New Mac Mini recommendations

Posted on
Thu Mar 07, 2019 3:43 pm
siclark offline
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Re: New Mac Mini recommendations

Cores or Speed? ie 3.6Ghz i3 quad core vs 3Ghz i5 6-core? Any view either way how Indigo threads? I presume given all the plugins, of which I run a lot, run in their own processes then the more cores for multi tasking would be better?

Posted on
Wed Mar 20, 2019 2:10 pm
siclark offline
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Re: New Mac Mini recommendations

akimball wrote:
I agree with Jay... but I did upgrade to a new mac mini 6 or 8 months ago and want to report my experience. ....

Get as much memory as you can in the hardrive....it’s soldered down. If you’re going to run cameras, consider a 10-GbE copper port too. .....

I did have to put an external elcheapo fan blowing on the mac mini. It gets hot.

...or no plex and no cameras.... you’ll be fine. :)


Ok, so I am convinced. Looking at the 2018 i5 with 8GB RAM to start, and will upgrade myself, with 10 GBe and likely 512GB SSD, means I can do local camera storage. Guessing I am better going with the 6 core than the 4 core for better multi tasking.

Just wondering, what cable do you use between 10GBe port on your switch and the Mac mini? Cat7 patch, or is your 10GBe port on switch a SFP type?

Posted on
Wed Mar 20, 2019 2:30 pm
durosity offline
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Re: New Mac Mini recommendations

I’m kinda wishing I had got the 10g card for my mini now that I’ve got a switch that supports it..

Computer says no.

Posted on
Wed Mar 20, 2019 2:33 pm
durosity offline
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Re: New Mac Mini recommendations

Yeah.. it’s hardly like I actually need it.. just woulda been a nice to have

Computer says no.

Posted on
Wed Mar 20, 2019 3:08 pm
gillekes offline
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Re: New Mac Mini recommendations

durosity wrote:
Yeah.. it’s hardly like I actually need it.. just woulda been a nice to have

I know how you feel...


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Posted on
Wed Mar 20, 2019 3:42 pm
siclark offline
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Re: New Mac Mini recommendations

Haha. I’ll let you know how it feels!!


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Posted on
Wed Mar 20, 2019 9:45 pm
akimball offline
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Re: New Mac Mini recommendations

I’m using cat6 and it works, about 10 meters...i would try that first. No sfp. Your mac mini port will be copper. A reason why you ‘might’ need 10GbE is if you’re using a switch to stream several camera images to your mac, running something like securityspy. The ‘out-link’ port from your mac mini onto the world wide web, once combined by the securityspy software will just be a standard video stream. The switch I use has 24 ports at 1GbE and two-10GbE ports, one goes to my mac mini. In addition, my mini handles plex streaming when needed....kinda rare actually that i use that. I currently have 13 cameras and they are running about 8 to 12 frames per second each.

Other reasons you might need 10GbE are usually video related as well.

If you need that kind of bandwidth, do yourself a favor and get the i7. Video processing by either securityspy or plex can be cpu intensive.

Also consider the next generation of image processing products now being demo’d mean that your cameras will not only tell you somebody is at your door...they will often be able to tell you who it is.

-Al

Posted on
Sat Mar 23, 2019 4:26 pm
norcoscia offline
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Re: New Mac Mini recommendations

I just picked up a new mac mini - I'm cutting over everything from my very old mac (which is no longer getting OS updates due to its age). So.. I figured what a great time to swap over to some high def cameras. I picked up the core i5 with 8GB and a 256GB SSD.

To give you an idea of what 3, 8 mega pixel cameras (4K) running at high quality @ 15 fps needs network size see below - not even close to tapping out a 100 mega bit connection let alone a gig connection. Under 4 mbs. If you put it under apple care and then add memory (and something goes wrong) it is still covered but I would put the old memory back before trying to get it serviced.

I'm running security spy and the machine can handle a ton of cameras since a lot of the video heavy lifting is handled outside of the CPU with the 8th generation core i5 processor.

The machine is very snappy - so much faster than the old clunker - can't wait to cut over indigo - I think it will be so fast the lights will come on before I enter a room :-)
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_______
Norm

Posted on
Sat Mar 23, 2019 5:34 pm
akimball offline
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Re: New Mac Mini recommendations

“I think it will be so fast the lights will come on before I enter a room :-)

Thats funny. :D

My grandkids have decided it’s funny to say to alexa “alexa, turn on all the lights”.....and then over then next minute or so alexa/alexa bridge/indigo turns on about 300 lights in the house.....and outside the house. Ha...haha....ha not. ;)

Your mac mini sounds nice :). New toy time!


...now if i could just figure out how to disable Alexa’s built in command .... turn off all the lights is a cruel joke.

