Mini PC recommendation please

[Sapper]

Hi all,

Gettign confused by all these mini PCs.

My ageing laptop off ~12 years is about to die. I’ve gone Mac but as hard as i can try, I cannot find an easy workflow for ripping audio Multichannel DVD/Blu rays to my server.

My workflor s=used slysoft’s AnyDVD and a propierty Audio-extractor software. The best option for mac invovles copying the blu-ray to the HDD before I rip, copying can tale an hour or more on average.

So I’m looking at a simple miniPC which I can use Ideally with TB3/4 but I suspect that may make it expensive.

Anyway, suggestiosn please, based in the UK

Sorry if this is the wrong forum

Adrian

 

[Scott Laird]

First, I've had good luck with MakeMKV for ripping blu-rays. It runs on Windows, Macs, and Linux (although the Linux version is kind of hidden), although, yeah, you have to rip onto the HD before you can do anything else with the file. It sounds like you might be able to extract just the audio on Windows more efficiently?

In the grand scheme of things, blu-rays aren't *that* big anymore, 50G or so. With 1 GbE, that's around 10 minutes. With 10 GbE, that's closer to a minute. I haven't seen many cheap mini PCs with 10 GbE, but 2.5 GbE is common. So if you do find yourself needing to copy blu-ray images around, a fast network connection is probably more useful than TB3/TB4, and certainly cheaper.

I have a few different mini-PCs that I've used and like. None of them are anything *unique*; odds are nearly-identical devices are available from multiple vendors. All support 2.5 GbE, so you should be able to make quick-ish network copies as needed.

First, I've used a few different cheap N95 or N100 boxes. These are cheap CPU from the Alder Lake family, with 4 "E" cores. So, in the grand scheme of things, they're not very fast, but still runs rings around a lot of older hardware, and they're *cheap*, quiet, and low-power. The first one I bought from Amazon; I'd link it, but the URL now points to a completely different device. The second one was a "R2 Mini PC" that was a bit more expensive but was especially small, which I needed in this case. It's smaller than a Raspberry Pi and quite a bit faster. I installed Linux on it, but most of these come with Windows.

Next, I bought a Minisforum UM780 XTX, also from Amazon. It's a much more powerful beast, with an AMD 7840HS. It's shockingly fast for its size, with Zen4 cores and a GPU that's okay for 1080P gaming. It's also about 3x as expensive as the N95/N100 machines, and usually bigger. It's generally well-reviewed online, and is probably a good choice if you want to pick one general-purpose machine and not have to think about it for years. But odds are an N100 system would work fine for your use, especially if a decade-old laptop works today.

 

[Samir]

Just get an off lease Dell/HP for $100 and rock it that way.

 

[Oarman]

I like the boxes with 8-core AMD chips for this sort of stuff. I bought one with a 5800H for pretty cheap, and it gets the job done; it only came with 1Gbps Ethernet so I added a 2.5Gbe USB adapter. You can get faster boxes but keep in mind 1) the cost usually goes up faster than the performance 2) these are laptop chips and not much more than laptop heatsinks so you get a lot of noise at full zoot, but you don't get desktop performance.

Can you run a VM directly on your server? Can you just plug in a BD drive straight to it and rip right to there?

 

[Karpo]

First, I've had good luck with MakeMKV for ripping blu-rays. It runs on Windows, Macs, and Linux (although the Linux version is kind of hidden), although, yeah, you have to rip onto the HD before you can do anything else with the file. It sounds like you might be able to extract just the audio on Windows more efficiently?

One more vote for Makemkv. I rip blurays and 4k UHDs as they, just cutting various audiostreams from result mkv. Anyway extracting bluray/UHD time depends mainly on speed of the drive rather than Pc/Mac. I use Mac mini that takes about 30min for most blurays and 1h for most UHDs. There is time limited trial for Makemkv available.

 

[Sapper]

Thank you all.

I am using Makemkv on my MaxStudio M1 Max. It works though I have soem issues with DVD drives and the old DVD region issues. My aging server is a MAc Mini 2012 - still going strong despite a few issues,

I am assuing I don’t need any real power for this task, so a basic unit will do the job, as long as it has a network connection and a usb connction for the Pioneer blu-ray drive.

Many of the base models of various brands just ahve the one 1GB netork port, though some lower priced ‘medium range’ products have two 2.5Gb ports, not that I have a suitable switch, (another question/recomendation).

But when i built PCs, I preferrred two drives a small one for the OS and alarger one with the ‘users’ hack

But ultimately, at the moment, my Mac studio can do it, just takes longer as I have to copy the disc first.

Strangely enough, MakeMKV wouldn't/couldn't copy my recently released Queen 4k Blu-ray..

Adrian

 

[oharag]

I bought a Minisforum UM790PRO mini PC - will be used to attach to TV for PC/Retro gaming.

Minisforum UM790 Pro

Minisforum UM790 PRO is Powered by AMD Ryzen™ 9 7940HS Processor and AMD Radeon™ 780M. Dual NVMe PCIe4.0 & Dual 40Gbps USB4. Intel® Killer™ AX1675 Wi-Fi 6E Network Card. The UM790 Pro Features An Innovative Cooling System That Actively Cools The Memory and SSD

store.minisforum.com

AMD Ryzen chip with RDNA3 integrated graphics. 2XUSB 4 ports 2XHDMI 2.1.

Buy it bare and add your own cheaper memory and SSDs.

I also bought an MF MS-01 for use as a server/firewall/VPN.

 

[Oarman]

Thank you all.

I am using Makemkv on my MaxStudio M1 Max. It works though I have soem issues with DVD drives and the old DVD region issues.
Strangely enough, MakeMKV wouldn't/couldn't copy my recently released Queen 4k Blu-ray..

This is why I like the AMD boxes, I don't trust the ARM Macs to perform Under Pressure