Mac Mini as HTPC.

BoomAM

BoomAM

BoomAM

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Hi.
Does anyone know if its possible to get 5.1 sound out of a MacMini?
I know the latest C2D ones have a digital out on them.

Reason being is we got a MacMini today at work to loan for a month and im very impressed.
Ive been thinking of getting one, putting XP MCE on it, and having it as my DVD player/music player/HD video player. But a lack of 5.1 output on it would really put me off. :(.

Thanks in advance all. :).
 
BoomAM said:
Hi.
Does anyone know if its possible to get 5.1 sound out of a MacMini?
I know the latest C2D ones have a digital out on them.

Reason being is we got a MacMini today at work to loan for a month and im very impressed.
Ive been thinking of getting one, putting XP MCE on it, and having it as my DVD player/music player/HD video player. But a lack of 5.1 output on it would really put me off. :(.

Thanks in advance all. :).
Click to expand...


IF you are thinking of getting a new one they certainly do have digital out (optical one with smaller male connector)

5.1 is not problem at all. With frontrow could make a small media center easily.

sid
 
Will a dual core 1.6ghz/512Mb be good enough for HD stuff?
I was thinking of wacking XP MCE on it, and then cutting out a load of services, dropping the memory footprint to under 100Mb.
 
BoomAM said:
Will a dual core 1.6ghz/512Mb be good enough for HD stuff?
I was thinking of wacking XP MCE on it, and then cutting out a load of services, dropping the memory footprint to under 100Mb.
Click to expand...

You need to define your interpretation of HD,

I presume its the downloaded stuff as there is no HCDP on mac-mini to use with a 360 hddvd drive.

Are you sure about win xp mce? are you going to attach a tuner to it as well?

I can't see the point as Front will do everything pretty much.

sid
 
sid said:
You need to define your interpretation of HD,

I presume its the downloaded stuff as there is no HCDP on mac-mini to use with a 360 hddvd drive.

Are you sure about win xp mce? are you going to attach a tuner to it as well?

I can't see the point as Front will do everything pretty much.

sid
Click to expand...
Mainly downloaded stuff atm.
Frontrow is rubbish.
You've got a twirly thing thats just a large icon display, iTunes/whatever just loads as normal, so on a TV, not a lot of good. Unless its changed as of late?
Plus, i'd be limited to what iTunes could play in regards to video. :(.
 
BoomAM said:
Mainly downloaded stuff atm.
Frontrow is rubbish.
You've got a twirly thing thats just a large icon display, iTunes/whatever just loads as normal, so on a TV, not a lot of good. Unless its changed as of late?
Plus, i'd be limited to what iTunes could play in regards to video. :(.
Click to expand...


I found it a bit more intuitive than the MCE remote to be frank mate.

You can play xvids/divx by install appropriate codecs.

But WinMCE will give the best compatibility with all possible media types.

sid
 
Bootcamp + MythTV = :)

The plugins are awesome and add tons of functionality. For instance:
* MythVideo: plays various video file formats.
* MythMusic: A music player, jukebox, collection manager, and CD ripper.
* MythDVD: DVD manager and ripper.
* MythGallery: Online photo gallery manager.
* MythNews: RSS feed news reader.
* MythWeather: fetches weather forecasts from the net.
* MythBrowser: small web browser.
* MythGame: Frontend for game console emulators.
* MythWeb: Controls MythTV from a remote web browser
* MythPhone: Internet telephony from your TV via SIP.
* MythFlix: Netflix queue viewer.
* MythArchive: DVD burner
* MythStreamTV: Allows for placeshifting, similar to a Slingbox.
* UPnP AV MediaServer v1.0 compliant server: Share media files with UPnP-clients


http://www.engadget.com/2005/01/25/how-to-turn-your-mac-mini-into-a-media-center/
 
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sid said:
I found it a bit more intuitive than the MCE remote to be frank mate.

You can play xvids/divx by install appropriate codecs.

But WinMCE will give the best compatibility with all possible media types.

sid
Click to expand...
I wasnt refering to how intuitive it was, i was saying that if i select iTunes, it would just load iTunes. Not exactely ideal reading small text on a telly from a few meters away.
Unless its changed?
 
BoomAM said:
I wasnt refering to how intuitive it was, i was saying that if i select iTunes, it would just load iTunes. Not exactely ideal reading small text on a telly from a few meters away.
Unless its changed?
Click to expand...

Oh I see what you mean. No it certainly didnt load up Itunes with you pressed music. The library was displayed in the Frontrow interface.

sid
 
BoomAM said:
I wasnt refering to how intuitive it was, i was saying that if i select iTunes, it would just load iTunes. Not exactely ideal reading small text on a telly from a few meters away.
Unless its changed?
Click to expand...


The text is the same size on Front Row whether you are browsing Movies, Music, Photos etc.

I run mine as a HTPC and the remote and front row are really intuitive. It can play any video file I throw at it (have installed some codecs for commonly downloaded internet formats). But I can't get it to play 720P mkv files. I have to use VLC for that.

If you get some software called Remote Buddy the remote can be used to control any application on the mac, shut it down, browse folders open files etc.

I don't know how it performs as a PVR as I don;t have a TV tuner connected but I have read only good things about eyetv (think that is the name).

Apart from pressing the ON button, I just use the mac remote for everything else. Boot up, connect to NAS server and play any music file or video through Front Row, shut down when I'm done. Cannot recommend it highly enough.


rp2000
 
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Hmm. So the GUI has changed a bit since i last used it.
Is Frontrow basically the same as the GUI on AppleTV? Because i wasnt keen on that, something just didnt seem right about it.

I wouldnt plan on doing any PVR work on the thing btw. :).
 
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If you're not think of using it as a PVR then FrontRow is the dogs danglies IMO. Yes it is just a front end to iTunes etc but you never actually see these apps running until you exit out of the FR interface. Everything is controlled from within using the nice little remote and the text is perfectly clear on any display you can thing of.

As for liking the interface or not, well that's down to personal preference I guess but I find in MUCH more intuitive than MCE.
 
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