Server Hosting

a_skeleton_03

<Banned>
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Okay I am moving to a place with totally terrible internet (for me). I host a bunch of video for my friends and family via Plex. We won't go into details on that.

I don't utilize a ton of bandwidth a month but I do need it to be faster if I am going to continue doing this.

Basically I am looking for a good host that will let me have around 6 TB of space and maybe 20 TB of bandwidth for around $100/mo. I am not opposed to colo and buying the hardware myself if there is a suggestion for much higher amount of bandwidth allocation for the same price.

Anyone have a suggestion or work for a company that does this?
 

Joeboo

Molten Core Raider
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What about something simple like Dropbox with their business-class service?

Looks like They charge $75 per month for 5 accounts, that gives you 5TB of storage and the only bandwidth limit is no more than 200TB per DAY.

As you add more users, you get more storage space...I'm assuming it's 1TB per user account, so you could sign up for 6 or 7 users and still be around $100 per month or less.

You can stream video directly through a web browser on the Dropbox site itself, or manually download the individual files to play locally.
 

a_skeleton_03

<Banned>
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What about something simple like Dropbox with their business-class service?

Looks like They charge $75 per month for 5 accounts, that gives you 5TB of storage and the only bandwidth limit is no more than 200TB per DAY.

As you add more users, you get more storage space...I'm assuming it's 1TB per user account, so you could sign up for 6 or 7 users and still be around $100 per month or less.

You can stream video directly through a web browser on the Dropbox site itself, or manually download the individual files to play locally.
The main problem with that is that my users are morons. Grade A idiots. They need to be able to hit play on a device and it comes out of the TV immediately or they are confused. I don't think I can have Plex run from Dropbox.
 

Noodleface

A Mod Real Quick
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The main problem with that is that my users are morons. Grade A idiots. They need to be able to hit play on a device and it comes out of the TV immediately or they are confused. I don't think I can have Plex run from Dropbox.
Have you tried it? Dropbox integrates right into the windows file system natively. I would think Plex could see it.
 

a_skeleton_03

<Banned>
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Have you tried it? Dropbox integrates right into the windows file system natively. I would think Plex could see it.
Right, they would need to run a plex server on their own PC to then broadcast to their Roku. Right there we got too complicated.

Plex server just runs in the background and comes on every time you boot the computer though. Yeah but my family and friends have shit computers or can't understand the need to have it on at the same time.

In order to stream it you also need it to be synced to your desktop, doesn't that mean they need 5TB of space on their desktop, yeah nobody has more than 500GB.

I will look into it though, maybe something has changed in the last year or so when I looked at it before.
 

Joeboo

Molten Core Raider
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So, if these people don't know enough about computers to find a file in Windows explorer and play it, or to open up a web page and click on a link to play it, how is any solution going to work? I can't think of a server solution that would be functional for them at all, if all of them basically can't use a computer.

How were you previously set up that worked for them...as a point of reference?
 

a_skeleton_03

<Banned>
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So, if these people don't know enough about computers to find a file in Windows explorer and play it, or to open up a web page and click on a link to play it, how is any solution going to work? I can't think of a server solution that would be functional for them at all, if all of them basically can't use a computer.

How were you previously set up that worked for them...as a point of reference?
Right now I run a Plex server on my NAS with all my files. I manually logged into each of their Roku's and logged into a Plex account for them that shares my library with them. Everything gets streamed from me to them seamlessly.

The only thing really changing is that I am moving somewhere with low bandwidth tomorrow. I can't stream out video any more.
 

Joeboo

Molten Core Raider
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Right now I run a Plex server on my NAS with all my files. I manually logged into each of their Roku's and logged into a Plex account for them that shares my library with them. Everything gets streamed from me to them seamlessly.

The only thing really changing is that I am moving somewhere with low bandwidth tomorrow. I can't stream out video any more.
You could set up a Plex server that streams files from Dropbox if any 1 of the people you share with have a decent enough internet connection + the storage space for the Dropbox files locally on their PC. That person is now the Plex server host, but you can still dictate what files are added to or deleted from the Plex server from your computer, by just uploading/deleting files on dropbox as a whole.

If these people are trusted family members like your parents or something, and they live near you, just stick your NAS in their house, and you could easily still add and remove content to it via dropbox if you wanted to.
 

a_skeleton_03

<Banned>
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You could set up a Plex server that streams files from Dropbox if any 1 of the people you share with have a decent enough internet connection + the storage space for the Dropbox files locally on their PC. That person is now the Plex server host, but you can still dictate what files are added to or deleted from the Plex server from your computer, by just uploading/deleting files on dropbox as a whole.

If these people are trusted family members like your parents or something, and they live near you, just stick your NAS in their house, and you could easily still add and remove content to it via dropbox if you wanted to.
Yeah my other thought is remote administration since my NAS is 100% automated in downloading and streaming. The only problem is that I have to stream from it also instead of downloading it once. It might be a non issue though and I would pay for them to upgrade their internet.

So looking at upgraded internet at a family's home, or OVH right now.