Plex Media Server


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I am wonder what is the best / most popular media server device for Plex.

Recently, I tried Kodi on my Fire stick and was far from impressed.  In fact, I thought it was very amateurish.

Someone @ work, told me to go get a Raspberry Pi 3 Media kit, install Plex, and plug it up to a NAS.  He said this was much more "polished" interface.

I am wondering, what does everybody use for a media server  ?

I looked @ the Raspberry Pi 3 today @ Fry's and the idea of having something so mall was great, but I wondered if I should just get a NUC instead.

I could use my main desktop computer as it has plenty of resources, but if I could offload the media server abilities to something else, I think I would prefer that.

What does everyone else use ?

Intel NUC
Raspberry Pi 3
Full blown Media Server as part of a Home Theater
A very powerful "one machine to do it all " setup 
Something else 

Thanks


 

I should add this is to be used for something more than just streaming media I already have, but to offer a way for my fiance to watch whatever she wants.

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As a media server, I would think a Raspberry Pi would be weak on processing power to transcode(if required), but as a media player Rasplex works good, USB powered is a bonus, but if you wanted to play 4K content, then no.

That said, people do use Raspberry Pi' as Plex Servers, I wouldn't, but that depends on your requirements.

 

Also your "someone @ work" kind of sounds like he was talking about the media player interface, not using a Pi as a server.(I may be wrong though, I never really tried to use my Raspberry Pi 2 as a server)

 

My current set up is

Plex/Emby/Sonarr/Radarr Server

Custom Build PC (i7, 32GB RAM, 256GB SSD(OS/CACHE), 60TB Storage Array)

 

For media viewing, Chrome Cast, Raspberry Pi, the Smart TV apps for Samsung and LG

 

This suits my needs, so it all depends on your resources and needs, if you're looking for a one machine to rule them all, that's not going to be a Raspberry Pi, you're probably looking at a full blown PC or a NUC with grunt, something you can install Windows, Plex Server and Plex Media Client, and browse the web, etc

If 4K content is in your future, possibly plan for that too.

 

 

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A Pi cannot handle transcoding, at all. Not at the speeds necessary for streaming at least.  It will work fine as long as those using it are using original formats, but otherwise, no.  It also can't handle multiple streams too well.  2 is OK, but beyond that and it'll stutter, at least in my experience.

 

My home theater server is my main Windows 10 desktop. It's a reasonably strong machine (if a little old now) that can serve up 4 streams at once without a problem, and keeps on going even if I'm gaming. It can transcode fairly well too.

 

For info, that's a Core i5 4670k (Haswell) clocked at 4ghz, 16gb RAM, AMD RX480 GPU, dual 1080 screens, a 256gb M.2 boot drive and about 6TB of storage.

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Build a real server on something other than a toaster. You can buy HGST drives for peanuts on Amazon/eBay that you can run in some form of RAID. Throw them in with a decent yet cheap CPU, at least 16 GB RAM and a flash drive or small SSD to run FreeNAS on.

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i have plex media server on my pc and use kodi/plex pluggin as the normal plex app has issues with amlogic s905x soc's or i just use smb/kodi and its flawless

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I got me one of these boards : http://www.asrockrack.com/general/productdetail.asp?Model=C2750D4I#Specifications (Make sure you get a 600w PSU if you fill the drive bays.. i kept blowing 400w PSUs)

 

With a case that can handle 8 drives : https://www.overclockers.co.uk/silverstone-sst-ds380b-external-8x-3.5-sat-hot-swap-4x-2.5-black-hd-000-sv.html

 

32GB Ram, with SSD for OS (Server 2016) and plex media servers installed on it, and also the Plex Media service (so i dont have to leave the server logged in all the time..)

 

Works great, and have had up to 7 people stream from it at the same time from various devices, so transcoding multiple streams too. 

 

Works pretty well :)

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OK Thank you everyone - that tells me what I needed to hear.

I never like to go the cheap route, but I guess I was caught up in the small-ness of it all - and thought it was really cool to use something so tiny.

I think I will wait until I build a new desktop, and use my current desktop as my media server.

I appreciate the input.

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  • 1 month later...

What I run is a Q6600(stock speeds) on a evga board (nothing fancy) with 8 gigs of ram, has 4 drives (2tb) each. That system runs PMS, Radarr, Sonarr, Sabnzb, Deluge. Haven't run into any issues yet with it. 

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