Noob here, I've amassed a thousand movies (personal backups from my physical media) on a 2TB and 5TB 2'5 drive and looking to build a home server with Plex/Jellyin so I can conveniently watch them from anywhere without having to always connect my HDD and move files around.

I'm not sure yet whether it will be Plex or Jellyfin. Plex is probably more noob friendly and you can get the app natively on everything, but Jellyfin is free and le open source. I'll just choose Jellyfin.
One thing that I guess I need to do is get another drive for redundancy, so I can sleep well without worrying that my thousand movie collection will be lost forever if the drive randomly fails.
Would this one be fine? 8TB WD external drive, enough to copy everything over and have 1 TB extra for shits and giggles. https://www.amazon.de/Desktop-Festplatte-Passwortschutz-Desktop-Speicher-Sicherungssoftware-Hardwareverschl%C3%BCsselung/dp/B01LWVT81X/262-3305317-2066531
Gotta say though, it's criminal how expensive those things still are. I work like 10 hours to afford that. Also what software do I need that manage the drives and make sure everything is backed up automatically?

And lastly, since I don't have any old PCs or laptops lying around, I need to buy one. Would this HP ProDesk be overkill for my usecase? https://www.ebay.de/itm/205531375837
All the media is 1080p x265, the only people watching would be me, my parents and my pinay gf in the Philippines. Btw I don't even have a monitor, will I need one too to set it up? I'm really a n00b.

Just run sshd and minidlna, no need for the bloat.

>>105986605 (OP)
>get another drive for redundancy
you should get an extra drive, but be careful on how you copy over files, I heard you can accidentally nuke your drive's FS tables if you just blindly copy and paste

>software do I need that manage the drives and make sure everything is backed up automatically
HDSentinel to check drive health
use task scheduler for windows or cron jobs in linux to automate
for actual backups I just use rsync, dunno whats the windows equivalent of that (maybe robocopy?)

>Would this HP ProDesk be overkill for my usecase?
that should be more than enough, make sure to enable hardware transcoding so QSV saves your ass from 99% CPU usage


take this with a grain of salt until a bigger autist corrects me on everything

>>105986605 (OP)
Jellyfin has apps for just about everything now too. You've been huffing the farts of Plex users justifying their expense.
It's just media live on the edge. I have a bunch of shit on a single 20TB drive.

>>105986605 (OP)
don't use plex.

>>105986605 (OP)
>I've amassed a thousand movies (personal backups from my physical media) on a 2TB and 5TB 2'5 drive
delete all that yify tier trash

>>105986605 (OP)
>Gotta say though, it's criminal how expensive those things still are.
Only in Europe
Americans pay pennies for triple the amount and get used deals too from datacenters dumping millions of drives
Should've bought during Prime Day, a lot of drives became actual decent(ish) prices

Jellyfin, or Emby if you need a Tizen app to just werk.

Ngl starting to hate plex. It never recognizes my anime and I always have to delete, add, rename, add when all I really want is just easy bake play video file.
>patlabor is always being recognized as ova no matter how much i name it or match it to the tv series
fucking fuck

What's wrong with Jellyfin ?

>>105988194
Skill issue. Check tvdb and verify what order matches what you're looking for, then switch that entry's ordering style to the correct one.

>>105988194
you need to use an anime agent to get plex to recognize anime
https://github.com/ZeroQI/Hama.bundle

>>105986780
Plex is 10x better at auto filling data than jellyfin. Everything has a price, with jellyfin it’s your time fixing all the wrong movie thumbnails and names

>>105988452
>Plex is 10x better at auto filling data than jellyfin.
No it's fucking not lmao. Actually I had to correct a similar amount of info on both. But I'd say 95% of my media was detected by Jellyfin.

