Universal Media Server | Forum

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?

i went the opposite, high core, high RAM, heavy fan, moderate PSU -- RDP or VNC only and kept it in a closet.

DeFlanko wrote:i went the opposite, high core, high RAM, heavy fan, moderate PSU -- RDP or VNC only and kept it in a closet.

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)?

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.

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

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.

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....

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.

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.... :/