Need Advice: High-End Media Server Setup (Budget: $8K)

[yak]

Need Advice: High-End Media Server Setup (Budget: $8K)

Current Collection:
- 10,000+ songs
- Growing movie/TV collection
- Currently running from workstation PC (want to change this)

What I Need:
1. High-quality streaming to two locations:
- Home theater room (75% movies/TV, 25% music)
- Computer area with headphone amp setup
- No compromises on audio/video quality

2. Storage & Backup:
- Considering NAS solution
- Need redundancy for drive failures
- Large enough for music + movie collection

3. Software/Streaming:
- Looked at Roon, Bluesound (concerned about audio quality limitations)
- Need reliable streaming solution
- Good UI important
- Open to separate audio/video streamers if better quality

Important Notes:
- Want simple setup/maintenance
- Already tried Wiim/Eversolo (not robust enough)
- Need better than "basic" streaming quality
- Don't want overly complex system
- Budget: $8K or under for complete solution

Looking for recommendations on:
- NAS vs dedicated server
- Streaming solution (especially concerned about audio quality)
- Best approach for high-quality movie streaming

Experience with any of these setups? What would you recommend?

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

I just build a HTPC with 5 x 4TB Crucial NVMe SSD. All my PC’s in the house are on the same Windows 10 home network, so I can stream from any room.

I use the free KODI Windows software as the media player (music, movies, TV) for all PC’s in the network.

You can use DVDFab software for ripping all your 4K movies into your SDD.

 

[dolynick]

If your intent is to build a 4k UHD media collection, you will need pretty massive storage. A server or NAS with a large multi-drive array is almost the only option. There is talk of some pretty significant increases in per HDD or SSD drive sizes in the next few years that may help, but they will surely be very expensive for some time.

You could look at Plex if you want an actual "server" based solution. Otherwise a dedicated PC with an array is more or less just serving as a fileserver like a NAS box. A dedicated NAS box can work, but isn't necessarily going to be cheaper either, but it depends on what features and conveniences you want. I would recommend RAID 6 over RAID 5 if you're going to do some fault tolerance (which you should if you're going large). There are other options for RAID that perform better than 6, but will require even more drives for size.

Any 1 Gbit network connection is more than enough to serve a full 4k UHD stream over a properly functioning netowrk. I personally would avoid wifi though.

Playback software can be whatever works for you. Kodi, MPC-BE, MediaMonkey, etc. An appleTV box with the right media app can work too (Sorry, I forget the name atm).

 

[yak]

So based on the feedback that changes things a little bit.

Seeking advice on a premium media server setup—prioritizing ease of use, reliability, and support over budget constraints.

Current needs:
- 10,000+ songs, 200+ Blu-rays and growing
- High-quality streaming to theater room and dedicated audio room
- Connected to high-end equipment (Trinnov Altitude 16)

Key priorities:
1. Ease of use and management
- As close to plug-and-play as possible
- Minimal technical maintenance required
- User-friendly interface

2. Reliability and support
- Strong user community for troubleshooting
- Good manufacturer support
- Proven, stable solutions

3. Quality
- No compromise on audio/video quality
- Smooth handling of large libraries
- Future-proof for growing collection

Currently considering:
- NAS: Synology DS1522+ or QNAP TS-h973AX
- Theater: Zappiti Pro 4K HDR
- Audio: Lumin or Antipodes streamers
- Software: Roon for audio, Emby for video

Questions:
1. Are there more turnkey solutions I should consider where budget isn't a constraint?
2. Which combination would provide the most seamless, reliable experience?
3. For those with similar setups: What's the most hassle-free configuration you've found?
4. Are there any premium all-in-one solutions I'm missing?
5. What's the most robust setup for minimal maintenance?

I am looking for real-world experience, particularly from users with large libraries and high-end systems. Priority is on getting it right rather than cost. Thanks Guys!

What does @gene and @Matthew J Poes use for the movie and audio collections?

 

[dolynick]

If you're talking about just 1080p blu-rays, you're looking at ~30GB each when pulled off the disks, not including extra content. So that's just 6TB or so for that existing content. That's not so bad to provision, but it depends how much bigger you plan on it growing.

If you want a lower maintenance, more turn-key solution, a NAS box solution is probably the closest.

There are some turnkey high-end solutions out there, but I believe they tend to be priced over your $8k price target for large-scale storage.

 

[yak]

If you're talking about just 1080p blu-rays, you're looking at ~30GB each when pulled off the disks, not including extra content. So that's just 6TB or so for that existing content. That's not so bad to provision, but it depends how much bigger you plan on it growing.

If you want a lower maintenance, more turn-key solution, a NAS box solution is probably the closest.