>plex and chill
>not plex and sex

>>105986780
you talk like plex costs thousands of dollars a year. i paid like $120 for a lifetime subscription lmao
shit just works

>>105987000
You can install Jellyfin on TizenOS you just need to use the SDK to install it.
https://github.com/jeppevinkel/jellyfin-tizen-builds

>>105988596
>jellyfin and analingus

>>105988905
>I paid $120 for something that is free

>>105988452
I've had to change like 3 posters in my collection of 1000+ movies on jellyfin.

>>105989020
yes. i pay for things that have free alternatives all the time, because i have a job and can afford to spend discretionary income on things that offer me convenience and save me time.
my home server has a hundred other open source and self hosted services on it. for this service i choose to pay.
basically, i'm just not going to use jellyfin is all.

>>105989534
I just use samba and kodi. Posters and shit are handled by the *arr programs.

>>105986605 (OP)
Plex mogs Jellyfin.

You can run it on something like a mac mini or a Jetson Nano. Anything with a slightly good GPU really. I run it on a jetson nano myself.

As for your choice of computer and drive, it's fine, it will work, but I urge you to try to not use USB drives, because they are prone to failure. Get a SATA drive if possible; buy any used computer and install an NVIDIA GTX 770 or something and you're off to the races.

The reason why I suggest to go with a bit beefier graphics is because Plex shines best with Transcoding, and you need a good GPU to transcode. It will save you a lot of headaches. Been running Plex since 2023 here.

>>105986605 (OP)
i wannd do plex or jellyfin for my mom but she she won't stop wasting money on streaming service peacock because of the show "days of our lives" What can I do to make it so that she still gets to see day of our lives and not pay for shitty peacock that keeps raising its price? Cause thats literally the only thing on peacock that she uses peacock for.

>>105986605 (OP)
Thank you to the anon that recommended RealDebrid + TorrentIO + Stremio in a thread a bit ago, I put it on a firestick i got in the prime day sale and now I can stream everything in 4k without making my friends wait an hour for movies to download over my VPN. I used to use the Jellyfin + arr setup but this is so much easier.

>>105986605 (OP)
>Jellyfin or Plex
Use Jellyfin. The only advantage of Plex was them handing user accounts. But they recently changed things and want you to pay to access your own media outside of your LAN now. Jellyfin is easy to set up and managing the user accounts isn't hard.
>HDDs
Get as many as you can afford and run them in RAID
>PC
You don't need a powerful PC for this provided all your end user devices can decode the video+audio+subtitles you're sending them. In practice most things can handle x265 shit just fine now. They can also handle most widely used video codecs. Just make sure your users devices can decode what you're hosting and you're good to go. Audio isn't a huge deal to transcode though so if you have a lot of shit laying around with exotic codecs like FLAC it'll be okay with a handful of users. But things work much better if AAC and Opus codecs are the defaults for your files.

The main issue people have with this is decoding subtitles usually with anime. Since anime autists are retarded and insist on using .ass with a bunch of hacky shit to do signs+typesetting. These can murder CPUs even if the player has support. In practice I've found I need to use Kodi or one of the forks of mpv (on AppleTV that means Infuse which has its own pay wall for certain things). If you don't watch anime this isn't a huge deal and you'll most likely be okay with whatever. If you do watch anime this becomes a huge problem because when the end user's video player doesn't support subtitles it'll want to transcode the video on your server to "burn them in". What I ended up doing was denying clients that requested those type of files without the ability to decode them. Force them to buy a decent device really quick (Rokus have no support for .ass at all btw).

I was running Plex and Jellyfin side by side and slowly switching everyone over to Jellyfin over the last year. When Plex announced they wanted money for remote streaming I ditched it within a week.

>>105990475
>it'll want to transcode the video on your server to "burn them in".
but even 10yo CPUs should handle that easily

>>105990475
Also don't listen to "skill issue" faggots. Plex and Jellyfin are both awful at finding meta data for certain things by default unless the files are named *just so*. What you'll want to do is use tvdb and tmdb for western content. You'll want the anidb or MAL plugins for nip shit. I used to attempt renaming anime files and hosting them as seasons like tvdb lists them. But now I just toss them in their own directories as they come and don't bother to change the file names. If you're cool with show cours being listed as separate series it works much better and is much less of a headache.

