DVR on Mac Mini (2012) tips wanted

Channels DVR Server
#1

My Pi dedicated image server has hung a few times and seems slow at Comskip so while the Pi distro has been convenient and useful I am planning to move the server to an unused Mac Mini 2012 which I have and repurpose the Pi.

The Mac Mini (A1347) has an i5 processor, 4GB memory and 500GB drive and I only plan to access recordings over my local network. (I plan to have the recordings on an external 1TB USB drive formatted as exFat.) It has Mojave right now and I know it won't run Big Sur.

My challenge is that I have very little background in MacOS (or Ubuntu), so this will be a learning experience.

Are there any tips which can be shared about setting up the Mac Mini to run 24x7?

After the initial setup I hope to be able to run it "headless" and remote in with a Win 10 PC on the same local gigabit network - so I could use some tips on how to do that too.

Mac Mini as DVR server
Mac mini and external storage
Fastest Hardware for DVR Server
Mac: run server without logging in
#2
  1. Turn off sleep
  2. Turn on auto login for your user
  3. Turn on screen sharing in the Sharing pane of System Preferences. You can use VNC software to remotely connect to the Mac.
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Apple Mac mini M1 vs NAS
#3

I have the same computer. Not sure if it was the OS or trying to run VMs on the same machine, but I was getting really choppy recordings. I upgraded the Mini to an SSD and 16GB of RAM and now it runs great. I don't think Mojave is friendly to older machines.

#4

I ran the Channels DVR server on a 2012 Mac Mini for over a year before switching to a NUC. I found that after 1-2 weeks of uptime the external harddrive would randomly disconnect for no good reason and I would have to reboot the computer to get it back. So I added a scheduled task to automatically reboot the mini once a week at a time I knew it would be idle. After that, it was pretty darned rock-solid.

#5

I use a 2013 Mac mini as my Channels DVR and it has been solid for a couple of years. If your Mac is still using the original HD I recommend you replace the internal drive with an SSD. That made a huge difference in performance and stability.

I use an external SSD for recordings and haven’t had issues with it disconnecting

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#6

Hi! What's the advantage to using an external drive for the recordings? Thanks!

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#7

ran my DVR on a 2012 Mac Mini for years with no issues.

couple things though:
definitely need more than 4gb of RAM though.
not sure exFat for your external USB is such a good idea when connected to a Mac. i'd reformat it as MacOS Extended Journaled.
i'd use an ethernet connection to your network and not WiFi if at all possible.

#8

@dalejroe Channels gives you the option of storing some or all of your recordings on an external drive.

Why use an external drive?

  1. To get more space for recordings ... for example ...
  2. If your internal drive is running low on space for your recordings under your DVR directory you can move some to an external drive and free up space on your internal drive, this can be configured in the server in the "DVR Database" section by adding another "Storage Path". And this allows recording space to span more than one physical drive.
  3. Alternatively, you may choose to store all your recordings on an external drive.

Having all recordings on an external drive could also make it easier to move the drive to another computer if someone ever has a reason to do so.

If someone goes with an external drive I would think it would be better to go with a USB3 setup for more speed rather than USB2.

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#9

Thanks for the reply. I was wondering if it was purely for storage purposes or if it might improve performance. Your answer clears it up for me!

#10

External vs Internal Drive? There are tradeoffs between the two.

Internal Drive:
Advantages:

  1. Clean solution without external drives hanging off computer.
  2. Optimal disk performance.
    Notes:
  3. If using internal I recommend creating a filesystem for recordings. That way if recordings use up your disk space your OS still has disk space to work. This is important if a family member creates a pass to record and save all copies of a show and then one station runs a multi-day marathon of that show. We went from living with more then 50% disk available to disk full in a couple of days.

External Drive
Advantages:

  1. Easy to swap drive for larger drive.
  2. Easy to move DVR to new machine.
    Notes:
  3. If using external drive I'd go USB3 or thunderbolt for performance. I never tried a USB2 as it would probably provide a poor if not unusable experience.
  4. For even better performance consider SSD.
  5. If having issues with an external drive disconnecting, I'd try SSD or an external drive that has it's own power supply. I've used SSD with Mac Mini and never experienced a disconnect.

Other Notes: If running Mac OS 10.13 or later I recommend formatting the drive as APFS. This provides best performance and stability. Note that APFS is not compatible with anything other then Mac so you would have to format and copy all DVR files over to another appropriately formatted drive to move your DVR to a different platform.

#11

I love my Mac Mini 2012 i7 (Server) with 16GB ram, running 10.15 headless for my DVR for a few years. Last year I upgraded both of its internal hard drives to Samsung SSD 1TB drives which made the machine run much faster.

I have 2 external USB 3.0 drives attached. One which stores my DVR and movies and the other drive is my Time Machine backup for all my macs. I am using external drives for larger storage capacity vs. price. The setup is not very pretty to look at, but it is a solid workhorse of a machine. I am also running Channels for PlutoTV via Docker.

I have had no significant problems with this setup. I would strongly suggest increasing ram to at least 8GB, upgrade system drive to an SSD, maybe upgrade OS, and get an external USB 3.0 drive for your DVR.

#12

Because it’s been mentioned several times, I’d like to add to my previous post by saying, my external USB drive was USB2. Despite massive load on a daily basis, neither it or the 2012 Mac Mini had any trouble whatsoever keeping up. My database had thousands of recording and thousands of hrs.

#13

I’ve been running Channels DVR and Plex on a M1 Mini for a few months now. Been running fine and trouble free. Playback and commercial skip and jump forward is fairly quick.
Storage is a NAS drive 21TB.

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