Ive been wanting to make my own home media server for a bit now along with doing some other things, but how do i do it can i use any tech device as a media server, do i buy a bunch of dvds and digitize them. what exactly are the steps that need to be taken?
The quickest way to start is to familiarize yourself with Plex by installing it on your primary computer. It can run in the background in Windows and will be accessible on your home network from there. You’ll want to install “Plex Media Server” on that computer and configure it to your liking. Once that’s installed, you will need media. You mention ripping DVDs. That is the best route to take with regards to legal ramifications. There are many ways to rip DVDs, so I won’t go into that. Once you have your DVDs ripped and in a folder on your primary computer, configure Plex to search that folder for media. You can then use any Plex client to stream those movies wherever you please.
I will warn you, though, it can be a bit of a rabbit hole. My Plex setup has grown to a rack-mounted server with dual Intel CPUs, 384GB or RAM, and many, many terrabytes of content being shared to dozens of friends and family members.
Have fun and come back with any questions you come up with!