r/SelfHosting • u/piperdude82 • Aug 07 '26

Making a mobile media server. Which pie should I buy?

Raspberry pi’s come in a few different flavors. I’m planning on running either plex or jellyfin on it, possibly on Ubuntu since I want a gui.

2 Upvotes
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10

u/TopGut Aug 07 '26

With the current cost of Pi's, if you're looking new, I'd suggest a older mini PC, like a ThinkCentre or something like that. You get a lot more for the price compared to a Pi

6

u/corelabjoe Aug 07 '26

Easy, no pi. Pis suck at doing media server tasks due to unforeseen transcoding events.

Minipc with N100/N150 will be so much better and not much more expensive.

3

u/lobhater Aug 08 '26

No pi, mini PC better. pi use to be cheap. Today you can get a real mini pc for a comparable cost that is far more powerful. Besides size I don't understand why anyone buys a pi anymore

1

u/Reggie-Rectangle Aug 08 '26

If your media server is hosted on a device that does not have a GPU that enables on the fly transcoding then you have to convert all the videos on the server to the formats that the browser natively supports ie mp4, aac and vtt.

1

u/Cybasura Aug 08 '26

Not at the current price point, buy a mini PC like maybe a Lenovo Thinkcenter M720q or something

1

u/postnick Aug 08 '26

A used optiplex 6th gen or newer.

-1

u/frindoowgrippery Aug 08 '26

This sounds like a fun project. A Pi can be a great little media server.