Now that Netflix no longer allows account sharing, you may have considered migrating to another streaming platform. The alternatives are quite extensive: there is the new SkyShowtime platform , and apps to watch hundreds of free and live TV channels are also on the rise in recent times. What if we opt for something different?
If you have a good collection of movies and series at home, you can use your PC as a media server and then stream all your content locally to other devices, such as your Smart TV, laptop or phone.
5 programs to turn your PC into a multimedia server
Plex
Plex is one of the best-known free solutions for using your PC as a media content server. You just have to install Plex Media Server on the PC where you have all the content. Then install the Plex player on any device where you want to receive the content. Plex has apps for almost all platforms, from Android, through Linux, macOS, Windows and many other systems.
The server configuration process is quite intuitive, but if you have, you can take a look at the post “ How to set up a local streaming server with Plex ” where we explain everything that needs to be done step by step.
Emby
Emby is another of the best applications for setting up a local media server. It offers functionalities similar to Plex, being able to stream both video, music and photos. It has a really powerful interface, with online information about the movies, actor profiles, IMDB ratings, subtitles, favorites, and even the possibility of viewing the trailers of the movies from our library.
It also allows internet access from outside our home network, and is available on a multitude of platforms such as Android TV, Amazon Fire TV, Chromecast, Roku or Xbox, as well as PC (Windows, Linux and macOS).
However, all of this comes at a price: while some features are free, in order to fully use the app you need to subscribe to Emby Premiere (or unlock the app for around €5).
Download Emby from its official website
Jellyfin
Jellyfin is the great free alternative to Emby and Plex. Developed from Emby’s source code, Jellyfin is licensed under the GNU GPL and is completely free to use without limitations of any kind. The operation is the same as other similar applications: we install the server on the PC and once configured we can access the content using any of its multiple apps for Android, PC, Roku, Fire TV, iOS, Android TV, etc.
Jellyfin is also a privacy-oriented program, and the developers claim that no statistical data is collected from users. For the rest, it has a most intuitive interface, full of information and easy to use.
Download Jellyfin from its official website
Universal Media Server
This is a multimedia server that was born from the mythical PS3 Media Server , an application that was used on the PlayStation 3 to view content via Wi-Fi via DLNA. Universal Media Server works as a UPnP server and is compatible with Windows, Linux and macOS.
The interface design lags a bit behind its competitors, but overall it’s quite elegant and intuitive. It also includes live subtitles and supports all types of multimedia files (compatible with FFmpeg, MediaInfo, OpenSubtitles, Crowdin, MEncoder, tsMuxeR and AviSynth).
Download Universal Media Server from its official website
Kodi
We finish the list with Kodi, one of the most versatile multimedia players that we can find. Although it does not have a server function as such, Kodi allows you to add network drives as content sources, which for practical purposes is more or less the same.
You just have to set up a shared folder on your computer where you store all your videos and music. Then, make sure that the device you are going to use to play content is on the same Wi-Fi network and that’s it. You can see a step-by-step guide on how to configure it HERE .
Download Kodi from its official website
Do you know of other applications to turn your PC into a media server? If so, do not hesitate to leave your recommendation in the comments area.
