New Media Server

[LeoL]

I've been running Kodi for some years to play video which I record using NextPVR on my main PC. The video files are stored on a TrueNAS Core server running on an HP Microsever N54L.

This has worked well given that no transcoding takes place. But now I'm running out of disk space and want to build a new server.

I already have an ATX case that I like and it can take 9 hard drives which I already have.

My goal is to run Jellyfin and NextPVR on TrueNAS Scale.

My first question is whether this will work okay? In particular I'm thinking about the recording of TV using NextPVR from my PC satellite TV card under TrueNAS Scale?

My next question is which motherboard/CPU should I buy? It needs to support 9 sata drives and given that it will be on 24/7 I'm looking for something reasonably power efficient.

I'd also like a board with 2 nvme slots to use as boot drives (mirrored?).

I'm going round in circles looking at motherboards. Most don't support 9 sata drives so I've been looking at server motherboards. I'm quite happy with a server motherboard even if it costs more. But which one?

Any advice much appreciated as I'm completely new to Jellyfin.

[TheDreadPirate]

I would stick with a newish Intel consumer CPU since Intel's iGPUs are very capable for transcoding. Xeon CPUs do not have onboard graphics so you would need to get a dedicated GPU, if you decide to go that route.

AFAIK, no consumer board will have 9 SATA connections. You will need an HBA card to add more SATA connections (they are not expensive). Most full ATX, and even many M-ATX, boards will have two M.2 slots.

[LeoL]

I would stick with a newish Intel consumer CPU since Intel's iGPUs are very capable for transcoding.  Xeon CPUs do not have onboard graphics so you would need to get a dedicated GPU, if you decide to go that route.

AFAIK, no consumer board will have 9 SATA connections.  You will need an HBA card to add more SATA connections (they are not expensive).  Most full ATX, and even many M-ATX, boards will have two M.2 slots.

Thanks for the reply. The reason I was interested in server motherboards is the lack of 9 sata ports on consumer motherboards (at least I couldn't find any) and I'd really prefer to have the capability for 9 sata ports on the motherboard rather than an add-on card. Plus server motherboards seem to have other advantages like remote management.

I'm not sure I have any need for transcoding and so I'm not sure why Intel CPU's would have an advantage for me? Please correct me if that is not the case. Does transcoding not also require more CPU power? I'm looking for the least power consumption that I can find although I realise that the disks will use a lot of power.

[TheDreadPirate]

CPU transcoding is very intensive and can significantly impact the responsiveness of the UI and any other applications you might have running. You should try to direct play as much as possible, but you should have the capability to transcode for edge cases. Or if you need to lower the resolution and bit rate for mobile devices. GPUs, including Intel iGPUs, can transcode MUCH faster and use less power while doing it. If you do go for a server platform, getting something like an Intel Arc A380 will provide all the transcoding power you need. They are pretty efficient at idle and under full transcoding load (20-30W max).

I'm not very versed with server and workstation boards so I can't provide specific part selection advice. FWIW, a lot of servers use addon cards for their SATA/SAS drives so going with a server platform may not eliminate the needs for one.