I've been running the Channels DVR server on my early 2009 Mac Mini for about 3 years and it has been pretty solid for just doing that. However, I did not do the commercial detection because that really slowed the system down. Now, I have the server running on my 2017 12" MacBook with an external USB 2TB drive, because I recently upgraded to a new MacBook Pro. I also had to buy a USB-C hub on Amazon with ethernet, power port and USB but that seems to be working great too.
It took me a little while to figure out what software I needed to keep the MacBook screen off when closed and keep it awake 100% of the time. I ended up installing Amphetamine application and that seems to keep it running all the time, or at least ever since I set it up a week ago. Amphetamine on the App Store
So far the MacBook seems to run the server without any trouble and I now have commercial detection on. Between this, and the recent 2021 Apple TV 4K 64GB I got, I really have found the perfect Channels DVR setup for my needs. If anyone has an extra Mac around I highly recommend using that to run the server.
