Filed under: Multimedia, Mac mini
Mac Mini home theater redux
A recent post at hicksdesign on turning a Mac Mini into a media center is very serendipitous for me, as I'm currently researching options (and buying hardware) to do just that. I've acquired a Mini, a couple of hardware items that I'm trying to decide between and several software solutions that I'm putting to the test.
The post serves well as an update to some of our previous thoughts and takes into account some hardware and software updates. Among other things, the post discusses the decision between the Apple TV and the Mini, the virtues of Front Row 2, external hardware, and some great software tips.
Admittedly, my current solution is the result of hours of hacking and wiring and runs on a PC. I've been itching for a couple of years to make the whole system Mac-based. The hicksdesign post, along with all of my other research, should lead to a system that puts my current HTPC to shame.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Tim said 1:29PM on 4-18-2008
It must be magic because I was also researching how to do this an hour before this post went live. I know I'm going to go with a Mac Mini.
I'm wondering, though, if I'll be able to run 1920x1080 on my 52" Samsung LCD and have it fit perfectly? I've read enough horror stories about overscan, etc.
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Jedd said 1:33PM on 4-18-2008
honestly, you need to play around a bit, but it works pretty great...
people swear be displayconfigx but i didn't even need it
Chad said 2:13PM on 4-18-2008
Tim, my only experience thus far has been connecting a MBP to a 1080P
TV, so your mileage may vary. The MBP won't natively output the
correct resolution for 1080P or 720P. I had to use SwitchResX. Whether the Mini will or not, I don't know.
Mac OS X does have an option to turn off/on overscan in your Display
Preference Pane.
I've also read that the Mini has a hard time playing some 1080P content. Stuff off of the iTunes store is fine, but it is encoded at a lower bitrate. Anything else it may rough...mkv files especially.
Jedd said 1:32PM on 4-18-2008
for the last year i have had a mac mini as my media center...and it's been great.. i even ditched the cable box and torrent'ed, and besides a problem that the last front row update fixed (with red pixels in my viewing) it works great. it runs an Hd monitor fine and i don't see why every body doesn't do it....
and no other hardware encoders either (though i do have an external terrabite of hd space)
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ian said 2:01PM on 4-18-2008
I also have had a mini running as a media center and sole dvd player and its been great. My DVDs are backed up as TS_folders in external HDs (iomega minimaxx & a timecapsule) with alias folders placed in my movies folder and they show up and play great from front row with no 3rd party software needed anymore. Also playback wirelessly from the timecapsule works fine with no delay, which i was initially worried about.
Also I have it set up to a 40" Bravia and fits screen perfectly.
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JerkyChew said 2:03PM on 4-18-2008
Front Row is garbage, and I've never used the Apple TV. If you want the ultimate home theater system go to osxbmc.com and install the latest build of XBMC for MAC OS X. Install the xTV theme and you've got a very Apple TV-esque experience but you can play anything you want (except, ironically, anything bought via iTunes).
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Chad said 2:21PM on 4-18-2008
Hardly. It's entirely dependent upon what you will use it for. If you buy everything off the iTunes store, there's no reason to switch to XBMC. If, however, you have other formats that FrontRow won't play, then obviously XBMC is probably the better choice.
dbr said 5:40AM on 4-19-2008
Just install Perian and FrontRow (and any other Quicktime based player) can play XviD/DivX/MKV/etc. It's handling of MKV files is a little slow, but it works.
I think you can install perian on the Apple TV, but the Mac Mini can do way more (well, you'd probably need one to store the content anyway..)
mbellack said 2:37PM on 4-18-2008
I recently did this, got a mac mini, set it up with a 28" monitor running at 1920x1200 and a Bose surround sound system.
Cons:I used a 1.8Ghz intel mac mini with 1GB of RAM. This ran very slow when trying to use a webbrowser, Azarus (BitTorrent), and iTunes simultaniously. I had a lot of delay with frontrow and iTunes even when not running any other programs. The picture was very decent when watching a ripped DVD (in VLC) but the Mini tended to skip once in a while (processor slow?). When watching Hulu or similar web streaming services the Mini had trouble and would skip (I have Verizon FIOS 20/20 and movies run smoothly on the MacBookPro).