-Al

Posted on
Sat Mar 23, 2019 5:50 pm
norcoscia offline
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Re: New Mac Mini recommendations

Yes, I wanted to update the processor but needed to get it at best buy to spread out the payments, I like free loans more than taking money out of savings :-)

I wish Apple did not charge so much for SSD upgrades, I have not tried it but I heard if you hook up one of the new NVMe 1.3 based external HDD to one of the thunderbolt ports it is pretty much as fast as system memory. - I'm just storing all the security spy footage to an old style 3.5 inch spinner for now, cheap storage and it keeps up with my setup. Your setup on the other hand is a different story. I think you have more eyes on your stuff than most banks.

Alexa, -- I can tell you she has has heard a lot of cussing from me :-)

_______
Norm

Posted on
Sat Mar 23, 2019 7:31 pm
akimball offline
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Re: New Mac Mini recommendations

I’ll have to try your solution out for memory. Currently, two of my usb media boxes are connected to two different airport extremes and used as on-line storage. Each media box houses four, 4-TB Western Digital “blue” drives meant for continuous use and ruggedized for long-life for 16-TB total per media box.

But I do need to back it all up. I have seven Airports scattered around the house, each connected by 1-GbE wire to the main hub which keeps the Airport-based wifi network running at full clip. Four of those are Airport Extremes. All Airports have a usb port for media or printer or what-ever. So for backup, I’m considering a 3rd media box, only with 3 or 4 10-TB Blue drives to mirror the other two 16-TB media centers.

I have set security spy to write up to 500-GB of data to one of the media centers for motion detection video or occasionally continuous securityspy capture.

The constellation grouped by security spy looks something like the image below.. and there are 3 other cameras for doorbells and nursury which shun securityspy.

I have gone out of my way to keep the network well greased :). My mac mini does indigo, securityspy, plex, spamseive... and now days I’m working out reliability issues caused by my mistake buying insteon 8-button switches. They suck lol. Anyway, i hope you enjoy the mac!
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-Al

Posted on
Sun Mar 24, 2019 6:03 am
norcoscia offline
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Re: New Mac Mini recommendations

Really nice setup - I think Hikvision makes a doorbell that will integrate with security spy. I recently installed a nest hello which was a big upgrade from my ring pro (for many reasons) but like most U.S. video doorbells, integration with indigo does not work - it does do face recognition (like you mentioned above) which is cool - if a neighbor is at my door it will announce them by name.

_______
Norm

Posted on
Sun Mar 24, 2019 8:35 am
peszko offline
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Re: New Mac Mini recommendations

I have a Hikvision doorbell and the indoor station. They work well and they do integrate with SecuritySpy somewhat. However, I have replaced SecuritySpy with a Hikvision NVR (16 channel) and written a plugin so it integrates with Indigo (it will integrate with indigo using other plugins, but not as nicely). I find this setup to be much more stable and functionally rich. The Hikvision NVR is rock solid and has a lot better iphone application. The Mac control application is also decent and reviewing old footage is really easy. Reviewing the recorded footage on the iphone is also close to instant where it was always a pain with SecuritySpy. Right now, I get a notification if someone rings the front doorbell (or even just approaches) and I can have a two way conversation with them from my iphone. On top of that, I now run HDMI cables to several monitors around the house which gives me a great view of the cameras. Surprisingly, the whole family now (including my wife) love the setup (where it was close to useless when shown through on the in wall ipads, small and slower). I need all the WAF points I can get after years of Insteon instability in my house.

Posted on
Mon Mar 25, 2019 6:00 am
mat offline
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Re: New Mac Mini recommendations

Hi,

Is the Hikvision HVR plugin sharable? Would love to see what you have done. I just grab stills from the http interface at present.

Cheers


Mat

Late 2018 mini 10.14

Posted on
Mon Mar 25, 2019 8:03 am
peszko offline
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Joined: Mar 07, 2012

Re: New Mac Mini recommendations

mat wrote:
Is the Hikvision HVR plugin sharable? Would love to see what you have done. I just grab stills from the http interface at present.


At the moment it doesn't have all the public niceties like input checking and retrieving camera names from the NVR. I'll need to find time to add those and release it even in its basic state.
The plugin is by no means extensive. What I do is have a configuration screen for IP/password and folder locations. I create a list of all the cameras and names and allow grabbing the images using those. It also implements PTZ for the ones that support it and also have a command for rebooting the NVR. The main reason I build this is so I don't have to manually craft (and remember) the HTTP post when I need it.

This allows me to easily include these in triggers and action groups just by choosing a camera from a drop down (I have 16). I use these for notifications and motion image storage. I also have my cameras re point themselves to default at regular intervals, or point themselves in the direction of motion. For example, I have a trigger on my document cabinet opening, and at that time I have a camera point and zoom in that direction and take couple photos and send those in notification.

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