Discrete GPUs also offer flexibility beyond Plex. If your server doubles as a workstation, runs machine learning workloads, or handles other GPU-accelerated tasks, the additional horsepower isn’t ...

Intel's Atom C3538 (clocked at 2.1Ghz) isn't a particularly powerful processor. It's 64-bit, has multiple cores, and doesn't have an issue with maintaining its rated clock speed, but there simply ...

Hardware transcoding unlike software transcoding, relies on the server’s CPU to convert media files into different formats, hardware transcoding offloads this intensive task to a dedicated component ...

tl;dr is: scrounge up some hardware, preferably on a recent-ish Intel platform with an igpu (i think 8th gen+ is the sweet shot), and then get a slew of storage. Pick a base operating system (I like ...

Streaming your own media library used to feel like a simple choice. You picked Plex, installed the server, added your content, and enjoyed a polished experience ...

The DS419slim is a niche NAS and isn't designed to handle a suite like Plex Media Server. For starters, you've only got 512MB of RAM. That's nowhere near enough to run Plex comfortably. Then you have ...

Synology’s DS216Play NAS is a middling performer, but there’s no better NAS box available for streaming multimedia features and 4K transcoding. Synology’s rich app environment allows it to also ...