Commercial Detection Mac Mini Alternatives

[nuebx]

Currently have a Mini PC with an Intel(R) Celeron(R) CPU J3455 @ 1.50GHz 1.50 GHz and 8GB or memory. Happy with the server performance, however the commercial detection is a bit slow. Planning on upgrading. The Channels website suggests the Mac Mini as the "remote streaming master", and highlights the commercial detection performance.

The base model Mac Mini at $600 with only a 256GB SSD is pretty steep. A quick Amazon check shows there are Mini PCs with I7 and AMD Ryzen 7s for <$500 with 1TB SSDs. Anyone have any idea how these solutions will stack up against the Mac Mini? Is there a specific feature, e.g. number of cores, frequency, etc, that makes the Mac MIni standout?

[rvc]

Find a used older mini. I use a 2018 mini with 3.6Ghz quad core i3 chip and 16GB of memory and it runs Channels great and commercials get detected in just a few minutes. Processor rarely runs above 3% in use.

[bnhf]

@nuebx

Anyone have any idea how these solutions will stack up against the Mac Mini? Is there a specific feature, e.g. number of cores, frequency, etc, that makes the Mac MIni standout?

The latest Mac Mini M4 is actually a pretty good value, though you'd be stuck running the Mac OS forever. If you're a devotee of Apple it makes sense. If this is going to be a server running CDVR and maybe Docker, then going in another direction would make a bit more sense.

The M4 and the latest 14th generation i7 are reasonably similar in an aggregation of benchmarks, with the M4 slightly (10%) more powerful:

If you're looking to save some money, I'd suggest an i3 (12th to 14th generation - 35 watt) which would give you some nice performance at a lower price point. Debian or Ubuntu LInux would be a great choice with this, as would Windows 11 Pro.

The latest generation processors are always the best bet. For example, here's the processor used in an older Intel-based Mac Mini vs a modern i3 running at 35 watts instead of 65 watts (less heat, and lower power consumption). Half the watts and more than twice as powerful:

[_Mike]

I know docker desktop on Mac runs in a VM and does not have direct access to hardware acceleration. But other than that, what’s wrong with using docker on an M4?

[rvc]

Channels works without docker, so why bother. Seems like just complicating things.

[_Mike]

Right. I was referring. To this. Regarding running both Channels and docker on a Mac.

@bnhf

If this is going to be a server running CDVR and maybe Docker, then going in another direction would make a bit more sense.

[bnhf]

@_Mike

I know docker desktop on Mac runs in a VM and does not have direct access to hardware acceleration. But other than that, what’s wrong with using docker on an M4?

Nothing really. The M4 has plenty of power to overcome any inefficiencies of the Docker Desktop environment, and it's a great way to go for those in the Apple ecosystem. Since the OP was looking for Mac Mini alternatives, I was trying to offer some. Docker is at its best running in a Linux environment, but the OP may not even be planning on running any extensions that require Docker.

[rvc]

My old intel mini runs channels, docker and a dns server and it is never anywhere near maxing out the CPU. My thought is if this is just machine to stick in the rack and all it needs to do is run background stuff, then no need to spend big bucks on the latest mini. An older one is more than enough. Now if you are also going to use it as your daily driver, well that is another story.

By the way you need docker if you want to get the PBS stations, that is why I run docker.