I'm also a Synology fan. It just works. What I didn't like about running the DVR on my Mac Mini is because I used my Mac Mini as my daily driver. I moved it to the Synology so I didn't have to worry about downtime because I need to reboot or whatever. The Synology is set it and forget it really. I use a DS1019+.
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Likewise, my Mac Mini has no display, keyboard, or mouse, and is just sitting on a shelf running (sitting next to two QNAP NAS boxes). So I think your specific use case is that running Channels DVR on a multi-purpose machine presents downtime issues, not that its a Mac Mini.
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If I ever get a MacBook Air I’ll turn my Mac mini Mac into a server.
Been running channels on a SHIELD Pro, with only a Chromecast and a Firestick that never gets used. Runs great. But I still want to build a new DVR server and am torn between a few options, despite having no real need for it with my limited setup. Keep in mind please that I'm poor please, buying them all isn't an option, really wish it was like that.
What I've considered:
Apple Mac Mini A1347 with i7, SSD, 16gb RAM headless
Latest M1 Mac Mini bottom of the line, can upgrade later, headless
RPi4 8gb with USB SSD (not a flash drive), headless
Intel NUC 8, 9, 10 series as server and pc
Midrange NUC Hackintosh
How I see it:
Yea, it'd be cool to have an RPi4 for channels and to play with, but it won't be any better or worse than my current setup. The old upgraded mac mini would probably handle it like a boss. The Intel NUC is only an option because I need a new PC, and if I got that, I would still want to build another sever based on MacOS, windows is pure garbage for anything other than not being apple.
Despite all of my issues with apple and refusal to use their products I feel like the server would run superior on their OS. Am I gonna have to violate my #1 rule of using devices and buy an apple product?
Any thoughts?
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If you buy any version of the latest MacMini I think you have almost zero options of adding internal memory or internal SSD unless you have special tools and skill sets for hot air soldering.
As far as I know the “late 2012 Mac Mini” was the last one to support after market upgrades, see iFixit.com, no, wait,I was wrong, looks like the 2014 and 2018 support some upgrades too.
But maybe by upgrade you didn’t mean upgrade the M1 Mac Mini itself? But rather to purchase some other server as an upgrade?
More thoughts: I believe @tmm1 had suggested the new M1 Mac Mini may currently be the fastest hardware for a DVR.
But what might be the second fastest? Maybe an Intel based PC with an internal M.2 NVMe (not SATA) based SSD running Ubuntu or other Linux?
I think the server is performing a variety of tasks, and it would appear different hardware platforms vary in their ability to do these quickly. For me, it's important that the dvr server complete commercial detection quickly, as the ability to transcode for remote clients is impacted during this time, and separately, that the platform can do that transcoding quickly. I am currently running an intel i7-sixth gen mini pc, running linux. It has plenty of RAM available, and boots from an nvme drive, and records to a large mechanical hard drive. This has worked well for remote clients, and it can process a one-hour recording for commercial at right around 2 minutes start to finish, which seems quite close to what the M1 people are showing? One thought had been that using a separate GPU on a card would improve transcode over the intel graphics, at least a bit, and I think this can happen even with Linux, but unfortunately the machine I have would require a single-slot low-profile card, and those would provide little or no advantage over the igpu approach.
I have also had Channels DVR server running on a Synology NAS with intel CPU, and it was fine, just slower at commercial detection. It makes sense, also, to consider efficiency of power usage and total cost - this is a machine that runs all the time. My linux box is running a few more server applications that Channels, so I felt justified in its expense (which wasn't much as it was a refurb, older machine) and relative efficiency, as its a lower-wattage cpu and power supply
Are there any disadvantages to using a SSD for the ChannelsDVR recordings?
I have not seen any ... Recordings are large but remember you are writing them over a long Period of time ... it is not like you are simply copying a file. A 5 Gig recording written over an hour is not write intensive.
I use my SSD only for the Streaming folder using symlink... not for recordings.
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Thanks. I am using a 1 TB USB, SSD, and it is working great. Silence is golden. 
I have 2 8TB USB 3 5400 RPM drives in redundancy (mirrored) using Windows Storage Spaces and never had a problem. I had a bad experience with a NAS that refused to power up. Easier to replace a windows cheap PC than a NAS.
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Synology DS720+ 6GB ram no issues you never know it's there.
I thought I should chime in with my experiences using M1 Mac mini 8GB 256GB base standard config as a “server”. tl;dr M1 is the greatest value and speed bump since Pentium. It's great if your needs are limited and the apps you regularly use and need are native for Apple Silicon. My electric bill fell by 16%.
My build
• M1 with 8GB RAM and 256GB SSD storage base config(!)
