Pretty good deal on a small windows PC that should be able to run Channels DVR. Uses an Intel Atom processor, but unlike previous models this one is 64bit and has Intel HD Graphics which means hardware transcoding via QuickSync is supported.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01N3RO6X5/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awdb_9inDzb321HC64
EDIT: Looks like this CPU model does not transcode in hardware, so we cannot recommend it for Channels DVR.
hey!
That look like a good deal.
When you say “should”, means no one have tried it yet?
Would you recommend this over a NAS?
Would you recommend it over a i5 Mac mini? I’m all Apple at home but I wouldn’t mind having a windows machine for the DVR.
No one has tried as far as I know. The saying “you get what your pay for” always applies. An i5 mini will run circles around this windows box, but if you’re budget conscious and need a basic DVR setup this is a good option.
Just ordered it!
Will report once it is up and running!
Dedicated DVR! Exciting!
Got it yesterday.
It works just fine as a local setup.
Hardware transcoding works also for remote playback of recordings.
Oddly, When trying to watch live TV over the web interface, I get an error saying that the transcoder failed or the media is not supported.
Any ideas?
What does the Log tab say?
2017/08/16 14:03:57 [TNR] Opened connection to 1053BB4B for ch2.1 [transcode=none]
2017/08/16 14:04:03 [HLS] Starting transcoder for channel 2.1 (encoder=h264_qsv, resolution=720, deinterlacer=linear, bitrate=2000)
[h264_qsv @ 000000000018a960] Error during encoding: device failed (-17)
Video encoding failed
[aac @ 0000000002594de0] 2 frames left in the queue on closing
2017/08/16 14:04:05 [WRN] Buffer for 1053BB4B ch2.1 is more than 50% full (clients=1, len=16785580)
2017/08/16 14:04:09 [WRN] Buffer for 1053BB4B ch2.1 is more than 75% full (clients=1, len=25165868)
2017/08/16 14:04:12 [WRN] Buffer for 1053BB4B ch2.1 is more than 95% full (clients=1, len=31881416)
2017/08/16 14:04:12 [WRN] Buffer for 1053BB4B ch2.1 is more than 99% full (clients=1, len=33226368)
2017/08/16 14:04:39 [HLS] Stopping transcoder session ANY-ch2.1 @ 0s
2017/08/16 14:04:39 [TNR] Closed connection to 1053BB4B for ch2.1I also just noticed that some recordings won’t playback. I think that the processor might be overloading. It starts, and it won’t go over 0.450X. So it never plays.
But some older recordings works. Transcoding speed shows a steady 1.5x
I know I had fiddled with the recording settings it the past. Those transcoding fine might be in lower resolution? Or they might have been recorded in heavy mode?. Not sure
Yea sounds like older recordings were in heavy mode.
The hardware transcoder is failing with an error message “device failed”. I’ll need to do some research to see if we can fix that…
How does software encoding work?
Can you try to install the latest Intel graphics drivers to see if that helps?
I did update the drivers yesterday. It didn’t fix it.
I just tried software transcoding and it did not failed as hardware did. However, it won’t go over 0.45x speed. So it hangs after a few seconds of playback. that’s the same with live tv and recordings.
What transcoding quality should I try? I’m currently on 720 2mbps.
Guess I just found the limitation of the Atom processor.
Other than that, quite a brilliant little box!
the only way I got to a fluid playback is by setting it to the lowest quality. 240 360kbps… Good to watch the local news in PIP on my macbook! All of the higher resolution above result in a laggy playback.
Hardware transcoding does not work at all.
Software transcoding did worked well at 720p with my old Core2Duo, 10 years old macbook. Weird that this little box can’t do any better.
Edit : It’s been playing non-stop for 5 minutes now and the transcoding speed has dropped bellow 1X. So it lags quite a bit. Even at 240…
Can you copy/paste the CPU/OS section from the top of the DVR web UI?
OSAZW Z83 II
Windows Microsoft Windows 10 Home
10.0.15063 Build 15063
CPU
4 cores / Intel® Atom™ x5-Z8350 CPU @ 1.44GHz
RAM2.07 GB
13.0% free
So,
Just found out that DVR playback from the iOS app on local network isn’t smooth either.
I guess the atom processor is just not powerful’ enough. Right?
It might help if you post the info for the iOS device you are using.
Local network playback streams raw files and requires no CPU. It should work on even the most slow CPU, as long as your network/wifi can keep up.
Turns out my wifi was the problem this time. Rebooted an accès point and it works fine now.
However, I still haven’t figured out a way of making hardware encoding working.
I have tried to update a few drivers tonight but the installer tells me that my system does not have the minimum specifications requirement for that driver. That seems odd since its Intels own updater who suggested that driver update.
Those drivers are the Intel GMA and the HD graphic N series
Any advice?
I’ll have to look more when I return in a few weeks
So I searched a bit online and it seems that the Atom x5-Z8350 CPU does not actually supports Intel QuickSync. I read a lot of forums posts saying that it does not work even tough the Intel website says it does.
Some people seemed to made it work trough command lines but I didn’t wanted to waste a lot of time trying to make it work.
So I decided to return the mini computer to Amazon. But, I ordered and received a Intel Celeron N3450 equipped version of the same mini pc. I just installed Channels DVR on it and it seems like hardware transcoding is gonna work just fine now. It even has 4gb of RAM. Same Intel HD 500 graphic card.
here it is : https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B06XD2V3Q2/
really happy! Hope it’s gonna be alright!