Sat Jan 24, 2015 12:23 am by atc98092
Big question is how comfortable you are using an OS besides Windows. If you aren't afraid of a command line, as Iveky says a Linux distro is good. Especially if Fedora already has FFMPEG in the repository, since that's probably the biggest issue with installing Serviio on Linux. Mac hardware is expensive, and a fresh copy of Windows isn't exactly peanuts.
Next question would be if your files all play without transcoding. If not, the lower powered (and priced) systems might not be up to the task. Especially if you are streaming to more than one device.
Multiple hard drives shouldn't be a problem with any of your OS choices. I currently have 8 drives totaling over 18 TB with media on my main server with Windows 7. I do not have them set up as one large drive, since the failure of any one drive would cause complete data loss across all of them. I had to use an add-on SATA card for enough ports, but I'm going to have to replace it because its performance is terrible compared to the ports on the motherboard.
Just because Windows Home Server may "disappear" doesn't mean you can't keep using it for quite a while. I have a WHS setup for backing up all of my computers, and I expect it will work for a long time. I am also still using Windows Server 2003 as a Serviio platform for my daughter and son-in-law's house, and that is really old!
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
HOWTO: Enable debug logging HOWTO: Identify media file contents
