Help Deciding What Machine to Use for Server

[Jobber8742 9]

I'm a bit confused about what machine I should use to optimize my performance. Here's my setup:

 

3 - HTPCs (Windows 7), 1 of these has a Infinity 4 TV Tuner (all i3 processors and 8GB RAM)

2 - 4U 24-bay servers, 1 is pretty much just strictly storage with an old processor (Windows 7). The other has dual Xeon L5640 Six Core Processors and 48GB of RAM (Windows 10)

1 - Amazon Fire Stick

1 - Android Mobile

1 - New PC that is being built (Windows 10)

 

I am in a situation where I have to upgrade my standalone PC and trying to decide what to do. I want to figure out what machine I should put Emby Server on. My choices would be either the server with dual Xeons or the new PC. My plan for the PC is either an i7-6700 or an i5-6500 and 32GB RAM. At any one time I would have 2 direct play connections, 1 local transcoding connection, and 2 remote transcoding connections. So my question would be should I run Emby Server on the server or the standalone PC? I have trouble deciding what would be better.

[Redshirt 1487]

Both are viable options, but there are considerations.

 

In my own home network, I have Emby running on my server and I chose not to run Emby as a service. I wanted to be able to update and restart it at any time. To accommodate that, I have the server (win 10 pro) set to auto-login. Some prefer to run Emby as a service in which case you'll need to log into the server in order to update it. 

[Jobber8742 9]

Both are viable options, but there are considerations.

 

In my own home network, I have Emby running on my server and I chose not to run Emby as a service. I wanted to be able to update and restart it at any time. To accommodate that, I have the server (win 10 pro) set to auto-login. Some prefer to run Emby as a service in which case you'll need to log into the server in order to update it. 

 

I don't plan on running as a service. Not quite sure I understand the benefits/tradeoffs of it. When I first started I just had Emby Server on the old server and I'd remote into it when I needed to do something. Right now it is on one of the HTPCs while I get the Xeon server fully operational as I just got it a few weeks ago an I'm still setting it up. Are there any real downsides to using one over the other? Both run pretty much all the time.

[Redshirt 1487]

No downside that I've experienced. I have a second emby server running on my desktop purely for development purposes and I don't see any impact on my day-to-day. Also the web UI makes it really irrelevant what machine Emby is running on.

[Jobber8742 9]

No downside that I've experienced. I have a second emby server running on my desktop purely for development purposes and I don't see any impact on my day-to-day. Also the web UI makes it really irrelevant what machine Emby is running on.

 

Yes, I use the Web UI from all kinds of machines to adjust it now. I guess my question is more about performance with playback and transcoding. The old server couldn't keep up with transcoding at all, so I moved it to the HTPC and it improved, but still isn't where I want it to be. It sounds like from what you are saying is either one of these other machines will handle my playback and transcoding requirements with no issues. Is that correct?