building a mezzmo server

[schmity]

I have a linux file server that I am would like to use to store all of my video/music/picture files. I wanted to build a mezzmo media server that would utilize these files so that I can view them on a Panasonic Viera TV (2012) and my imac, ipad, iphone if possible. I saw where a quad core processor was recommended with 4gb ram. Are any of these processors ok for a media server Build? (http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100007671&IsNodeId=1&srchInDesc=quad%20core&page=1&bop=And&ActiveSearchResult=True&Order=PRICE&PageSize=20). Also will any compatible motherboard work? Thanks

[JohnM]

Mezzmo is a Windows application so will not run on the Linux box. It is possible to use it as a file server that the windows box will connect to. Then Mezzmo will be able to use the files stored on it. If you intend to try to watch the programs as Mezzmo transcodes them (converts from one format to the other), it will take a powerful box to do it fast enough to play well. The options that you have are to have Mezzmo pre-transcode the file for the device so it is ready to play when you want. The thing I did was determine one format that all of your devices can play. Since you specified a lot of Apple products that means you will probably need to use H.264 video in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats with AAC audio. A quick look showed that the Viera line did support mp4 and mov formats with aac audio. Check your specific one to be certain. If it does you can rip your movies into .mov format and use a resolution that all of the devices support. That will mean that Mezzmo will not have to transcode for you to watch on any of your devices. That would allow you to use a much less powerful computer. But please take the time to rip into the format .mov and try it first. It can save you a lot of problems later.

[Paul]

All good comments, JohnM.

Just to add - Mezzmo will run on any Win 8.1, 8, 7, Vista, XP, Win Server 2012/2008/2003 or WHS based-computer. The more powerful the machine in terms of CPU (speed & cores) and memory, the better results you will get - mostly for transcoding purposes. Mezzmo will read the media files you have stored on your computer, or any other computer, file server or NAS on your home network - so you can continue to plan to store your media files onto a storage server as you wish.

[hsbrown2]

Hi Paul!

Just to confirm, as it is not as yet listed in the System Requirements - Mezzmo will run on Windows Server 2012 (RTM, SP1, & R2?).

Thanks!
--hsbrown2

[Paul]

Thanks for the confirmation, hsbrown2!

[sidmanm]

So, on that note, is there any official "spec" that says an i7 3rd generation CPU with a minimum of 3.1 GHz and a minimum of 8 GB of RAM will transcode on a Win8.1 x64 box 1080p?

I could transcode all the files too, but every time new HD video is added, I have to go manually pre-transcode that. Not sure if pre-transcoding is the most efficient way, unless there is an option to automatically pre-transcode new content added to the Mezzmo server?

Thanks!

Michael

[Paul]

Hi Michael,

It is not easy to make a general statement like "certain CPU + memory = certain transcoding performance" since there are quite a few attributes in a video file that decide the final transcoding speed. For example, video resolution, video bitrate, video encoding format, audio bitrate, audio encoding format, etc.

If you find that your video files do not transcode on-the-fly fast enough for real time playback, then pre-transcoding is the typical workaround. However, another option is to change the encoding of the original video so that transcoding speed is faster. You can post the FFmpeg information of one of the original videos here and we can advise what may the main contributing factor for the slow transcoding speed.