Configuration

How easy is it to make changes?

When you first attempt to access the Gerbera web interface, you’ll likely face an error informing you that the UI is disabled and to check your configuration. The solution requires editing the /etc/gerbera/config.xml config file and changing under the heading at the top of the file to

. Should you feel the need to make any other changes to its default configuration, you’ll have to similarly hack away at the config file manually.

You can use Universal Media Server’s graphical administrative interface to configure various aspects of the server, and you don’t necessarily have to muck about with configuration files in a text editor. The different settings are split across intelligently named tabs such as General Settings, Navigation Settings, Shared Content and Transcoding Settings. Novice users will particularly appreciate the helpful tooltips which provide a quick introduction to the available options for each settings and what each one does. Kodi and Plex both come with adequate defaults and only really need to be pointed to your media library to get you started. Even so, the projects provide extensive configuration options and let you tweak settings from the graphical interface itself. The Plex interfaces houses the different settings under aptly named heads such as General, Remote Access, Network and Transcoder listed on the left sidebar.

Unlike the other tools, Kodi also enables you to change the whole appearance of the interface with themes, referred to as skins. It’s also possible to graphically tweak settings with Jellyfin, but it doesn’t provide as extensive coverage, or as many options.