I’ve used the megathread to make a super basic proof-of-concept for my own streaming setup, and I’m not sure where to prioritize upgrading first and in what way. Any help is appreciated!
Current setup: I got a subscription to a VPN, so I figure I’ll use that until it runs out. I have that with my main PC (a laptop, I haven’t been able to save for a proper gaming PC yet), a torrent client, and Plex. I tested it out with one TV show and one movie with the Plex app on my TCL Series 4 Roku TV and it seems to work! The video and audio quality work even better when I turn my VPN off and it can tell my server is “nearby”, but whatever.
Possible Improvements I’ve Seen People Talk About: I figure I should split off some of these services from my main laptop. I don’t really want to keep it on 24/7, and I should save the room on it for games and other projects. I’ll put things I’ve seen people talk about below, but not sure what order to do stuff to make the best Netflix replacement.
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I can buy another smaller machine or two I can use as a server. Not sure whether to put the torrent parts on it, so it can torrent while I’m at work and stuff, make it host the Plex server, or both. And even then, I’m not sure whether to use an NAS, raspberry pi, NUC, Nvidia Shield TV Pro, buy or find an old cheap laptop, a ThinkClient I saw another post suggest, etc. I need something super small and quiet because I am splitting a small place right now. Should I get 2? One to torrent things while I’m gone and one to host Plex, or can I put them on the same machine?
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Or should I start improving other parts of the torrenting and streaming experience? I’ve seen people mention Sonarr, Radarr, and other applications that I haven’t experimented with yet.
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Or should I just port all of this into a seedbox hosted by someone else even though I have the VPN subscription for awhile longer? It would clear up some room but I’d hate to be tied to a subscription.
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I know I’ll also need to buy more storage soon to make it a viable library, too.
What do you all think should prioritize next?
Just making sure I understand the ask here. You’re currently running Plex & a torrent client off of your laptop, and using the Plex app on your TV to connect to your Plex server running on your laptop?
I’m going to treat this as a simple guide of where I would start if I was just starting again.
You’re going to need two things, a completely separate PC, usually an Intel NUC, to run all of these services with docker on Linux. Then you’ll need storage. Most users start out with a simple 2 or 4 bay NAS, that connects over the network to your other machine (Plex server)
If you don’t want to tinker with all of that and get straight to the point, build yourself your own computer that has a case for multiple 3.5inch HDD drives, then install unRAID on it. There’s your perfect media server right there. I’ve been running that setup for years without it breaking a sweat.
Let me know if you want me to elaborate on these details
You got it, that’s basically what I’ve got so far. And thanks for the suggestions! I’m going to look into these two options.
I’ll probably pick the one that takes up the least amount of space. Hopefully I have enough room behind my desk for all these new devices. I’m already taking up so many plugs with lights, cell phone chargers, the router, wifi, work laptop, personal laptop, monitors, and random LED strips, speakers, a device dock, etc.
Just curious, is there any reason specifically you chose plex over jellyfin?
Ran Plex for many years before Jellyfin existed. Plus the ease of sharing on Plex is still king
I’d personally skip the NAS as they’re so expensive for what you get and limited on storage size (what do you do when you fill it?). Sticking to a micro PC and external drives or a built PC with lots of storage space is the more economical way to go.
If I were to buy a NUC, would it still be worth buying the Nvidia shield for streaming purposes, or do I just run everything off the NUC? I’m not the OP but in a similar situation.
Yes absolutely. Last time I checked, the Nvidia Shield is the only Plex client that can direct play any video/audio codec without causing Plex to transcode the media. You can watch media directly on Plex (as a client) off the NUC but I’ve never done it before. I’ve always had a server/client setup separately because all my server equipment is in the office.
Direct Playing/Direct Streaming is what you want to achieve most of the time if you can. The next best Plex client is the AppleTV, which I personally have myself and it’s so much better than my old Roku devices. Roku has kinda gone downhill quality wise for me.
Thank you! And what’s the benefit of running the NUC + NAS instead of just installing the Plex server/whatever else directly on the NAS?
The NAS seems to be the pricey part. Are there cheaper pure storage solutions, short of building a new PC with a bunch of space for HDDs?
Sorry for all the questions!
No worries, happy to help!
Main benefit is modularity, where you can use each system for a different use case that it’s more suited for. Also if one system goes down/has issues, it doesn’t necessarily make the entire thing unusable, just degraded. This also means you can upgrade different parts when necessary.
NUC = Runs services, no data (other than application data) is stored here, so if it dies, your data is still safe on the NAS.
NAS = Stores media/personal data. If it dies (dear god please have a 3-2-1 backup in place), the only services affected are ones that rely on the data being accessible from the NAS. This seems like a big drawback, but at least you ONLY have to fix the NAS and not have to recreate all the service configs.
If you’re using proper Docker practices (defining all of your services in docker compose), then even rebuilding your NUC isn’t that much of a headache. DOCUMENT YOUR JOURNEY AND MISTAKES!
Yes, NAS devices are expensive, but in order to have one that can TRULY be a good all in one data storage AND Plex server, you’d really break the bank to get one that runs an Intel CPU, since most NAS devices run a low powered ARM chip, or a very under powered Intel CPU.
The most cost effective way to do this when first starting out is to scrap, scavenge and buy used/old equipment. Chasing after the newest hardware for this stuff is tempting, and you’ll eventually get there, but you gotta walk before you swim.
Seriously, ebay, pawn shops, facebook marketplace (yes, yuck, but I’ve gotten killer deals here) and friends/relatives getting rid of old “useless” computers will be their trash, your treasure.
Amazing, thanks so much, this is all very helpful!
That all makes a lot of sense, and I’ve been checking out eBay to see what’s about. Looks like there’s some decent stuff there, an i5 NUC with 8gb of ram and a 2 bay QNAP NAS for around $350 AUD. I’ll do a bit more research into what I actually need, but you’ve given me a great place to start, so thanks again!
And I’ll definitely look into 3-2-1 backup when I start storing actual data that I’d be sad to lose.
You’re very welcome! Feed free to reach out if you need any more help :)
Not sure if that NAS is used (and already filled with storage) or not but that price might not include the HDDs. $350 + $300 for a couple large HDDs is most of the way to just building your own PC with lots of storage and infinite more flexibility than a NAS with a fixed bay size.