Make sure the Apple TV is set to SDR mode.
You can also enable Experimental under Settings > Playback > Advanced > Video Driver inside the Channels app.
@tmm1 How do I get the Apple TV to SDR mode? I knew about 4k SDR for the 4th gen 4k model but I just have the stand 4th gen.
tmm1 Is this 1080p SDR or a different format?
Oh yea that model can't do HDR/SDR. So the default settings should be fine there.
Should I static the IP on the Mac Mini? Cox doesn't offer static IP on the router for residential customers only businesses where I live.
I know how to static the IP on the Mac Mini but I've on these forums that changing the Configuration from Using DHCP to Manual causes issues the Channels DVR working outside the home. Can anyone confirm this? Do I need to static the IP? In case the internet goes out or I need to reboot my modem. Cox told me they dynamically refresh IPs every few days. I'm not sure if that is true but if it is I definitely don't want the issues.
You're confusing a whole bunch of different things together.
You don't need a static IP from your ISP.
In your home, you can configure your router to use a DHCP static reservation for the devices you care about. This is preferred to a static IP on the client side. It tells the router to hand your device the same IP every time, so you don't have to change anything on your Mini.
Automatic vs Manual for port forwarding is a separate thing and not related to DHCP or static IPs.
How do I do the DHCP static reservation? I'm using the cox gigabit modem/router.
On the other issue, I've already set up port forwarding.
Find the model number and then google for the model plus dhcp reservation.
If it doesn't support reservations, then you can go to your Mac under System Preferences > Network and change from DHCP to Static and pick an IP (or use the same one currently assigned).
Thanks!
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This is what I see on the Mac Mini. I don't see a setting for Static from the dropdown. Which do I choose?
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Here ist he an image:
The second and fourth option both let you specify the address manually. That's the same thing.
So if I change it to Using DHCP with manual address I can just save it and all is good moving forward?
Yes that means your Mac will always use that address, so it won't change.
Perfect, that is what I want so it doesn't mess anything up with my Channels DVR if I have to reboot the Mac or the internet goes out and comes back up.
I did read another thread where someone said setting this to manual on his mac mini caused connection issues so he switched it back to DHCP and it worked. Do you know if there are issues with this?
It's more likely it was setup incorrectly. Besides, DHCP helps with change to the network over time.
Some additional remark. Accessing your server from outside your home depends on your operator. Mine put all users behind double firewall so there is no way to acces server outside without some crazy ssh tunneling to some external VPS.
I am using Mac Mini 2018 but instead of external hard drive I cannot affrod I have possibility to use Google Drive unlimited space, it works well but you need to have some symmetrical fibre to get most out of such setup.
I was in the same boat with the WD My Cloud Duo. Way too underpowered. I bought a Lenovo "tiny" desktop PC and used that to run the Server. Then, I used the WD My Cloud as a NAS on my LAN. It works fine for that. But, running the Server app on the WD is not a good idea. I don't think you need to buy anything more. Just use the WD My Cloud as the location to store the recordings. That's adjusted in the Settings.
I will say that I had to basically reformat the WD My Cloud to finally kill off the Server app that was on it. Not really a big deal as it was used only for that purpose.
Good luck!
Just pay for an SSD!
You think you won't care about the speed difference (and you probably won't), but the real issue is that every time you need to access the disk (to start playback, to perform a search, ...) you have to wait for it to spin it. Unless you are serious strapped for cash, go SSD.
You can external USB SSDs on Amazon, or you can make your own by popping a bare SSD into an enclosure.
Whatever you buy will probably come formatted as exFAT. Don't forget to reformat it for mac use, using either JHFS+ or APFS.
I don't see any noticeable speed or response issues that I would tie to not having an SSD. Maybe SSD is faster, but Channels seems to be plenty fast. For me to replicate the 30TB of storage that I have would be about $5,000 and then I wouldn't have any way to attach them all to the Mini.
If there was more robust storage management available where you could target certain things to one drive or another, then a hybrid approach might be good. You could then target movies to the spinning disk, and target short lived things you were going to watch and then delete to SSD. But as it is, I'd quickly fill up the SSD and have to then go to manuallly moving stuff around which is not worth it.
If you don't have a lot of storage, then its probably good. I got spoiled for the short time I was on YouTubeTV and like the idea of having anything I might want to watch recorded so I never have to watch commercials.
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