Using Plex for a home media server already puts you in pretty geeky company but for some people, that’s not enough. I’m going through my own journey to digitize my video library. Right now, transcoding is the bane of my existence. Luckily I came across this post where Carolyn Van Slyck with a potential solution. You can find lots of guides suggesting the best CPU and GPU for transcoding videos, but not that many that show you how to build your own cluster. Carolyn put together a My Little Pony inspired Kubernetes cluster with Docker containers running Handbrake-CLI to handle it. It’s an impressive setup and a great use case for Kubernetes at home.
I am now the proud owner of the My Little PonyTM cluster pictured below. It can can simultaneously transcode five HD videos in three hours. In case of a power outage, not an uncommon occurrence around here, everything will reboot and pick up where they left off without a hiccup. If I get a little crazy and buy a few more nodes, they can go from assembled to “work horses” in about 7 minutes.
Read More: My Little Cluster Story
