Home Media Server

[MrNitvit]

Hello all,
So I was wondering what the best thing would be for setting up a home media server. I'm looking for something that can do backups, play music via wired speakers and possibly play videos to the TV. Furthermore, I am also wondering what the best software on it would be.
Personally, I've been looking at the HP Proliant Micro-servers as they seem like a good option however I'm up for any suggestions.
Thanks

EDIT:
So after some research, I feel that the HP Proliant coupled with Windows Home Server would be a good bet.

 

[supercity]

Hello all,
EDIT:
So after some research, I feel that the HP Proliant coupled with Windows Home Server would be a good bet.

Windows Home Server is old, 2011 was the last I think.
Any OS (Windows,OSX,Linux) would be good with plex installed.

 

[InsaneNutter]

The HP Proliant is a great choice, it uses very little power and can be purchased for around £100. A very good deal indeed.

I use Windows Server 2012 R2 Essentials. It's essentially Windows Server with the home server features added. If your a student and have access to Dreamspark download Server 2012 R2 Standard or Datacenter Edition and simply add the Essentials role, you will save £300 on buying a Server 2012 R2 essentials licence then.

Just remember to do the How to skip domain joining during client deployment in a Windows Server 2012 Essentials network, otherwise your server will manage all the user accounts on your home network once you connect a computer to the server.

If you install the client on all your computers a total backup of the computers in your home will be created on the server each day. You can also see the status of each computer from the server dashboard.



I have Plex Media Server installed which is capable of serving Media to phones, tablets, games consoles, Tv's, web browsers, both on your home network or over the internet. Just be warned the CPU in the HP Proliant is not very good for transcoding media, so you want to ensure you are streaming to proper devices that support the video codes your media is encoded with.

The Plex Windows, OSX and Linux clients work great, as do the Plex clients on Android and Samsung Smart TV's. The client in the Windows Store (Tablet App) and Xbox One have very limited codec support, so will force your server to transcode the majority of media.

If your using XBMC simply add some network shares and your good to go. I can certainly help you with a Windows set-up if you get stuck anyway, I started on Home Server 2011 and advanced to Server 2012.