Editing Introduction to a Self Managed Life: a 13 hour & 28 minute presentation by FUTO software (section)

=== An ASUS Asustor Flashstor mini-pc for a home theater computer ===

This machine fits all of our above requirements above ''beautifully.''

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==== Quiet Operation ====

Dealing with noise is important when setting up a home theater PC. Your gaming PC probably sounds like an annoying $20 amazon drone, and many minipcs aren’t much better. This machine makes little to no noise even when playing back high bitrate h.265 files &amp; fits easily inside a TV stand or on a small shelf.

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==== Impressive Storage Capacity ====

We are using our server for storage, not the Asustor Flashstor mini-pc. If you wanted to try using this as a small starter server, here’s where the ASUS Asustor MiniPC shines—'''storage capacity'''. Unlike most if not all mini-PCs which offer 1 or 2 slots at best for SATA/NVMe drives, the asustor has '''six NVMe slots on the cheapest model'''. This lets you to install up to 24 terabytes of incredibly fast storage on the cheap asustor, or 48 terabytes on the higher end models.

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==== Cost: $300-$400 on eBay ====

These can be found under [https://www.ebay.com/itm/126778026449?_skw=asustor&itmmeta=01JE2ADEGT8FRQ5A3F382XAQFR&itmprp=enc%3AAQAJAAAA4HoV3kP08IDx%2BKZ9MfhVJKlHyaaNfhwG0a0qDGiezVnDGbOrDK%2F0m3Z9BOZntIaopaUpFxI2BZ%2FT%2FUTiynBT9r7jGvcZTsYZmKJPAsYnqOf9l1H4iDCewdnk0vpdINtJo5cipLcikC049ecEiax%2FSE5Kafw1PFAajDKRAWEloFrPrK8tfztOIe7j8c9yBUCD17X8rMaY8gUt0KDZBg%2BGT7oGU3%2FHCKycRaUA7HfxYxgfYWQ501010hLK2fFmdl4uPjbvGSslrE0lW3RuxeEVFXNlA331a1QtuPZO%2BPMydshy%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR7rotcrwZA $350 used] which gets you a lag-free, quiet machine with six NVMe slots.

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==== Audio &amp; Video output options ====

The Asustor Flashstor does '''4k60 out of its HDMI port''' just fine. Some cheap no-name fly by night minipc companies use old HDMI standards for their ports &amp; get stuck at 4k30.

For high-quality audio, having an '''optical SPDIF''' output is important. as mentioned before, this allows the digital-to-analog conversion to be handled by dedicated audio equipment rather than your multipurpose PC, which sidesteps the noisy nonsense you get when you try encoding video or doing CPU intensive things with headphones plugged in. You may not notice this while your headphones are turned up as you’re engaged playing an exciting game, but quiet passages of movies get ruined by this very easily. The Asustor flashstor includes an optical SPDIF audio output jack, allowing you to connect directly to most modern home theater receivers.

* '''Benefit''': Avoids the need for additional USB audio interfaces.
* '''Setup''': Use a simple $5 optical cable from Walmart to connect to your stereo system.

It has '''optical audio output'''. This allows you to plug the machine into a '''stereo receiver'''’s optical audio input, a discrete '''digital to analog converter''', or an '''integrated amp'''’s optical audio input for clean sound output.

HDMI carries audio, but if you’re like me &amp; have a separate audio setup from your television, you’d have to get an HDMI audio/video splitter to get HDMI video to your TV and SPDIF digital audio to your stereo receiver that goes to your speakers. Some TVs can pass through the audio digitally to your stereo receiver, some don’t, but even if they do this is an added pain in the ass. Having optical audio out makes this easier.

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==== Powerful, expandable machine ====

Even the cheapest Asustor flashstor handles 4K video effortlessly. [https://www.aaawave.com/asustor-flashstor-6-gen-2-6-bay-nas-quad-core-2-3ghz-cpu-10gbe-ports-8gb-ram-ddr5-6x-m-2-ssd-slots-diskless-fs6806x/ Higher end models] are '''twice as powerful as the server in this guide''' and only take a '''fraction of its power''', making them suitable as a starter server. Low end models have '''6 NVMe solid state drive slots''', but you can buy this with up to [https://www.asustor.com/en-gb/product?p_id=91 12 NVMe drive slots] which would give you 48 terabytes of NVMe storage for a server, with 10 gigabit ethernet for fast network transfers.

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