all4dom 73 Posted January 2, 2017 Share Posted January 2, 2017 Hi guys. Been a long time away from emby and can't believe how much it has evolved. I'm hoping some of you can point me in the right direction for a new server that will be compatible with wmby. I currently have whs 2011 and would like to just move away from it. I know very little about servers but am willing to get my hands dirty. Any help or guidance is appreciated. One thing I would like is the ability to be able to have enough juice to transcode. Maybe just an i3 or Intel server boards. Thanks Dominick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deathsquirrel 741 Posted January 2, 2017 Share Posted January 2, 2017 You'll want to give some info on your usage. How large is your collection, how many simultaneous users, will the users all be on the LAN, what client devices will they use, and what format do you store your media in? Depending on your needs, you may or may not even benefit from a dedicated server. Assuming you do we would need that kind of info to recommend anything. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marc_G 92 Posted January 2, 2017 Share Posted January 2, 2017 DISCLAIMER: I'm no server expert. Over the holiday break I decommissioned my old Athon X2/Win7/AMD 5670 (circa 2009 with slightly later gpu) Emby Server that was also acting as the HTPC front end. To be fair, it worked fine as a server for direct playing (minus transcoding) but the old fans were noisy, I wanted to be able to transcode if needed, and it was frankly just time to move on. I built the following: i5-6600k (k means you can overclock; I never bother but got the k version for just a few bucks more than regular version just in case) Asus B150M-A/M.2 mother board (nice board, 6 SATA ports, doesn't support overclocking though, but I don't really care) Samsung 850 EVO M.2 drive (250GB) Crucial RAM 2x8GB (DDR4 / 2133 CoolerMaster Gemini II M4 Lots of parts were on sale; about $500 (the case with power supply I had laying around). The drives were ones I migrated from my old server. I paired it with a Win 10 pro license ($10 on ebay). Install was easy; Emby runs like a champ; transcoding works fine with no tweaking, and the box is quiet enough to sit in the media center for now (thanks to a quiet Thermaltake power supply). Eventually I will get a display-only box to put next to the TV and move the server out of there (my original plan for display box didn't work out). If your needs are not extreme something like the above may work for you. Good luck. Also see the hardware subforum at the bottom of the main forum list. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
all4dom 73 Posted January 2, 2017 Author Share Posted January 2, 2017 hank you for your responses. The server will be for home use and maybe 2 or 3 streams the most at the same time. I have about 4 tbs of media and also a large colletion of family photos. Would also like to keep a folder for copies of small files that I may come accross, I have an htpc with win 7 for the main tv and im also using a firestick, apple tv and roku devices. Its all for home media use I guess you can say. I convert my media into mkv's and maybe other file types depending. Also use mpeg format. Would like the ability for emby to have enough power to transcode, but also have the system be efficient energy wise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
all4dom 73 Posted January 2, 2017 Author Share Posted January 2, 2017 Looking at new egg and seeing the cost for everything, i'm wondering if I should just plan on doing a win 10 server. This will mostly be used for media streaming and basicly backing up my files. Just currious on how a win 10 server alwas on is in comparrison to a reg server with another os. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
all4dom 73 Posted January 2, 2017 Author Share Posted January 2, 2017 Let me through this idea out.......my desktop dies and I have to replace that. Is it worth it to build a desktop running windows 10 and make that a server also? I know very little with this and any input from the community is greatly appreciated. Thank you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marc_G 92 Posted January 2, 2017 Share Posted January 2, 2017 I would say build a Win 10 pro desktop using a capable i5 and you would be fine, as long as you don't do stuff on that desktop that would suck all the power. If you are doing word processing, email, web browsing, and the like, you'll be fine with Emby server in the background, unless you are doing a lot of transcoding multiple streams at a time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
