sickbeard_mp4_automator VS OpenMediaVault

I have been using MP4 automator for over 5 years; https://github.com/mdhiggins/sickbeard_mp4_automator . I choose MP4 as it works on preety much any device i have ever tryied, H264, AAC stereo and AC3 5.1. Have also used Tdarr for H265 conversion; it really uses 35-50% less space for same quality (4k and I wasnt able to see difference).

They do extended versions of some existing containers that add extra stuff. I use sabnzbd-extended for the SMA support.

SMA, Automatically converts media files to a standardized format, and tags them with the appropriate metadata from TMDB if the container supports tagging. Made to integrate with Radarr, Sonarr, etc. but can be run stand alone. Python required (3+, although 2.7 was still supported, last I knew). Free. https://github.com/mdhiggins/sickbeard_mp4_automator

Sickbeard mp4 Automator for media conversation and metadata matching. Combined with mediaelch for bulk renaming and poster downloads, they’re essential for plex hosting. Also use subler for quick metadata/language code fixes.

You can use something like the following to automate the transcoding: https://github.com/mdhiggins/sickbeard_mp4_automator

Going back to https://github.com/mdhiggins/sickbeard_mp4_automator, I was following the steps for sonarr/radarr and went to add a connection (custom script). Browsed to /usr/local/sma/postSonarr.py and clicked the test button, and I got an error that the script exited with -1. I am wondering if it has something to do with this weird instruction from the github page:

You might want to consider the previously mentioned MergerFS and SnapRAID, or MDADM and LVM for your setup. OpenMediaVault [https://www.openmediavault.org/ is a solid choice in this regard. Additionally, if you're planning to run something like Proxmox, you could look into deploying Starwind CVM on top of it. Pretty much like in this guide: https://www.starwindsoftware.com/resource-library/starwind-virtual-san-vsan-configuration-guide-for-proxmox-vsan-deployed-as-a-controller-virtual-machine-cvm/ .

You would better to install OMV instead. It's a ready to use fileserver solution with web interface.

So I'm working on a similar setup with an ancient desktop my in-laws were getting rid of. I installed OpenMediaVault directly to the hard drive (it's so old that I assume it wouldn't work too well as a hypervisor), with a 4TB external HDD attached. OMV supports Docker by means of a plug-in and I'm running a Jellyfin container with no issues at all. I'm still manually downloading everything to the HDD but *arr containers are my next step, as well as setting up a gluetun container to route all that through a VPN.

That is possible (it's automated to a certain extent). It also depends on the NAS OS. Unraid, for example, can work with drives of different sizes while using the largest one for parity. TrueNAS uses ZFS so you won't be able to just add a drive to your RAIDZ and expand it. There's also openmediavault: https://www.openmediavault.org/ that uses Linux Software RAID and you can add a new drive there but you can't combine drives of different sizes. And there's also Starwinds NAS that supports both Linux Software RAID and ZFS: https://www.starwindsoftware.com/san-and-nas. Plus, I would avoid SMR drives in RAID: https://nascompares.com/answer/list-of-wd-cmr-and-smr-hard-drives-hdd/

I'd put it like that: if you have a spare PC, then it's definitely worth trying. I would also look into openmediavault (minimal RAM needs): https://www.openmediavault.org/ and Starwinds NAS (supports both ZFS and Linux software RAID): https://www.starwindsoftware.com/san-and-nas