I didn't know what a homelab was. I didn't know the first thing about networking, and I definitely didn't know how to use a console. But I had a simple goal: I wanted to watch the movies I already owned on an external hard drive — from anywhere — without the external hard drive.
Sure, I could download everything locally. But that falls apart the moment you want to watch on a TV, an Xbox, or anywhere that isn't your pocket. I'd heard of people using Plex, but honestly? Trying to figure out how to even add media into Plex felt… overwhelming.
So that was the first problem: I didn't even know where to start.
I knew what I wanted — access to my movies from anywhere — but I didn't want to lug around external drives or clog up the already limited space on my iPhone with media. And yes, I can already hear the Android crowd saying, "Well Android lets you add an SD card."
That's cool. I like my iPhone.
The Research Rabbit Hole
This idea hit me while I was on vacation at my girlfriend's house, which meant I couldn't just hop on my computer and start experimenting. All I could do was research. And then research some more. Somewhere down that rabbit hole, I discovered Jellyfin.
I couldn't do much with just my phone, so I planned. The real question was: once I got home, would I actually follow through?
Turns out, yes.
The First "It Works" Moment
I remembered from hosting my old FiveM server that you could just rent a cheap server with a virtual desktop. So that's what I did. I spun one up, installed Jellyfin, uploaded a few movies… and BAM. It worked. Instantly.
I had my movies on a server, streaming to my phone. That was the moment the lightbulb flicked on.
I could upload everything I owned, cancel my $200+ a month in streaming services, and be done with it. But there was a catch. A big one.
The Catch
I'd need to constantly download new movies and shows. A lot of them. Not only was that risky, it felt like I was trading subscriptions for a second job. I wasn't saving time anymore — I was just saving money and creating more work for myself.
So now what?
I could watch my existing movies from anywhere, sure. But I still needed streaming services to keep up with new content. I couldn't manually manage everything forever.
Did I really want to pay for yet another subscription just to almost solve my problem?
No.
Enter: The Homelab
That's when I dug deeper.
I explained my situation to Claude AI, and it hit me with a word I'd never really paid attention to before: homelab. It explained the *arr stack, qBittorrent, containers, Docker, Portainer — the whole ecosystem.
You're telling me that from a computer in my own house, I could automate my entire media system? That I could actually reach a point where I didn't need streaming subscriptions at all?
Alright. Let's find out.
KAISERVER Is Born
I returned home from my trip with a mission: build KAISERVER.
Little did I know what I was getting myself into.
— To be continued in Part 2 —