Don't fall for the shit like shoko that claims to help with the above problem. It's shit. Just get the anidb plug-in for Jellyfin and be done with it.

I run my server on an old PC with a bunch of HDDs in it. I use FreeBSD for the OS because it has the native ZFS support. That makes it easy to do regular backups and rollbacks when needed. Run everything in RAID for a little redundancy and so it keeps working until I get around to replacing a b0rk HDD. It just werks I don't know why people fuck around with Dockers and shit. I bought a cheap VPS to handle user log-ins and passing along the real IP to the client but you don't have to do this. It's fine to expose the IP+ports to the internet provided you aren't retarded. If you're paranoid once you gather a list of client IPs whitelist them.

I serve about 30 users on a 2Gbps fiber connection. I was serving about 20 on a slower cable connection up until the first of this year. No complaints from anyone. I do re-encode a bunch of shit from x264 -> x265 and FLAC -> AAC. I don't care about archiving the best quality. I just want the shit to work when the client requests it without transcoding. They can't tell the difference between BDrip and my encode anyway. My encodes don't look bad because I've been doing it for years.

>>105990058
>RealDebrid
Don't listen to this faggot. He's trying to scam you into paying for torrents lmao.

>>105990496
Not when you're serving more than 5 people it doesn't. Why bother with this at all when you can serve 30 from a potato

>>105989931
>Plex shines best with Transcoding, and you need a good GPU to transcode.
I don't know why people are so clueless. It's either that or they're lying and trying to get you to pay money when you don't need to.

You do not need a GPU to transcode and GPU transcodes always look like shit anyway. What he failed to mention is Plex forced you to PAY MONEY to access GPU transcoding for no reason. It's an artificial limitation that only exists in the software because they're a bunch of faggots. Plex isn't even an original piece of software. They took something from the FOSS community, shit it up then tried to turn it into something to make profit with. It also datamines the fuck out of both you and your clients. Every night at 2am your HDDs churn away while it gathers data to phone home with. They claim they won't do anything naughty with it of course.

With Jellyfin there is none of that bullshit. No limitations and no trying to make you pay to access your own media. The only reason plex was even worth using before was the fact that they handled user accounts for you. Well that and their crappy relay servers that worked if your client couldn't directly connect to your IP address. But that's usually caused by you fucking up your config somewhere and their relay servers are hot garbage. You could do much better on your own for $2 a month with a VPS.

Don't pay money for any of this shit. It's warez. The entire point is avoiding paying any money. There are far too many scam services now trying to profit off piracy. The private trackers are the same thing with a different set of faggotry.

It isn't hard to set this stuff up anon. It'll take you about a day to figure it out then maybe another day to get meta data setup like you want. The first scan is always a pain but once you've got it done adding new stuff is easy and quick. You can also automate most of the process and even setup a way for users to request content without having to do anything on your end.

>>105990783
You don't have to pay to use Plex in the LAN.

>install emby on my female friend's Samsung TV
>there is no chill, ever
i should have installed plex.

>>105986605 (OP)

Here's what I think you should do:

1. Get a dedicated computer for homeserver use. Doesn't need to be anything crazy but say something like a 12th gen i3 or better so it's not obsolete right away. This has less importance if you're going to get a GPU that can handle transcoding, but it's a bit tricky to get that working albeit not too hard. ChatGPT knows how to do the passthrough.

2. Install Proxmox, under proxmox install a Ubuntu 24.04 desktop VM. It doesn't need to be Ubuntu server since the memory consumption difference is so small and you'll likely want GUI applications in the beginning.

