Plex Docker

[jwcolby54]

I am slowly working through how to use this thing.  It is installed.  It can be seen, even from my Windows explorer.  But it is not finding my media. 

 

One of the first things I did when I set up Unraid is to copy all of my movies and music.  About 4 TB of media.  I don't really care about anything else at this moment.

 

I created a share for Media.  I can map that share over on Windows to a drive letter and explore it.

 

I am in the Plex app (clicked on the icon (Docker / Plex Media Server) and have tried adding media.  I have a share which I call media which contains hundreds of directories with my movie files.  Something similar for music.  But...

 

When I click on Media in the "explorer" it will select that directory but it is empty.  Perhaps I am actually selecting a different "media" directory?  No Se.  I'm at a stand still until I can get Plex to see my actual media directory.

 

Any assistance much appreciated.

[Squid]

Post your docker run command https://forums.unraid.net/topic/57181-real-docker-faq/?tab=comments#comment-564345

 

[Hoopster]

1 hour ago, jwcolby54 said:

 

When I click on Media in the "explorer" it will select that directory but it is empty.

How do you have your host mappings set up in the Plex docker.? I suspect that "media" on the Plex side is not really referencing your media directory on the unRAID host.

 

You need a mapping that has /media, for example, as the container path mapped to /mnt/user/media as the host path.  In Plex when you setup the Library, you would select /media as the folder.  Plex would then know to look in /mnt/user/media for the content for that library.

 

Here is a screenshot of my "movies" mapping as a reference:

 

[jwcolby54]

Looking at Shares shows the following:

Index of /mnt/user/media

Movies<DIR>2018-12-04 21:01Disk 1, 2

Music<DIR>2018-12-04 19:10Disk 1

Photos<DIR>2018-12-04 19:01Disk 1

TV<DIR>2018-12-04 19:01Disk 1

Videos<DIR>2018-12-04 19:01Disk 1

 

However when I try to + Add Library in PMS, 

Add Folders

Browse for Media Folder

 

shows:

/var/lib/plexmediaserver

 plex

 /

 mqueue

 Media

 config

 data

 resolv.conf

 hostname

 hosts

 

Media above gets me nowhere!

There are no items in this library

 

If I take the \ path, then I see:

 bd_build

 bin

 boot

 config

 data

 dev

 etc

 home

 lib

 lib64

 media

 mnt

 opt

 proc

 root

 run

 sbin

 srv

 sys

 tmp

 usr

 var

 install.sh

 Media

The bottom two items are greyed out.  The media below lib64 is empty.

If I look in mnt it is likewise empty.

I have tried simply writing /mnt/user/media in the field but it comes back to the "empty" message.

 

[Hoopster]

8 minutes ago, jwcolby54 said:

I have tried simply writing /mnt/user/media in the field but it comes back to the "empty" message.

That's not how it works.  See my example above.  I don't think you understand docker volume mappings (many who are new to dockers do not).

 

The configuration you need to do is on the Plex docker edit screen.

 

Do what I said in my first post and create a volume mapping (edit or create a Path in the docker) that maps /media as the container path to /mnt/user/media as the host path.

 

After you save and apply this, the docker run command will appear.  You should post this as Squid already suggested so it can be verified.

 

In Plex, you will browse to "/" then select media/{whatever folder applies} for each library (e.g /media/Movies for Movies, /media/Music for music, etc.)

 

I took it one step further and created volume mappings in the docker for each Library, so I can browse directly to /movies, /music, /tv, etc.

[jwcolby54]

Hoopster,

Correct I don't understand this at all. When you are new to something sometimes you don't even understand enough to figure out what you don't understand or how to get what is being requested done. Part of my problem in understanding this is simply that there seems to be a half dozen places to go to edit stuff.  That said I went to 

Docker

Host Path Media - which shows /mnt/user/media

Edit

 

and I filled it out exactly as yours is except that I used  /mnt/user/media which then visually showed movies as well as the other media folders.  I selected Movies and that long path string was filled in.  This time when I clicked refresh it actually went away for awhile and then... came back with the "there are no items in this library".

 

It seems to be progress but still no joy.  However now when I click "Scan library Files" it puts up "hold tight..." message for several seconds before returning the "no media files".  Previously it came back immediately with that message.

 

No clue what "docker run" command means. (the docker run command will appear)

 

I'm trying!  Thanks for your patience and assistance.  It feels like I am getting close.

 

 

 

[jwcolby54]

Perhaps this is what you were referring to?

 

Stopping container: PlexMediaServer

Successfully stopped container 'PlexMediaServer'

 

Removing container: PlexMediaServer

Successfully removed container 'PlexMediaServer'

 

Command:root@localhost:# /usr/local/emhttp/plugins/dynamix.docker.manager/scripts/docker run -d --name='PlexMediaServer' --net='host' -e TZ="America/New_York" -e HOST_OS="Unraid" -v '/mnt/user/media/Movies/':'/Movies':'rw' -v '/mnt/disks/NVME_SSD/PlexMediaServer':'/config':'rw,slave' 'limetech/plex' 

d9b0f0ea7910f589121402159fdca208107cf1f09b1571a27cececb62b082f5b

The command finished successfully!

[jwcolby54]

BTW now when I click in the

Edit Configuration

Host Path - whose value is /mnt/user/media/Movies/

 

a drop down appears with folder icons for my movies.  I think I am making progress.