all4dom 73 Posted January 2, 2017 Author Share Posted January 2, 2017 I would only be transcoding if someone home is watching a movie so there would be transcoding but not 24/7. I only use my desktop for simple stuff and when I have to encode my media. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Koleckai Silvestri 1150 Posted January 2, 2017 Share Posted January 2, 2017 (edited) My server is an i5 6500 with 32 GB of DD4 RAM. I don't have a video card in it and just use the onboard video but it usually runs headless. Currently it has a preview of Windows Server 2016 on it but thinking of downgrading to Windows 10 Pro. I don't track what it transcodes and what it doesn't. That really isn't important as long as the video plays. This provides enough for my house. We have 3 Rokus, 2 Chromecasts, and up to 15 various other viewing devices (laptops, phones, tablets) but not all at the same time. Devices are connected via ethernet as much as possible. WiFi when ethernet isn't possible. I don't allow access from outside my network. Edited January 2, 2017 by Koleckai Silvestri Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest asrequested Posted January 2, 2017 Share Posted January 2, 2017 It sounds like you could just do a server/HTPC build. That's what I did, for a long time. You have minimum demand. As Marc is suggesting, start with an i5 6500(K). It's quad core, low power. If you need more juice in the future, you can switch it for an i7. You won't need a separate GPU, if you connect with an HDMI cable, and that will enable the QuickSync hardware acceleration, should you choose to use it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
all4dom 73 Posted January 2, 2017 Author Share Posted January 2, 2017 I have a seperate htpc that i built for the living room. I used to run the cable through it and also used it for media browser and playijg blue rays. Since I moved into my new home i dont have cable (directv now) and it will only be used for media browser theatre and playing blue rays. I am running windows 7 but am thinking of moving to win 10. Its been a pan in the ass to get all the updates for win 7. My units sat in a bin unplugged for 2 years. I may try an over the air antenna in the summar to get all my local channels and I'll run that through my htpc. Main thing is trying to figure out a server or server/desktop combo. I am hardwired for ethernet from the downstairs to my living room and my server woild be downstairs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
all4dom 73 Posted January 2, 2017 Author Share Posted January 2, 2017 f im correct, emby will transcode the media to any of the ddevices it hooked up to like a roku or firestick. That's why I'm thinking of going windows 10 instead of an os like freenas or omv because at least I know ill have no issues with media playback. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest asrequested Posted January 2, 2017 Share Posted January 2, 2017 I use Win 10 pro on both of my machines, I'd recommend it. If you buy and OTA tuner, get an HDHR, then you can use Emby's DVR software Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest asrequested Posted January 2, 2017 Share Posted January 2, 2017 f im correct, emby will transcode the media to any of the ddevices it hooked up to like a roku or firestick. That's why I'm thinking of going windows 10 instead of an os like freenas or omv because at least I know ill have no issues with media playback. It will transcode only when it needs to. If there isn't enough bandwidth, the device doesn't support the codec etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
all4dom 73 Posted January 2, 2017 Author Share Posted January 2, 2017 Thanks for the suggestion with the ota. I'm not going to try that until the summer. If I keep the server separate, can win 10 be run headless with access via remote desktop connection? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CBers 6766 Posted January 2, 2017 Share Posted January 2, 2017 I would only be transcoding if someone home is watching a movie so there would be transcoding but not 24/7. I only use my desktop for simple stuff and when I have to encode my media. If for your own home use, then your task should be to never transcode, or at the very least, only audio remuxing. All Emby clients will try everything to Direct Stream videos and will only fall through to transcoding as a last resort. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
all4dom 73 Posted January 2, 2017 Author Share Posted January 2, 2017 I thought when streaming to non pc devices like firestick, apple tv and roku, emby will transocde because they are not pc's. Like from the old media browser days......to get everything to play we would have to install a codec pack or wound up transcoding if it were say an mkv file. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PenkethBoy 2063 Posted January 2, 2017 Share Posted January 2, 2017 Whats the spec of the lounge pc you already have? if it's enough you might be able to put emby on that (with or without going to Win 10) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CBers 6766 Posted January 2, 2017 Share Posted January 2, 2017 No, not always. I all depends if the device is capable of playing the files. If you have your files in a format that most devices accept, then you probably won't ever transcode. I believe the Apple TV will only playback MP4 files, so any MKVs will need transcoding. You'll have to try and see what plays Direct Stream and what is transcoded. Kodi should play 99.99% of files Direct Play, in case you're going to go down that route. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PenkethBoy 2063 Posted January 2, 2017 Share Posted January 2, 2017 (edited) emby transcodes to a format the client device can support - in the initial handshake the client device tells emby server what it can support and the server then sends it a stream it can handle directly - which in a lot of cases will be just the file etc If you pre transcode any "weird" formats offline either using emby sync or a video editing package then only audio muxing/subtitle transcoding would happen- keeping the load minimal Beaten by a minute Edited January 2, 2017 by PenkethBoy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
