{"id":11477,"date":"2025-11-04T15:36:11","date_gmt":"2025-11-04T15:36:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/advisorator.com\/members\/?page_id=11477"},"modified":"2025-11-04T15:43:34","modified_gmt":"2025-11-04T15:43:34","slug":"how-and-why-to-set-up-a-media-server","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/advisorator.com\/members\/advisorator-guides\/how-and-why-to-set-up-a-media-server\/","title":{"rendered":"How (and why) to set up a media server"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class='memberful-global-teaser-content'>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><strong>Control your own streaming setup with a cheap computer and a collection of video or music files.<\/strong><\/p>\n<table width=\"100%\" cellpadding=\"0\" cellspacing=\"0\" class=\"ng-block-5df6b604782c8f26 wp-block-newsletterglue-meta-data ng-block\" style=\"color:#333333\" data-date-format=\"F j, Y\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td class=\"ng-block-td\" align=\"center\" style=\"font-size:12px;font-family:Helvetica;line-height:1.6;font-weight:normal;padding-top:20px;padding-bottom:20px;padding-left:20px;padding-right:20px;text-align:center;color:#333333\"><span class=\"ng-block-author\" style=\"display:inline-block\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7f90913d341018d607d40669240a3cf67eafc9b5137813ab1d0762959403220c?s=96&amp;d=mm&amp;r=g\" width=\"32\" height=\"32\" class=\"ng-image\" style=\"width:32px;height:32px;display:inline-block;margin:0 6px 0 0;vertical-align:middle;border-radius:32px\"\/><span>Jared Newman<\/span><\/span><span class=\"ng-block-date\" style=\"display:inline-block\"><span class=\"ng-sep\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0|\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"ngl-metadata-date-ajax\">October 14, 2025<\/span><\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" src=\"https:\/\/advisorator.com\/members\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/plexftv-1024x576.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-11487\" srcset=\"https:\/\/advisorator.com\/members\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/plexftv-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/advisorator.com\/members\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/plexftv-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/advisorator.com\/members\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/plexftv-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/advisorator.com\/members\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/plexftv-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/advisorator.com\/members\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/plexftv-100x56.jpg 100w, https:\/\/advisorator.com\/members\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/plexftv-150x84.jpg 150w, https:\/\/advisorator.com\/members\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/plexftv-200x113.jpg 200w, https:\/\/advisorator.com\/members\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/plexftv-450x253.jpg 450w, https:\/\/advisorator.com\/members\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/plexftv-600x338.jpg 600w, https:\/\/advisorator.com\/members\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/plexftv-900x506.jpg 900w, https:\/\/advisorator.com\/members\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/plexftv.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n<div class=\"wp-block-ub-table-of-contents-block ub_table-of-contents\" id=\"ub_table-of-contents-ce4df00e-58a7-4dd4-9c71-cd606b2621bf\" data-linktodivider=\"false\" data-showtext=\"show\" data-hidetext=\"hide\" data-scrolltype=\"auto\" data-enablesmoothscroll=\"false\" data-initiallyhideonmobile=\"false\" data-initiallyshow=\"true\">\n<div class=\"ub_table-of-contents-header-container\" style=\"background-color: #587a6c; color: #FFFFFF; \">\n<div class=\"ub_table-of-contents-header\" style=\"text-align: left; \">\n<div class=\"ub_table-of-contents-title\">In this guide:<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"ub_table-of-contents-extra-container\" style=\"\">\n<div class=\"ub_table-of-contents-container ub_table-of-contents-1-column \">\n<ul style=\"\">\n<li style=\"\"><a href=\"https:\/\/advisorator.com\/members\/advisorator-guides\/how-and-why-to-set-up-a-media-server\/#0-media-server-basics\" style=\"\">Media server basics<\/a><\/li>\n<li style=\"\"><a href=\"https:\/\/advisorator.com\/members\/advisorator-guides\/how-and-why-to-set-up-a-media-server\/#1-my-personal-media-server-setup\" style=\"\">My personal media server setup<\/a><\/li>\n<li style=\"\"><a href=\"https:\/\/advisorator.com\/members\/advisorator-guides\/how-and-why-to-set-up-a-media-server\/#2-step-1-get-some-content\" style=\"\">Step 1: Get some content<\/a><\/li>\n<li style=\"\"><a href=\"https:\/\/advisorator.com\/members\/advisorator-guides\/how-and-why-to-set-up-a-media-server\/#3-step-2-get-a-server\" style=\"\">Step 2: Get a server<\/a><\/li>\n<li style=\"\"><a href=\"https:\/\/advisorator.com\/members\/advisorator-guides\/how-and-why-to-set-up-a-media-server\/#4-step-3-check-your-network-and-internet-connections\" style=\"\">Step 3: Check your network and internet connections<\/a><\/li>\n<li style=\"\"><a href=\"https:\/\/advisorator.com\/members\/advisorator-guides\/how-and-why-to-set-up-a-media-server\/#5-step-4-pick-your-server-software\" style=\"\">Step 4: Pick your server software<\/a><\/li>\n<li style=\"\"><a href=\"https:\/\/advisorator.com\/members\/advisorator-guides\/how-and-why-to-set-up-a-media-server\/#6-step-5-start-streaming\" style=\"\">Step 5: Start streaming<\/a><\/li>\n<li style=\"\"><a href=\"https:\/\/advisorator.com\/members\/advisorator-guides\/how-and-why-to-set-up-a-media-server\/#7-discuss\" style=\"\">Further discussion<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>While I&#8217;ve set up all kinds of technology at home over the years, none of it elicits a feeling of pride quite like my personal media server.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<style>\n        .memberful-global-teaser-content p:last-child{\n            -webkit-mask-image: linear-gradient(180deg, #000 0%, transparent);\n            mask-image: linear-gradient(180deg, #000 0%, transparent);\n        }\n    <\/style>\n<div class='memberful-global-marketing-content'>\n<div style=\"background-color: #f0f0f0;padding: 20px 20px\">\n<h4 style=\"text-align: center\">Hold up!<\/h4>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\">This article is for <a href=\"https:\/\/advisorator.com\/members\/subscribe-to-advisorator\/\">Advisorator&#8217;s paying members<\/a> only. Subscribe now to unlock my full website and fast-track your tech knowledge.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><span class='maxbutton-1-container mb-container'><a class=\"maxbutton-1 maxbutton maxbutton-sign-up-annual\" href=\"https:\/\/advisorator.com\/members\/subscribe-to-advisorator\/\"><span class='mb-text'>Subscribe<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><strong>Already a member?<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/advisorator.com\/members\/?memberful_endpoint=auth\" role=\"sign_in\">Sign into your account<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Control your own streaming setup with a cheap computer and a collection of video or music files.<\/p>\n<div class=\"read-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/advisorator.com\/members\/advisorator-guides\/how-and-why-to-set-up-a-media-server\/\">Read more &#8250;<\/a><\/div>\n<p><!-- end of .read-more --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11487,"parent":3225,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[44],"class_list":["post-11477","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-guides","tag-streaming-and-cord-cutting"],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/advisorator.com\/members\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/plexftv.jpg","yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>How (and why) to set up a media server - Advisorator<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/advisorator.com\/members\/advisorator-guides\/how-and-why-to-set-up-a-media-server\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" 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