 

 

 

[Hoopster]

12 minutes ago, jwcolby54 said:

Command:root@localhost:# /usr/local/emhttp/plugins/dynamix.docker.manager/scripts/docker run -d --name='PlexMediaServer' --net='host' -e TZ="America/New_York" -e HOST_OS="Unraid" -v '/mnt/user/media/Movies/':'/Movies':'rw' -v '/mnt/disks/NVME_SSD/PlexMediaServer':'/config':'rw,slave' 'limetech/plex' 

d9b0f0ea7910f589121402159fdca208107cf1f09b1571a27cececb62b082f5b

 

Yes, that is your docker run command.  It appears after you make any change to the docker configuration and click Apply on the docker edit page.

 

It looks like you have successfully mapped /movies on the docker side to /mnt/user/media/Movies on your unRAID host.  This is progress.

 

The next step is to get things properly configured in Plex itself.  I'll post that side of things next.

 

 

[jwcolby54]

Is it possible that the "naming convention" isn't correct and Plex is now simply getting confused.  My media is old.  I ripped dvds back around 2010 and the files I have are organized with a directory ame, then a movie name (48 hours or 50 First Dates, then Video_TS, then VOB files inside of that.

 

[Hoopster]

25 minutes ago, jwcolby54 said:

I think I am making progress.

In the Plex Server GUI add a Library and choose Movies. When selecting the folder, browse to "/" Under "/" you should see Movies (your mapping has a capital M; mine is lower case).  When you select that, you should see all your media folders on the right as in the screenshot.  After that, you should be able to scan the Library and your content will appear in Plex.

 

Repeat for other Libraries and choose the appropriate folder under "/" that contains the content for the Library.

 

Edited December 25, 2018 by Hoopster

[Hoopster]

7 minutes ago, jwcolby54 said:

Is it possible that the "naming convention" isn't correct and Plex is now simply getting confused.  My media is old.  I ripped dvds back around 2010 and the files I have are organized with a directory ame, then a movie name (48 hours or 50 First Dates, then Video_TS, then VOB files inside of that.

 

Could be:

 

Here is the list of Plex supported file types.  I always encode my DVD/Blu-Ray/UHD rips into .mp4 or .mkv

[jwcolby54]

OK, so it did indeed show my movie folders under Movies.  However it still goes away for a little while (10 seconds perhaps?) and then comes back and says "there are no items in this library".  So it does appear to be scanning my Movies directory, but not able to recognize the contents?  I have perhaps 500 movies.  

 

 

[jwcolby54]

This link describes my video library:

 

What are VOB files

 

These files can be read (I watched one the other day).  Perhaps I am going to have to find an app to convert to something that Plex can understand.

[Hoopster]

4 minutes ago, jwcolby54 said:

So it does appear to be scanning my Movies directory, but not able to recognize the contents? 

You can test that theory by ripping a couple of DVDs or Blu-Ray discs into .mkv or .mp4.  You could also use Handbrake (there is also a docker for that) to re-encode some existing rips into .mp4 or .mkv files.  If these new files are recognized, your theory is correct.

[jwcolby54]

LOL.  I had enough trouble getting this Docker working.  Now I have to go get another one working for Handbrake?  😵

[Hoopster]

3 minutes ago, jwcolby54 said:

This link describes my video library:

 

What are VOB files

 

These files can be read (I watched one the other day).  Perhaps I am going to have to find an app to convert to something that Plex can understand.

See this Plex discussion.

 

I use MakeMKV to rip to discs to .mkv.  There is a docker for this if you have an optical disc reader in your server.  If not, you can rip on another PC/Mac with an optical drive and transfer to the server.

 

Handbrake can convert .TS/VOB files as seen here.

[Hoopster]

2 minutes ago, jwcolby54 said:

Now I have to go get another one working for Handbrake? 

There are PC/Mac versions as well. 😀

 

If you get adventurous, here is my Handbrake docker config as a reference:

 

[jwcolby54]

OK I have Handbrake transcoding one movie on my vastly underpowered All In One Dell (Windows).  It will take all night but will prove the theory.  If I manage to get a HandBrake docker will it be able to batch process my entire library?  My unraid server is an AMD 2600 6 core 12 thread with 32 gigs ram.  Not to mention it has Unraid to use for the storage.  The source is 4 tb already on UnRaid.  The destination will likely be similar I'm guessing and I'll need the storage available on Unraid to absorb the transcoded files.

 

The odd part is that Kodi could manage these files just fine.

Edited December 25, 2018 by jwcolby54

[Hoopster]

My unraid server is an AMD 2600 6 core 12 thread with 32 gigs ram.  Not to mention it has Unraid to use for the storage.

You should setup the HandBrake docker on your server.  It will transcode much faster.  Handbrake does have a "watch" folder which will transcode anything dropped into it automatically and unattended.  I do not think it is possible to just tell it to transcode everything in place in the Movies (and subdirectory) folders, although, that would certainly be nice in your case.  I have never researched this, but, I do not think it can do that.

 

[jwcolby54]

Yep, I transcoded 48 hours and it promptly showed up in Plex.  

 

So you helped get me running, much appreciated.

[Hoopster]

Yep, I transcoded 48 hours and it promptly showed up in Plex.  
 
So you helped get me running, much appreciated.

I am glad you got it all figured out and working as desired.


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