this post was submitted on 30 Jan 2024
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You’ll be disappointed with an RPi any time you need to transcode. If you’re only going to be streaming locally and you know that all of your devices support DirectPlay, then great. Go ahead. But if you think you might need transcoding, then you’ll likely want to look elsewhere for something that will actually be able to keep up with transcoding.
Consider looking for something like an HP EliteDesk. You can pick up a refurb G5 model for anywhere from $200-$400. Hell, Amazon probably has refurbs even cheaper than that; They’re commonly used in office buildings for desk workers, then recycled when IT’s 3-year replacement cycle comes around. So there are a lot of used ones on the market, which have only been used for basic things like word processing and excel spreadsheets. The refurb is basically just a matter of adding a new SSD to it (because IT will have ripped the drive out when they recycled it) and giving it some new thermal paste and a blast of air. It’ll be beefy enough to run 2k transcoding decently, while still maintaining a MicroATX size.
Maybe throw an external case fan on it, since it’s passively cooled and tends to run warm? But that’s honestly optional, especially if you’re only using it for Jellyfin and the *arr suite.
It’s hard to make specific recommendations without knowing a budget. You mentioned the RPi so I’m assuming your budget is low. But I just wanted to caution you against the RPi, since you’ll quickly find that it is underpowered for video transcodes.
If you’re dead set on using an SBC for it, maybe something a little more powerful? I’m not super up-to-date on SBC stuff right now, but I know there are several competitors to RPi that offer better specs. The issue with competitors has (at least last time I looked at them) been with software support. The RPi dominates the market, so there is a lot of software written for it. But competitors have historically struggled to get the same kind of support, so you’ll want to do some research to make sure your particular SBC will actually have a decent distro available for Jellyfin.