obviously the one you want. Pick the correct match from the window, and Plex will download the correct metadata!
More
If none of the above is working, consider using Plex directly through your PS4’s browser. Check our PS4 Media Server page for details.
If you love your videos, did you know you can access Netflix’s hidden catalog, to double the amount of content you can watch on Netflix? check out this tutorial on how to do this with a Smart DNS setup: How to Access Netflix’s hidden movie list.
Want a chance to win a $10 PSN Code and be featured on the blog with your own guide? Join our monthly tutorial contest here!
I can personally testify that Plex is the best
FIRST!!
20 mins late… come on, at least try!
Wait plex is free? I thought it cost money? What am I thinking of?
THere is a premium service calle PlexPAss that you can pay for that adds some features, but the basic is free.
It did when it was first released on PS4.
Step 3 is just ***. The reason that they mix up shows is because they’re named incorrectly. Look at Archer. It needs to be called Archer (2009) – S01E01 with or without the episode name because there was an older show called Archer too. The same goes for Dr Who, Battlestar Galactica, etc, etc that had multiple shows with the same name.
Use a program called theRenamer. It’ll rename all your videos to match the TVDB listing. If it doesn’t pull up the right show you can get the series ID number from the TVDB site and use that instead of searching by name. Once done you don’t have to worry about it
“install plex server on your computer and the app on your ps4” is a tutorial now? BRB gonna write a tut on installing games from PSN to your Vita.
Please do that. Then you’ll finally have an excuse to *** about the tutorials that people submit.
Please do that. Then you’ll finally have an excuse to b!tc# about the tutorials people submit. All people do is whine, how about instead of whining you be a proactive member of the site.
Isnt it just easier to use the Media Player app on PS4 and a NAS? No need for a PC in the middle.
There are lots of free media servers for the PC if you dont have a NAS which work a lot easier than Plex.
But plex is a lot better for streaming media while not home as well. Plex is pretty great, and if you have the extra hardware to run it it’s a great thing to have.
I gave Plex a go last night. It never finished logging my media collection. It also used over 1GB of *** which it left when I uninstalled it.
I suggest to get PS3 Media Server, set that up which is pretty easy and its done. About 20 mb max on PC.
On PS4 or PS3 or just about any other device use a media player and play everything. Its easier, smaller footprint, faster, just overall better than Plex. (Oh, BTW, Plex has a bug where it only plays 2 mins then stops. PMS has no bugs. Been using it for many years)
Ok, so it doesn’t have all the extra *** plex does like the icons and data about the movie, but in the end do you want to know about the movie or watch it?
From a “start now, go download all files needed, set up and watch movies on PS4” my way is 1000x faster, easier, quicker. Takes about 5 mins and thats including the time it takes to walk to a different room, turn on PS4, etc.
Plex was running for 24 hours and it never finished logging files, majority of movies didn’t have pictures, none of my TV shows had pictures, so PMS wins if you ask me.
That stops playing after 2 min bug is user error. Never once ran into that problem, and neither has any of the other 10+ people who use my server as well, (or my other friend who also has a server).
In the end it all comes down to personal preference. For me plex is fine, but I also have a dedicated plex machine whose sole purpose is to be on 24/7 and run only plex. As such it has dedicated hard drives which I couldn’t care less about filling up. Glad that works for you, Plex is amazing for me.
Oh also, while off topic, to remove that extra stuff left over the library download information is stored in AppData. Easy to go there and manually delete. I can’t remember the exact path but I think its AppData/Local/Plex
PMS was great, but was abandonned in like 2010-2011… The team and source switched to UMS (Universal Media Server), because it supports 40+ renderers, not just PS3…
you can setup plex to run straight from most NAS devices., the good thing about plex over a basic dlna is the ease of use , user interface, and extras.
It automatically finds and downloads tv show, movie information, trailers, banners etc..
also great for sharing with friends and family because all you need is to enter their pin and they can access all your media just by opening plex app
Plex is the best! Use it with y PS3, Android tablet, laptop and Steam Link.
It’s really bad with ***. No joke: it categorized my japanese *** folder as episodes of season 1 of the american broadcast of pokemon.
I would do a tutorial for PS3 Media Server to PS4 but its 3 words. Install, setup, run. Not enough for a tutorial if you ask me.
Plex sucks. UniversalMediaServer is better, faster and has more options. Also, it’s 100% free, and works out-of-the box with PS3 and PS4 “Media Player”.
Is kodi comming to the ps4??