Serviio

Hello Serviio.

I recently took ownership of a Dell Optiplex 745 Mid Tower. I have been streaming media from my ageing Custom XPMC, but the age and inherent slowness of wireless streaming have convinced me to build a dedicated Media Server. I had been using a combination of PS3 Media Server & Play-on to serve everything to my PS3.

I want to keep the PS3 as the central device in the TV Cabinet, because I have gotten everyone else used to interfacing with it, and don't want to retrain.

I have settled on Linux as the main OS on the Dell, but I can't figure out which 'flavor' to go with. Some of the contenders are: Ubuntu (Desktop or Server), Linux Mint, Pinguy, Xbuntu (haven't found a particular distro). I am very new to Linux, and while I started in DOS back in the 80's I want to ease myself into the Terminal aspect of any Linux, because...rusty. This would tend to rule out the Ubuntu Server for a bit, but the others seem like they're well liked/developed. I am NOT AFRAID to get into Terminal Sessions, but want to build something stable quickly, and then go back to learn the In's & Out's.

Does Serviio support the transcoding of metadata? I know that PSM doesn't and it's one of the reasons I am backing away from it. I have alot of MKV's which transcode fine for playing, but I can't get subtitles or alternate Audio streams.

Other things to note:
Linksys WRT610n
2012 Panasonic 46" Plasma (can't remember the series ATM)
Headless Build Out (long term goal. Eventually will be placed in the attic with UPS & Tuner Card)
Ethernet Only (maybe 2 cards in the server configured to bridge 1up 1down)
Storage not an issue (RAID will eventually also be deployed)
Eventually I will also be pointing any torrents to land directly to the server, or have the server running a torrent service

I hope these are good questions, and haven't wasted anyone's time

-M

I can't offer any suggestions about which Linux distro. I have some experience with a couple of versions, but there's way more available now.

I do have a couple other observations. Be cautious about where you place your server. You mention your attic. I have my server in the garage, and I had to open the case side and have a small fan blowing on the hard drives to keep them cooler. Of course I have 7 drives, but still, keep cooling in mind.

Serviio will play subtitles from MKV files, but it depends on how they are in the file. When I use MakeMKV, it keeps the subs in the file, but not in a form that Serviio can access. Can't remember the format, but I think it's DVDSUB that doesn't work. However, as a workaround you can use SRT files, which Serviio will play just fine.

Thanks for the info/suggestions. My attic has been spray-foamed and runs ~10 degrees warmer than my house. I may run some temp tests before and after to see what the fluctuations are. If it turns out to be too warm for the box, I'll have to find an alternate solution...maybe a closet somewhere (but yikes is space limited).

In my quest for a Distro I happened upon an article from Lifehacker, I don't know if linking is allowed/permitted but here it is:

http://lifehacker.com/5993297/ubuntu-vs ... -beginners

I have settled on Mint CInnamon since I am coming from a windows background, and am pretty tech savvy. I'll check the specs on my MKV's to see what they were encoded with, thanks for the tip! I was compulsively checking this post hoping for any reply.

My garage gets into the mid-upper 80s during the summer, and since the server sits on a platform I built over the car I expect it is even warmer. Before I added the fan my hard drives were running around 120F or higher. Now, even with outdoors running in the upper 80s and the garage approaching 90 the drives are all showing about 93F. Use something like CrystalDiskInfo to monitor their temps. Stay under 110F and I think you'll be OK, but cooler is better. If you don't have drives packed like sardines (like I do!) you should be fine.