Media servers recommendation

[Michelangalo]

Hi,

What do most people prefer to use at media servers with Plex and why?

1. NAS Drives
2. Raspberry pie 4 plus ssd
3. Dedicated laptop

Thanks!

 

[abhijeet309]

Depends on your usage. If you are planning to store UHD rips or looking to stream 4K on more than 3 devices at a time or want the server to be available any time you want then dedicated NAS Drives are the best. Else even an old laptop will do the job.

 

[Beast_of_burden]

Hi,

What do most people prefer to use at media servers with Plex and why?

1. NAS Drives
2. Raspberry pie 4 plus ssd
3. Dedicated laptop

Thanks!

If it's for streaming audio, then I can tell you the Pi is a no brainer. I was running LMS on an old computer, it's not an efficient solution.

Pi is cheap and efficient. Raspberry Pi + 1tb HDD works like a charm with Logitech media server. I bought the Pi used for 1800. SD card cost <500. HDD was lying around. I had an old squeezebox lying around. Integrated Chromecast audio in a snap. Streaming to a phone via BubbleUpnp is instantaneous. As of yesterday I activated Spotify and streaming through LMS. I had to read a few blogs and run a few Unix commands, I am no programmer or sysadmin, with some patience anyone can figure this out. I decided to explore the Pi route after seeing a video by Darko. After all these years he still talks like the Squeezebox and LMS are relevant, he is right!

 

[Yaridu]

If it's for streaming audio, then I can tell you the Pi is a no brainer. I was running LMS on an old computer, it's not an efficient solution.

Pi is cheap and efficient. Raspberry Pi + 1tb HDD works like a charm with Logitech media server. I bought the Pi used for 1800. SD card cost <500. HDD was lying around. I had an old squeezebox lying around. Integrated Chromecast audio in a snap. Streaming to a phone via BubbleUpnp is instantaneous. As of yesterday I activated Spotify and streaming through LMS. I had to read a few blogs and run a few Unix commands, I am no programmer or sysadmin, with some patience anyone can figure this out. I decided to explore the Pi route after seeing a video by Darko. After all these years he still talks like the Squeezebox and LMS are relevant, he is right!

Are you able to play 4k files? via Rpi, I have a Rpi 4 4gb, got a new 4k tv, having issues playing HDR 10 and Dolby vision sample files via VLC. Googles suggest using kodi, will have to use it if there is no alternative. Do not want to use LibreElec since I already have Openmediavault running on Raspbian.