First Plex Server

Hello, I am new to plex and looking to build my first server.

My budget is around 300-500$

I am looking for a device that would be capable of transcoding 1080P video from Mkv files ( Blu-ray rips made with “Make MKV” on default settings ) for 1 or 2 devices simultaneously. Although if it could handle more that would be great.

I already have a NUC lying around that was given to me (Model NUC5CPYH) with a Celeron N3050 1.60 GHz processor.
I was thinking of installing FreeNAS on it but is it powerful enough for the task? Is already seems very slow running Windows 10.

Another option I looked into is getting a Mac Mini ( Model MGEM2LL/A 1.4 GHz OR MGEN2LL/A 2.6 GHz ) and hooking up a few external thunderbolt drives I already own.

Or lastly, should I get a NAS and or build one? any recommendations?
If I go with a prebuilt or custom made NAS I would be willing to pay a bit more in order to future proof my self and possibly support 4K.

As mentioned before I am new to all this are my hopes unrealistic?

I use a mac mini (2.6 Ghz) as both a server and home computer and it works flawlessly with 2 devices, no matter what is happening. It used to be hooked up to some USB 2 external HDDs but now I have a Drobo 5C (that, however, is above your price range). Both ways have worked great.

I like this set up because its plug and play. Personally, I use my media server constantly (all the time, everyday, in house and remote access) and I see no reason why a good home computer can’t double as a plex server if there are only one or two people using it.

You are looking for a cpu with an overall passmark score of at least ~8000 points
and a ‘single-thread rating’ of at least 1350 points.

Look up your prospective CPU at https://www.cpubenchmark.net/

@trumpy81 @OttoKerner Thank you for your help

@adamstewiegreen what year and/or model is your Mac Mini?

late 2014, (believe it or not) the newest one currently available. It has a passmark score in the high 7000s. I have my system set up so that it almost never transcodes - and if it does it’s usually audio.

@adamstewiegreen I’d assume you must be using the 2.8GHz i5 or 3.0GHz i7 model then is that correct? What media format and encoding tools do you use to avoid transcoding?

2.6GHz. I use handbrake encoding to h.264 in a mkv container - will probably switch to mp4 soon though (I did h.265 for a while but it lacks wider support and takes AGES to encode) that should play natively on most systems (mp4 though, not mkv) - audio is bit trickier - but audio transcoding isn’t an issue.

I use an amazon firetv. I have kodi installed on it - and that will play anything - no transcoding (check out PlexKodiConnect, it’s good, although right now mine is running Emby because Emby’s kodi integration is tight!!). I use the plex software (mostly for Live TV/DVR) - and that is a bit of a dog - although (very very slowly) getting a little better. The big problem with the plex app is 5.1 audio getting played as 2.1.

But firetv’s video codec support is fairly wide (much wider than say PS4 or Roku) as it includes both mp4 and mkv containers and also h.265 video.

I also the web player and my Galaxy S7 (mostly music while driving though)

@adamstewiegreen Thanks for all the info!