I’ve set up a Plex server at home
I’m not against paying for streaming services, I usually do, I keep one or two active subscriptions each month, but sometimes on a Saturday afternoon I want to watch something that’s not available on the platforms I’m currently paying for. That’s why I always have a backup system that lets me play some multimedia content on the TV without much hassle.
Wait a second, I said “without much hassle,” but setting it up isn’t for everyone. I’m basically talking about Plex, a media server that lets you access your content through an app similar to Netflix, but it runs on your local network. For that, you need a device within the same local network, with enough storage but minimal hardware requirements.
Personally, I chose Zimablade, which is basically a mini PC with a quad-core Atom processor running at 1.6GHz. It’s perfect for me because it consumes almost no electricity and lets me experiment with having a home server without too much hassle. It runs an operating system that supports Docker containers and has a UI that makes everything simple, in this case: ZimaOS.
In the end, setting it up has been quite an adventure. It’s been a long time since I bought computer components, so seeing the mini PC assembled and my Plex server running locally makes me really happy. I can keep a few movies ready to watch, add subtitles in any language I want, and I’ve even downloaded almost all of One Piece so I can watch it slowly, at my own pace... and without subscriptions.