Mac mini: The perfect media PC that no-one needs

[bwana]

You only need to convert if you want to use the iTunes ecosystem. If you are happy with VLC, it will play just about everything.

You can also use frontrow without converting.

 

[ScrnScrm]

You can also use frontrow without converting.

Yip but it wont stream to another Mac or sync to iPhone/iPad/iPod unless its in iTunes, so I just put everything in iTunes. Its easy enough! Oh, and I am a bit pedantic when it comes to Artwork, so I have an Automator action that renames the file, and goes online and pulls the Artwork and Description before adding it to iTunes. Makes Frontrow (and Apple TV) look pretty

 

[Biscuit1018]

this is where my problem is - you shouldn't need to "convert" anything - it should just play it.

I just don't like AVI Format, it's a personal thing

Well you can play all the formats on the Mini but not through Front Row.

I could
a) Play AVIs not hassle on OSX. Works fine
b) You can get Free Media Centre Software for OSX
c) You can buy some Media Centre software for OSX

However since my whole family uses Front Row (and has for 2 years now) w/o any support from me then I choose to go that way.
Would it be easier if Front Row played avis? Sure.

One cannot look at technology purely at a point in time. The effort moving people to another interface needs to be factored into the thinking.

 

[icyrus]

I just don't like AVI Format, it's a personal thing

Well you can play all the formats on the Mini but not through Front Row.

http://perian.org/

 

[d0b33]

Have to agree with the PS3 okes, i'd choose that over the mini for a multimedia system. Blu-ray out the box is a no brainer. And you can play most games.

 

[ScrnScrm]

Have to agree with the PS3 okes, i'd choose that over the mini for a multimedia system. Blu-ray out the box is a no brainer. And you can play most games.

Interesting. I have a PS3 and Xbox 360 and find them clunky compared to the Mini. I also cant seem to get the same quality out of it, particularly the PS3. Is your PS3 hard wired into your LAN or are you using the Wifi? U using PS3 Media Server on the backend? I find the transcoder downscales too much...

 

[EtienneK]

The PS3 is the best media streamer out there at the moment. You need nothing more.

 

[Biscuit1018]

http://perian.org/

Thanks so much. I will give it a go

 

[Biscuit1018]

Phew. Good to see that although I am still uninformed on any number of topics, I have moved from the resident Apple fanboy to the resident Apple basher.

Just a few points, I was not reviewing the mini, I was commenting on its potential as a pure media centre PC. Secondly I think that although Front Row is simple enough for my mother to use, it has fallen slightly behind the times, in terms of cost vs functionality. If you have the money and all you want is a pure media centre + solid PC functionality then the mini is an awesome machine. But if all you want is a media centre then rather go out and get a HDD based media system like Medi8tor. If you want Gaming and Media centre get a console.

It was an opinion piece and I stand by my argument that there are more cost effective options out there that would cater for 99% of the market.

Ben

Hi Ben

I respect your opinion a bit more now that you have been introduced (Fin Week etc.)

I suppose I did not disagree that much with your article but I agree pretty much with what you said above.

What I did disagree with was the Headline "The Perfect Media Centre PC that no-one needs"
Then again did you write the headline? My experience is that editors quite often add their own headline and the author has little input

 

[Render9]

For what it's worth, I've been, like so many of us, trying to find the perfect media player for the last few years. And put a lot of effort (and unfortunately money) into the process.

The bit that was a no-brainer was to store all media on a multi-terabyte RAIDed Ubuntu server. Although the newer generation NAS systems are beginning to make sense thought they don't support enough disks in one array yet.

The media renderers were not so easy. All seem to have some difficulty. And I tried most of them, including MCE on Linux, Windows Media Center with XBox as extenders, Apple/Frontrow, a number of different brand-name media renderers (MViX, D-Link, Netgear, etc.) to the popular gaming consoles. Support of relevant protocols, Elegant UI menu systems, file formats supported, etc. are all at different levels with the different solutions.

At one point I had a stack of Netgear EVA-8000's for their excellent file support and the fact I could control them over IP.

But eventually I settled on PS3's as media streamers. For R3000 you get a kick-ass gaming console, a Blu-Ray DVD and a media player that has a simple but elegant UI. And it's all 1080p over HDMI. Aesthetically it looks good and is quiet. So, unlike the X-Box or a PC, you can put it next to your TV.

As the DLNA server streaming the media, I use the excellent PS3 Media Server (http://code.google.com/p/ps3mediaserver/). I run the Linux version on the media server itself, but have used the Windows version without any problems. It will do real-time conversion if needed and can support concurrent streams to multiple consoles. At the moment I have 3 consoles at 3 different TV's (2xPS3's and 1x 360) and stream concurrently to all of them without any problem.

This is the most seamless and elegant setup I've found so far.

I hear ya brother. I have also been searching for many years for the perfect media server experience. I originally started off using GeexBox on an old PC running my media off of CD's!

I then upgraded to a moded original XBox running XBMC pulling my media off of a NAS-Lite box which ran very well for many years.

Then I upgraded my TV to a 40" Sony Bravia and noticed that my beloved XBox didn't look so great on "the big screen".

My latest iteration amounts to a Mac Mini connected to my TV via a displayport-to-HDMI converter (purchased quite reasonably from HDCabling) running a copy of Plex (a OS X port of XBMC) which looks absolutely stunning at 1920x1080. The new version also supports offloading video rendering to the GPU which means that is has absolutely no problem playing 1080p content. The Mac Mini also has optical audio out for those wanting DTS/HTS etc. and it works flawlessly with the Apple Remote (and can be easily set to replace Front Row as the default start up app for the Apple Remote "Menu" button). For those of you who like the "eye candy" the built in web scraping of Plex is something to behold - not only will it get fan art, episode synopsis, cast/crew info etc. - for TV shows it will even get the theme tune and play it automatically for you when you go to that show on the menu. Then there's the extendability of it all. It has something called an "App Store" which basically allows you to install extension which allow you to watch, for instance, You Tube on your TV as well as TED Talks, Vimeo, Netflix (US only) etc.

While I still miss my XBMC on XBox of five odd years, I'd say Plex is a worthy replacement.

 

[cmyplay]

Furthermore apart from the file conversion to mp4 (which is really simple) I have zero maintenance or setup. It just works.

You should get the Perian component for Quicktime. No need to convert any files. I play AVI's, WMV's and MKV's through Front Row without any hassels.

 

[Biscuit1018]

You should get the Perian component for Quicktime. No need to convert any files. I play AVI's, WMV's and MKV's through Front Row without any hassels.

Thanks, I tried it. Took me no time and it works. Tanks