Plex media server. . .

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Robster

Robster

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May 12, 2004
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Cumberland County, Pennsylvania
I'm currently using my desktop PC as a Plex media server / DVR (PMS). I'd like to use a mini PC as the PMS, connected VIA ethernet cable to the router, with a NAS HDD also connected directly to the router for the video storage.

My current desktop setup works well enough, but it causes me to run the desktop PC 24/7, and it uses WiFi exclusively.

What would you guys suggest for inexpensive, yet adequate mini PC hardware for this project? The PMS needs hardware video encoding and the ability to run Windows 10 or Linux. I've considered building a mini PC based on Raspberry Pi, but it seems that it's processing power is barely adequate to process the video, especially when multiple people are accessing video simultaneously.

Any suggestions would be appreciated! --Rob
 
I run my plex media server on my Synology DS418play NAS. I've also ran it on a Raspberry Pi 3. While it can't transcode if you plan your rips that really isn't an issue.
 
Originally Posted by W9HDG
I run my plex media server on my Synology DS418play NAS. I've also ran it on a Raspberry Pi 3. While it can't transcode if you plan your rips that really isn't an issue.



W9HDG, you're referring to Raspberry Pi not being able to (hardware) transcode, correct?
 
I found you need more horsepower when you run it under Windows environments as I tried Linux initially. They also seem to bung up things in released under the Window environments so I always read the release notes before allowing it to update and I always keep older version installer files in case I want to roll back. My Plex server also doubles as a file server for network back-ups and it's also corrected directly to my TV I keep it in Windows for those reasons. It's an i7 with 16gb of ram and an NVidia 1080i video card. I also have my friends/family using it remotely. Works great.
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted by StevieC
I found you need more horsepower when you run it under Windows environments as I tried Linux initially. They also seem to bung up things in released under the Window environments so I always read the release notes before allowing it to update and I always keep older version installer files in case I want to roll back. My Plex server also doubles as a file server for network back-ups and it's also corrected directly to my TV I keep it in Windows for those reasons. It's an i7 with 16gb of ram and an NVidia 1080i video card. I also have my friends/family using it remotely. Works great.




Thanks StevieC. . . good info. From my research, I've gathered that if Plex is the only app running on a Windows machine, the hardware requirements for smooth operation are somewhat less than what your setup is--basically a minimum of Intel i3 core with dual processors and Intel QuickSync on the chip, 4 gb of RAM, with just about any SATA drive. Do you concur with that?
 
Originally Posted by Robster
Originally Posted by StevieC
I found you need more horsepower when you run it under Windows environments as I tried Linux initially. They also seem to bung up things in released under the Window environments so I always read the release notes before allowing it to update and I always keep older version installer files in case I want to roll back. My Plex server also doubles as a file server for network back-ups and it's also corrected directly to my TV I keep it in Windows for those reasons. It's an i7 with 16gb of ram and an NVidia 1080i video card. I also have my friends/family using it remotely. Works great.




Thanks StevieC. . . good info. From my research, I've gathered that if Plex is the only app running on a Windows machine, the hardware requirements for smooth operation are somewhat less than what your setup is--basically a minimum of Intel i3 core with dual processors and Intel QuickSync on the chip, 4 gb of RAM, with just about any SATA drive. Do you concur with that?

Yes but it depends on what format your media is stored in. Although it will stream just about anything, it needs to convert it on the fly for the clients if it's in certain formats on-top of producing the stream packets to the client. I ended up converting all the media in mine that wasn't MP4 or MKV to one of these two formats because I found that when the box was streaming to the clients the CPU and Memory usage was far less and I could handle more clients with less buffering issues. Now, I have 10 people with accounts between friends/family and about 3 people streaming at a time off my box on average not including me, but just so you are aware of it, this can cut back on the hardware required by optimizing your media first should you run into this problem.
 
Last edited:
I run a media server, via PlayOn, not Plex, on a simple Win 10 8GB RAM, i3 HP All-in-One touchscreen desktop over 5 GHz wifi. I have a 4TB and a 5TB external HDD for storage and back up. I have no complaints.
 
Originally Posted by StevieC
Originally Posted by Robster
Originally Posted by StevieC
I found you need more horsepower when you run it under Windows environments as I tried Linux initially. They also seem to bung up things in released under the Window environments so I always read the release notes before allowing it to update and I always keep older version installer files in case I want to roll back. My Plex server also doubles as a file server for network back-ups and it's also corrected directly to my TV I keep it in Windows for those reasons. It's an i7 with 16gb of ram and an NVidia 1080i video card. I also have my friends/family using it remotely. Works great.




