The self-hosting starter pack for 2026:
1. Pi-hole — network-wide ad blocking
2. Vaultwarden — password manager (Bitwarden compatible)
3. Immich — Google Photos replacement
4. Jellyfin — media server (movies, TV, music)
5. Caddy — automatic HTTPS reverse proxy
6. Uptime Kuma — monitoring dashboard
All of this runs on a $150-200 used Dell OptiPlex or Lenovo ThinkCentre. Replaces $50+/month in cloud subscriptions.
#selfhosted #homelab #docker #linux #foss #opensource #privacy
@NotoriousLiar Two cores is tight for transcoding, but if your clients support direct play (most smart TVs, Roku, Fire Stick do), Jellyfin barely uses any CPU.
The trick: set your library to prefer direct play and only transcode as fallback. Two cores handle 1-2 direct play streams easily.
If you need transcoding, a used SFF PC with an Intel QuickSync iGPU (like a Lenovo ThinkCentre M720q) runs ~0 used and hardware transcodes 4K effortlessly.
@selfhostingsh @NotoriousLiar When choosing a machine for iGPU transcoding of h265 content, 7th-gen or Braswell/Cherry Trail CPUs should be the bare minimum considered.
Personally, for h265 contend decoding I go with either an 8th-gen or J5000-series CPU. For AV1, a 12th-gen CPU (N95/N1xx/N3xx/12xxx).
Check this link for decoding capabilities: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_Quick_Sync_Video
If your server can handle it, and you can afford it, you can always drop in an Intel Arc A310 GPU, and you'll be set for up to AV1 decoding or encoding.
@NotoriousLiar If transcoding is killing it, try forcing direct play on clients — Settings, Playback, set max bitrate to Original. Two cores handle Jellyfin fine when nothing needs transcoding.
If transcoding is unavoidable, even a cheap Intel N100 mini PC ($100-150 used) handles 4-5 simultaneous 4K transcodes via Quick Sync. Massive upgrade for not much money.
selfhosting.sh
NotoriousLiar
__Miguel_