I have not done it yet, but that Skull Canyon NUC is on my short list of options to replace my older vMix host.

My issue that that I'd need to replace two HDMI capture cards with USB equivalents. That drives up the cost of the transition.

Every day during 10 hours, We use 1 x NUC6i7KYK with ACER Touch Screen, 1 x Blackmagic DUO2 plug in a Helios2 external Thunderbolt2 box + StarTech Thunderbplt 3 to 2 adapter, with 3 caméras and VMIX HD. It works very well since 2 months.

A very good Small Vmix solution.

Yes we produce in HD1080 50i With 3 caméras.

- Recording in HD 1080i + Streaming 720p to youtube : CPU VMIX is between 15 to 20%.

+ Xkeys TBAR and a dozen of HD vidéo Footage, Titles.. CPU is between 25 to 35%

How does the Skull NUC hold up in regard to temperature and fan noise, after a few hours of streaming and recording?

I have looked at the Skull NUC for some time - intended use:
- to pick up 5 NDI 1080p25 streams from primary vMix machine, Record the 4 feeds onto disk and stream the last to YouTube.
I must admit that I worry about the temperatures and that it may start to throttle down performance.

did you modify any settings on the skul canyon?

just picked one up and tested it: very impressed. cpu at around 5%... connected with a bm duo 2 and one desktop capture recording at 1080p25.

I tuned ot down ( underclocking the cpu and lowering the voltage etc) to lower heat production and got it to work not over 60 C.

anybody have some experience with the skul and under clocking?

I guess for simple production work and small formfactor and costs the new nuc i5 would already be sufficient, since most of the work is done by the iris pro gpu... will look into that later when the new intel chips arrive ( intel generation 7 has improved mp4 and nvenc handling apparently )

stefan
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just curious,

what do you use as inputs? can tou clarify the set.

I found using ndi it makes a big difference using wifi or cabled. but if you use cabled ndi then why not use sdi?

I have excellent experience using the nuc skull with thunderbolt 3 and sdi in out. for quick setup I now use a wireless connection with a second or third camera. no cables.

for desktop capture i use ndi, but found that when both ends are wireless it is tricky, when the nuc is connected to the wifi by cable its a lot better.

so i guess the connections are the weak point here, the nuc especially the skull with i7 processor and intel iris pro 580 gpu will hold.

what are you planning to do...

stefan

ok interesting,

there is one option to avoid extra output cards and that is using a card with sdi throughput, like the yuan sdi cards have. they come standard with throughput cables, no delay and you can input directly.

I guess if latency is an issue to also test the whole system starting with one input, to two machines and see how that goes. I guess when you want to replay a part there is a delay anyway, so latency is not an issue.

Then again if you want to have slomo replay, you would have a typical input for that aswell with a higher framerate lets say p60 or p50 minimum, but maybe even higher. That requires a camera that can handle this and output it also.

now if you want that all on two machines... very interesting to see how the total calculations add up.

so it is interesting to have a view ver the total system and see if there are some tricks to be made to avoid costs and get you where you want to be.

stefan

The idea is indeed to have the mixer pc send all it's inputs over NDI to the replay pc, which could perhaps be a nuc like this one. It saves on capture cards, but also on space and hours to set up.

The delay is no problem, since it doesn't need to be realtime. It just needs to run smooth :)

While I was considering a Skull Canyon NUC for my next vMix host, I found a good offer on an Airtop-PC so went that route instead.

-CPU i7-5775C
-Video #1 Intel Iris Pro 6300 (drives 3 displays)
-Video #2 nVidia GTX750Ti (drives 3 more displays)
-Space for 4 x 2.5" HD
-M.2 SSD boot volume
-Fanless, heat pipe case

Everything I read about the i7-6770HQ vs the i7-5775C showed them to be about equal, although the older CPU draws more power. The fanless industrial design of the Airtop was just too interesting to pass up.

In this case, it goes the other direction. The Airtop-PC is made by CompuLab, an industrial PC specialist in Israel. Normally their gear has been lower-powered. I've used their older Fit-PC, which was ATOM-based, as an embedded PBX or router.

A friend took one to Burning Man, where it survived the desert conditions admirably. Anything with a fan dies quickly from the heat, sand & dust.

When they launched the Airtop at CES2016 I fell in lust. It was finally a powerful system that had discrete graphics and no fans.

When I looked at building up a top-end NUC it occurred to me that it wasn't likely any more capable than the 2016 Airtop. It had a fan. And it wasn't very expandible.

The Airtop is fanless, accepts 6 storage devices. Has more ports. Drives more displays. It's just cooler.

So I inquired with CompuLab about a refurbished unit. They remembered some of my past writing about the little Fit-PC so they were willing to let me order one direct, essentially at wholesale.

It's an old model, with the GTX750Ti. The newer ones have the GTX1060.

Unfortunately, it's being made-on-order, so it'll be a few weeks before it arrives from Israel.