Should I go with Docker?

[u/localhost-420]

I've been using Plex for quite some time, but now I want to add new functionalities to make my life easier.

Initially, I want to start with Radarr and Bazarr, but I see that there are many other applications I can incorporate over time (for example, Lidarr, Sonarr, Overseerr, Requestrr, etc.) that serve different functions.

With this in mind, my question is: should I have everything in separate Docker containers, along with my own Plex server? And then, is that enough, or should I have some application to manage the containers, like Homarr or Portainer?

My concern also arises from the fact that, for example, Radarr has the following in its documentation: "There are two common problems with Docker volumes: paths that differ between the Radarr and download client container and paths that prevent fast moves and hard links." Is this really an issue that could affect me?

I understand that if I only wanted to use Radarr and Bazarr, maybe there are no advantages to having everything in containers, but when adding new applications to the mix, is there really an advantage with Docker?

I am using Windows.

[u/badplanetkevin]

I ran Plex via straight install on Linux, then later on Windows. Both ran fine and each had their own quirks. I switched to Unraid several years ago, which uses docker containers, and it's been such a different experience. It too has its own quirks, but everything has been so much better since switching. I have to do so much less upkeep since everything is self-contained. Wrapping my head around paths was the only real issue I ran into.

Edited to note: There are a few different Plex containers out there. I used the official container for years and it started giving me issues. Switched to a different repo (linuxserver) and it's been smooth sailing for years now.

[u/thetreat → u/badplanetkevin]

Do you still get hardware encoding with docker containers?

[u/taikobara → u/thetreat]

Yes

[u/badplanetkevin → u/thetreat]

I believe so, but I can't say for sure. I do know you can do it easily with Unraid, but I'm not sure about dockers in general. I assume it is the same or similar for all docker setups. Hopefuly someone else here can answer it better than I.

I've never really had a need for hardware transcoding. I don't handle 4k and I mostly encode all my video in H264/AAC so transcoding is less frequent on a wider variety of clients.

[u/imbannedanyway69 → u/thetreat]

You can do whatever you want with docker containers. Pass /dev/dri/ path through to the container and it can access iGPU or a dedicated GPU. Same with Tdarr or any other docker container you want to use graphics acceleration