Need some PLEX help

[posnera]

I'm trying to set up plex with my mac as a server. I don't want to share my entire itunes Movies folder, since this is for my kids. Is there a way I can select which movies to add to the server?
Can I create a separate folder and put links to the files I want to use?
I know I could simply choose the folder containing each movie to share, but that seems tedious.

 

[Longkeg]

Plex looks only at folders and will include all eligible files within that folder in its library. If you point Plex to your iTunes folder it will share everything within that folder. I keep all my Plex stuff on a dedicated 3T USB external plugged into my iMac. I have 3 folders on it: "Plex movies," "Plex tv shows" and "Plex home movies." Each of these folders corresponds to a Plex library I've set up. I move things in and out of these folders as needed. I keep a separate iTunes library on the iMac hard drive and have a couple more external drives that function as archives and/or backups.

 

[Brian33]

Can I create a separate folder and put links to the files I want to use?

I use symbolic links to share a subset of my movie files as Plex libraries, and it works well. Create folders for the Plex libraries, then use the "ln -s" command there in Terminal to create Unix-style links to just the movie files you want Plex to see. Would probably work with Finder aliases, too.

Mine are not in iTunes, though. If you have DRM-protected files in iTunes I don't see how Plex could play them...

 

[ggosson]

As Brian33 mentions Plex is not going to play any iTunes sourced DRM protected media. If you ripped your own media and put it into iTunes it could handle that but I believe you are much better off keeping your iTunes and Plex video libraries separate. Mostly for simplicity in naming conventions so Plex scrapes metadata properly. It's well worth the time to set it up. It is much more powerful than iTunes as a video library system will ever be.

 

[posnera]

It's ripped stuff, so no DRM.
I tested it out with an Xbox One. Nothing played properly. The video would stop after a few seconds and the soundtrack continued. I would assume it was some sort of buffering problem, but the Xbox is hardwired into the network. My media is all on an external drive. I'll try moving it to the Mini's internal HDD.

 

[DavoteK]

I think this is Plex Pass only, but if you have multiple users, you can filter what films certain users can access.

You have one folder so your films are in iTunes as well. When you add them, and then add users, you can then filter out films based on certification or tags or library.

Optimal way (well, IMO) for a movie library is to separate the childrens movies from the other movies in to two separate libraries which means they are in separate folders though. I've also got one for TV Shows and Documentaries.

Movies
Childrens Movies
Documentaries
TV Shows

My account and my wife's account is password protected. My son's is not and only has access to Childrens Movies.

 

[GlynJones]

I use a piece of software called TuneSpan which I got from the App store.
This allows me to move movies to a different folder for Plex. In my case to keep all my music on my mac but my movies and TV series on my NAS.
This software works at the file level so that you could do exactly what you are trying to do.
Hope that helps.