Need suggestions for new rig

General discussion about Universal Media Server (no support or requests)
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cyberbooster
Posts: 41
Joined: Mon Oct 21, 2013 4:10 am

Need suggestions for new rig

Post by cyberbooster »

Hi all,
I'm trying to figure out which components are the best to build a new rig as NAS and UMS server.

I would love to have the box with this features:
  • Linux Powered, so no strange configs with poor driver support
  • Have to be able to transcode on-the-fly at least 2 streams 1080p max bitrate
  • Small factor (micro-atx, mini-itx)
  • Low power / ultra-low power (could buy a laptop and strip it apart)
  • Fanless or ultra-silent
  • Low cost - the cheapest possible
Any help?
Last edited by cyberbooster on Sat Feb 22, 2014 5:51 am, edited 1 time in total.
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DeFlanko
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Location: San Pedro, CA
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Re: Need suggestions for new rig

Post by DeFlanko »

i went the opposite, high core, high RAM, heavy fan, moderate PSU -- RDP or VNC only and kept it in a closet.
cyberbooster
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Joined: Mon Oct 21, 2013 4:10 am

Re: Need suggestions for new rig

Post by cyberbooster »

DeFlanko wrote:i went the opposite, high core, high RAM, heavy fan, moderate PSU -- RDP or VNC only and kept it in a closet.
:D
I'm looking for a cheap and reliable solution and you suggest me to buy an expensive one ;)

Why I whould spend € 1000+ when I could spend less than a half and have the same results (transcode on-the-fly)?
Wolfgan
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Joined: Fri Feb 08, 2013 12:33 am

Re: Need suggestions for new rig

Post by Wolfgan »

cyberbooster wrote:
DeFlanko wrote:i went the opposite, high core, high RAM, heavy fan, moderate PSU -- RDP or VNC only and kept it in a closet.
:D
I'm looking for a cheap and reliable solution and you suggest me to buy an expensive one ;)

Why I whould spend € 1000+ when I could spend less than a half and have the same results (transcode on-the-fly)?
Which renderers do you have? Most newer players/renderers decode all kind of streams natively in HD (mpeg2, h264, vc1, avc) due it GPU/hardware support, so most of the times remuxing (just change of container) is enough for using a low power machine. If needed, the audio track may need to be transcoded, but that needs low resources (see my media server rig at viewtopic.php?f=4&t=624#p4116 ).
Search the forum fro "remuxing" and you'll find several users on a similar setup.
I hope it helps, Wolf
-- UMS serving PS3, WDTV, Samsung H6400 + J5500 and Kalemsoft renderers! (no video transcoding but remuxing accepted :D )
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DeFlanko
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Location: San Pedro, CA
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Re: Need suggestions for new rig

Post by DeFlanko »

cyberbooster wrote:
DeFlanko wrote:i went the opposite, high core, high RAM, heavy fan, moderate PSU -- RDP or VNC only and kept it in a closet.
:D
I'm looking for a cheap and reliable solution and you suggest me to buy an expensive one ;)

Why I whould spend € 1000+ when I could spend less than a half and have the same results (transcode on-the-fly)?
Well I also use it to Rip Blu-rays... Sooo....
cyberbooster
Posts: 41
Joined: Mon Oct 21, 2013 4:10 am

Re: Need suggestions for new rig

Post by cyberbooster »

Wolfgan wrote:
cyberbooster wrote:
DeFlanko wrote:i went the opposite, high core, high RAM, heavy fan, moderate PSU -- RDP or VNC only and kept it in a closet.
:D
I'm looking for a cheap and reliable solution and you suggest me to buy an expensive one ;)

Why I whould spend € 1000+ when I could spend less than a half and have the same results (transcode on-the-fly)?
Which renderers do you have? Most newer players/renderers decode all kind of streams natively in HD (mpeg2, h264, vc1, avc) due it GPU/hardware support, so most of the times remuxing (just change of container) is enough for using a low power machine. If needed, the audio track may need to be transcoded, but that needs low resources (see my media server rig at viewtopic.php?f=4&t=624#p4116 ).
Search the forum fro "remuxing" and you'll find several users on a similar setup.
I hope it helps, Wolf
I tried, but with my WDTV Live I can't get subs to work with remuxing.... :/
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