There are some turnkey high-end solutions out there, but I believe they tend to be priced over your $8k price target for large-scale storage.

4K UHD Blu rays can get pretty big. I have a mix of a collection of older movies that probably don't take up a lot of space and then some really good stuff which takes up a lot. They have 24 TB and 8 TB ssds which are not cheap but obtainable.

I guess I'm more worried about putting it all together and having a good UI. The storage doesn't scare me much.

Is there one's that does movies or music very well. Seems like there's really good ones for each but not for both?

 

[isolar8001]

You don't need ssds for a media server situation.....standard hard drives are plenty fast enough for just reading a file.
Even a 100 gb 4K file.
Using ssds for file access is just throwing money away.

 

[dolynick]

Agreed. SSDs for simply serving a movie to a single client/player is far more than what is needed. The highest bitrate on a UHD I recall seeing is ~100 Mbit. That's less than 15 MB/s in network traffic. So long as your file isn't massively fragmented, any spinning HDD (especially in a decent Raid config on a competent controller) is capable of much faster rates than that.

If you're looking for mass storage space with low to modest access demands, HDDs are still the cost-effective king.

Also, for reference, most 4k UHDs fall in the 50-80 GB range for the primary film. The largest are in the 120-160 GB range but you're talking 4 hour affairs like LotR Extended editions and that sort of thing.

I use a custom built server with (currently) 7 x 16 TB HDDs in Raid 6 and room for up to 10 in chassis and the option for additional attached storage boxes if I want. My solution is overbuilt, but I had my reasons for going the route I did.

I use MediaMonkey for library purposes, which hands off to MPC-BE and MadVR for actual playback duties on HTPCs. It is perhaps a little more complicated but I'm a techy and it doesn't bother me. I wanted auto HDR mode switching though and this solution provides it. For audio I use JRiver.

If I wanted an all in-one-solution(s), I would probably go with an ApplyTV 4k with Infuse and a WiiM or Eversolo for more dedicated audio playback. A more premium solution for video would be something like a Zidoo 3000 Pro ($900 USD, so really not that bad) or Zapitti box but I've never personally used one myself so I can't speak to the actual experience.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

Using ssds for file access is just throwing money away.

Well, most hobbies involve buying things that are probably “just throwing money away”.

I think having 4K movie files that are 100 GB is also a “waste of money, time, and space” because I can’t see the difference between 100GB vs 40GB, depending on the movie.

I had plenty of HDD, but changed to all NVMe SSD’s because it makes me feel better, not because I needed it.

So as long as you have plenty of money and it makes you happy, it can’t be that bad.

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

I am curious as to why Emby is over the Plex Server. Most people I know are using Plex servers. It's easy to use and to get 100% of features only a one-time small payment is needed.
I'd say that Plex does somewhat OK for music, but it's not an ideal platform for large music libraries.
I haven't tried Roon or other audio servers. The number one thing that annoys me about Plex server audio is its lack of support for CUE files. Very often, you find flac albums in one file with a cue file, but Plex won't process it correctly in most cases.
Splitting FLAC/cue to simpler FLAC files isn't hard nor is any quality loss, but It's a step I'd rather avoid in the future.

I'd also say that when selecting hardware for your NAS, I'd worry more about the amount of disks you can fit and support. Synology NAS is barely powerful enough and has better-quality software.
Do keep in mind that both Synology and QNAP DO NOT have 24/7 tech support. If you want a US-based NAS with strong support, Look into TrueNAS Mini by iXsystems.
As an example: 5 bay NAS with an 18TB drive with ZFS Z1 (like Raid5) will give 1 drive redundancy and 4x18 tib of capacity so about 72Tib.
For perspective: 10k songs in FLAC is about 250-300 Gig. 200BDs - about 10 TiB

 

[panteragstk]

I've got two server cases that I use. One has 12 drive bays, the other has 24. I slowly upgrade my drives when I need space, so I don't have to spend the money on a lot of large drives at once.

On my main server, I'm currently at 132TB of space. Most of it is used for 4k and 1080p BD rips as well as TV shows and lots of music. I use Plex for just about everything, but my collection is set up in a way any software could work with it just fine. I've used Kodi as a front end a lot, and it does work very well.

Plex sucks for music playback on Android TV, but works very well on their PC client. I have a lot of 5.1 music and the Android client doesn't work with it at all. Kodi sort of works, but some channels aren't mapped properly on Android TV. PC doesn't have these issues.

Also, SSDs aren't necessary in a large storage server due to the fact that my 5400rpm drives still have a read speed of 200MBPS. That's more than enough for almost anything media related. I have an NVME cache drive I use for anything that requires a lot of speed or IO.