Media Server on the Move

[Aeroscout6-6]

Hey all,

 

I have a few weeks before the boys and I are out the door and headed for a 9 month trip to the Middle East. I want to throw together a server build that I can carry forward and deploy easily for everyone to enjoy on their off time. I’m not trying to break the bank on something that will realistically remain for the next group comes after us so I’d like to stick as close to $1500USD as possible given the constraints. 
 

I’m looking for something that can handle 15-20 clients max for either streaming or media download on a closed network. I want something that will not need access to an outside network as one will likely not be available but rather could be accessed when physically close enough to connect. 
 

I’m looking for recommendations on hardware for both the media server and network equipment on how to make this happen given the client size and austere environment. 

[Eaglewatch]

Hey there!, I'm also thinking to do something like that, but in a tighter budget.

 

I thougth about the compromises I'm willing to make in order to achieve my goals.

I would ask you if you are willing to sacrifice resolution and disk space for greater compatibility in order to reduce transcoding using for example 1080p with x264 encoding. Perhaps by doing this you might be ok with some sort of hight core-count cpu, but you might need a more complete router, since x264 requires greater bandwith in the network.

 

Since you posted this, have you think of what to use? Or maybe have you test something alredy?