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Getting started · Chapter 8

Connecting media servers.

A media server is optional, but pleasant. Plex, Jellyfin and Emby hear from nexcrate when a folder has changed: after every download that is filed and after renaming. So a new movie is in the player after a minute or two, and not only after the server's next scan. A media server that does not answer never holds up an import.

Plex

With Plex you have two ways. The first asks plex.tv, the second manages without plex.tv.

  1. Add a media server

    Open “Settings › Media servers” and choose “Add media server”. Under “Server” choose “Plex”.

  2. “Sign in at plex.tv”

    nexcrate shows “Confirm the sign-in on the page of plex.tv.” “Open the sign-in page of plex.tv” takes you there, and “Cancel sign-in” stops it. nexcrate keeps asking plex.tv until you have confirmed. It talks to plex.tv only when you press the button, never by itself.

  3. Pick the server

    Under “Pick your server:” your servers are listed. nexcrate looks for the one you pick at its addresses, the local ones first, and fills in address, name and token itself. The token never leaves nexcrate's server. Servers that are only shared with you are not offered.

  4. Save

    When you save, nexcrate tests the connection and reads the libraries. Nothing changes on the server.

Without plex.tv it works with address and token by hand. The “Address” is that of your Plex with its port, such as http://plex.example.com:32400, and the “Token” is your server's X-Plex-Token. Typed in here, plex.tv is not needed, and nexcrate talks to your server only.

Jellyfin and Emby

Here you enter the address and an API key. The address is the one you open the server at in the browser, such as http://jellyfin.example.com:8096. You create the “API key” on the server: in Jellyfin under “Dashboard, API Keys”, in Emby under “Settings, API Keys”. In the window “Add media server” you choose “Jellyfin” or “Emby” under “Server” and save.

Libraries and path pairs

When you save, nexcrate reads the server's libraries and lists them as “Movies”, “Series”, “Music” or “Other”. Only libraries that are switched on hear about changes.

If the media server sees the folders under other paths than nexcrate, say /media here and /volume1/media there, it needs a path mapping. nexcrate suggests one from the folders the server lists and the folders of your versions. The suggestions stand in two columns, “nexcrate sees” and “The server sees”. Check them, because a mapping is only taken once you press “Save”. If the server sees everything under the same paths, it says “No mapping needed”.

Settings › Media servers
A connected Plex server with its libraries, the state of the last notification and the path mapping
A connected media server with its libraries and the path mapping.

The card shows what nexcrate last told the server: “the changed folder only” or “whole library read again”. The second happens when a folder lay in no library of the server. nexcrate then guesses nothing but has the whole library read again, and says so. Most often a path mapping is missing in that case.

Good to knowFor series, nexcrate can add an id to the series folder that your server recognises. You choose it in the chapter Folders under “Id for your media server”. Each addition fits its own server only: Emby matches wrongly with Plex's, Plex merges series with Jellyfin's.

Everything is connected now. Time for the first title: The first title.