Would there be any advantage to running the server in Mac OS vs Windows? I mean, if all others things were equal like CPU, GPU and etc? Not really interested in raspberry or running it on my Shield. However Linux isn't out of the question either.
Ubuntu desktop or server and never look back.
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Go with whatever OS is easiest for you to operate in, all will be fine! I'm running mine on my Windows daily driver.
Linux gives you the advantage of an operating system designed to just sit and do work. It doesn't need a lot of work to manage it.
Windows is better if you just have a desktop ready to go and need something to install it to, or that's what you're used to. But it's more to manage and can be more of a pain.
macOS has the same advantages and disadvantages as mentioned for Windows. Though if you're using an Apple Silicon Mac, you'll get really stellar hardware transcoding.
Other than that, it's all about what's comfortable for you and how you want Channels to work in your world.
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I use a Synology NAS since I already had it.
Very low maintenance (set it and forget it).
Simple web UI interface for management.
Recording and network attached storage in the same box.
Samba enables file sharing to my Win10 PC.
It will hardware transcode 2 streams reliably and three when pushed.
Easy one click install of Docker.
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Thanks for all the suggestions. Im currently running it in Win 11 on a Dell laptop with and 8th gen i5 and it works great. However, I much prefer mac os and have 2014 imac basically collecting dust that would work well as well.
I'm really only using it in home and the occasional out of house stream on our phones and tableets so i really don't need much.
This was really just a question to see what others think 
Side note, I do find the client side apps to crash and freeze more often on andriod TV (Shield, ONN 4k) and my fire stick than my apple TVs. In fact the apple TV's have never had any issues so that was kinda my inspiration for the post. Since the original development was on apple devices i thought it may be better on Mac OS.
Ill try it on my mac and even linux and if i sse any major improvements i wil update this post
My server runs on a Windows 10 VM and the storage is on TrueNAS. My clients are Google TV, Android Phone, and BlueStacks with channels app running on Widows 10 computers. It just works. No lockups. The only issue I've had with the setup is day light savings time and that was a setting issue related to using a VM for Windows 10. Windows updates run when the box is quiet so even that is transparent.
This...its doing nothing. Fire that ole thing up and put it to use. Having a dedicated box of any OS is the best solution. Running it on your daily I found to be problematic. I currently have mine on a Beelink U59 running Ubuntu Desktop and my Synology is my storage for it. Works great and way more horsepower than running on my synology alone.
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I use a low-end mac mini (2014) and never have issues with the server side. I run my Plex server and a few dockers on it continuously. If you have another mac you can set up screen share and connect to it locally to make adjustments, then you don't even need a monitor, keyboard, or mouse for it. This is what I do with mine it is literally just plugged in and sitting in the bottom of my AV closet.
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The Dell laptop its running on currently is a dedicated and headless machine. Using team viewer to control it from my MacBook. Works great.
I tried to performance/stress test it the other day. Had 7 local clients (streaming boxes) and 3 remote (my iPhone and iPad and wife's iPhone streaming over cellular) and barely hit 35% CPU usage and 25% RAM so it definitely has plenty of available horsepower. I was pretty impressed. Laptop fan speed/sound was barely noticeable. Now this was only for like 15 minutes but still.
I'm still gonna play around with running it in Mac OS and Ubuntu though 
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