Future-Proof Plex/Jellyfin Server

jrchurvnjef on 13/11/2024 - 12:54

Hey, all.

I am currently running Plex + *arr on an old laptop, and I think it's time for a change.

Looking at Amazon, it appears for $600-$700 (after discounts) you can get a mini PC with an 12*** CPU and 24 or 32 GB of RAM. Disk of about 512 GB is more than enough because I'd use it as temporary storage for downloads and processing.

I would love to crowdsource some experience. I can see a Minisforum, or Beelink, or a myriad others.

What was your experience with any of these? I assume it's pretty much the same manufacturer on the back end, but are there better than others?

One of the main use cases I'd like to cover is having a BR/4k video in the library with a coded that's not supported by the TV, and Plex/JF has to transcode.

Last but not least, I feel going with Ubuntu would be a bit more of a pain since I know it least, but I feel it would be more stable option. Am I right?

Computing Media Server

Comments

  • jv on 13/11/2024 - 12:55
    +1

    I just run it on my NAS.

    • CyberMurning on 13/11/2024 - 13:09

      But you would put the temporary files in separate volume/hdd, right? Because for me its torenting and i dont want to stress the main hdds.
      So download to hdd1 then once finish move to hdd2

      • jv on 13/11/2024 - 13:24
        +1

        my temp files and the OS are on an SSD.

      • trankillity on 14/11/2024 - 08:29

        Yeah, SSD is the solution here.

        • CyberMurning on 14/11/2024 - 09:23

          hmm i was actually thinking constant write and read (for torrent) would kill the ssd faster? maybe better get small cheap 3.5hdd second hand 500gb would be enough unless you are collecting 8K movies (im happy with FHD x265)

          • jollibot on 14/11/2024 - 10:38
            +1

            @CyberMurning: Constant read write will eventually kill any drive, and modern SSDs at least are pretty good with regards to longevity.

            The trade off though in terms of speed is 100% worth it imo.

            • CyberMurning on 14/11/2024 - 12:51

              @jollibot: ah okay yeah i will get ssd too when i (finally) upgrade my old NAS from 2011 - synology DS423+ is what i want

    • jrchurvnjef on 13/11/2024 - 13:31
      +2

      I store my videos on a USB drive. They aren't too important for me, worst case I'll download again. A NAS seems like too hefty an investment for me.

      • trankillity on 14/11/2024 - 08:30
        +1

        … too hefty an investment

        Future-Proof Plex/Jellyfin Server

        Talk about an oxymoron. A future proof server is an investment.

        • jrchurvnjef on 14/11/2024 - 08:49
          -2

          Well, yes, but there is a huge difference between a $600 mini PC connected to a USB drive and a $3k nas

          • Noblejoker on 14/11/2024 - 09:42

            @jrchurvnjef: Mini PC $600+
            You can get a decent NAS that will transcribe for that
            Research consumer NAS - and then OS etc. is irrelevant - all run on NAS

            • jrchurvnjef on 14/11/2024 - 11:08

              @Noblejoker: Interesting. What decent nas would you get for $600 with disks that would do transcode? Every qnap, Synology, or Terra something I saw would cost a lot more when you add disks. Just the disks will cost $450

          • ihfree on 14/11/2024 - 09:52

            @jrchurvnjef: Depends on what you're doing.

            My n40l was released in 2010 and I got about 10 years life from it. Technically nothing wrong with it but wanted something quieter and to run more apps.

            My current solution a 6400t USFF(+NAS) was released in about 2015 and will likely last a significant period of time. Looking at Netdata graphs, there isn't any strain so far. There's probably more risk of a Ozbargain deal or upgrading a desktop triggering an upgrade rather than the system becoming obsolete.

          • trankillity on 15/11/2024 - 08:15

            @jrchurvnjef: What the hell NAS' have you been looking at? I got my DS423+ for about $750 that serves my entire Plex library. Yes, the drives cost money, but those drives still cost money on any other PC.

            • jrchurvnjef on 15/11/2024 - 08:18

              @trankillity: Is that $750 with the drives or without?

              Today I'm using just an external 2.5" USB 5tb drive and that's enough for me. It's cheap, and I don't care if it breaks, I'll just download things I want again.

              • trankillity on 15/11/2024 - 08:19

                @jrchurvnjef: Without the drives obviously. But they will just take any old drive if you don't care about retention and put them in JBOD raid mode.

                • jrchurvnjef on 15/11/2024 - 08:22

                  @trankillity: I don't really have any old drives, except maybe the USB one I'm using, but then it seems to be cheaper to just get a mini PC. I could get one with a decent CPU for $250, that's $500 less than the Nas you recommend, though I don't doubt it's great.

                  • trankillity on 15/11/2024 - 08:27

                    @jrchurvnjef: Then your title is misleading, because you don't want a "Future-Proof Plex/Jellyfin Server", you want a "Good-enough Plex/Jellyfin server that I'll get frustrated with in a few years".

  • FoxJump on 13/11/2024 - 12:59
    +2

    i'm always tempted to update the old laptop with proxmox, but … if it works, it works. save your money.

