Plex is one of the most popular home media server solutions in the world, but I suspect most people just install it, index their media, and call it a day. However, there are many little-used features that will change your experience if you spend a little time digging through the menus.
For me, the Plex Dashboard has become one of the most useful features in Plex to manage my private streaming server, and if you’ve never used it you may be missing out on the best way to optimize how your Plex server is run.
Plex Has a Dashboard Feature Hidden in the Menus
OK, “hidden” might be overstating it a bit, but the dashboard entry in the settings sidebar of Plex doesn’t exactly stand out in any way. There are dozens of entries in that primary list, and I don’t see how most people would go digging around there unless something had actually gone wrong, and you were trying to fix it.
To be fair, there’s actually a dedicated button to access the dashboard on the top bar of the Plex web interface, but haveyouever even clicked on it?
Either way, go check it out now, and we can explore why this is such a neat tool for any Plex user running a server.
You Can Easily Track Down Bandwidth Problems
I use a refurbished Lenovo mini PC as my Plex server, and that’s connected to a TP Link Deco M5 mesh Wi-Fi pod via Ethernet, with about 200Mbps of bandwidth available for local streaming.
That should be more than enough to stream even high-quality 4K Blu-ray backups, and indeed I have no issues. However, if, for some reason, my streams start to stutter, it’s super-helpful to see how much bandwidth my server is actually using.
If I can see that my server isn’t exceeding its bandwidth cap, then I know that I need to check if the network connection is working correctly. If it seems to be a network issue, I can use my knowledge ofhow to fix a slow Ethernet connectionto sort the problem out.
It’s also useful to see how much bandwidth you’re using over time. You can check both local and remote streaming bandwidth usage over periods like 30 days, 90 days, or the last year.
Check if Your Server’s Hardware Can Handle the Load
TP-Link Deco Mesh Wi-Fi System
The TP-Link Deco Mesh Wi-Fi System features three pucks with a 5,500 sq. ft radius, 100+ device support, and antivirus protection.
Using the CPU monitor on the Plex dashboard, I can easily tell how much the server is sweating while watching one or more streams. For example, here you can see the impact a 1080p video file has both on the whole system’s CPU usage and Plex specifically.
The dashboard has a similar readout for RAM usage as well, so you don’t have to wonder if your server has enough memory when under its peak load. What you do with all this information depends on what the readings say, but at least you don’t have to wonder where you need an upgrade, or if you need to tweak your quality settings.
See Who’s Watching What
If you’ve set upmultiple users on Plex(and you should), the dashboard also gives you insight into who’s watching what, and for how long.
You can also see what type of content is watched the most overall.
In the “Top Played” section you can also see what content was most popular on your Plex server, which is a great way to see the sort of stuff you may want to get more of the next time you’re hitting up the used DVD section in the thrift store.
Since I’ve started uploading my music collection to Plex, it’s also a great way to see what we’re actually listening to. It’s not something that you think about as you select your tunes, but looking back at the last few months, you might decide you need to consciously listen to some of the albums you haven’t touched in a while!
Be Your Own Netflix Executive
The Plex Dashboard lets you pretend you’re the operator of your own streaming service (well, you’re not really pretending I guess) and make some executive decisions. Maybe it’s time to get rid of or back up some old shows and movies you aren’t going to watch any time soon. Maybe you need to talk to your childrens about the 100 hours of cartoons they watched in the past month. You have the information and the power now.
Plex
With Plex, you can keep a single, unified Watchlist for any movie or TV show you hear about, on any service—even theater releases! You can finally stop hopping between watchlists on all your other streaming services, and add it all on Plex instead.
