Install Plex app without internet?

[RickC99]

My friend has Samsung TVs at home and in her holiday caravan. I've installed the Plex media player app on her home TV and it works absolutely great with her laptop. However, the internet connection to her holiday caravan is abysmal - capped by the park owners to ~1mbps. The TV's manual shows an internet connection of 10mbps+ is needed. 😞

Short of taking the TV off the wall and driving it nearly 60 miles away to her home, is there a way to install the Plex media player app from USB when OTA is not available? I can't even use my phone as a temporary wifi hotspot because mobile phone signal is also dire so far out in the sticks. 😞

(I've been able to get her caravan's TV to connect to her laptop via DNLA - which identifies the Plex media server running on her laptop - but it just displays the media filenames rather than the metadata that gives Plex such a pleasant front-end.)

[CarlH]

HI @RickC99. You would still need an internet connection in order for Plex to work. I think the best option would be to store files on a USB/ external hardrive and use that. 

[RickC99]

Hi @CarlH. Many thanks for the reply.

Yes, she could use a USB mass storage device... or, even easier still, just use 'Cast to Device' using WiFi Direct from File Manager's context menu on her laptop which also works well... but you only see filenames of course, not the metadata that makes Plex such a pleasure to use, i.e. film trailers, plots, episode guides, cast, etc.

Actually you only need the internet for downloading the Plex app then Plex account authentication. All further Plex casting is purely local... no internet needed, not even to display the media metadata which is also stored locally.

If you make a minor change within Plex media server (in the network settings area) then Plex media player will just look automatically for the Plex media server backend within your local ip subnet without you being signed in to Plex. I've done it, it's easy and it works great!

If Plex media player front end can't or won't pick up Plex media server back end locally then you can use VLC's 'local network' option to locate the Plex media player back end using DNLA and cast to the VLC app instead (works well for her grandkids' iOS and Android devices).... but, of course, you need the VLC app installed on your TV... so back to the original problem. 😞 (Plus VLC - whilst it works well - doesn't display the media metada like Plex.)

I suspect I'm going to end up removing my friend's TV from the wall, drive it 60 miles away to add Plex (with VLC as backup) then drive it back again and stick it back up on the wall again... if she and the caravan management company let me. <groan>

Alternatively, she'll just have to buy something like an Amazon 'Fire Stick' or Fire TV Stick' with Plex media player already installed and use that with her Samsung TV... but that just seems silly when the app can run natively on the TV. What a palaver.

(PS - Where did you get the video of me? ROFL)