I’m buying a new Mac Mini with Intel chip to run dual boot. Is Channels DVR better on Mac or PC? I’ll be installing Windows 11, and if I’m going to run mostly Windows I’ll allocate more space to it.
Coincidentally, I’ll be running Plex as well. One benefit to running Windows most of the time is my APC UPS can automatically shut down Windows if power goes out, and restart it when it comes back on.
Thanks!
You should go with the OS that will be running all the time. For you that sounds like Windows. Channels wil run fine on either.
Macs can do this too, FWIW.
Many thanks, folks! You are very responsive and helpful.
We are a mostly Apple house for my wife's benefit. I'm retired IT, and decided that since the Intel Mac Minis will most likely be discontinued next Tuesday I would buy the biggest, fastest one Apple makes to hopefully future-proof. With 2TB of space, i think I'll just divide it in two and give a terabyte to each OS. Plex runs great on either, and it is comforting to know that Channels DVR does, too. Plex works great on both OSes as well.
I run cTivo on the Mac side to archive our TiVo recordings to iTunes and also Plex format, but they can easily be copied to the Windows Plex install.
Not to mention that if I ever run out of space an external drive running off a Thunderbolt port will do nicely.
Another reason to buy the mini is, it can run 24/7 whereas my Mac Air would give up the ghost.
Why bother with the dual boot? Pick an OS and keep it; especially if you are planning on using it as a server for on-demand services (like Plex or a DVR). A recent Mac Mini is a great machine, and will serve you well. Channels is developed on Macs, so you may want to stick with that.
(However, the DVR is written in Go, and quite platform independent; personally if you just need a server, an Intel NUC or Gigabyte Brix running Linux would probably give you equal—or better—bang for your buck if you want a headless media server.)
I know some folks who use an old MacBook Air (or other low-end laptop) as a lightweight server, for things like Homebridge, Pi-Hole, AdGuard Home, or whatever; It has the benefit of a built-in screen when needed, but also, its internal battery acts as a built-in UPS 
Agreed. Ubuntu server on a intel nuc works great. Especially if you get on that supports the vpro extension. Then you can have kvm type access to it and be truly headless. (not that ssh won't work perfectly but if you need to get into the bios etc)
Yeah. That’s pretty much my setup although on Brix. The thing has been running for seven years with no issues. Did a drive refresh a couple of years ago. Started with VMWare with windows clients, then Ubuntu, now running Ubuntu/Docker/Compose and it’s rock solid running Channels/Plex/Home Assistant and a bunch of other stuff. Never chokes. Sometimes the fan spin up for no reason — it’s a Brix thing. Don’t even have a monitor connected.
@LarryWahlers -- I'm very new to Channels DVR (and liking very much so far). But I do have a fair amount of experience with running always-on headless servers (Mac Mini running MacOS, Intel NUC running a lightweight Linux, and Intel NUC running Win10. FWIW, I have Channels DVR running on a Synology DS 220+ and Plex running on a headless Win 10 Intel NUC.
Your use case seems to require dual-boot for the flexibiilty it gives. So the question is whether to run Win or MacOS as the always-on side on which Plex and Channels servers are running.
The one advantage I can think of of always running on the Win side is (I think -- not totally sure about this -- others, please correct me if I'm wrong):
on Win, you can set an app to run at startup, without having to set auto-log in to your account (see windows - Start an application at system start without login - Stack Overflow and Windows preload software before login - Super User)
on MacOS, AFAIK, you can only set an app to run at startup by setting it to run at login, which means you have to set auto-login. That may pose a security issue for you; and auto-login will not be available if you use FileVault2.
BTW, to manage headless servers, I use Splashtop, which is free for home use. Works very well for Mac and Windows.
HTH
Wow. Very interesting! Thanks.
Thanks, everybody, for all the great info. I'm not clever enough to do ubuntu or linux, or some of the other things you all suggested, but thanks for them anyway!
Since I am mostly invested in the Apple universe I will most likely just do what I've done with my Mac Air. Give 256GB to Windows and the rest to MacOS. Run the MacOS nearly all the time, and run Windows only when I have to because the software doesn't exist on the Mac side. Truth is, the program I use most is cTivo, and it only runs on the Mac side.
My Mac Mini arrives Monday. On Tuesday the new Mac Minis will be announced, so farewell Intel-based mini!
It's really easy setting up a Raspberry Pi 4 with an external USB drive: Channels — Raspberry Pi
Way cheaper than getting a MacMini as well.
Thanks! But i needed a Mac Mini for a lot of other stuff, too.
Anyway, it arrived Saturday. Getting Windows.11 on it was a hassle, because a half dozen tricks didn't work to bypass the TPM requirement. Finally i found an answer that worked on Toms Hardware site.
I use a 2011 Mac Mini server quad core i7 with 2 internal HDs and it runs both channels and Plex without issue.
It does not need to be the latest to run well.
In the long term intel is the way to go, I hope market finally force Apple to do concession. We don’t need faster and faster CPUs to browse Facebook.
Elements on this planet are limited so there cannot be X companies producing CPUs one is enough, sooner or later world look like this because of pandemic , Russia War and CPU short supply anyway.
I’m retired IT too. Wife now uses an iPad exclusively. At one time we had five PCs, but now the only computer in the house is an Intel iMac running 24/7 with an UPS. I wrote a lot of software for Windows, including shrink-wrap, but now only run it occasionally inside Parallels VMs.
Channels is very stable on an external 2TB LaCie USB-C drive. Everything, including 200GB of iCloud is backed up on 3 rotated TimeMachine drives. I also keep 2 rotated Bombich Carbon Copy Clones of the HDD. The next (and probably my last) computer is likely to be a Mac with an Apple Silicon processor when I have given up Windows completely.
If security/auto logon is a problem for you, set up a separate account just for Channels to run as a Service, it will start automatically. You can then logon to your own separate account. Set file sharing appropriately for the Channels folders for other accounts. For additional security, set up a Screen Saver on the Channels account to come on after a few minutes, you can require the password to activate the screen in Security Settings…
Lots of good redundancy there! I decided to take some gifted money and just buy the biggest, fastest intel Mac Mini. I installed Win11 on bootcamp, run WinClone now and again, Carbon Copy Cloner every time the software changes, and of course time machine to a 5TB LaCie drive all the time.
You're right about Channels running great on a Mac. I also run Plex server and cTivo. And of course it runs my word processor, spreadsheet, etc.