Mac Mini as HTPC for Plex ? Spec questions and also need an NAS?

I have zero experience with anything like DIY builds etc so I'm looking to buy an off the shelf mini to run as our first ever HTPC. The whole family uses Macbooks and crucially all our media files are on Mac hard drives, some icloud storage and and a bunch of mac-formatted external usb drives. So I'm thinking it's best to just buy a Mac mini, even though it's more expensive, as it'll be easier just to hang the existing drives out of it. Otherwise I will need to reformat and transfer everything to windows or Linux drives, right? ( <-first of many stupid questions)

Our usage is only ever really going to max out at 3 devices at once, and even that would be fairly rare. Sample max load might be simultaneously streaming dvd rips (mostly 1080 and 720) on:

- Xbox hooked to tv

- Macbook

- iphone or ipad outside the home

Now, our video files are a range of different file types from over the years so I'm guessing there might be a fair amount of transcoding. Don't think we have any files above 1080. Will I need HW transcoding if, say, all three are streaming films that need transcoding?

Would a single decent spec Mac Mini be able to support this kind of setup, and could it ALSO handle RAID responsibilities (I have never had a RAID system but it seems sensible). Or will I also need an NAS to handle that load and RAID duties? If so, will it be easier to use yet another mac setup as the NAS as well, or is it easy to run a windows or Linux NAS to support and backup Macs (I have never used Linux so introducing any non mac components will probably tax my non existent software knowledge beyond its limits. Are the advantages of windows and mac Linux NAS rigs (to someone like me) just the flexibility on setup and expansion, and price? Or is there more to it?

And finally, if I can get away with a single Mac Mini for this, what's the likely minimum spec to achieve it? I doubt our needs will evolve a great deal for a few years, so I don't need a huge amount of redundancy. But obviously don't want to spend my life getting yelled at by my wife for crappy home theatre performance.

Sorry for the moron entry level questions. And thanks to anyone willing to help! I really wish I could offer to contribute to this sub, but as you can tell from my questions, I know nothing!

Submitted by odonnthe | #Specialdealer Special Offer Online Shopping Store 2016