[SOLVED] Home Media Server

[hero355]

Hello, I have aRyzen-based PC for my main purpose, and now I'm planning to buy 4K TV for watching movies on it but with using home-based media server.
I have many HDD's that are full of movies. Can you please suggest me what i need exactly, NAS or Raspberry Pi based system or can i use core 2 duo e7300 + 4GB +ssd based Windows PC for it?

 

[popatim]

If the server will not need to perform any transcoding then the core2 would probably be fine since all it will be doing is transferring the file.
This is depending on the maximum number of concurrent streams you expect and your in-house network topology (Gigabit vs 100mb, wired vs wifi, etc) and the video compression used.

 

[hero355]

Mostly I need to get my movies (and some other documents ) in my main pc for check up or on the TV for streaming via Local network, will it enough? Because it won't work 7/24 time it'll be booted like pc when needed

 

[NOT_PROVIDED_16]

I'd just use an old PC.

 

[hero355]

I'd just use an old PC.

2 core old intel pc is enough? or do i need something like xeon server cpu?

 

[OrlyP]

If it's not going to be 24x7, what's stopping you from using your Ryzen PC to host your media? That saves you from maintaining a 2nd PC that's likely going to be underpowered anyway. You can then use Plex, Jellyfin, Emby, Kodi, etc. as your media server software.

Once you've got the server software set up, you can watch the content using your smart TV or set-top-boxes like Roku, Nvidia Shield, Fire TV, etc.

I use Plex Media Server and mine runs 24x7 so I hosted it on a dedicated PC.

 

[hero355]

Because

If it's not going to be 24x7, what's stopping you from using your Ryzen PC to host your media? That saves you from maintaining a 2nd PC that's likely going to be underpowered anyway. You can then use Plex, Jellyfin, Emby, Kodi, etc. as your media server software.

Once you've got the server software set up, you can watch the content using your smart TV or set-top-boxes like Roku, Nvidia Shield, Fire TV, etc.

I use Plex Media Server and mine runs 24x7 so I hosted it on a dedicated PC.

No it's not going 24x7. I dont want to use my main pc because I use Triple monitor setup + Home theater system and all power sucker. That's why I need cheaper way method

 

[OrlyP]

You can always try setting up your E7300 as a media player and see where it gets you. It all depends on the type of media you have. If your media players can direct play all of them (meaning, they have native support for the media codec), you'll be fine. But if the media requires transcoding, I don't think that the E7300 has the horsepower to do it in real time. You'll see a lot of video buffering in this case.

Can you share the specs of your Ryzen build? Like I said, since you're just going to power it on when watching a movie (or working, gaming, etc.), power consumption shouldn't be a big deal. You can certainly turn off the three unused monitors while watching a move in another room.

 

[aewhistory]

For something that is just transferring file data, isnt even a top of the line P3 good enough? After all, the machine isn’t really doing any processing beyond finding the files and sending them, right? Or am I woefully behind the times?
I’m Asking for more than academic purposes. I have a bunch of older PC hardware, including some dual p3 mobos, p4 mobos, and so on. I would like to find some reasonable uses for them rather than add them to a landfill and thought perhaps the OP might be interested in the answer as well as it pertains to his situation.
thanks!

EDIT: just got to thinking that perhaps bandwidth would be an issue with older CPUs and mobo with a task such as a media server. Still, I think it would depend on the sort of needs you have. A regular file server or file backup should still be fine, but maybe not a media server that needs to have high data transfer speeds?

EDIT2: in regard to what orlyp said about buffering, if an e7300 wouldn’t have the speed to do video without buffering then a p3 would be totally out of the question. However, is it possible to build the system with a lot of buffering RAM? I have a few spare iRam card laying around and could probably config those into a sort of extended RAM?

 

[OrlyP]

Just to iterate what I mentioned earlier, It boils down to the type of media files the OP wants to stream and the type of devices he's planning to use to watch them with. If most of the media can be direct-played/direct-streamed, the C2D should probably do fine for the most part. In this scenario, the media server is just basically serving the media like a file server. But if a media requires transcoding, one way or another, that will quickly eat up the CPU and/or GPU resources like peanuts. The number of concurrent streams (how many will be watching content at the same time) is also a factor but I don't think the OP mentioned he's going to use more than one stream at a time.

OP: Try to skim through this page. It will provide some insights as to what are the things to look out for when sizing your media server hardware: https://support.plex.tv/articles/201774043-what-kind-of-cpu-do-i-need-for-my-server/