Media->wireshark->Rclone->Intel transcoding

[Elbiot]

I have media stored remotely [changed by TDP] that I access over Wireshark VPN. I'd like to set up jellyfin locally (he's not interested in implementing on his side) for lan viewing in 1080p. It has been suggested that [changed by TDP] I connect to the library via rclone and I'd set up a cheap intermediate server here to transcode and bridge from the VPN to lan.

I'm looking at cheap thin retired business machines to use as the intermediate on my side. I figure it'll have to transcode due to the lack of consistent source encoding and I'd use the Intel chip to do so. What is the minimum intel generation I ought to go for? I saw an i5 7700 for cheap. Would this work or do I need a more recent chip?

Any thoughts or lessons from experience on the overall set up?

[TheDreadPirate]

The minimum we recommend is Intel 7th gen since it adds HEVC 10-bit support in QSV (needed for HDR to SDR tone mapping). A lot of people recommend 8th gen and newer. Something about QSV being more performant starting with that generation. But if you only have a few local users, that i5 7700 is fine.

[Elbiot]

Thanks! Is it possible for jellyfin to build an index of what's available on the remote media storage without triggering full downloads of every file? There's so many plugins I'm not sure what to look at for this auto discovery.