all4dom 73 Posted January 2, 2017 Author Share Posted January 2, 2017 My htpc has an amd a8-550 3.2 ghz with 8 gigs of ram. Also has a blueray drive & ssd hard drive with a 2 tb second drive for recordings. I have a centon tuner card but I am not subscribing to cable. I don't think it would work for me as a server. Only thing that sucks is I had to do a clean install and cant get windows to update. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clarkss12 295 Posted January 2, 2017 Share Posted January 2, 2017 DISCLAIMER: I'm no server expert. Over the holiday break I decommissioned my old Athon X2/Win7/AMD 5670 (circa 2009 with slightly later gpu) Emby Server that was also acting as the HTPC front end. To be fair, it worked fine as a server for direct playing (minus transcoding) but the old fans were noisy, I wanted to be able to transcode if needed, and it was frankly just time to move on. I built the following: i5-6600k (k means you can overclock; I never bother but got the k version for just a few bucks more than regular version just in case) Asus B150M-A/M.2 mother board (nice board, 6 SATA ports, doesn't support overclocking though, but I don't really care) Samsung 850 EVO M.2 drive (250GB) Crucial RAM 2x8GB (DDR4 / 2133 CoolerMaster Gemini II M4 Lots of parts were on sale; about $500 (the case with power supply I had laying around). The drives were ones I migrated from my old server. I paired it with a Win 10 pro license ($10 on ebay). Install was easy; Emby runs like a champ; transcoding works fine with no tweaking, and the box is quiet enough to sit in the media center for now (thanks to a quiet Thermaltake power supply). Eventually I will get a display-only box to put next to the TV and move the server out of there (my original plan for display box didn't work out). If your needs are not extreme something like the above may work for you. Good luck. Also see the hardware subforum at the bottom of the main forum list. What is the wattage? My goal is to get devices that will run on pennies a day (or less). 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
all4dom 73 Posted January 2, 2017 Author Share Posted January 2, 2017 Running on pennies a day is probably one of the most important factors when building a server. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clarkss12 295 Posted January 2, 2017 Share Posted January 2, 2017 Is it possible that when describing your setups, you can include the power usage if possible. I don't have one of those fancy things that measures the wattage, but guess I should get one. I cringe at the thought of running my 8 year old home made computer running when I am not at it. I think this is an old age thing. In the early 80's, we always covered our computer, monitor and keyboard, etc. every time we got up from using it. As time progressed, it was determined that powering on and off was bad for the hard drives, so the consensus was to let the computer run 24/7 and no covers at all (of course I would have to shake the crumbs out of the keyboard occasionallly). Now days (69 years of age), I cringe at using any electricity, not just the expense, but the waste. I now think about what we leave for our next generations. It uses resources to generate electricity, and most of these resources are not replaceable. I even use cloth bags for groceries and shopping, have to save paper and especially plastic. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Koleckai Silvestri 1150 Posted January 3, 2017 Share Posted January 3, 2017 (edited) Is it possible that when describing your setups, you can include the power usage if possible. Don't really track my usage aside from monthly costs. In Autumn, Winter, and Spring I pay about $75 per month. In the summer, I pay about $300 per month. 3 bedroom, 3 bath house in Southern California. I am in the inland desert and summer days can get into the 120s. During Summer months, I get a $300 rebate because I give the utility permission to turn off my air conditioning for up to four hours per day. I also get a $40.00 climate credit twice a year in April and October. Plus, I pay them $10 extra per month so that my power is sourced from local solar fields instead of coal-fired plants in Nevada. This is after efficiency improvements such as redoing insulation, improving window coverings, planting trees, replacing appliances, and using LED lights. In 2007, my summer electrical bill was $600 per month. Edited January 3, 2017 by Koleckai Silvestri Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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