NetstorNR710C-09.jpg' alt='Hp Mediasmart Server Ex490 Installation Software' title='Hp Mediasmart Server Ex490 Installation Software' />Setting Up Plex Media Server Media. Smart. Server. net. I am always searching for new and exciting software to help manage my growing media library at home. Hp Mediasmart Server Ex490 Installation Software' title='Hp Mediasmart Server Ex490 Installation Software' />I am always searching for new and exciting software to help manage my growing media library at home. Recently I came across one such platform called Plex. The goal of. I cant answer all of your questions but I do run WHS 2011 on an EX490 which is the same as your EX495 and I also run on EX485s. All my machines are slowly being. Compatible with HP MediaSmart Server EX470, EX475 EX485, EX487, EX490, EX495 and HP StorageWorks X300 and X500 Data Vault series models. Recently I came across one such platform called Plex. The goal of Plex is to create a complete solution for all your online and local media needs. For the purpose of this guide I will take a look at Plex Media Server, which acts as a central media management database for distributing all your content to your various playback devices. Hp Mediasmart Server Ex490 Installation Software' title='Hp Mediasmart Server Ex490 Installation Software' />Downloads All downloads for Plex can be found here. I will be specifically installing Plex Media Server PMS on my Windows Home Server, which can be found here make sure you download Plex Media Server and not Plex Media Center. Requirements As per the Plex website, here are the requirements once again, specifically for Windows Windows minimum requirements Windows XP SP3, Vista, or Windows 7 Flash and Silverlight video requires Windows Vista or Windows 7 Direct X 9. Shop HPs Online Store for all your computer hardware, accessories, printer needs the best deals. Free Shipping Easy Returns. Shop now. An Intel Core 2 Duo processor or equivalent At least 2. GB of RAM, 4. GB recommended. For optimal performance and compatibility with Plex Media Manager, we recommend Google Chrome, Safari, Fire. Fox, or IE9 with Google Chrome Frame. N. B. Windows Vista or above is required for Flash and Silverlight video. In order to play Flash and Silverlight video, you will need to install the plug ins on your computer before running the Plex Media Server. Install the Flash version from here and make sure you select the Other Browser version. Install the Silverlight plug in from here. Installing Osx 10.4 8. Installation No surprises here. Once the installer is downloaded simply double click to begin the installation process. One thing I noticed that wasnt mentioned in the System Requirements, when I installed Bonjour x. The usual array of screens will appear during the installation process. Once done the completion screen should appear noting the installation was a success. If the Run Plex Media Server on exit option is checked once you click the Finish button PMS should begin to run. Setting Up and Managing Your Media Library With PMS now installed, you should see a little Plex icon in your toolbar. Right click on the icon should bring up a list of options and select Media Manager. This will launch the Plex Media Manager in your default web browser via port 3. At this point you can go ahead and start adding your media library, but first lets take a look at the various settings available via the Preferences link at the upper right hand corner of the screen. The first option is General. Here you can choose a custom name for your PMS which is what will appear on any device that connects to PMS. Next up is Library which allows you to set specific options such as how often PMS should update its library. Under the Agents option you can see what agents or services PMS will use to gather information for your media library. The Languages section allows you to choose a default language I believe English is the default for your audio and subtitle tracks. If you are 3. G user, the Transcoding section will give you the option to allow PMS to offer higher bitrates when transcoding over 3. G. There is a feature called my. Plex which allows you to tie in PMS with all your Plex clients. You can sign up for a my. Plex account here. Under the Advanced tab are two options for disabling capability checking and enabling DTS downmix. With the preferences set it is time to add our media library. Back on the Plex Media Manager screen simply click the specific media you are looking to add under the Add Media To Your Library section. A popup box should appear where you can point PMS to your media location. Once you add your media get ready to be patient, especially if you have a large library, as it will take a while initially for PMS to gather all information from the various agents. Back on the home screen to the left under the Library sections you should see all media that you added. At the bottom of the screen should hopefully see nice posters of the most recent media added. From here you can now view and manage your various media libraries by clicking on the desire section under Library Sections. Lets take a quick look at some of the sections. When you first enter the Movies section you should see a poster for each one of your movies hopefully the posters are for the right moviesClicking on a movie will take you into the details Plex has gathered metadata, poster, and backdrop. If the movie Plex gathered is incorrect, simply click on the Fix incorrect match option at the bottom of the screen and you can manually direct Plex to the correct movie. You can also change the artwork shown as well as edit the metadata. TV shows functions the same way as movies, with the first level showing a poster for each TV show. Clicking on a TV show will bring up full details of the TV Show as well as individual posters for each season. Drill down into a season and you should see each episode with thumbnail and metadata. For Music Plex goes out and grabs artwork for each artist as opposed to showing CD coversDrilling down into an artist you should see a brief biography of the artist and the associated albums with CD coverart. Plex On The Internet As I mentioned when going through the PMS settings, you have the ability to sign up for a my. Plex account. You can log into your my. Plex from any internet browser, and there are several things you can accomplish. Once logged in to your my. Plex account under the Servers tab you should see a list of all servers you have attached to your user name, as well as any servers share with you more on this momentarily. Through the Server Sharing you can share all or parts of your content with someone else or vice versa. This would be great for sharing content with friends or family, although I did not test out so I cannot comment on how well this worked in particular video. Another interesting feature is called Plex It. It gives you the ability to add videos i. Plex clients or even via a link in your my. Plex webpage. This can me done by either adding the Plex It button to your web browser bookmark bar so if you see a video you want to add yo your queue simply clicking the button will add or by forwarding any video link you get in your email to a designated my. Plex email address. Lastly, from your my. Plex page you can access your PMS site to view and manage your media. One thing worth pointing out, with my. Plex you cannot actually play back your media. In order to play back, you will require a client which will be discussed below. Plex Clients Now that your Plex library is set up with PMS, the final step is to have a client which will connect to PMS for viewing. Currently the choices are as follows Plex on your Desktop i. HTPCPlex for mobile devices i. OS and AndroidPlex for connected devices 2. LG Smart TVs, Google TV, and RokuI dont own any connected devices and didnt get a chance to test out Plex on my HTPC possibly a future writeup, but I did test out Plex on my mobile devices i. Pad, Asus Transformer Tablet, and Kindle Fire. Plex mobile app currently costs 4. OS link here, AndroidGoogle link here, and AndroidAmazon link here. Lets take a quick look at Plex for Android. With the App installed, the first step will be connecting to your PMS, as well signing in to your my. Plex account is applicable. Virtual Com Port Driver Linux.