Pros: I was able to watch the hudreds of movies and TV shows that i have accumulated over the years right on my monitor (I swore of TVs). I was able to stream the video and watch movies stored on my Mini Server from my MacBookPro on my local network anywhere else in my apt. I was also able to stream music stored on the mini over the internet (SimplifyMedia) and listen to my 10,000 or so song library without having ito store it on my Laptop or iPhone or risk damaging my external HD carrying it around. The interface worked out well, frontrow was nice, even if a little slow, and using Remote Buddy I could send more complex remote control commands from my iPhone, this is a VERY nice program to control a media center.
Conclusion: I returned the Mini today, complaint was that it was too slow. I will maybe get a Playstation 3 to keep myself entertained until either the new minis come out with better specs, or I save up enough scratch to afford a MacPro to run my entire house.
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Aron Trimble said 2:51PM on 4-18-2008
@mbellack - I think your experiences are not very common - my Mac mini has been stellar from day one.
You might consider using a lighter-weight bittorrent client like Transmission if memory is a concern since Azureus is written in Java. I used to love Azureus, but switched to Transmission as a trial to see how I liked it...Once I found "TV Shows" and "Clutch" I vowed to never go back to Azureus.
Also it is worth installing Perian and using Quicktime/Front Row for playing back all of your movies... That will get you support for the majority of codecs as well as better 5.1 support. I also find that Quicktime has a smaller foot print than VLC does.
The only other thing I could recommend is lowering your resolution a little bit - I keep mine at 1366x768 which is the native of the 50" Pioneer to which I have it hooked up. This may not be ideal for you if you're using the monitor for general computing tasks as well.
If you have any other questions or whatever hit me up on Twitter: @aront
Brian said 2:18PM on 4-18-2008
I wrote a guide on how I setup my MacMini as a home theater PC incase anyone could find it useful: http://multipleentendre.com/home-theater-pc-setup-guide/
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Jacques Lema said 2:20PM on 4-18-2008
You can call me geek but after having tried (and paid) several solutions (MediaCentral, RemoteBuddy, XBMC) I found the solution: I just bought a small apple bluetooth keyboard and a mouse.
In the end it's just much easier and faster to use for me on my mini on my TV. Seriously, to play a video file I just use my mouse or keyboard and I let the wonderful remote alone. Since I always do computer things on the mini it's much easier. You can browse for torrents, changes settings or whatever. The good ole mouse'n'keyboard just do it.
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Christina Warren said 2:22PM on 4-18-2008
I'm looking at doing this too. My boyfriend's Mythbuntu box has me totally jonesing for a Mac-based solution.
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jax sedrin said 2:25PM on 4-18-2008
I'm with JerkyChew...
Unless you absolutely have to have DVR capabilities, I'd go with OSXBMC. The only thing is that the port is still very much under development, so you're likely to run into the occasional bug still.
But I will have to disagree with JerkyChew on the skin... I still very much prefer the Project Mayhem III skin over xTV.
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Aron Trimble said 2:40PM on 4-18-2008
I'm currently using a Mac mini as a media center. I have an external HD hooked up with aliases in the movies folder pointing to all of my downloaded movies and tv shows. I download HD copies of some shows (Heroes, House, etc.) because our cable provider doesn't offer HD and we're too far away from the nearest tower to pick up OTA w/o spending $120 on an antenna...
However it has not yet replaced my TiVo because sometimes there is just no replacement for re-runs and channel-surfing live tv, you know?
The Mac mini is great at playing 720p movies and is even capable of outputting 5.1! The only thing it is missing is the ability to rent HD from iTunes - and honestly, I'm not missing that so much that an Apple TV would enter the picture.
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Aaron Yates said 2:45PM on 4-18-2008
I've had a PPC MacMini running as a home theater for years now.
