Mac Mini Media server?

[jaminben]

I'm thinking of getting a Mac Mini 1.66Ghz combo drive and using it as a media server. (http://store.apple.com/Apple/WebObje...family=Macmini) I have done a little research and searched these forums for the answers but not had much luck.

What I was hoping was somebody from this forum had one of these units and could answer a few questions.

The unit will primarily be used to store and stream films/tv shows in both SD and HD, is it cabable of HD playback @ 1080i/1080p without any problems?

Do external USB Tv tuners work well and is any software available to use the unit as a PVR? i.e like Windows Media Center or Media Portal.

Upgrading the Ram, Is it better to buy an additional 512mb, buy a matched pair totalling 1024mb or is the supplied 512mb enough for playback of HD content?

Sound output is slightly confusing as some sites say a stereo headphone jack-out is supplied and others (offical apple site) Combined optical digital audio output/headphone out (minijack). Ideally I would like have 5.1 DD via optical out.
Onboard video is not the best by the looks of it, but will it impact the playback of HD content? (unit wouldnt be used for games)

Thats it for now, and thankyou for taking the time to read and hopefully reply to my post.

[jont]

There are a few of us running mac minis as media servers and it is a great little unit ...

In reverse order, the sound out is a clever combined optical and analogue socket - put a toslink cable in and you will get optical digital out, put a 3.5mm stereo jack in and you'll get analogue ...

I have 1Gb RAM in mine - the integrated 950 video chip shares memory with main CPU - if you can afford it it is probably worth doing ...

I use a Miglia usb tv stick and Elgato EyeTV software for freevie pvr functionality and works fine ... there are other devices that have hardware decoding on board ...

You'll get 1080i at a push, my mac mini is happy with 720p especially if h.264 ... I get a lot of US HD shows from torrent and plays them no probs (1gb 720p mkv files) ...

Mac mini ships with FrontRow as a built-in media front end although it doesn't interface with the pvr software in teh sam eway that Windows media does ... there is another mac app - MediaCentral which does a liitle more ... best video playback software is VLC - although with the Perian plug-in you can get avi/mkv files to run/playback through Front Row ...

Any other questions I'm sure others will chip in ... ?

Jon

[jaminben]

Thanks for your reply

Which mac mini do you have, Dual core or the older G4?

The toslink cable you said about is the same as a optical cable from an xbox360? I assume its the same.

Any ohter links to forums or websites with info about the Mac Mini would also be helpfull.

Will proberly ask a few more questions later once the kids have gone to bed and I can think abit more

Cheers Jaminben

[jont]

Mines an Intel Core Duo (you can replace the CPU with a Core 2 Duo if you want to at a later date) ...

The toslink cable is different to the xbox 360 one - it has a 'prong' at the end rather than the 'box' connector - but you can get adaptors for one to teh other ... http://store.apple.com/Apple/WebObje...B37&nplm=TA968

No probs ... try www.123macmini.com

Jon

[davidwatsonok]

I've been thinking od doing this for a while now. My main stumbling block has been the use of Mat$h!ta DVD drives, and the fact that they cannot be flashed to RPC-1 for multi-region playback. I have considered opening the mini up and replacing the DVD drive with a flashed item, but it's all getting a bit too technical really. I would probably up the Mini to 2gb and swap out the CD's for C2D's. I read elsewhere that the integrated graphics processor struggles with HD and even SD if it has to do digital to analogue processing and scaling, so it's best connected via DVI to HDMI if possible to keep everything digital. A mate has a Miglia USB TV tuner running Elgato EyeTV as a PVR and it works really well on his G4 Powerbook. He recently tried it on his Mini to his 40" LCD and wasn't impressed, although he did connect through VGA. He's gonna try DVI/HDMI soon and report back to me.

There surely must be a market out there for someone to buy in basic 1.66 CD Mini's and upgrade them as I stated earlier to sell on as I've read no end of threads on many Mac forums about people wanting to use one as a media server and having the same stumbling blocks.

[jaminben]

Thats a bit of a shocker "integrated graphics processor struggles with HD and even SD if it has to do digital to analogue processing and scaling".
Mine would be used with a 43" plasma via DVI - HDMI. but I would still have expected it to manage SD playback.
Picture quality is starting to concern me, but DVD Multi-region is not a major issue as I dont have any region 1 films.
Guess I'll have to look around abit more before I take the plunge and buy one.

Thanks

[jont]

Mine is hooked up via dvi to my 50" PHD6 plasma and my Z4 projector and playback of files is fine - freeview is OK depending on channel - got a local applestore that you can go and see one in ?

Jon

[SamRadford]

Originally Posted by jaminben

Thats a bit of a shocker "integrated graphics processor struggles with HD and even SD if it has to do digital to analogue processing and scaling".

The Mac Mini is certainly "graphically challenged". The way to overcome this limitation is to use the ElGato EyeTV410 Freeview receiver. This has an internal video processor, which does all the hard work.

[jaminben]

Dont have any local applestores near me, but went to PC World to have a look. Unfortunatly they where out of stock but was told by a salesperson the newer versions are about to be released and the older versions 1.66 & 1.83 are now discontinued.
Proberly gonna wait a while now and just reaserch some more and get a newer updated unit when they are released, thats unless the sales person was talking out of his arse then I'd go and get the 1.66 as soon as poss.

Thanks for everones help

[jont]

If anything the rumour sites have been talking of the mini being discontinued rather than updated so I'd be surprised at a PCWorld employee knowing more than some of the better connected rumour sites (appleinsider.com or thinksecret.com) ... Apple are pushing the AppleTV as their new media server solution within the parameters of 'legal' media files - but it's not a fully running mac able to do other things which is the benefit of the mini ...

Next major public event will be Apple Expo in Paris in September so probably unlikely (but not impossible) for *new* product announcement before then ...

Jon

[spinaltap]

You might want to consider buying an Apple TV instead - at only £199 for the 40Gb version and £269 for the 160Gb version.

http://www.apple.com/appletv/

http://store.apple.com/Apple/WebObje.../ipod/apple_tv

[jont]

IMHO it's worth seeing how well the hackers continue to fair with Apple tV before buying one - especially if you are after playing downloaded media files - or seeing how well Apple open up the OS to different video formats ...

Jon

[jaminben]

Yea I dont think the Apple TV is for me. Looking around and reading a few forums it doesnt seem all that file format friendly, which is a shame as its proberly easier to setup. I think I will proberly get a mac mini 1.66, the idea is growing on me quite alot now and I havent seen many bad reviews or user comments about the unit.

[jaminben]

Well I've gone and done it, bought the 1.86 Mac Mini today. Thanks for everybodys help and now its time to play

[TimGTi]

Originally Posted by jaminben

Well I've gone and done it, bought the 1.86 Mac Mini today. Thanks for everybodys help and now its time to play

Please report back and let us know how you get on.