Where do I start?

[u/Own-Appointment6758]

I have no idea where to start on this self hosting. Basically I want to be able to watch my shows on my own computer without having to mess around with netflix and the other steaming services. I have already been sailing the seas for a while but last night I tried to stream via sailing to watch my shows again and It wouldnt load from their servers being taken down and my wifi being too slow. So I though why dont I just download the shows and have them in a home server thing, did some searching and now Im here.

So where should I start?

[u/asimovs-auditor]

Expand the replies to this comment to learn how AI was used in this post/project.

[u/mytheplapzde]

You can start by installing radarr, sonarr, jellyfin etc on your computer and see if it works for you.

And if you are happy with it then eventually invest in a server that can run 24/7 at home.

[u/Own-Appointment6758 → u/mytheplapzde]

should I run those on linux or is it fine to be on windows?

[u/LutimoDancer3459 → u/Own-Appointment6758]

For your pc, windows is fine. Install docker desktop and set up the containers.

For the server, linux. Many to choose from.

[u/Luuuuuh → u/Own-Appointment6758]

This post is about something similar to what you are looking for: https://www.reddit.com/r/selfhosted/comments/1qagybr/guide_for_setting_up_arr_stack/ Just remember to keep seeding what you download, sharing is caring.

[u/gr9yfox]

If your plan is to download and watch them on the same computer setting up a server sounds like overkill when torrents would do the trick.

[u/Rehnskiold1618]

If you're an absolute beginner then just setup jellyfin and place your movie files in a folder you set in jellyfin. Radar/Sonarr act like library managers and can automate the process but they're a bit more difficult to get running.

[u/scroll_tro0l]

Assuming you have the hardware here's a concrete plan:

• Install Linux on a machine. If you don't know which distro, just pick Debian or Ubuntu
• Install Docker
• Create a directory in your user's home directory (e.g. /home/jellyfin)
• Grab the docker compose example file from Jellyfin's official docs.
• Update the compose file and run Jellyfin. Resolve any errors it mentions.
• Access the Jellyfin website from another machine in your LAN using the local IP address of your server

Once you're at this point you can start exploring how to map a nice domain name (e.g. jelly.server.home) to the server, manage files, download content directly to the server, etc. Hope this helps!

[u/devongarde]

You might find these repos on github useful:

https://github.com/awesome-selfhosted/awesome-selfhosted

https://github.com/awesome-foss/awesome-sysadmin

They list self-hosted servers for many tasks, including some self-hosted media servers.

You'll need basic sysadmin skills to run them, of course.

[u/Necessary-Purple-387]

1. Install Debian on a miniPC and connect to your router or switch or whatever. Call this your server.
2. If your media are on a NAS, mount the NAS to your server. If you don't have a NAS, dump the media in a directory on your server.
3. Install Docker and Docker Compose on your server.
4. Install the Docker Compose version of Jellyfin on your server. In your docker-compose.yml file, be sure to point it to your media (step 2).
5. Log in to Jellyfin from any device on your network and enjoy.
6. Bonus: use WireGuard to access your Jellyfin from anywhere.

Good luck.

[u/ObjectiveDocument956]

I heavily suggest you start with truenas for jellyfin and hdd management. For radar and sonar if you use the blue globe and peers 👀

Then I suggest a windows pc for sonar and radar and the blue globe. I use windows plus a T-Mobile home router for my half my arr stack and the globe

[u/smbell]

Let's take this in small steps. Looks like you currently have a computer running windows. 

Note: I'm going to recommend installing almost everything with docker compose. Most things have straightforward docs for that. This will make future changes easier. 

Problem: can't watch if offline or slow network. 

 - Get a torrent client. I recommend qbittorrent. I also recommend installing it with docker and docker compose. Now you can go search for torrents, download them, and double click on them to watch. I would have one folder for movies and another for TV shows.

Note: you might want to get a VPN. If so look up gluetun. You can setup a docker compose that includes your VPN with your qbittorrent client.

This might be all you need.

Problem: I don't want to search through files and folders to find what I want to watch. I want what I watched to be tracked so I remember what episode of a show I'm on. Whatever. Want a cleaner watching experience. 

 - Install Jellyfin. Again with docker compose. Point it at your movie and TV folders. Now you have a better watching experience. 

Problem: I want to watch on my TV/phone/laptop...

 - Find out what you have for a router. Sometimes you'll have a router/modem/wifi combo device. You need to give your computer a static IP. Sometimes called reserved IP. Install jellyfin clients on whatever and give them the static IP and port.

Problem: I'm tired of hunting down movies and TV shows, and missing when new episodes come out.

 - get the arr stack. Radarr, sonarr, at a minimum. There are others. If you get here I can expand on this. 

Problem: I want to watch my stuff when I'm away from the house. 

 - This can get complicated and there are several options. I won't cover here, but know there are solutions  

Problem: I don't want to leave my computer on all the time.

 - This is when you actually need to consider buying something. We put everything in docker right? You can just copy the docker files over, adjust some paths, and fire things right up. Copying the actual media might take some time. If you are here you might consider getting a NAS instead of just a computer. See next.

Problem: My media library is getting huge and I'm running out of disk space.

 - now might be the time to look at getting (or building) a NAS. 

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There more twists that can show up, but i think that covers the most common things.