  • askbargain on 13/11/2024 - 13:01

    What's your definition of future-proof? Is it something you can upgrade in future or something you want to buy and not deal with it anymore.

    Consider a Mac mini as the video encoder on that is a beast.

    • jrchurvnjef on 13/11/2024 - 13:32

      More like a device that will work for the next 5 years without significant issues or bottlenecks

  • jugsy on 13/11/2024 - 13:12

    I have an old Intel NUC with 16GB ram running Plex amongst a bunch of other home servers. If hardware transcoding is important to you, check the supported processors list in the Plex documentation first.

    Where will you be storing media? 512GB wont last long

    • jrchurvnjef on 13/11/2024 - 13:32

      Thank you for the reply. I store the media on an external HDD connected via USB. I don't terribly care if it fails, I'll just download again as long as the settings for applications are there.

  • boomramada on 13/11/2024 - 13:40
    +1

    Plex + *arr on + fileserver on Pi4 + Nvidia SHIELD for like years, future is still good as no issues :)

    • jrchurvnjef on 13/11/2024 - 13:42

      I considered that, but will Shield support my use case of live transcoding BR/4k videos?

      • boomramada on 13/11/2024 - 13:51
        +1

        SHIELD can transcode but not sure about the performance, I don't transcode so I can't comment on that.

      • FoxJump on 13/11/2024 - 14:50

        I pretranscoded all my content into a format that my playing devices will support.
        so, no direct play every day

      • trankillity on 15/11/2024 - 08:20

        Shield doesn't need to transcode, it can DirectPlay.

        • jrchurvnjef on 15/11/2024 - 08:21

          Direct play depends on the client, doesn't it?

          • trankillity on 15/11/2024 - 08:23

            @jrchurvnjef: Shield IS the client.

            • jrchurvnjef on 15/11/2024 - 08:24

              @trankillity: Ah, I understand. You would use the shield directly connected to the TV. Yeah, I understand, but that's not my use case. I need to be able to stream to multiple TVs and mobile phones.

              • trankillity on 15/11/2024 - 08:28

                @jrchurvnjef: Then you need something fairly powerful as the host that has Intel Quicksync for hardware transcoding. And you also need to consider your simultaneous stream limits based on your upstream bandwidth.

  • QuickToThePointless on 13/11/2024 - 13:47
    +1

    i am at a similar crossroads and considered mini/SFF PC + DAS setup, was not interested in shelling out for stand alone NAS that runs 24/7.

    if you only want 1x3.5HDD + bootdrive, a used dell optiplex i5-8500 will easily handle plex etc and run you about $200.

    I have now come to the conclusion that a new all in one Windoze 11 with 4 HDD bay case build is the tidiest, most user friendly most versatile and most future proof option. looking at $5-600 for 12-14th gen i3/i5+ mobo+ram/nvme boot drive/psu and case.

    not sure about mini pc durability - a new component build or a proven office workhorse like the dell/hp lenovo models should last 10+ years…

    • jrchurvnjef on 13/11/2024 - 13:57

      a new all in one Windoze 11 with 4 HDD bay case build is the tidiest

      You make a good point. I wanted something small because the area where I store the router and other devices is fairly small, and I am not sure I want to plop a huge tower there. That said, I will give it a look, maybe there are devices there that are not too huge.

      if you only want 1x3.5HDD + bootdrive, a used dell optiplex i5-8500 will easily handle plex etc and run you about $200.

      I am considering that as well! Can buy a Lenovo one for about $250 which is definitely a contender.

      • QuickToThePointless on 13/11/2024 - 19:25

        i have an old exisitng matx case, its designed to fit in entetainment cabinet, same form factor as an amp.

        look up silverstone htpc cases if u r keen - could probably even make it itx build so even smaller

  • bargaino on 13/11/2024 - 13:59

    Building a powerful computer, even a mini, is fun. But you are going to need a better excuse that running a Plex server. How about home AI?

    Are you trying to justify the hardware purchase to your wife, or just to yourself? :-)

    • jrchurvnjef on 13/11/2024 - 14:04

      Weirdly enough, when I suggested buying a used Lenovo Mini PC my wife went: "Are you sure it's going to be powerful enough?" She's coming from perspective let's buy something good that works for a long time, rather than buying several less powerful things that may be a waste of money.

      Running a home AI sounds interesting, though don’t know if I have a use case for it right now 🙂 I am open to use cases though

      • boomramada on 13/11/2024 - 14:12

        let's buy something good that works for a long time

        Well then, you should aim for 8k transcoding .. :) Or why do you even need to transcoding ? Isn't that the future? :)

        • jrchurvnjef on 13/11/2024 - 14:22

          Naw mate, I am going directly with 16k :D

      • bargaino on 13/11/2024 - 14:16
        +2

        So your old server is doing the job, but you want to have some fun and set up a new machine?
        In that case, consider starting with Proxmox - it makes virtualisation easy, and is very popular for running Plex and other home services.