• 10-port USB 3.0 48W Powered hub with 4 external Western Digital hard disk drives (3x 8TB easystore and bus-powered 500GB My Passport)
• No monitor, headless but I sometimes use AirPlay or plug in an HDMI cable (display emulator, once I move Mac mini to my closet amazon.com/fit-Headless-GS-resolution-emulator-game-streaming/dp/B01EK05WTY)
• Bluetooth input devices: Logitech T651 and K811
• APC Back-UPS 1100
• Google Fiber / Webpass 1 Gig Internet connection
• It runs Channels DVR server, Backblaze, Chrome (chroot), iPhoto (photo backups), Screens (VNC) and I plan to eventually add Plex (once it's native) and SuperDuper! (for easier drive cloning)
Positives
• It's quiet af compared to the 2012 quad-core i7 Mac mini I used to run as a server
• 4K output over HDMI is pretty cool and works well over AirPlay, too
• The video server (ffmpeg) could simultaneously handle receipt of 9 inbound streams (DVR recordings) and send 7 outbound streams (3 remux live and 4 DVR files from a single hard disk drive) -- CRAZY
• Auto-skip commercial detection (comskip) runs slightly faster with M1, but it is WHISPER quiet compared to the Intel that ran its fan at full blast
• As I suspected, my electric bill was noticeably lower (16% or approximate $6 monthly savings); unscientifically with my normal habits, I used 0.55 kWh less on an average day with the Apple Silicon Mac mini compared to Intel
• Internet Sharing (Google Fiber hooked directly into Mac mini) to share my Internet connection to other devices with the Mac as a “router” works for days, unlike Intel (which needs to be restarted almost daily)
Negatives
• Bluetooth input device connectivity issues were a consistent issue up until macOS Big Sur 11.2; I resorted to Screens VNC since Bluetooth keyboard and mouse had to be deleted and reconnected daily
• Recovery Mode is weird (you now just hold down the power button), and clean install of macOS is a pain with multiple volumes (this might be a Big Sur / APFS issue)
• It thrice restated due to kernel panics, which I presume were due to Chrome; but my longest uptime was 13 days, still not as good as Intel
• I wish I had more than 2 USB-A ports, but I use a hub; only 2 Thunderbolt 4 ports is super annoying, as I'll need a much more expensive Thunderbolt hub if I want to switch to SSDs from the 3x 8TB HDDs I use now
• I really wish it had 10Gb Ethernet 10000BASE-T, but I'm going to test out a Thunderbolt 3 adapter to see how it performs with Google Fiber; I'm hopeful that I might squeeze out a bit more throughput
• Many apps aren't native, so if you rely on any, especially if they require a kernel extension (kext file), they're likely not going to work (Dropbox is one example)
• There are still some really shitty Apple Silicon native apps out there (Chrome, meh, but I need chroot for Channels — I wish this would change somehow) that can bring down your system even if you never launch them. Chrome is creepy and still shows as a recently used app in my Dock and the Apple Menu even when I never launch the app
• Backblaze is non-native, but bzserv seems to run well with regular daily backups
I plan to keep this M1, sell Intel Mac mini multi-core now (while there's still a demand for it) and consider upgrading if Google Fiber deploys faster speed uploads that require 10000BASE-T or I switch to SSD and need more Thunderbolt ports. I’m glad I’m on the latest version of macOS, as my Intel (running High Sierra) will eventually lose support.
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I was considering buying an M1 Mini, but I think I will hold off for a while. I'm a Windows 10 guy. Yes, you have to update all the time, but everything works. Maybe in couple of years, Channels, Plex and MCEBuddy will all work on an M1, and I'll upgrade.
I also run Windows 10 on my daily-use laptop. An update brought my system down TWICE, blue screen of death, and required me to reformat and reinstall. For a “server” config, Windows absolutely doesn’t work ime.
Apple Silicon Mac has improved, but I’d say that Intel Mac is much more stable for now. I had to decide if the time was right for long-term support (and to sell my multi-core Intel Mac), so I made the jump to Apple Silicon now. The only other platform I might consider is Raspberry Pi or Synology.
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I have been running Channels DVR, Plex Media Server, Homebridge, InfluxDB, Grafana, and Node-RED on an i5 Windows 10 machine with 16GB of RAM for a few years, with no BSOD issues, and no automatic updates (disabled via simple registry tweak.) I have 3 x 8TB drives using StableBit's DrivePool, to simplify storage management and redundancy, along with a SSD to host the operating system. This always on Windows 10 "Home Server" has plenty of horsepower to handle everything that I have thrown at it, and it has been incredibly reliable. I also have it on an APC UPS to ensure power blips don't cause any hiccups with recordings. Channels DVR comskip processing is pretty quick as well.
Biggest downside is probably the power usage, but since is serves multiple purposes, I am fine with it.
For Windows servers the best bet is Windows 10 LTSC (Long Term Stable Channel). You can pick up individual licenses on Ebay, as it is not a Retail product. It does not have the constant destabilizing updates of regular Win 10. I did a self-service kiosk that was constantly going down after Windows updates -- switching to LTSC fixed it.
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I've heard power consumption on M1's are amazing as well. $$$$
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I added Channels DVR to my existing server Dell T20 with an Xeon e3 1225 v3 processor. It runs Ubuntu 20.04 and has 20GB of RAM. I bought it off of Craigslist for $150. Added one 120GB SSD I had already for boot and two 8GB hard drives in RAID 1 for storage and redundancy.
It all works very well and hardly ever see over 20% utilization for everything I'm running. It is headless and I use VNC to administer it.
Aside from Channels, it is running a couple of Dockers (including the PlutoTV docker), Plex for movies (although I'm checking out the beta movie addition to Channels), and OBS sending one of our security cameras to YouTube Live. That camera is currently monitoring chicken eggs we are hatching and my teacher wife wanted to let her students watch whenever.
Has anyone decided to dip their toe in with 2022 Mac Studio featuring M1 Ultra? I’m pretty content with 2020 Mac mini M1 even at 8 GB RAM, especially with the very low power consumption compared to my prior 2012 Mac mini Intel i7 quad core.
My new daily desktop-laptop is MacBook Pro M1 Max, which I plan to transition to a server when Mac mini konks out for some reason. I’m using all external drives to try to help Mac mini last as long as it can, but I do wish it had 10000 Base-T 10 Gigabit Ethernet.
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