Building multi-user plex server - suggestions?

[adam_m]

Hi all,

Have a HP Microserver N54L at the moment (Running on Windows 8.1) but now I'm sharing my Plex library it seems to struggle when 2 or more clients at once are in use. Guess the little Turion isn't up to the task.

Have 2 options:

- Use the N54L as storage only and hook a Mac Mini to it (using GB Ethernet) to do the serving/transcoding
- Build a new Plex server from scratch

Option 1 is easier to implement and it'd be nice to have a Mac Mini in the living room for other tasks. I'm worried that the link between the Mac and the storage server would become a bottleneck though (I'm using drive pool on the N54L as well if that's of relevance) - is that a concern?

If 1 isn't wise then could people suggest on the following?

- Min CPU spec to handle at least 4 transcodes at once with Plex
- Small case that'll take 5 3.5" drives (4 for the pool, 1 for OS)
..needs to be quiet and frugal on power too please

Cheers!
Adam

 

[adam_m]

Do you already own a Mac mini or is that something you will have to buy to go with option 1?

I'd have to buy one for option 1.

 

[adam_m]

Option 1 should be OK. I'm doing something similar with FreeNAS on the Microserver and XBMC on a 2009 Mac mini.

So disk IO from FreeNAS can keep with the demands of multiple transcodes from the Mac Mini? How many streams can you do at once?

What CPU is in the Mac Mini?

Thanks!

 

[adam_m]

FreeNAS can quite happily saturate a gigabit connection.

Main XBMC library is on the Mac mini, if I play something from that shared library on another machine the file comes in from the NAS then out to the other device via XBMC, typically 2-3MB/sec for a 1080p MKV. The local XBMC client at the other end does the decoding using graphics acceleration if available.

Ye olde Mac mini is a 2GHz C2D with 4GB RAM. It passes decode off to the nVidia 9400 GPU, so it can happily play a 1080p MKV, run other stuff in the background and pipe another 1080p MKV to another PC.

Not tried Plex, might have to give it a try.

I see, so the client is doing the transcode. With Plex it's the server that's doing the heavy lifting so that's where the power needs to be. Docs say around 2000passmarks per 1080p transcode so if I want to handle 4 then I need something around the 8000 mark. Plex doesn't support GPU assisted decoding sadly.

 

[adam_m]

For 8000 passmarks you'll need a current Quad Core Mac mini.

I guess Plex comes in handy if you've got tablets or other mobile devices. They're not my thing really and they charge for the iOS app, which kills my curiosity. 1080p movies were made for a 42" TV, a comfy sofa and a cup of tea, not a 3.5" iPhone.

...that's what I'm looking at right now. Just nervous the N54L won't be able to serve the media files fast enough but only one way to find out really.

I was nervous about taking the plunge with Plex too for the same reasons but I'm now a lifetime PlexPass member and bought the iOS client too.

Love the following:

- I can access my entire Plex library anywhere with an internet connection via browser / iOS client (I'm in USA right now streaming content from my server at home flawlessly .. CPU contention aside for the transcode but that's a HW issue)
- I can share my library with others, and vice versa
- I can sync my library (and others who I share) to my iOS devices for when I'm without a connection
- AppleTV3 without jailbreak can use Plex via PlexConnect
- Using the iPlayer channel on my plex server I can view content without geographical restrictions and having to setup a VPN when I'm out of the UK

...point taken about quality but my main issue was more to do with availability rather than quality. I watch my content in full quality when I'm using AppleTV or on the home Wifi but when I'm not local Plex iOS app allows you to choose the quality and the server at home transcodes to that spec on demand.

The downside of course is that if you intend on doing much transcoding you need a pretty beefy server to back it up as I've found. The lowly Turion CPU in the N45L only has a passmark of 1400ish so I'm stunned it even manage to do a decent job of 1080p transcoding a single stream let alone 2.

 

[adam_m]

I have a dedicated Mac Mini Plex server backed by a couple of QNAP NASes for data storage so really a similar setup to the OP's first option. My setup is limited due to the Mac Mini in question being rather aged now (it's a 2009 C2D model) but it handles a 720p stream being transcoded ok (I have the iOS and Android apps as well as a NowTV box) but mostly I use the fat OSX clients where transcoding is not required.

One thing I would note regarding using a Mac Mini as a server is to be careful with what OSX version you use and how you are presenting the storage to it. Even with the latest update I am still finding SMB2 shares less reliable (although better) under Maverick compared with previous releases which could cause you issues so my Plex server is running Lion at the moment.

Interesting .. was planning on using NFS shares for reliability, will be gutting if that isn't solid.

i7 Mac Mini's are on sale here at the moment for $680+tax so that might well end up being the option.

Great to hear people with these crazy Plex setups!!

Cheers,
A

 

[adam_m]

...decided against a Mac Mini in the end, wanted a single box solution so I built a rig around an i5 4440 with 8Gb RAM and a 120Gb SSD for OS and plex transcoding temp files. So far I've had 3 high bitrate 1080p files transcoding at once without an issue - will do more tonight when I have more devices to try with but it's looking promising.

Cheers,
Adam