        You will have a flexible platform for future projects. Experiment with different systems on top. Add an Ubuntu server, a Plex appliance, Jellyfin appliance, …
        No guilt that you server is way over-powered just for Plex, when you could be adding all sorts of things in future.
        Have you heard the gospel of Home Assistant? :-)

        https://google.com/search?q=plex+on+proxmox

        • jrchurvnjef on 13/11/2024 - 14:22

          I will give it a whirl!

  • ihfree on 13/11/2024 - 14:17

    My current setup is a mini PC (m700/6400t) running Ubuntu/Docker/Portainer/Plex/typical stack of apps and a QNAP NAS. This will likely serve purposes well into the future.

    I had initially planned on just using the m700 with dual SSDS (1TB boot + 1-4TB) but decided I did want my whole collection of Linux ISOs available.

    If I was building now, I'd probably do something between a ITX or mATX system with a NAS focussed case.

  • bargaino on 13/11/2024 - 14:19

    I feel going with Ubuntu would be a bit more of a pain

    More of a pain than what? Windows? Nothing is more painful than using Windows as a server :-) Since Apple went out of the server business, it is really just Linux.

    • jrchurvnjef on 13/11/2024 - 14:22

      Ah, it would be a pain just in terms of my familiarity with Linux. I am not unfamiliar, but definitely less than Windows. I always found troubleshooting very difficult on Linux, with many potential solutions to a problem, potentially nothing working.

      Going with Docker is one way, but that has its own complexities, so I am guessing I would install software directly into the operating system, rather than a container.

      • ihfree on 13/11/2024 - 14:28
        +2

        With Ubuntu/Docker/Portainer it's honestly not too hard.

        At a high level:

        • Install Ubuntu
        • Setup Docker
        • Setup Portainer
        • Find a app you want to run
        • Create a few folders
        • Update the compose file for your system/paths paste it into Portainer

        Maintenance - install updates and occasionally restart the system. I do everything through SSH. You could probably throw a few shell scripts together for common tasks.

        You could also look at VMware or similar and try out a few things in a VM on your desktop to get familiar first.

        • boomramada on 13/11/2024 - 14:33
          +1

          Best thing is you only need to back up the config script and data, I do this in my Pi4 config, everything runs as dockers.

    • jollibot on 14/11/2024 - 11:06
      +1

      You say that, but whilst I was waiting to get my hands on a proper server I installed and ran my entire *arr stack (and a number of other apps like Immich etc) from Windows.

      100% better install experience ("it just works installs!") and never had any issues running them.

      Getting hardware decoding working for me on Linux though? Not the hardest thing I've done, but it took a while to get working without issue! There's always something tricky, or something that doesn't work as the instructions/guide says.

      I still have issues with one specific 16TB HDD that will randomly fail when connected to any of my Debian-based servers but works fine on Windows - it's probably an issue with the way I mount the drive, but I'm not enough of an expert to know why.

      Linux gives you the power to mess it all up easily 😅

      Windows is ridiculous in so many ways, but for me at least it can be way less finicky.

      That being said, all my current Servers are Linux - but it's mostly for longevity and power (headless server vs full OS) that I'm concerned about.

  • Stuj on 13/11/2024 - 15:07
    +1

    Or you can simply use Stremio and get a Real-Debrid account

    • kekw on 13/11/2024 - 15:22

      I think op is doing more than streaming for entertainment purposes. Otherwise Stremio is really the way to go.

  • MCPokey on 14/11/2024 - 07:35

    I had mine on an old PC I was using about 10 years ago, but it was starting to have some issues, so I went through this about 6 months ago.
    I went an used work pc (optiplex) as it was small factor, fairly recent (i5 9600) processor and seemed to just be what i thought I needed.
    However, once I got it home, I found that there was no Raid support and I couldn't stream with it.
    So I ended just building one from scratch.
    As I already had 16g ram, a SSD and 2 HDD's, I just got the following;

    Antec NX200M Mini Tower Case
    i5 12400 CPU
    MSI Pro B760M Mobo
    Deepcool 650W PSU

    This cost me $468 back then, but will most likley be cheaper coming into sales season.

    I also use TrueNas Scale and it is very easy to setup and there's even a step by step setup guide by Ultimate Tech Hub on YouTube.

    This is working fantastic and streams 4k no issues at my mate place when I go there and also doesn't have an issue with some of 70gig sized 4k movies that are on there.

    Good Luck

    • jrchurvnjef on 14/11/2024 - 08:17

      Nice build mate, thank you!

    • QuickToThePointless on 14/11/2024 - 12:06

      as per my comment above i am exactly at the point you were.

      can i ask a few q's?

      what version did you get of the MSI PRO B760M? ie A P E G AII

      did 12th gen cpu work ok with mobo bios straight out of the box?

      is stock cpu cooler perfectly fine?

      is the deepcool 650 quiet enough for loungeroom use?

      cheers

  • pessimus on 23/11/2024 - 10:46
    +1

    I just use a seedbox. ~$14/month and everything just works and I can add shows via radarr and sonarr to stream to any device without the issue of the NBNs shitty upload speeds.

    • jrchurvnjef on 23/11/2024 - 11:37

      Interesting. What seedbox are you using?

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