Building an Entertainment Hub

[MattyNAs]

Hi,
I'm trying to setup an entertainment Hub for different Vehicles. I was thinking of buying a cheaper NAS enclosure (with, maybe a WD Red 1 or 2T HDD ), install FreeNAS, and also activate the plex plugin, and then connect the setup to a router (these will be setup in about 20 vehicles)
1. What will be the best & cost effective way to set this up, since I will be doing this for a lot of buses?
2. There's is also the issue of transcoding the media files, do i need to take this into consideration in getting the hardware?
3. Can the FreeNAS OS be installed on any NAS device?

Thanks

 

[melloa]

The FreeNAS portion can be addressed by looking at: https://forums.freenas.org/index.php?resources/hardware-recommendations-guide.12/. That will give you an idea of what to buy to build your server. The connection to your buses is a different ball game and you will need to check how to setup your htpcs and connect them to the internet, to get to the server. Interesting project. Good luck.

 

[MattyNAs]

The FreeNAS portion can be addressed by looking at: https://forums.freenas.org/index.php?resources/hardware-recommendations-guide.12/. That will give you an idea of what to buy to build your server. The connection to your buses is a different ball game and you will need to check how to setup your htpcs and connect them to the internet, to get to the server. Interesting project. Good luck.

I hope to create an intranet using the router, since these buses will be regularly in transit, we might not be able to get good internet. So a local network in each bus might just do the trick....Just thinking

 

[melloa]

Are you saying the server will be inside the bus, so 20 buses = 20 servers? If so, that will bypass the internet requirement for sure. I'd try to find a bare minimum system depending on your requirements from that list and get ready for a sync process as you will be updating data (music/movies) contents. Using FreeNAS will require at least two systems: Server and HTPC. You can also try to find a solution that will host and stream from one single box.

 

[MattyNAs]

Are you saying the server will be inside the bus, so 20 buses = 20 servers? If so, that will bypass the internet requirement for sure. I'd try to find a bare minimum system depending on your requirements from that list and get ready for a sync process as you will be updating data (music/movies) contents. Using FreeNAS will require at least two systems: Server and HTPC. You can also try to find a solution that will host and stream from one single box.

Yes, servers on all 20 buses. I'll be glad if I get directed appropriately. I think you get the point clearly. About transcoding, what are your thoughts, would that be necessary or I have to take transcoding (this pushes up the budget for me) into consideration??

 

[melloa]

Yes, servers on all 20 buses. I'll be glad if I get directed appropriately. I think you get the point clearly. About transcoding, what are your thoughts, would that be necessary or I have to take transcoding (this pushes up the budget for me) into consideration??

I'm afraid we are getting off-topic about FreeNAS here :)

Personally I don't think running two computers on your bus would be the best option, so try to check options to run Plex using one box. Maybe the Plex forum will be a good start.

Others from the forum may (will) have a different opinion, for sure.

 

[MattyNAs]

I'm afraid we are getting off-topic about FreeNAS here :)

Personally I don't think running two computers on your bus would be the best option, so try to check options to run Plex using one box. Maybe the Plex forum will be a good start.

Others from the forum may (will) have a different opinion, for sure.

Ok.lol. I'm brining up Plex because I saw a tutorial where it was installed from the FreeNAS OS, and I'll like to do same.

 

[melloa]

I'm brining up Plex

Don't take me wrong. I use and love Plex and was introduced to it by ... FreeNAS ;)

 

[MattyNAs]

You can also try to find a solution that will host and stream from one single box.

I saw some devices, but the reviews were bad. when more than two person are streaming at the same time, the video begins to buffer. That's why i'm going the Server + HTPC route

 

[snaptec]

How many people in each bus will use the stream? How will the plex servers in the busses be filled?
Interesting project.
But a bus is not a good place for a freenas. I would go with a Linux box and plex setup.
You have to make sure that the Freenas boxes don't get power outtages. The data will be risky. On Linux that isn't such a big problem


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[Stux]

I'd be concerned about desktop HDs in a moving vehicle. Would 2.5" disks be better?

