Mac Mini? Powerful enough to be a HD media player?

Stevie G

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Not sure if this is in the right forum, but here goes......! Sorry if this has been posted before, but I've never used a Mac (but very proficient with PC's!)

I want to get something that will connect to my 42" plasma by HDMI, play downloaded TV programs, upscale DVD's, play HD mpeg4 (H.264, etc).

I'm really drawn to the Mac mini as it'll let me connect to my plasma by HDMI, playback Divx/Xvid, etc and allow me to centralise my iTunes library to play through my main stereo. It'll also let me access the internet on my main telly when I want to, etc.

The main concerns are:
- will it have the grunt to play back HD content? Such as H264, ripped HD DVD content (from my own disks, in case anyone tries going off topic!)?
- will it show properly on my Panasonic PX60 plasma with the correct ratio?
- does the mini upscale DVD's and play them back to the correct resolution? Or at least upscale ripped TS files?

In theory it looks like the perfect HD media player, but I want to be sure before I spend so much (compared to other standalone but less flexible media players). I've had a search, but can't really find anything that actually reviews it in detail! They jsut seem to compare to Windows Mmedia Players or iTV!

Also just an aside....how long does a Mini take to boot up, or would one leave it on? My Iam NTD36 boots in about 10-15 seconds, which isn't too bad, but the interface it clunky, and I isn't the full kaboodle!
Thanks
 
Realistically it will cope with *most* stuff but will probably not make it to full 1080p playback if that is your bag ...

If you aren't intending to go that high then it is a great media centre for all the reasons you are looking to use it for ...

Take a look here for some users views and other Q and A's -

http://www.avforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=609383

http://www.avforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=612361

http://www.avforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=609185

HTH

Jon

My mini is on pretty much 24/7 but is set to sleep when not doing anything - I use it for PVR duties as well with the Miglia usb2 DTT tuner stick and the excellent EyeTV 2 software from ElGato, playback of lossless CD rips through my Arcam/B&W kit sounds great, and playback of avi/qt/.ts/mkv torrent files through FrontRow (with perian) and VLC when needed - oh and that is to 50" panny 6 HD plasma or 120" screen sanyo HD z4 projector ...
 
My Panny only does 720p and 1080i so (unfortunately!) 1080p isn't an option for me at the moment!

Cheers, I'll have a read through those threads :smashin:
 

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