Media Server
A media server allows you to keep all your entertainment in one central
location, then copies of the files can be transferred or streamed to all the
capable devices on demand.
Benefits of having a centralised location saves the hassle of searching for
media on different computers then having to leave them on while say watching it
on a TV.
Hardware
Before you can stream there needs to be the right equipment on each side, the
server side that hosts the files and at the other end a device capable of
receiving and decoding the file. That other end could be a whole host of
different things, TVs, game consoles, Internet radios, phones and tablets, a
hole host of things. If you haven't got a
capable device then there's no point, but most newer smart TVs and current
generation game consoles can be happily streamed to.
It's important to note that are two different techniques to how media is
streamed that determines hardware requirements. The first is traditional
streaming, where say a video file is opened and decoded on the server, then the
raw video is send through the network to a device where it is displayed. In this
method the processing power is needed on the server, and a network with a
greater capacity is needed to avoid bottlenecks and the dreaded buffering.
In the other method a server acts more as a file server, simply transferring the
file as is to the device where it is then decoded and displayed. These eases the
load on the network as the file is still encoded, meaning greatly reduced
network traffic, but then the device must have enough power to do the
processing, lucky these days the cost for capable devices are plummeting, even
the original £25 Raspberry Pi is capable of playing full HD video.
Recently manufacturers realised the complexity of streaming media across
different devices and came together to support a standard of streaming known as
DNLA (Digital Living Network Alliance). If looking for compatible devices that
can stream from a server then DNLA certification is a reassurance that it will
work.
Server
An average PC is capable of becoming a media server, especially so if it uses
the file transfer method of streaming. But what they all need is a lot of
storage space, enough to hold all your video, pictures and music. A hard drive
with a preference for capacity over speed is needed, as all desktop drives are
capable of serving multiple streams. Processing grunt only becomes significant
when the server is pure streaming to device but nowadays processing is handled
by the end device, it's worth checking just in case there is a device needing a
pure stream.