in the market for a new plex server

[xdeathshot20]

alright so i think its time i get a better plex server.  Currently i have my plex server running off of a rasberry pi connected to my nas for storage.  This works great but i have been having issues with it and i beleve them to be from the lack of power coming from the rasberry pi so time to uograde.  I have been looking at a few options and the most common one that pops up besides building your own is acually using the nvida shield 4k.  Now this seems like a great idea cause if i could get it to work with 4k files that would be great but isnt necessary.  My issue is can i use it with my nas and still have it stream to any of my devices that use plex?  The devices generally are my living room tv which is a 4k sony, my bedroom tv which i use my xbox for plex which is just a basic 1080p tv and my computer every so often but never all at the same time, im generally running one stream at a time.  So would the shield acually work or is there a better option?  also if i build one i would like it to be as small as possible.  Not really too sure about budget but the cheaper the better.  Maybe $300 USD?  i dont know lets just see what comes up.  Thanks 

[Electronics Wizardy]

What nas do you have? Why not just put the plex server on the nas?

[Dedayog]

I don't run 4K off my Plex server, but the 1080p content doesn't stress it at all. Even running 4 feeds at the same time.

 

I'm curious how your needs scale for 4K.  I don't have much to add but I want to see how this works out.

[Slottr]

For 300$ you should be able to find an i7 Dell Optiplex system

 

But what NAS do you have? You might not have to spend any money at all

[xdeathshot20]

https://www.amazon.com/LinkStation-Personal-Storage-Diskless-Enclosure/dp/B00NP7JUO2

 

this is the nas i have.  It has 2 2tb seageate ironwolfs in raid 1

[Electronics Wizardy]

1 minute ago, xdeathshot20 said:

https://www.amazon.com/LinkStation-Personal-Storage-Diskless-Enclosure/dp/B00NP7JUO2

 

this is the nas i have.  It has 2 2tb seageate ironwolfs in raid 1

Id perosnally just get a better nas(maybe with more bays to store more data later on) and one that supports plex(most from synology and qnap do)

[Dedayog]

Just now, xdeathshot20 said:

https://www.amazon.com/LinkStation-Personal-Storage-Diskless-Enclosure/dp/B00NP7JUO2

 

this is the nas i have.  It has 2 2tb seageate ironwolfs in raid 1

https://forums.plex.tv/t/buffalo-linkstation-ls220d/129365/4

 

Looks like you can't reliably run Plex on that NAS.  So I'd build a cheap budget PC to run Plex and have it access the NAS for content.   

[xdeathshot20]

2 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

Id perosnally just get a better nas(maybe with more bays to store more data later on) and one that supports plex(most from synology and qnap do)

would you be able to recommend one that has at least 2 bays cause thats kinda all i need but more would be fine as long as it doesent go up too much in price.

 

2 minutes ago, jstudrawa said:

https://forums.plex.tv/t/buffalo-linkstation-ls220d/129365/4

 

Looks like you can't reliably run Plex on that NAS.  So I'd build a cheap budget PC to run Plex and have it access the NAS for content.   

would you be able to show me a small form factor build that would work?  also do you know if the nvidia shield would work?

[Electronics Wizardy]

Just now, xdeathshot20 said:

would you be able to recommend one that has at least 2 bays cause thats kinda all i need but more would be fine as long as it doesent go up too much in price.

 

would you be able to show me a small form factor build that would work?  also do you know if the nvidia shield would work?

sheild should work fine. For sff system, id just get a optiplex 3010 or 7010.

 

How about this for a nas.

 

https://www.amazon.com/Synology-Bay-DiskStation-DS218-Diskless/dp/B075N1BYWX

 

But with 4k video, 2tb will fill up fast.

[Dedayog]

1 minute ago, xdeathshot20 said:

would you be able to recommend one that has at least 2 bays cause thats kinda all i need but more would be fine as long as it doesent go up too much in price.

 

would you be able to show me a small form factor build that would work?  also do you know if the nvidia shield would work?

For sff, a nice itx build would be nice.  An older Optiplex system is good, but I had Microcenter sales so I went with a new build.  It's in my office, so I don't care about size.

 

I think @Electronics Wizardy knows much more than I do, so going to back off and let him give the advice.

[xdeathshot20]

4 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

sheild should work fine. For sff system, id just get a optiplex 3010 or 7010.

 

How about this for a nas.

 

https://www.amazon.com/Synology-Bay-DiskStation-DS218-Diskless/dp/B075N1BYWX

 

But with 4k video, 2tb will fill up fast.

alright im kinda leaning towards the shield for its 4k capabilty.  Would i be able to use the shield with my nas and have it work as my plex server streaming to my devices or does it have to be plugged into the specific device?

[Electronics Wizardy]

2 minutes ago, xdeathshot20 said:

alright im kinda leaning towards the shield for its 4k capabilty.  Would i be able to use the shield with my nas and have it work as my plex server streaming to my devices or does it have to be plugged into the specific device?

The shield should be able to connect to a smb/cifs connection and run plex off of that. 

 

But also you can do 4k plex of many different devices, so I wouldn't take that into account here.

 

Any network device can connect to a plex server.

[xdeathshot20]

1 minute ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

The shield should be able to connect to a smb/cifs connection and run plex off of that. 

 

Any network device can connect to a plex server.

ok so just so i understand the shield 4k will be able to connect to my nas for storage and then stream to any device i want that has plex on it?  this specific model

 

https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/shield/

[Electronics Wizardy]

Just now, xdeathshot20 said:

ok so just so i understand the shield 4k will be able to connect to my nas for storage and then stream to any device i want that has plex on it?

yep, thats how a plex server works. 

 

But I think a better nas would be a better solution here.

[xdeathshot20]

Just now, Electronics Wizardy said:

yep, thats how a plex server works. 

 

But I think a better nas would be a better solution here.

im sure that it will but the shield is a cheaper alternative while acually having some other useful features that i could use so im probaly gonna go with that.  Just one more thing, will the shield be able to stream 4k content or just 1080p?

[Electronics Wizardy]

Just now, xdeathshot20 said:

im sure that it will but the shield is a cheaper alternative while acually having some other useful features that i could use so im probaly gonna go with that.  Just one more thing, will the shield be able to stream 4k content or just 1080p?

Do you want to transcode or just stream? 

 

It should stream 4k

[xdeathshot20]

Just now, Electronics Wizardy said:

Do you want to transcode or just stream? 

 

It should stream 4k

im not too sure acually all i generally do it grab a video file in whatever res, download it to my nas and then sync my library files within plex and there it is

[Donut417]

7 hours ago, xdeathshot20 said:

4k sony,

Are you going to be doing 4K content via Plex? The fact is depending on if you going to be transcoding depends on what you need.

 

For example following the guide on Plex's website, https://support.plex.tv/articles/201774043-what-kind-of-cpu-do-i-need-for-my-server/

The Guideline

Very roughly speaking, for a single full-transcode of a video, the following PassMark score requirements are a good guideline for the following average source file:

• 4K HDR (50Mbps, 10-bit HEVC) file: 17000 PassMark score (being transcoded to 10Mbps 1080p)
• 4K SDR (40Mbps, 8-bit HEVC) file: 12000 PassMark score (being transcoded to 10Mbps 1080p)
• 1080p (10Mbps, H.264) file: 2000 PassMark score
• 720p (4Mbps, H.264) file: 1500 PassMark score

If your going to be doing any kind of transcoding, this a good guide on what you will need.