dinkd
Well-Known Member
like i said 
personal preference...
personal preference...-
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2010 Mac mini HTPC?
- Thread starter macbook
- Start date
Mac Mini's a great choice - I have the previous Gen (Late 2009) running Plex on it. Plex being a XBMC branch specifically for Mac (although they just did a deal with LG to bring Plex to LG products next year). Really awesome combo
i have one of these http://www.asrock.com/nettop/spec/ion 330.asp - (pretty much the same as the eee box) with win 7 pro 64bit and 3gb ram as well as a 2010 mac mini.
the asrock worked fine but wasn't great at 720p unless you use a program that uses the ion chipset for video decoding (xmbc doesn't, vlc does). It couldn't handle 1080 over the network (1gb) at all.
the mac mini works great but it was twice the price though - a lot for what it is.
The one big difference is that the mac mini is totally silent while you can still hear a fan on the asrock even though it's pretty soft.
the asrock worked fine but wasn't great at 720p unless you use a program that uses the ion chipset for video decoding (xmbc doesn't, vlc does). It couldn't handle 1080 over the network (1gb) at all.
the mac mini works great but it was twice the price though - a lot for what it is.
The one big difference is that the mac mini is totally silent while you can still hear a fan on the asrock even though it's pretty soft.
TheMightyP
Senior Member
My machine also has the ion chipset, and to make use of it with hd content, I use media player home cinema.
dinkd
Well-Known Member
true.. the current windows build of xbmc does not have hardware acceleration support. Its been included in the new next upcoming stable release. but if you install the xbmc live on your box and set it to use VDPAU, you will be able to use the ion chipset and boot directly into xbmc...
SlightlyPeeved
Active Member
I am running the mini with XBMC (tried plex, and it was great, except the scrappers did not seem to work for series?? But others have it working fine??). Works great, even for HD content. No stutter what so ever. I agree though that storage can be an issue, but that is easy sorted over time. If you already have a Time Capsule, and/or a an Airport extreme, then adding space is a snitch
![[)roi(]](/forum/data/avatars/m/8/8711.jpg?1563828683){kind=avatar}
Really good choice; I FYI run 2 mac minis at home for the TV / entertainment, and for private web servers, email server, dev servers, ...
Feel satisfied that at least with your choice you won't be only limited to one thing.
Look into a product called Remote Buddy to simplify the control of it via Apple remote, Wii-mote, iDevices(iPhone, iPad), ...
Bwana uses a different app called Rowmote (which is also good), but I prefer Remote buddy for it's ability to be custom configured and scripted (AppleScript).
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clasqm
Senior Member
FrontRow is being deprecated by Apple. It is no longer part of new Lion installs, though you might still have it if you upgraded from Leopard or Snow leopard.
koffiejunkie
Executive Member
If you're on a version prior to Lion then you have it, else even with an upgrade it's gone.
Back in September 2010, when I posed the question, Frontrow was still alive and kicking.
True.Back in September 2010, when I posed the question, Frontrow was still alive and kicking.
And MUCH cheaper...
koffiejunkie
Executive Member
Is yours actively or passively cooled? Hhow hot does it run in that chassis? I notice there are few around that's passively cooled and doesn't have a massive heatsink.
I think most guys run the passively cooled ones from what I've read.
clasqm
Senior Member
Apologies! I wasn't aware that I was reviving such an old thread, must have been a low-coffee night ...Back in September 2010, when I posed the question, Frontrow was still alive and kicking.