Thanks StevieC. . . good info. From my research, I've gathered that if Plex is the only app running on a Windows machine, the hardware requirements for smooth operation are somewhat less than what your setup is--basically a minimum of Intel i3 core with dual processors and Intel QuickSync on the chip, 4 gb of RAM, with just about any SATA drive. Do you concur with that?

Yes but it depends on what format your media is stored in. Although it will stream just about anything, it needs to convert it on the fly for the clients if it's in certain formats on-top of producing the stream packets to the client. I ended up converting all the media in mine that wasn't MP4 or MKV to one of these two formats because I found that when the box was streaming to the clients the CPU and Memory usage was far less and I could handle more clients with less buffering issues. Now, I have 10 people with accounts between friends/family and about 3 people streaming at a time off my box on average not including me, but just so you are aware of it, this can cut back on the hardware required by optimizing your media first should you run into this problem.



I have a SiliconDust HDHomerun Extend, https://www.silicondust.com/product/hdhomerun-extend/ which handles the transcoding before it's sent to Plex. It puts it into MPEG-2 formatting, so my transcoding requirements are not high at this time. If I decide to change tuners, it may become more of an issue. Right now, I'm working out a deal for a used off-lease computer with the following specs:


I5-4590 3.3Ghz
8GB Ram
500GB HDD
Intel HD Graphics 4600
DVD/RW HL-DT-ST
Realtek PCIe GBE Family Controller Ethernet
Onboard Sound
USB 2.0, USB 3.0, VGA, DisplayPort, Ethernet

It seems like that should be a decent machine for my purposes. Stay tuned!

Thanks for all the input! --Rob
 
Update the thread once it's all up and running... Maybe with pictures of the hardware?
20.gif
 
Originally Posted by StevieC
Update the thread once it's all up and running... Maybe with pictures of the hardware?
20.gif



I'll do that. . . I just picked up the computer (Craigslist seller) and it's a Dell Optiplex 3020 with a 2016 build date, so it's not too ancient. Nice cosmetic condition, fresh install of Win10 Pro--everything seems to work. I won't put it on my network until I get chance to do virus scans and run some hardware diagnostics, so I may be a day or two getting to that. When I get it online, I'll post some pics.
 
Originally Posted by Robster
Originally Posted by StevieC
Update the thread once it's all up and running... Maybe with pictures of the hardware?
20.gif



I'll do that. . . I just picked up the computer (Craigslist seller) and it's a Dell Optiplex 3020 with a 2016 build date, so it's not too ancient. Nice cosmetic condition, fresh install of Win10 Pro--everything seems to work. I won't put it on my network until I get chance to do virus scans and run some hardware diagnostics, so I may be a day or two getting to that. When I get it online, I'll post some pics.


Don't be surprised if the power supply gives up. I've had a pile of these units and they are generally pretty good, but the PSU's are a weak spot. I have a dead one tossed in a corner right now actually
lol.gif
 
Originally Posted by StevieC
^^^ He beat me to it... I have repaired a few of these with that problem.


I've had it running for almost two days straight with the Plex server software streaming to two TVs at 1080p--no issues yet. I'll keep the PSU in mind if I run into problems. I've replaced PSUs on other PCs without problems. Is there something different / more difficult about replacing the Optiplex PSUs? Are they expensive to buy or what? I opened the case when I first got it and it was really clean inside--absolutely no dust anywhere. As I recall, the PSU was accessible. Crossing my fingers.
 
Originally Posted by StevieC
Update the thread once it's all up and running... Maybe with pictures of the hardware?
20.gif




I've had the new Plex server running nonstop for over a week, with no hiccups--this Dell is faster than my desktop HP, by quite a margin. Streaming has been very smooth to all devices. The seller originally advertised a 250GB SSD, with an optionally available 500GB SSD--I opted for the 500GB SSD (Crucial CT500MX500SSD1). The whole deal cost $130 and it looks like new inside / out. I'm happy with it so far. How is the SSD's longevity going to be in this application?

Both the Plex box and HDHomerun tuner are connected to the router VIA CAT5 cable and the video goes out to our devices VIA WiFi 802.11AC. Plex drives the OTA tuning on the HDHomerun, and records / streams the programming. We don't keep a lot of video on the Plex server (currently about 110GB)--we use it as a live TV stream / DVR that serves both TVs and our devices. My OTA antenna is this compact GE Pro Outdoor yagi, and I receive 16 channels: https://www.walmart.com/ip/GE-Pro-Outdoor-Yagi-Antenna-70-Mile-Range-VHF-UHF-Channels-33685/52162885 . Our OTA programming is supplemented by Netflix, Pluto and some other free streaming apps--more TV than we need.

I have it stashed out of the way on a shelf under a desk.

[Linked Image]
 
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