New server and client help

[Magg66]

Hi all. 
Just recently started playing with jellyfin and was looking for some advice. 
At the moment I have old qnap nas with jellyfin acting as server and firestick 4k on main tv as client and it’s not ideal. 
What I’m looking for is replacing firestick as it has issues with resolution when set to auto it defaults to HD even when connected to 4k tv. 
Also replacing my qnap to something capable of 4k for up to 4 users but 2 maybe 3 most of the time. It will also have {Things we don't talk about - censored by TDP}. 
I don’t really have a budget will probably try to get some things 2nd hand if possible. 
Besides hardware what software would you recommend and if anybody have any good tutorials to set everything.

[TheDreadPirate]

Any recent-ish AMD or Intel CPU, 32GB of RAM, an Intel Arc GPU. The rest of the hardware is flexible depending on your needs. PSU, case, motherboard, storage.

[Magg66]

Any recent-ish AMD or Intel CPU, 32GB of RAM, an Intel Arc GPU.  The rest of the hardware is flexible depending on your needs.  PSU, case, motherboard, storage.

Thank you for replying. 
What’s considered recent Intel CPU. 
Also what would you recommend as a client hardware.

[TheDreadPirate]

11th gen Intel and newer? Ryzen 5000 and newer?

As for clients, it depends on your budget. I personally prefer Android TV devices (except Fire OS devices). Roku's devices are also solid.

[Magg66]

11th gen Intel and newer?  Ryzen 5000 and newer?

As for clients, it depends on your budget.  I personally prefer Android TV devices (except Fire OS devices).  Roku's devices are also solid.

Thank you for all the help.

I had a look and what I found is:
- i3 12100F
- Gigabyte H610M H V3
- 32gb DDR4 3200 CL16
- ASRock Arc A380

How big m.2 would i need for os, docker and cache? Would 256gb be ok or should I get bigger one. 

I’ve also looked at chromecast with google tv 4K. Would it be ok? Most people of course recommend nvidia shield but if possible I wouldn’t want to spend so much especially that server will cost a bit as well. 
It would be connected to receiver but only 3.1 system and 4k tv.  

Would you recommend Ubuntu as os and jellyfin in docker with arr stack?

[TheDreadPirate]

Personally, I'd get the regular 12100 just to have the iGPU if needed.

I'd say 1TB will ensure you have sufficient space for all your app data.

The CCwGTV 4K is pretty old and showing its age. I have two of those and the new Google TV Streamer. The Google TV Streamer has its own issues if you don't curate and re-encode your media, like I do. Same with Amazon Firesticks. Both have issues with Dolby Vision due to bugs with their Mediatek chipsets.

On a budget, the Onn TV boxes are great value. But I'm not sure what their availability would be like for you in the UK.

Pretty much any Roku stick/box is a solid choice.

[Magg66]

Personally, I'd get the regular 12100 just to have the iGPU if needed.

I'd say 1TB will ensure you have sufficient space for all your app data.

The CCwGTV 4K is pretty old and showing its age.  I have two of those and the new Google TV Streamer.  The Google TV Streamer has its own issues if you don't curate and re-encode your media, like I do.  Same with Amazon Firesticks.  Both have issues with Dolby Vision due to bugs with their Mediatek chipsets.

On a budget, the Onn TV boxes are great value.  But I'm not sure what their availability would be like for you in the UK.

Pretty much any Roku stick/box is a solid choice.

Normal 12100 is £30 but will get it if you say it’s better to have it. 

Looked into that Onn TV. You can get it but on ebay from USA and it’s more expensive then firestick 4k max. 

Will look into roku or might wait till Black Friday and get shield. 

About re-encoding my media, where can I read about it (how to do it and what to encode into for most compatibility) ? Could that be automated?

Again thanks for all the help and sorry for all the questions.

[TheDreadPirate]

Tdarr can automate re-encoding your media.

[Magg66]

Managed to get everything. Build it all and started to move all the media. Would you recommend installing jellyfin in docker?
Regarding re-encoding my media what should I encode it into to get good compatibility and file size? Or if you could point me to some tutorials.

Tdarr can automate re-encoding your media.

[TheDreadPirate]

Running Jellyfin in docker makes managing its data easier. Makes backups and migration easier as well. Definitely recommend learning Docker (it's not that hard) and starting with Jellyfin in Docker.

I've never used Tdarr so I can't help with specifics. I just use ffmpeg, directly, to re-encode.

As for compatibility and file size, that is personal preference and depends on what clients you have and how many clients you have. My reason for re-encoding, to AV1 video + OPUS audio specifically, is to maximize quality per bit since I don't have a lot of upload bandwidth (40Mbps). This also results in direct play on near all my clients, soon to be ALL my clients once I finish swapping one more. My phones, Pixel 6a's and my wife and I's primary remote client, can direct play both codecs and is the primary beneficiary of using more efficient codecs. The reduced cellular usage and storage efficiency are huge benefits as well.

What codecs YOU choose depends on your client capabilities, whether your clients are all local or some are remote, what your available upload bandwidth is. If you and/or your users have old clients that don't support AV1, or even HEVC, and you don't want to be transcoding constantly then you should target H264 + AAC. Especially if you have 5+ users. If you only have a couple users with capable devices, HEVC (your iGPU can encode to that) and AAC or OPUS audio since HEVC is much more efficient.