3. If you have a GPU, pass it through to the VM

4. In your computer you can either pass the disks to the Ubuntu VM or you can get a cheap controller with multiple SATA ports. I have a lot of different ones but the one I found handy is a nvme to 5 x SATAIII ports so I can have 5 disks either 3.5" or 2.5"

Now you have a basic homeserver that lets you easily add VM's (https://community-scripts.github.io/ProxmoxVE/scripts) so you can build pretty much everything self hosted with relative ease. I know my approach is a bit advanced but I started with an old HP desktop with a core 2 quad. I wish someone had told me that Proxmox is easy to get working and of course in 2025 it has so much support and ready configs for everything. Now I have a Proxmox datacenter with 2 nodes both 14700K/128GB and my main pool for torrents is a 10x10TB array with no redundancy because I just keep adding more drives when I need more. Just don't buy Seagate and you'll be alright, this pool has lasted for a lot of years and one day when it shits out, with all the buffer I have I can just re-download all and probably get a user level bump on one of the trackers I'm on just for higher DL.

>>105990942
Yeah no shit. I never said you did. You do have to pay for GPU transcoding and tons of other 'features' though. It does datamine the fuck out of your and your users. It is a massive piece of shit. They are attempting to monetize it any way they can. It does push its stupid streaming TV service hard and the UI gets more horrible with each passing month. Their official apps for most devices are shit and can't handle simple things like decoding .ass subtitles without signs. It does have a horrible plug-in system that they're going to remove soon which takes away your ability to do things like use anidb as a meta data source for your nip cartoons.

I can go on some more about how shit it is if you'd like.

>>105991172
>my approach is a bit advance
>ChatGPT knows how
wew

>>105991172
>Ubuntu for a home server
>hosting media server inside of a VM for no reason
>ChatGPT and GPU transcoding
>Proxmox
>Using private trackers
>doesn't know how to ghost leech to game ratio on said tracker
I see. It makes sense how they keep tricking people into fluffing their balls on their two-bit scene rip off. I've noticed everyone that gets all defensive about private trackers can't into computer.

>>105991288

You didn't explain what's wrong with what I do.

>>105991172
>Now I have a Proxmox datacenter with 2 nodes both 14700K/128GB and my main pool for torrents is a 10x10TB array with no redundancy

MY NIGGA WHAT ARE YOU DOIN

>>105986605 (OP)

>>105986605 (OP)
do jellyfin not plex.
Download debian, use docker to install jellyfin, open port 8096 in ufw. If you want to use it outside your house, install tailscale instead of doing anything with the open internet. It'll take maybe an afternoon. The HP miniPC is fine.

>>105991172
>10x10TB array
>no redundancy
At least my 4x16TiB+2x18TiB (the astute reader will see this also adds to 100TiB) run in z2, so i get 64TiB of decently safe storage.
Obviously I got enough buffer too, but with my 100Mbit/s connection it would take literally 2 months to redownload all my shit, and I'd still lose niche content that isn't properly seeded.
>Now I have a Proxmox datacenter with 2 nodes both 14700K/128GB and my main pool for torrents is a
You really are retarded. My fucking n100 has enough juice and an av1 capable decoder to manage and serve my collection, and it's only smaller than yours because I'm not retarded enough to shit on redundancy. In fact, it's going to grow by another 16TiB in the next two weeks. I run the entire stack twice for English and native content, with duplicate arr and ombo instances, thousands of torrents and i still got 16 of my 32 GiB of ram free to cache 99% of my zfs I/O ops. Meanwhile you bought a gaymer CPU that has a higher idle load than my entire server draws. I sure hope it oxidizes because you don't deserve better.

>>105991852

Didn't I just explin to you why I do this?

>>105991958

Plex is not the only thing I run on my servers.

>>105988905
>i paid
Retardation spotted

>>105989534

>>105986605 (OP)
Why Plex rather than a Samba share with media and Kodi? What's the appeal?