If the idea to provide many streams or just the one to a central screen?

 

[MattyNAs]

How many people in each bus will use the stream? How will the plex servers in the busses be filled?
Interesting project.
But a bus is not a good place for a freenas. I would go with a Linux box and plex setup.
You have to make sure that the Freenas boxes don't get power outtages. The data will be risky. On Linux that isn't such a big problem

Maximum of 6. Can I build a Linux box with a budget of $200?


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Maximum of 6 people per bus.

 

[MattyNAs]

I'd be concerned about desktop HDs in a moving vehicle. Would 2.5" disks be better?

If the idea to provide many streams or just the one to a central screen?

The Idea is to provide many streams, so that passenger can use the flex web app to view content on their devices. Can't really say much about how well HD's will do in a moving vehicle with so many bumpy roads

 

[Arwen]

Consider the following due to your potentially harse environment:

1. SATA SSDs for the storage. Less of a problem with motion than spinning rust.
   
2. Something more than simple fan cooling. Perhaps several tempature controlled fans.
   
3. Shock dampeners. This should help keep connectors, connected.
4. Use velcro, (or cable ties), on connectors when possible.

The intent behind those is to make something reliable for a reasonable amount of time.
Performing updates of the media nightly or when in station is reasonable. Having failures
too often due to lack of proper hardware will suck up your time and money.

If you design too poorly, you may get yearly failures for each. Since you indicated 20
buses, that's 1 every 2 weeks or so.

 

[Glorious1]

This is interesting. Never heard of something like this before. Just so I get it straight, you want to put a server on a bus, and serve media to up to 6 people on the bus using their own devices. Like mobile phones, tablets, whatever? Presumably over wifi?

I would consider whether the media could be encoded in codecs and formats that are universally compatible for the devices you expect. That way, transcoding would be unnecessary, reducing the cost of the hardware needed for your FreeNAS server. And you wouldn't have a real limit on the number who could stream it. I'm not sure that's possible though, if people could get on the bus with ANY kind of device.

 

[snaptec]

Freenas is the wrong software for that. Due to hardware requirements.
Go with a Linux box.
I already build similar projects, not for 20, but for a camper family.


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[Stux]

Freenas is the wrong software for that. Due to hardware requirements.
Go with a Linux box.
I already build similar projects, not for 20, but for a camper family.


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Might be right.

You don't need ZFS for this

 

[MattyNAs]

Consider the following due to your potentially harse environment:

1. SATA SSDs for the storage. Less of a problem with motion than spinning rust.
   
2. Something more than simple fan cooling. Perhaps several tempature controlled fans.
   
3. Shock dampeners. This should help keep connectors, connected.
4. Use velcro, (or cable ties), on connectors when possible.

The intent behind those is to make something reliable for a reasonable amount of time.
Performing updates of the media nightly or when in station is reasonable. Having failures
too often due to lack of proper hardware will suck up your time and money.

If you design too poorly, you may get yearly failures for each. Since you indicated 20
buses, that's 1 every 2 weeks or so.

I will consider using SSDs for storage. Our roads are pretty bad. Thank for this.

 

[MattyNAs]

This is interesting. Never heard of something like this before. Just so I get it straight, you want to put a server on a bus, and serve media to up to 6 people on the bus using their own devices. Like mobile phones, tablets, whatever? Presumably over wifi?

I would consider whether the media could be encoded in codecs and formats that are universally compatible for the devices you expect. That way, transcoding would be unnecessary, reducing the cost of the hardware needed for your FreeNAS server. And you wouldn't have a real limit on the number who could stream it. I'm not sure that's possible though, if people could get on the bus with ANY kind of device.

Yes, mobile devices streaming over WIFI. To eliminate any need for transcoding, I intend converting all media to a format that wont require any need to transcode. I intend using Plex, hopefully that helps.

 

[MattyNAs]

Freenas is the wrong software for that. Due to hardware requirements.
Go with a Linux box.
I already build similar projects, not for 20, but for a camper family.


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Can I get a detailed breakdown on how you achieved this, considering you've done this before? and you saying freeNAS might not be the perfect software for this.