I plan ti use a Mini for Channels DVR and Plex.
If anyone has done something similar I would like to know how its’ working.
How is it configured?
I’ve got the DVR installed on a mac mini. It is i5 but don’t remember what generation. Seems to be working very well, but I do not have Plex installed.
Thanks for the response. Do you use it in a way that it does transcoding (WEB UI or remote)?
I have tested the ability to watch DVR’d shows thru the WEB UI which requires server transcoding. There is a pause of a second or two before the video starts playing but it worked. I just tested that functionality, never watched a whole show or movie. I used the WEB UI to setup and manage recordings prior to those features being available in the TVOS Channels alpha.
Initially my plan was to move to a NAS for the DVR server and migrate off the Mac Mini. However, I’m reconsidering that as I now see the value of the CPU capabilities of the Mac vs. a NAS. You have to spend some money to get a NAS with decent CPU specs so I may just stay with the mini. It is small and I may just add an external disk for increased recording storage.
I am running Mac Mini (Late 2012). 2.6 Ghz Intel Core i7 with 16 GB of memory.
I have a 3TB Passport USB 3 Drive (very small with USB Power) for the Recordings.
Works great!
I have tested with 2 other NAS that were under powered so I will stick with the Mac Mini.
There is a lot about the DVR that is GREAT!. An important feature for me is COMSKIP and the CPU Speed really helps to get it done fast. On my NAS that step took too long. I do not have the times memorized but too long. If I was going to go with NAS I would probably get one with a base price without drives close to $500 and it would not perform as well as my Mac Mini. Also, in the future I expect the DVR could offer more transcoding options but not sure if/when that would happen. So, my position is you can not have too much CPU.
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Even the entry-level, $499 MacMini works great with Channels. Streams are pretty much instant, transcoding never fails, and you can leave it headless with the “Start up automatically after a power failure” option turned on. I think the devs are taking advantage of some sort of hardware encoding, so it is not taxing at all on the CPU.
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I have a question – is your mini using Mac server software? or with the OS installed?
I also have 2012 mini with same specs but 4gb memory and have a 1tb drive for recordings, movies and home videos. Since I’m not a beta tester I’m using Plex to set up DVR functions. Works great!
Channels is loaded on Apple TV 4.
Everything is fast and no glitches.
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No. I do not have the Mac Server Installed. But not sure it would matter. I have use Server Software before. The reason I use a USB3 Drive is because I only have a SSD Main Drive. If you feel you need more memory then 4GB (which you may not need it() is is pretty cheap to add it. I upgraded a couple Mac Mini’s with memory I got on Amazon. Not sure which kind at the moment.
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I’m using a mid 2010 machine and it’s running the Channels DVR fine. I’m also using Mac OS Server, iTunes as a media server (movies & music), and Security Spy CCTV DVR all on the same old unit. So far so good. Had to add an HDMI dummy plug as I’m running headless and needed the video processor to kick in. Not sure that’s an issue with the newer machines.
What about sleep? Will the Channels DVR Server wake the Mac Mini from sleep to record a scheduled show?
No. The DVR server needs to remain available to let you playback recordings.
Ok, thank you for the quick reply. I now have my Mini set to never sleep, but that is not exactly what I meant. I was asking specifically about whether the Mac Mini would wake itself to record scheduled shows. I have used EyeTV for years and the software would wake the mini in time to record shows. Also during playback on ATV of recorded shows, wouldn’t the ATV be able to keep the Mini awake via “Wake for network access” setting on the Mini?
We have not tested with sleep mode, so it’s hard to say what works and doesn’t.
I was not aware of any macOS APIs that allowed an application to wake up from sleep, but if EyeTV is able to then they must exist somewhere.
Yes. Eyetv will wake or even power on (start your mac) to do a recording schedule if it is asleep or powered off. Although this is an old article, it may give you an insight for future versions of the MacOS version (I know nothing about coding, so I apologize if I am just confused). This would be an awesome feature someday.
pmset and wakeorpoweron
https://developer.apple.com/legacy/library/documentation/Darwin/Reference/ManPages/man1/pmset.1.html
https://www.geniatech.eu/eyetv/faq/troubleshooting-events-are-not-set-in-the-power-manager-schedule/
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Sleeping your DVR server is problematic in that it won’t be available for guide data, recording listings, or all of the other data that your Channels app needs while being used. Channels DVR does more than just record. So sleeping it would make the experience quite painful. It also needs to be running to get software updates and guide data refreshes.
Even if we attempted to do a wake-on-lan, it would create an amount of lag and latency that would make you hate using Channels.
This workflow works great for EyeTV because it’s not required for your primary TV watching. It’s 90% just for recording things. It’s more of a utility. Even when you are using it to watch TV, it’s on the computer that you’re running it on, so clearly it’s already woken out of sleep.
Channels DVR powers everything in Channels on the Apple TV and iOS, so it needs to be running for those to work.
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Touché… good point.
My love for EyeTV became idle frustration… Channels app was one of the reasons why i decided to dump my mac mini HTPC and go Apple TV. Excited for Channels DVR release today!
So should the com skip functionality work on a 2012 Mac mini with an i5 (the 2.3GHz or above) and 4-8gb of ram? There’s also a 2016 version with an i5 (only 1.4GHz and 4gb of ram) which I’m guessing it won’t work with?
For Comskip, any i5 will do ok. Might take a couple of extra minutes depending on CPU + memory. For transcoding, I’n not sure the 2012 models can do hardware transcoding, which is a must, but any of the latest models, even the entry-level, $499, works as a charm.
So should the com skip functionality work on a 2012 Mac mini with an i5 (the 2.3GHz or above) and 4-8gb of ram? There’s also a 2016 version with an i5 (only 1.4GHz and 4gb of ram) which I’m guessing it won’t work with?
The comskip does take some processing and time. I’m currently running on a 4 core i7 2.3GHz mac mini with 8GB of ram and commercial detection runs about 10 minutes per 1/2 hr show. This isn’t the latest hardware but it isn’t low end either.
It works perfectly fine on a 2012, 1.4GHz. Hardware transcoding makes everything smooth. For a 30 minute recording, Comskip takes just 4 minutes if it’s AVC or 8 for MPEG2 channels.
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