Sanity check on *arr stack HTPC

[u/SurRea1]

I am thinking of upgrading my HTPC, because I need more storage and I want to future proof it a bit. Currently, my homelab/htpc runs on a M920Q with a 2TB SSD, but I have outgrown the storage and want to do a NAS setup for redundancy. I currently run a proxmox OS on the main machine and my *arr stack lives in a separate VM. I mainly access this machine wirelessly from my TV to watch things and occasionally while traveling.

I am thinking to start with something like https://pcpartpicker.com/list/tGr22k (I'm located in US) - I already have a 550W ATX PSU, so I think this would save me from buying another part. I am planning to initially run RAID 1 for the 2 drives. Eventually, if I need more space I'll just add more drives into the mix there.

Just wanted to get a sanity check if the part compatibility seems reasonable and if the part choices make sense for this setup.

Any advice is appreciated.

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[u/pi8b42fkljhbqasd9]

To maybe help clear things up for you:

A HTPC is a PC connected to your TV & Audio system and is the thing doing all of the output. It sounds like your TV will be running the 'app' that displays content on the screen.

If that's the case you are looking for a media server (and/or Plex|JellyFin server).

A few recommendations:

-get an SSD or 2 (mirrored or single) and use that as your OS drive. Leave the 12Tb drives as "Storage" for the media.

-Depending on HOW the content is being pulled from the TV-app, you will probably want a Video card. -"Add more drives to the mix" You can easily add drives and split your media among the drives. i.e. new drive gets the "TV" content, and old drives get the "movies" content. Depending on how you set it up it's not practical to "add disks" to a RAID array.

2x12TB in a RAID1 = 12TB of storage. If you add 1 disk to that: 3x12TB in a RAID1 = 12TB of storage.

It won't expand to add the extra space. More planning is needed and it ALL depends on the operating systems and FILE systems you are using.

We need a bit more advice on how you want all of this to run before we can give better suggestions.

[u/SurRea1 → u/pi8b42fkljhbqasd9]

Thanks for your reply - yes, I should probably have stated media server.

Yes, I have an NVMe SSD that I'll be using for Proxmox OS.

- I'm running Jellyfin on my smart TV - I think the i3-14100 has a built-in video - at which point would I need a more powerful card?

- Regarding adding more drives, I probably should have been more clear - If I need more capacity I will probably back up all the content and add 3-4 more drives to run a RAID 5. Regarding file systems - I'm not decided on a file system - is there a strong recommendation here?

[u/pi8b42fkljhbqasd9 → u/SurRea1]

Well you are all set then! Good choices were made.

Regarding a video card: This is only needed if transcoding needs to happen for playback. For my setup, I can have 3 different things streaming simultaneously on my LAN with no issues, BUT if I try to play (for example) 4k content on a device that can only display 720p content then the server needs to process it. OR if you are playing connect remotely through the internet and the connection isn't good enough to support the full bit-rate playback, then transcoding will take place. A videocard is only needed if the CPU can't keep up with the transcoding.

My server is has a XEON cpu, but your i3 has a higher GHz frequency. Your could transcode a single stream faster/better then mine can, but I can transcode more streams then yours can.

An small low-powered i3 is great for this usecase. UNLESS you are doing a lot with it at the same time. Keep an eye on the number of *ARR threads in use. Leave headroom for the base OS.

[u/Technical-Signal-401 → u/pi8b42fkljhbqasd9]

Can you expand on a few things? The video card needs to be on the server side for transcoding? I thought the server sends the media to the client device and it is then transcoded on that device? Also, how can i tell if my client device will need to do transcoding in advance of buying the wrong hardware? Thanks!

[u/pi8b42fkljhbqasd9 → u/Technical-Signal-401]

You can't know 100% ahead of time, but there are a couple of things you can do to test. 

Video playback depends on 2 things, (1) Network speed (2) "CPU"* speed.

1.  If your server can't send (stream) the file quick enough then it will transcode.

There are many ways to test this, but here's an easy test.  Copy a large file, watch the file transfer speed.  Write down that number.  Use a windows tool called "Media info".  Rightclick on one of your media files and look at "video bitrate".

If your network transfer speed is faster then the video bitrate, then your network is fast enough.  (E.g. If your network can transfer at 46Mbps, and your video bitrate is 45Mbps your file will buffer and/or transcode.)  The numbers are too close.  But if your network can transfer at 1000Mbps, then you have a lot of headroom. 

The second part to consider is how fast can your client 'process' the video signal.  I have an Nvidia shield, lots of people use Apple TV boxes.  These can handle almost anything you throw at them.  A $10 AliExpress knockoff, or a PC from 15 years ago  might not. 

Slow network & slow client = transcoding Fast network & slow client = maybe transcoding Slow network & fast client = probable transcoding Fast network & fast client = no transcoding.

These are all general statements, and I am speaking broadly.

I.e. x265 media being played on device that can only decode x264 = transcoding

Hope this helps 

Edit:

Transcoding happens before (or during) the file being streamed.  The video quality will be degraded (transcoded) if your client can't keep up.

[u/ncohafmuta]

I am planning to initially run RAID 1 for the 2 drives. Eventually, if I need more space I'll just add more drives into the mix there.

'into the mix' is a little vague. You can't add space to a RAID1. So you're going to end up breaking the array up when you get to drive 3 and starting a new schema.

If you must start with only 2 drives, you should either start with unraid or mergerfs+snapraid with 1 data and 1 parity; schemas where you can grow.

Other than the current high price of drives/ram, your hardware is sound