Tue Sep 01, 2015 1:14 pm by atc98092
If your files don't require transcoding (i.e. your players can play the files without any conversion), then you could find an older cast off machine somewhere fairly cheap. My test server isn't very powerful, but does well with everything except transcoding HD video for the Roku players. Then I encounter some buffering.
Look at the sub-forum for NAS installations. There's some suggestions there for using NAS devices, which are very low power and run 24/7. Some people has used the Raspberry PI as the hardware for a very low cost system, but again it won't keep up with transcoding very well.
If you want to stick with a Windows computer, you can probably find an older one with XP still on it fairly cheap. I would imagine the only issue with an older computer might be its hard drive, as they have a finite life. However, you can replace the hard drive pretty cheaply, and use software to copy the original drive to the new one. Then you don't have to reinstall Windows. I have multiple hard drives in my server, so the media and the operating system are on separate discs. Improves performance and if I lose a drive I haven't lost everything.
Dan
LG NANO85 4K TV, Samsung JU7100 4K TV, Sony BDP-S3500, Sharp 4K Roku TV, Insignia Roku TV, Roku Ultra, Premiere and Stick, Nvidia Shield, Yamaha RX-V583 AVR.
Primary server: Intel i5-6400, 16 gig ram, Windows 10 Pro, 22 TB hard drive space | Test server Windows 10 Pro, AMD Phenom II X4 965, 8 gig ram
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