I'm looking at different HTPC solutions, and the name Plex keeps coming up. It has most of what I'm looking for, except I can't find a definite answer on whether or not it's possible to stream a ripped blu ray disc. Forums online go back and forth about this so I'm hoping this can be a canonical answer on the topic.
In this day and age I'd say that's a critical requirement for an HTPC server. If it's not possible that's fine, but if it is then how?
I hope so, seeing as I'm doing it.
Once you've ripped the Blu-Ray to, say, an .mkv video file, the process for streaming it is pretty much the same as streaming any other video through Plex.
If you've got a box that you're going to use as a media server, I'd give it a shot with installing your chosen OS (Windows Server eval copy will do fine) and see how you get on with it.
Since you have ripped Blu-ray, just make sure the ripped movie in in H.264 MP4 container which can be directly played with Plex. If your movies are saved in MKV file, the Plex does not currently support Direct Playing of MKV container videos. If the audio and video streams in the file are otherwise compatible, it will be Direct Streamed.
