@nefer said:
Now with CPU cycles being more abundant in low-power client devices again (such as the apple tv) we can hopefully move back more in the direction of using low-power devices on both the server and the client side. Nobody really benefits from having to install a big and loud electricity hungry device in their home to be able to distribute their media content anyway.
I’ve been using a low power device on the server side for over a year, and coping with up to 8 simultaneous streams (3+ transcoding) without any reports of issues. It’s neither big nor loud nor electricity hungry.
As far as my solution being relatively niche (Intel Atom C2750 in a Nanoxia Deep Silence case, very low power, plenty powerful and almost silent), it’s very easy for most people to put in a small form factor, powerful and not extreme power consuming device into their network to take off the grunt of PMS (and transcoding) off an underperforming NAS, simply by picking up a small laptop to throw in front. Or an Intel NUC.
That said, I’m still in favour of having the ATV4 do more if it can, given the potential of the A9 CPU.
@deepseth said:
I’ve been using a low power device on the server side for over a year, and coping with up to 8 simultaneous streams (3+ transcoding) without any reports of issues. It’s neither big nor loud nor electricity hungry.
As far as my solution being relatively niche (Intel Atom C2750 in a Nanoxia Deep Silence case, very low power, plenty powerful and almost silent), it’s very easy for most people to put in a small form factor, powerful and not extreme power consuming device into their network to take off the grunt of PMS (and transcoding) off an underperforming NAS, simply by picking up a small laptop to throw in front. Or an Intel NUC.
Putting a laptop as a server next to a NAS in order to be able to serve content decently is just, well, clumbsy system design. Even putting a NUC in front is less than ideal. It’s an ugly band-aid, it just adds unnecessary complexity to the setup, having to map mounts between the NAS and the NUC and being dependent on network file protocols to get the files to the server. It also generates unnecessary network traffic as those files could be read just off the local disk.
I’m sure your atom based setup is neat, but I guess you also realize that people who actually bother building their own home server to fit a specific need are a minority when off-the-shelf solutions exist, and rightfully so.
I have build a xpenology-based NAS also with the C2750 avaton, which works fine, I also have a synology NAS, but it is all less ideal for Plex if the client has enough power do the transcoding itself.
@deepseth said:
Maybe get one of those off-the-shelf solutions that exist and fits the needs correctly then?
The off-the-shelf solution that I was referring to is a NAS box, which I’m currently runing. The NAS is for many people the modern-day equivalent of running a home server, which never got any traction with a larger userbase.
Honestly, now that I think about it, it all comes back to a request I made for AndroidTV… if they just allowed us to use external players on those always plugged in devices, it would make those kinds of requests obsolete, and reduce the transcoding server-side
Crazy how people are narrow minded with Apple Product.
It’s not about asking Apple to add codec, it’s about doing what a simple app like Infuse (WAY BETTER THAN PLEX btw) can do: support more file types. It’s not jailbreak it’s not against what Apple allow, it’s just an app functionnality. @hackztor@gmail.com "Next time buy your product based on the needs of yourself. Apple TV will be limited (and that is okay with most of the buyers). " The Apple TV is not limited: when you install Windows, you can not natively play MKV, you have to install VLC or any video player. Here it’s the same, to play some filetypes you have to get the right player.
