Anyone use one of the miniature PC's for BI? They run Windows 10 pro, have a 1000mbps NIC card in them and support both an internal HD and / or USB 3.0 flash memory. It also supports streaming 4k video so I would not know why it couldn't run BI. The PC is only 5" x 5" and has no fan. Best of all is the price which I found on Amazon for $129 and had high reviews for people using it for streaming video to TV's and other such. If this thing will work for BI I would think it is the cheapest solution going for an NVR. Anyone use this type PC now? I would list the name and brand but I am not trying to promote a PC maker but see if this would work. I am going to give it a shot regardless and will post results.

I don't have experience with it to help but my biggest concern would be the processor. BI performance is mostly largely affected by the CPU. Memory use is really negligible, camera feeds don't use that much bandwidth, and storage options are plentiful and flexible to each individual need.

It is a tempting offer.

Crossbow wrote: ↑Tue Jan 19, 2021 3:26 pm Anyone use one of the miniature PC's for BI?

I've been looking at these for quite a while to see if any of them might work as a BI box, but unless space is an issue I'd probably just buy a cheap, used server off of eBay or Amazon.

With these mini PCs you pretty much have to get the highest-end box they offer or it may not be beefy enough to run BI well. And by the time you hit that price point you'd almost certainly get more bang for the buck with a used server. If you could get a deal on one or get one used then I'd say go for it, but dollar-for-dollar used gear will get you a significantly better system.

They're cool, they're small, but the bang-for-the-buck factor is questionable.

Very good point. My rackmount ProLiant server was $200 on ebay and ended up with free shipping due to a misunderstanding. It did NOT come with storage but I had that already.

Point is, as Thixo pointed out... it might be better in the long run to get something a generation or a few older, but significantly more powerful from ebay. I know others will disagree though

They work. Since I wanted a dedicated machine I started with a Intel Stick Computer running an ATOM CPU just to test BI. I ran mine for about a year before getting an old Dell for free. If you only have a couple of cameras all is good. But like all, there are tradeoffs. If you only run 2k cameras at low bit rate it is perfectly doable. But adding cameras or tweaking the resolution and bit rate will bring down slower processors.

YMMV.

it should run, but beware of settings,lower fps and overlays as much as possible for low cpu usage
Try Blue Iris Support channel on youtube for added tricks and info
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDkejn ... PfI7l2u64g

I know this post is a bit older, but was there any further updates on how an Atom or similar may work
I may be looking at this situation of a low power PC for Blue Iris with up to 8 cameras, recording direct to disk.
The reason I am looking is not for space saving or noise or any of those factors, but for power consumption purposes. It's fine to get a server and all that stuff, or a full Core i7 from a couple of generations ago and I am currently running a Core i7 7700 with 32GB RAM on a mini-ATX mainboard, its an Acer TC-780 custom build. The thing is, running it increases my energy usage by 3 to 4 kilowatt hours a day, and that ends up significant over the course of a month.