Initially I just used it to record TV and use front row. However now it meets many various needs that have arisen since podcasts and youtube have become more prevalent and I want to use the Mini as an actually computer.
For television shows instead of recording, I have switched to downloading shows. Many shows I buy on iTunes and I download the ones I can't using TVShows 0.3.4 and Transmission.
For video playback I obviously have Frontrow as well as VLC, MPlayer, Miro, etc.
But probably the most important aspect are my various interfaces. So far I have done the following:
Gyroscopic Mouse / Wireless Keyboard
Gamepad for Halo/Quake 3/Aleph One
Back-to-My Mac / VNC
Telekenesis (iPhone Remote)
Clutch (For Transmission)
Frontrow PHP backend for Mobile Safari and Nintendo DS
VLC HTTP interface customized for Mobile Safari
Ultimately the result is that I can access almost any aspect of the machine with whatever device I have on hand, be it my MacBook my aging Powerbook, iPhone/iPod Touch or even my Nintendo DS. All I need is an internet connection.
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DrWho said 3:09PM on 4-18-2008
I used to use my mac mini as an HTPC but gave up because I could never get rid of the back bars. I find that other than playing dvds I can do everything I need with my apple tv and the apple tv has a much higher Wife Acceptance Factor. The mini now serves duty as a home automation (indigo) and time machine sever instead.
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joey said 3:14PM on 4-18-2008
For intel based Apple computers you can install XP Media Center 2005 or Vista Media Center via boot camp. Set the computer to always boot into the MCE shell, coupled with both analog and digital tuners, the correct codecs and storage it will perform like a standard CE device (instant on/off).
Granted it is not an Apple solution, but I have tried EyeTV, XBMC on OSX and front row. While they all have their strengths none of them can do it all within one interface all controlled by a universal remote.
I may be in the minority here but honestly Microsoft Media Center is a great solution in bringing all your content to your television. I just wished Microsoft actually took the time to further understand the computer in your living room scenarios more and cater to this demographic rather than just having it installed on Home Premium and Ultimate versions of their software. For that matter, I wish Apple would understand this market as well and come up with a all in one solution (that Apple TV could have been if it could function as a PVR and have the ability to playback a wide range of formats).
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robh said 3:43PM on 4-18-2008
I had a Mac mini under my TV for a while. It worked well but the biggest problem was the noise from the external Lacie disk which looked great stacked underneath but was just too loud. I now have an Apple TV which works superbly (plus it works fine with my Harmony remote) and is super easy for my wife (who is a self confessed non geek) to use. I have Music, Podcasts, TV Shows...via an EyeTV hybrid and 100 DVD movies via Handbrake with full surround sound up there with more on the way. I'm in the UK so no rentals yet.....
The Apple TV talks wirelessly via an AEBS to the Mac Mini which is now relocated to my office (so I get to use it as a real personal computer). I've got a Drobo on the way for more storage.
The only thing I miss is being able to surf on my TV (though the text was sometimes too small to read and would need adjustment). I havent been brave enough to hack my Apple TV
This solution means I can keep any noisy storage out of the way and central, I get a Mac in my office and I can expand it while maintaining the WAF.......(Wife Acceptance Factor) in the living room.
Now if Steve was to launch an Apple TV with a Blu Ray drive (very unlikely) that could have web icons like my Touch, that'd be great.....
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Jay said 4:00PM on 4-18-2008
I considered getting a Mac Mini for a long time and finally went with Apple TV. I am really glad I made that decision. Stock Mac Mini hard drive would be too small for my needs. I bought a refurbished 160GB Apple TV which is quite a bit cheaper than a 80GB Mac Mini. I add movies to iTunes on my Mac Book Pro and after they are copied to Apple TV, I delete the original files once a week. I also record free Over the Air TV with EyeTV on my Mac Book Pro, but frankly almost everything I want to watch comes from Netflix and video podcasts that you can so easily watch from Apple TV. Set up is really simple and as a bonus, Apple TV streams internet radio from my Mac Book Pro to the home sound system. Mac Mini would have given me some more capabilities but at the cost of simplicity of my current set up.
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