Amazon’s Fire TV box and the newer Fire TV Stick are both fantastic ways of turning your plain old TV into a smart, Internet-connected media centre. But what if you want to stream content from your own PC instead of from the Internet? Well, don’t worry – our old favourite Plex is here to help!
Plex is a versatile bit of software that'll help you stream just about any content from your home PC to your Amazon Fire device, and today I'll show you how to get it all set up.
There are two stages to go through: first we have to install Plex on your PC and get it all set up with your media folders. After this, we can install the Plex app on your Amazon Fire TV – and begin to stream all your media!
Step 1: Download and Install Plex on your PC
Plex is by far the most versatile media server software I’ve ever used: it’s easy to set up and works with pretty much every device you can think of.
In this case, we’ll be setting it up for use with your Fire TV – but once it's set up, you can just as easily use it with all your other devices, too.
The first thing you'll need to do, then, is download and install the Plex Media Server program on to your PC. To do this, simply head over to the Plex website and download the software for Windows.
Once it's downloaded, open or run the downloaded file and it will begin to install Plex. Follow the on-screen steps to install the program – and once it's done, it should offer the option to Launch the software. Press this, and then move on to step two below.
Step 2: Set up Plex and find your media folders
Now that Plex is installed, we need to configure it and add your media folders so it knows where to find all your films, TV shows, music and pictures. Of course, you don’t have to add all of those sections – so if you only want to set up a folder for TV shows, that’s fine.
When you first launch Plex Media Server, it will run you through a few steps to get it set up:
- First you'll need to agree to the Terms of Service.
- Next, give your server a name and click Next.
- Now we need to add your libraries: click a media type, then point Plex to the relevant folder on your PC. You can repeat this process for different media types if you want – TV shows, movies and so on.
- Once you’ve set up your media libraries on Plex, that’s the setup pretty much done! Depending on how big your folders are, Plex may need a little while to index and download any metadata for your media – I’d recommend giving it about ten minutes for this to finish.
At this stage we’re pretty much done with the PC setup – so just leave your machine turned on and head over to your TV, and we’ll get the Fire TV set up.
Like I said, Plex is a very versatile piece of software, and it works with just about any device you can think of. For that reason, now that your server is set up, you can use the same server to stream media to plenty of other devices at home. What's more, you can keep adding more media to the folders on your PC, and Plex will automatically pick it up.
Step 3: Download the Plex appto your Amazon Fire TV
Plex is easy to install on your Fire TV or Fire TV Stick: you simply need to head to the Amazon Appstore with the device and then search for the Plex app. Once you’ve found it, just install it in the usual way and we're pretty much ready to go.
When the app opens, you should be able to see the Plex server from your PC showing, as long as you're connected to the same network – click this, and then you can begin to explore your library.
Step 4: Stream your media to your TV
Now for the easy part! Your Plex Media Server is all set up and running, and the Plex app is ready to go on your Fire TV. Now all you need to is to explore your library using your Fire TV remote and simply start playing your films, TV shows and more!
Plex on your PC should do all the technical work – 'transcoding' or 'muxxing' – to ensure the files play on your Fire TV, so you shouldn't have to worry about the format your media is in.
So that's about it: quick and easy streaming for from your PC to your Fire TV. Do you do much streaming in the house? Let us know what you think in the comments!