Mini PCs on Sale - Migrated to Mini PC

[rivliv]

I picked up this mini pc from Amazon for $~150 ($199-50 Coupon). Look like they now have a $60 off coupon now.

I'm currently downsizing my homelab and was looking for a low power - easy to maintain solution. I was looking at a raspberry pi but by the time you add up the cost of a case, storage, ram, etc. it starts getting expensive.

At any rate, loving it so far. Has a newer 4 core cpu (N95 intel alder-lake / quicksync), 8G of RAM, and a removable 256G M.2 drive. I was going to upgrade the storage to a 2TB ssd since they are pretty cheap right now, but will probably wait. I delete most of my content once I watch it, so 256G is enough for me right now. They also have a 16G/512G version on sale too.

I installed Alpine Linux (small footprint), and am running channels-dvr in a docker container. It's been running great so far.

[Edwin_Perez]

Looks good 3 USB ports are great for adding extra storage if needed.... also supports Quick Sync.

[tluxon]

I'm intrigued. I wonder how many HD streams it can record at once...

[maddox]

@rivliv

I was looking at a raspberry pi but by the time you add up the cost of a case, storage, ram, etc. it starts getting expensive.

These mini PCs are def the way to go.

[rivliv]

I just tested. I only have a single 4 tuner ota hdhomerun (HDFX-4K), but it was able to record 4 HD/1080i (2 ATSC1 and 2 ATSC3) steams at the same time without issues. CPU hovered around 7% to 10%. Comskip took the most CPU at around 50% while processing the recordings for commercials (I have comskip set to 2 threads). Intel Quick Sync works great as well. Before I enabled it, Transcoding was taking 25% to 35% CPU, after 5% to 7% CPU.

The biggest issue with this setup is that there is no hard drive space. I'll need to use external USB drives, or swap the internal m.2 drive if I want more storage. Its not an issue for me since I deliberately wanted to downsize my setup.

I'm also running a couple of other container that could impact CPU (Unifi controller, and Xteve)

4 Streams running:

Comskip (Set to 2 threads):

Transcoding (Quick Sync enabled)

[Kryptonyte]

How many streams a machine can record should really only be taxing the hard drive a bit and the CPU very little, as you're basically just moving data to local storage. The things that tax the CPU are comskip and how many concurrent remote client transcoding sessions can be hosted before the hardware starts to fall down and the clients see degradation.

I see the Sammy 2TB Pro nvme's are going for $100 at the moment. That is one hell of a deal for a great SSD.

[kelson]

Since we are talking about a mini-PC used specifically for running Channels DVR Server, I'll give my experience. Two months ago I bought a sub-$100 ATOPNUC from Amazon to run Channels DVR Server. It comes with 8GB RAM and 128GB M.2 SSD which is plenty to run Ubuntu Linux and Channels DVR. It has provisions to install an internal 3.5" SSD, so I popped open the case and added a sub-$100 2tb Crucial SSD as primary DVR storage.

I've been running Channels DVR Server on this box for 2 months -- feeding it with a 4-tuner HDHR Flex for OTA and YouTube TV for TVE recordings. The hardware is more than adequate for running Channels. Performance has been great and solid. I've easily executed 4 concurrent recordings -- I pad the front and back ends of my recordings by 3min so there is plenty of opportunity for overlap resulting in periods where there are more than 4 concurrent recordings. Commercial detection for a 1hr show seems to take ~5 min. My Channels clients are all Shields on a local network so there is no transcoding and therefore I can't comment on transcoding performance.

[GTFan]

@kelson

Since we are talking about a mini-PC used specifically for running Channels DVR Server, I'll give my experience. Two months ago I bought a sub-$100 ATOPNUC from Amazon to run Channels DVR Server. It comes with 8GB RAM and 128GB M.2 SSD which is plenty to run Ubuntu Linux and Channels DVR. It has provisions to install an internal 3.5" SSD, so I popped open the case and added a sub-$100 2tb Crucial SSD as primary DVR storage.

Thanks for the heads up and mini review, it's now on sale for Prime at $79 w/Windows 10 (which can of course be changed for Linux if you want). Also found a 1TB Lexar SSD for $35.

Super cheap and power efficient box for a little over $120 w/tax.

EDIT: Ended up going with this one: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BYJ9BC15?psc=1&smid=A2VN1S0LNL91HQ&ref_=chk_typ_imgToDp

Twice the price but more than 4X the performance (with current-gen CPU, twice the RAM and 4X SSD size) and has QuickSync for transcoding. 6W TDP, should be pennies a month to run. Lexar SSD had a $5 deal of the day discount so $207 total.

[speedingcheetah]

Only thing that is a negative about that is its single channel memory. But for the price, expected.

[kelson]

@GTFan

Thanks for the heads up and mini review, it's now on sale for Prime at $79 w/Windows 10 (which can of course be changed for Linux if you want). Also found a 1TB Lexar SSD for $35.

I saw the $79 listing and seriously thought about giving in to an impulse buy but I already have two of them -- running Linux. If it came with Win-11 I would have pulled the trigger, but Win-10 is a dead-end with support ending 10/25. They clearly don't have the computing power of a good desktop but as a small box, running headless and dedicated to a single task they shine.

[tmm1]

I bought one of the ACEMAGICIAN boxes listed in OP.

It comes with a 12th-gen 7nm N95 processor which is really quite good. Also comes with Windows 11 Pro.

If you're in the market for a new mini PC, I highly recommend something with N95 or N100 processor.

[themediaguy]

You bought this one?

Mini PC

[tmm1]

Yep. Set up one at my parents house as a DVR, with a 2TB SSD attached.

[themediaguy]

That's awesome! That's a great idea.

[Edwin_Perez]

The 16GB model has a 512 SSD and $40 Dollar coupon.

[GTFan]

@tmm1

I bought one of the ACEMAGICIAN boxes listed in OP.

It comes with a 12th-gen 7nm N95 processor which is really quite good. Also comes with Windows 11 Pro.

If you're in the market for a new mini PC, I highly recommend something with N95 or N100 processor.

I tried one of those with the N100 and it works great unless you're doing Chrome capture, then it falls on its face. Sorry to report. Had to return it and get a Beelink Ryzen 7 5800H instead.

Otherwise it is a great and cheap box as you said.

[themediaguy]

Thank you!

[Edwin_Perez]

@GTFan

I tried one of those with the N100 and it works great unless you're doing Chrome capture, then it falls on its face. Sorry to report. Had to return it and get a Beelink Ryzen 7 5800H instead.

Understandable Chrome Capture is a CPU hog.... not really part of Channels DVR just a playground addon.

[Michael_Birk]

@tmm1

It comes with a 12th-gen 7nm N95 processor which is really quite good. Also comes with Windows 11 Pro.

I have been using a Beelink with the N95 for more than a year and a half. I just kept Windows Pro 11 and attached a 4TB portable HDD that I was using on my Tablo. It has been working great for Channels DVR server, probably a little slower skipping around when playing recordings because of the HDD. Quiet, low energy usage, so far so good.

[GTFan]

@Edwin_Perez

@GTFan

I tried one of those with the N100 and it works great unless you're doing Chrome capture, then it falls on its face. Sorry to report. Had to return it and get a Beelink Ryzen 7 5800H instead.

Understandable Chrome Capture is a CPU hog.... not really part of Channels DVR just a playground addon.

Yeah I was hoping that Intel Quicksync would make up for the lack of CPU power but no joy.

Could be because I didn't have Chrome hardware encoder option enabled but who knows.

It worked great as an HDMI recorder too, just couldn't handle Chrome.