Entertainment · Design storage and backups · entertainment-12

Set up a low-power home media server (optional)

A small server lets every screen in the house play from one library over local Wi-Fi, without copying files to each device.

How

Pick hardware with low idle power. A two-bay Synology DS224+ is rated 14.69 W during access and 4.41 W with drives hibernating, on a 60 W adapter, operating 0 to 40 C and 8 to 80 percent RH.
Jellyfin is free media server software with no paid features. Its hardware guide lists low-power options (recent Intel N-series, Apple M-series Mac mini) and advises hardware decoding of HEVC 10-bit if you transcode.
Store media in formats your players can play directly, so the server does not have to transcode, which is the heavy, power-hungry task.
Kiwix Server can share Wikipedia and other ZIM files to browsers on the same local network with no internet; it is light enough for a Raspberry Pi or NAS.
Put the server on the house DC or inverter circuit planned in power-1, and set drive hibernation so it sleeps when nobody watches.
A server is not a backup. Keep the 3-2-1 copies as well.