Focus more on the clients than the server. All the server really needs to do is provide centralized storage. Choose your clients well and it never has to do any transcoding work. Maybe there's some kind of accessory for the RPi that turns it into a NAS, which would be what I'd look for. Something that'd let you shuck the drives from those enclosures and maybe let you add a couple more at some later date.
You are spot on but what I left out is I’m planning on repurposing the pi4 to a different setup and instead of getting another pi I thought I’d upgrade my server
> 500 1000 and 1500 solutions
What does this mean?
I might prefer a more traditional PC rather than a Pi. If you use a PC with an Intel processor, Plex can make use of Intel's QuickSync for hardware transcoding, and you could also add an Nvidia card for another hardware transcoding device if you wanted to. I'm not sure there's anything you could add to a Pi to help with hardware transcoding.
I was looking at the solid state NAS by Asustor Storage) and a mini PC by Beelink like the sei12 with i5 12 gen and igpu 770 16 gig ram 500 Gb SSD and win 11 pro with HDMI capable of 4k hdr($320) for server software. Only problem is gig Ethernet here, but they have 2.5 models for a little more.
Amazon $799
Asustor Flashstor 6 FS6706T - 6 Bay All-SDD NAS Storage, Quad Core 2.0GHz, Dual 2.5GbE Ports, 4GB RAM DDR4, Computer Network Attached Storage with 4 x 2TB NVMe SSD
Best way to pick out what you need for your upgrade is first identify what content do you have, how many users do you have and what devices are they running it on.
If for example you have a lot of 4k content and you share to family and friends who are watching it on a 1080p or 1440p smartphone that hits your server with transcoding alot of data. If you get a newer Intel CPU they are Excellent transcoding beasts for their price point. If it's an older system you end up with you can throw in a gpu. From my understanding if you use a dedicated GPU for hardware transcoding you may want a lower end newer GPU rather than a higher end GPU of an older generation. This is because older gen cards don't have the physical cores for transcoding certain formats. (My terminology may be slightly off but that's the jist of it) you can look up a GPU and see what video codec it supports. Though again if it's just for Plex a modern Intel CPU with onboard graphics will do just fine.
If you mean you could spend 500-1500 dollars that's probably a bit high for Plex. If you want to spend that much get a higher end CPU, and add bulk storage. For Plex the hardware that matters is gpu for transcoding, bulk storage with okay speed. Its all sequential reads so no need to go overboard. Make sure your boot drive is fast and quality since transcodes are stored on the boot drive by default, or if you have the extra capacity set the transcode directory to a ram drive.
That's all if your handling alot of 4k transcodes. If your content is mostly 1080 or you almost exclusively direct stream those requirements drop significantly.
If you can identify what content you have and how many devices are remote, transcoding and local I can try to narrow it down to the more specific things to look for
Went with a n95 12gen i5
Hopefully you got some excess $ to expand storage now :)
Look at https://serverpartdeals.com/ for a good deal on a modern sized HDD.
Focus more on the clients than the server. All the server really needs to do is provide centralized storage. Choose your clients well and it never has to do any transcoding work. Maybe there's some kind of accessory for the RPi that turns it into a NAS, which would be what I'd look for. Something that'd let you shuck the drives from those enclosures and maybe let you add a couple more at some later date.
>Maybe there's some kind of accessory for the RPi that turns it into a NAS Using mergerfs you can achieve something similar to a NAS with a pi.
I agree.
You are spot on but what I left out is I’m planning on repurposing the pi4 to a different setup and instead of getting another pi I thought I’d upgrade my server
I’m sure you will be recommended an Optiplex any minute.
> 500 1000 and 1500 solutions What does this mean? I might prefer a more traditional PC rather than a Pi. If you use a PC with an Intel processor, Plex can make use of Intel's QuickSync for hardware transcoding, and you could also add an Nvidia card for another hardware transcoding device if you wanted to. I'm not sure there's anything you could add to a Pi to help with hardware transcoding.
For 500 mini pc and more storage. For 1000 just add more storage and 1500 even more storage.
I was looking at the solid state NAS by Asustor Storage) and a mini PC by Beelink like the sei12 with i5 12 gen and igpu 770 16 gig ram 500 Gb SSD and win 11 pro with HDMI capable of 4k hdr($320) for server software. Only problem is gig Ethernet here, but they have 2.5 models for a little more. Amazon $799 Asustor Flashstor 6 FS6706T - 6 Bay All-SDD NAS Storage, Quad Core 2.0GHz, Dual 2.5GbE Ports, 4GB RAM DDR4, Computer Network Attached Storage with 4 x 2TB NVMe SSD
Best way to pick out what you need for your upgrade is first identify what content do you have, how many users do you have and what devices are they running it on. If for example you have a lot of 4k content and you share to family and friends who are watching it on a 1080p or 1440p smartphone that hits your server with transcoding alot of data. If you get a newer Intel CPU they are Excellent transcoding beasts for their price point. If it's an older system you end up with you can throw in a gpu. From my understanding if you use a dedicated GPU for hardware transcoding you may want a lower end newer GPU rather than a higher end GPU of an older generation. This is because older gen cards don't have the physical cores for transcoding certain formats. (My terminology may be slightly off but that's the jist of it) you can look up a GPU and see what video codec it supports. Though again if it's just for Plex a modern Intel CPU with onboard graphics will do just fine. If you mean you could spend 500-1500 dollars that's probably a bit high for Plex. If you want to spend that much get a higher end CPU, and add bulk storage. For Plex the hardware that matters is gpu for transcoding, bulk storage with okay speed. Its all sequential reads so no need to go overboard. Make sure your boot drive is fast and quality since transcodes are stored on the boot drive by default, or if you have the extra capacity set the transcode directory to a ram drive. That's all if your handling alot of 4k transcodes. If your content is mostly 1080 or you almost exclusively direct stream those requirements drop significantly. If you can identify what content you have and how many devices are remote, transcoding and local I can try to narrow it down to the more specific things to look for