>>105993170
>the only people watching would be me, my parents and my pinay gf in the Philippines
this is the appeal, it's the most normie friendly solution for the viewer

>>105990003
I use Jellyfin and have never used anything else inn my system: 256TiB of storage on my old i7 6700K PC, with GTX980, running Mint. AVOID ALL TRANSCODING. Direct Play is the way to go. Anyone suggesting transcoding either doesn't know what they're talking about or is retarded. Transcoding via GPU or CPU is extremely taxing, regardless of your system build. Direct Play reduces poet consumption, heat QoL and QoS. I use Jellyfin in Kodi running on my OLED TVs and/or my AM6B+ (the latter allows me to comfortably and confidently run Dobby Video Profile 7 FEL remuxes). I have never had any issues with metadata and a of it is handled in jellyfin. Folder structure is important for TV Shows and Series—Step By Step (1990)—for example. Everything else LOCALLY is s piece of cake.

>>105993311
>philippines
she can get all the paid services for a couple of bucks a month as well as services more tailored to her tastes that aren't available outside the region.

>>105993410
Oh, remember that transcoding occurs when the device that you're using to watch the media cannot handle the format that the media is in. For example, Jellyfin native on an LG OLED CANNOT decode PGS Subs and attempts to transcode the PGS Sub in a format that the jellyin player running on the LG OLED TV can use. This is taxing on the PC. Simply go with .srt or use Jellyfin in Kodi and allow Kodi to handle the PGS Subs.

>>105993551
I use libreelec on raspberry pi for kodi and it handles all of that. the stuff they build into TVs is always underpowered.

>>105993865
Precisely. AM6B+ is the shit!

>>105993443
SHE'S JUST GOING TO WANT TO WATCH THIRDIE DAYTIME SOAPS WITH 10,000 EPISODES

>>105989931
remind me again on what happens to plex when their authentication servers go down?

This thin client is very cheap, would it be enough for Jellyfin? https://www.ebay.de/itm/131747308159?

Post your homepages anons. I want to see if I can make mine better

>>105986605 (OP)
Go for Jellyfin. Plex will cuck you hard by disabling your instance remotely for bullshit reasons or demanding you to pay them to watch your own content.

>>105986780
>>105987000
>>105988211
>>105988980
>>105991910
Buy an ad.
Oh wait, you're too poor.

bumpin'

How are Intel GPUs on jellyfin?

>>105993410
You mean the jellyfinn kodi addon right

>>105999614
Either, I suppose.

>>105990058
Would be nice if shit like stremio and popcorn time had lasted longer than they did

>>105986605 (OP)
Why not just host a http server? You can stream to pretty much any video player nowadays, just drag and drop the link.

>>105986605 (OP)
When I used plex 10 years ago I used to say Plex and sex. Now it's Jellyfin and sin.

>>105993100
money can be exchanged for goods and services

>>105993410
anon it sounds like you think people transcode because they think it's fun.
transcoding is used when there is no other way to play the media. in short, you are stupid.

>>105988194
I switched off plex to jellyfin recently, ill tell you how it went since I have a mostly anime library
>easier to manage anime, just get the anidb plugin and organize your anime how anidb does. this is better than messing around with HAMA and Absolute Series Scanner on plex
>the anidb plugin can get rate limited so it may be slow to build your library
>the androidtv jellyfin app transcodes on ASS/PGS subtitles, while the plex androidtv app direct plays it, this was annoying to get over for me. I am planning on converting a lot of my subs to SRT. You can use Kodi with Jellyfin to avoid transcoding as well
>it doesnt require internet like plex, so I can watch my library when the internet connection is down, very nice.
>The tagging system is easier to control access to certain titles by account, this is useful if you have anime you dont want friends and family to see
>remote play is more difficult because you will need to set up a reverse proxy, not that hard if you google it. Plex charges for remote play now, fuck them
>user experience feels nicer because its not shoving ads and other services at me

>>105999768
>Jellyfin and cumming in

>>105999867
>plex requires internet
literally spyware

>>105999823

>>105999867
but you can use plex when the internet is down too

I wish jellyfin were a little more lenient with filenames. I have a bunch of anime in the form of "[group] title 01 [crc].mkv", but jellyfin won't recognize it without the dash between the title and 01, whereas Plex recognizes it just fine.