I'm about to build one PC for my media server. I will mostly use the machine for encoding some videos and feeding DVIX videos for PS3 and XB360 with some transcoding. Most likely run the server 24/7.
Any recommendations for OS for the server?
If you plan to install a graphics card for encoding purpose then go for Windows.. else stick to 64-bit Linux.. as far as I know, there is no GPU enabled transcoding app on Linux..
i think windows home server is what you need. More info here:
*www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/windowshomeserver/default.mspx
Definitely, windows operating system would be a great decision to go with. Windows is much familiar and popular due to its friendly interface. For a media server windows os is the best choice.
I think Ubuntu Studio will serve the best in this purpose. It is a derivative on Linux Ubuntu and is aimed at media creation / editing . The Real-time kernel scheduler allows applications to request immediate CPU time, which can reduce audio latency to a great extent improving PC performance while performing tough jobs.
