u/International-Gur755

I’ve been building and improving my home media server for quite a while now, and I’d like to start opening it up to more people outside of my usual friend group.

The server runs Jellyfin as part of a larger self-hosted setup I’ve put together myself. A lot of time has gone into the storage, networking, automation, transcoding and request system, and I’d like to see how everything holds up with more real users.

Access is completely free. There are no subscriptions, donations, paid queues or premium accounts.

All I really ask is that you let me know when something does not work properly. If a movie buffers, refuses to play, subtitles act strangely, the wrong audio track is selected or anything else happens, tell me. I’m actively working on the server and reports like that are genuinely useful.

I’d genuinely love to hear feedback from anyone who uses it, whether it is about the library, playback, the request system, the apps, things you like, things you dislike or anything you think could be improved.

Everyone who gets access will also get my Discord username. You can message me there with questions, playback issues, requests, feedback or pretty much anything else related to the server. I’m very open to people contacting me and I try to reply as soon as I can.

What’s available

- Movies, TV shows, anime and other media

- Lots of 1080p and 4K content

- HDR content where available

- Hardware transcoding when Direct Play is not possible

- Content requests through Seerr

- Automated downloading and library management through Radarr and Sonarr

- Hosted entirely on my own hardware

- 1 Gbps symmetric fibre connection

- Remote access through my own zerotwosystems.com infrastructure

- Library is actively growing and changing

Server specs

For anyone interested in the technical side, the server currently runs:

- CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 5800X, 8 cores / 16 threads

- Motherboard: Gigabyte B450M DS3H V2

- Memory: 64 GB RAM, around 63 GiB usable

- GPU: NVIDIA RTX 2070 Super

- Operating system: TrueNAS SCALE

- Network: 1 Gbps symmetric fibre

- Zfs pool with 30tb usable

The RTX 2070 Super is currently responsible for Jellyfin hardware transcoding. I’m planning to replace it with an RTX PRO 4000, especially as the number of users and simultaneous streams increases.

Current download backlog

There is currently a pretty decent backlog of movies and other requested content that is still being downloaded and processed.

The automation will work through everything on its own, but depending on the queue, some things may take a while to arrive.

If there is something specific you really want to watch and you don’t want to wait for it to naturally reach the front of the queue, just message me. I can usually increase its priority and try to get it downloaded sooner.

I obviously can’t do this for every single movie, show or entire series people request, otherwise everything would end up being high priority, but I’ll try my best to accommodate people when I can.

Known issues and things I’m working on

The server is still a work in progress, and there are a few things I already know about.

The biggest one right now is transcoding.

I’m currently using an RTX 2070 Super, which is a consumer GPU. Hardware transcoding works, but I’ve encountered some issues with transcoded streams, particularly with more demanding files and certain playback combinations.

This is already something I’m aware of and actively working on. One of my planned hardware upgrades is replacing the 2070 Super with an RTX PRO 4000, which should be much better suited to being used as a dedicated transcoding GPU.

Some of the other things I’m currently investigating or improving include:

- Some remote users occasionally experiencing buffering even when bandwidth should be sufficient

- Certain files taking longer than expected to start when transcoding is required

- Some subtitle formats forcing subtitle burn-in, which requires video transcoding

- 4K, HDR and high-bitrate content being significantly more demanding when Direct Play is not possible

- Browsers forcing unnecessary transcoding because of limited codec or container support

- Occasional playback or loading issues during transcoding

- Client-specific compatibility issues

- General optimisation as more simultaneous users start using the server

If you encounter a problem that isn’t listed here, please tell me. There is a good chance it is something I simply haven’t encountered yet.

I strongly recommend using a Jellyfin app

If possible, please use an actual Jellyfin app instead of watching through a web browser.

This is probably the biggest thing you can do to improve your experience.

The browser is still available and you’re welcome to use it, but if there is a Jellyfin app available for your device, I strongly recommend using that instead.

A few things to keep in mind

This is a home server, not a commercial streaming service, so I can’t promise 100% uptime.

I regularly upgrade, experiment with and change things. There will occasionally be maintenance, restarts, hardware upgrades or something I manage to break before fixing it again.

I’m completely fine with people sharing their account with friends or family. You don’t need to ask me for a separate account for every person.

Just keep in mind that multiple people using the account at once can mean multiple simultaneous streams, and if several of those streams require transcoding it can put considerably more load on the server.

Accounts that remain completely unused for a long period may eventually be removed so the spot can go to someone who actually wants to use the server.

I’m currently keeping the number of accounts limited while I see how the server, GPU and internet connection handle more simultaneous users. Depending on how that goes, I may open significantly more spots later.

If you’re interested, send me a DM or leave a comment and I’ll get you set up.

And again, feedback is very welcome. Everyone who gets access will also get my Discord, so if you have a question, notice a problem, want something prioritised or just have an idea for improving the server, feel free to message me. I’m very open about the setup and I’ll try to respond and help as quickly as I can.

Mostly I just want to see people enjoying something I’ve spent far too much time building, while getting more experience running infrastructure that actual people use.

Edit: for anyone i have messaged i will send the details as promised, anyone else spots are now closed! Thanks for anyone who showed interest. I will try to reopen as soon as i can.

I’ve had my homelab running for about two months now, and it has quickly become one of my favourite projects.

It’s currently built around an older B450 motherboard, a Ryzen 7 5700X, an RTX Pro 4000 for hardware transcoding and 64gb ddr4 ram. I’ve been considering switching to an AMD EPYC platform eventually, although I’m still not sure whether the extra cost and power consumption would actually be worth it for my use case.

But honestly, being able to access my own media from almost anywhere in the world without relying on another big-tech subscription is incredible. Beyond the practical side, the best part is simply experimenting with it installing new services, breaking things, fixing them, and constantly finding new ways to improve the setup.

I didn’t expect homelabbing to become this addictive, but here we are.