Media server configuration

Streams Manager allows you to manage all your media servers in a single place even if they are using different platform such as Plex or Emby or if they are tied to different Plex accounts. Please note that only certain information about your media servers can be edited.

To add a media server, ensure that Sync from remote server under Media server integration is enabled. Then, follow these steps:

• Click on Servers & Libraries dropdown in the main menu and then click on Servers menu item. You will be taken to the Servers panel

• Click the menu button in the table header to reveal the actions menu and click on Add New Plex Server or Add New Emby Server

• In case of Plex, select the Plex account from the list and the list of servers will be shown below. Select the server based on the web address that will be reachable from the Internet. In case of emby, enter the URL to the Emby server that will be reachable from the Internet as well as the API key

• Click Test Connection button to make sure that the server is reachable. If error occurs, try the same server with a different web address or validate your URL

• Once the connection test is successful, click Add. This will add the server and corresponding libraries that are on the server

• You MUST edit each server to enable it and adjust the settings

Each media server will have the following settings:

• Server name - specifies server name. This setting is managed on the media server side and cannot be changed in Streams Manager. Should you change the name of the server using the server platform (Plex or Emby). Once the syntonization occurs (default is daily), it will be updated. You can also force the sync yourself

• Server location - indicates the location of the server. If there are servers tied to multiple locations, users will have the ability to choose the server location when subscribing

• Media server direct URL - specifies server direct URL. This URL MUST be accessible from the Internet and is required to interact with the server. To test the server connection, click the Test Connection button. IMPORTANT! If your server URL changes, you MUST manually change it in Streams Manager as well. Otherwise, Streams Manager will not be able to interact with your server, users won't be able to be added, etc.

• Maximum number of users - specifies maximum number of users that are allowed on this server. Streams Manager will stop adding new subscribers to the server once this number has been reached. This setting is particularly useful if you have servers with different capabilities (i.e. hardware or GPU transcoding vs CPU transcoding, faster vs. slower processors, more or less bandwidth available, etc.) so you can allow less users on less powerful servers

• Enabled - indicates whether to use or ignore this server when doing regular operations. When disabled, Streams Manager will not interact with this server to enforce streaming or download limits, log activity, etc. and no new users can be added to this server

• Discord role - discord role name for this server. When specified and Discord sync is enabled, all users on this server will get this Discord role

• Enforce download time restrictions - indicates whether to send user notifications that downloads are not allowed during specified period when users are detected downloading during that time period. Please see How Streams Manager enforces download limits?

• Download time restrictions - specifies when downloads should be restricted on this server (time is in UTC). You can format: Day:Time-Day:Time. You can also specify multiple time period separated by comma. For example, if specifying: Monday:17:00-Monday:23:30,Friday:13:00-Friday:22:00 then downloads won't be allowed on Monday between 17:00 and 23:30 UTC and also from Friday 13:00 to 22:00 UTC time. Another option is to use the word Daily instead a specific day if you wish to enforce downloads during the same time period for every day. For example, if specifying Daily:17:00-Daily:23:30 then downloads won't be allowed on between 17:00 and 23:30 UTC every day of the week

• Allow new subscriptions - indicates whether to allow new non-trial subscriptions to be added to this server. When turned OFF, users who wish to subscribe will not be put on this server

• Log streaming activity - indicates whether to periodically collect and log user streaming activity on this server to the database. Logged activity for a specific can be seen on User Details panel and all activity regardless of user can be seen on Streaming Activity panel. Information that is collected includes the user streaming, date and time, server streaming from, title being streamed, IP address and physical location down to the city/town if available

• Log download activity - indicates whether to periodically collect and log user download activity on this server to the database. Logged activity for a specific user can be seen on User Details panel and all activity regardless of user can be seen on Download Activity panel. Information that is collected includes the user downloading, date and time, server downloading from, title being downloaded and progress. If a title is not downloaded in 2 hours or restarts after 2 hours of initial download start, it will count as a new download

• Allow 4K transcoding - indicates whether to allow transcoding of 4K content on this server. When disabled and a user is detected transcoding of 4K content, their stream will be stopped and notification will be sent (see notification templates to adjust the notification content being sent). For this feature to work, your Plex account must have Plex Pass

• Allow trial subscriptions - indicates whether to allow trial users to be added to this server. If enabled, Allow new subscriptions must also be enabled