The NUC is perfect as a Plex device once you hit Kaby Lake because it can hardware-decode 10-bit HEVC. I totally understand where you’re coming from.
If you get bored and want to see my previous frustrations, here’s my second post about it: Plex has a reproducable issue where it can’t accelerate MPEG2 at 720p, only on Windows with Intel.
And here’s my previous post with further problems, this one about HEVC and AVC. Just in case you’re a glutton for punishment. I did send in a sample video and logs during this one, but nothing came of it. Originally I thought it was an issue with the wake-up of an idle box, but instead it turns out to just randomly fail.
One additional thing about Linux: Your server can be headless, unlike the HDMI dummy-plug needed for Windows. No idea why, but I’ve tested both.
At one point I brought it up to Elan during the Roku situation, and IIRC (I can’t find the comment right now!), he hinted that perfect hardware acceleration of Intel/Windows was a fairly tough nut to crack from an engineering perspective.
