My library is a mix of DVD rips MKV and some BluRay MKV rips. These will only be streamed over the LAN so direct stream should be used as default. I would also like to use the Plex Android App to stream media to.
Would this system typically cope ok (typically only 2 devices concurrently)? 4K isn’t something I’d look into streaming at all.
as long as you are direct streaming you should be fine.
your android app may not direct stream but should be able to handle the transcode for that guy.
Also its unclear from your post but Plex doesn’t play DVD RIPs as in VOB stuff at all.
Thanks for taking the time to respond. I use a software package called ‘MakeMKV’ which rips the DVD into a MKV container. I’m sure it doesn’t perform any kind of transcode as DVD’s are around 5GB and BluRay can be anywhere from 25GB to 50GB (50GB being Blade Runner 2049).
At most myself and my partner may be streaming to our phones/tablets (2 streams).
Would this i5 be generally ok? I will look at batch transcoding the direct rips down to something a bit less intense. I did see an i7 model model but that was a 4th gen model wherein this i5 is a 6th gen.
the I5 will get you a single 1080 transcode session.
If you do batch transcode stuff in advance it would save the need for that on the fly but I would say you should probably be good with the i5.
If you are going to spend any actual money, and you are planning on a plex pass, I highly suggest you target a CPU with a integrated GPU that will handle HEVC correctly. It might not be a requirement today, but it is very common. find a system with a kaby lake cpu or nearer. I love the i3-8100 quad core as a bargain plex server. 4 real cores and an excellent iGPU, it works amazingly well and you can get them used for a low cost.
Hey there. I have a very similar system except it’s a Lenovo Think Pad laptop (processor is only 2.5Ghz, but processor type and ram are the same) connected to an 8 TB external drive and Ethernet. I’ve had no problems direct playing 3-4 streams of 1080p content.
