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Got my new Mac Mini setup as a media center!

rogersmj

rogersmj

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Sep 10, 2006
2,161
1
Indianapolis, IN


This was my project today. I picked up this 1.83 GHz Core 2 Duo Mac Mini with 1.5GB of RAM from Craigslist, and today replaced my hacked Apple TV with it. I'm running the great Plex software, and so far the whole user experience is fantastic. These Minis are great little machines!

More info and pictures in a quick post on my blog. I'm lovin' it.
 
K

kalex

macrumors 65816
Oct 1, 2007
1,336
56
Nice setup.

powerful and clean. this is actually on my to do list. I'm trying to find a decently priced mini and so far its not working out. My xbox running xbmc is getting old and mac mini would be an awesome replacement.

I just read your blog and its almost same as me. I tried AppleTV but after using xbmc, it just sucks :)

Hopefully i'll be able to get a good deal on mac mini, then my setup would be complete and my xbox will go to electronic heaven as a wounded soldier.
 
M

mpshay

macrumors 6502
May 19, 2008
387
10
Florida
Looks good. Mine pretty close to yours. I've got a 2.0 GHz mini, 1 TB harddrive in Newertech mini stack feeding a Samsung LCD. Is that a Tivo? I've got 3 in the house including a Series 3 next to the Mini. I've got Plex installed, but end up using Front Row most of the time because my wife and my 4 yr old like it because it's simpler.

I've also got a 1.83 GHz mini in the master bedroom mainly for watching video podcasts at night and the occasional ripped DVD.
 
basesloaded190

basesloaded190

macrumors 68030
Oct 16, 2007
2,693
5
Wisconsin
i have been wanting to get an apple tv for a long time, but have also considered getting a mini. i know the mini would be more expensive, but i really don't know which one would be better as a media device
 
rogersmj

rogersmj

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Sep 10, 2006
2,161
1
Indianapolis, IN
mpshay said:
Looks good. Mine pretty close to yours. I've got a 2.0 GHz mini, 1 TB harddrive in Newertech mini stack feeding a Samsung LCD. Is that a Tivo? I've got 3 in the house including a Series 3 next to the Mini. I've got Plex installed, but end up using Front Row most of the time because my wife and my 4 yr old like it because it's simpler.

I've also got a 1.83 GHz mini in the master bedroom mainly for watching video podcasts at night and the occasional ripped DVD.
Click to expand...

Yeah that's a Tivo HD. I upgraded the hard drive in it to 500GB.

My Mini pulls its content from my 2.4 TB main machine in the next room over a gigabit ethernet connection. So far my wife likes the new Plex interface just as well as the Apple TV interface. All the button sequences I programmed into my Harmony help.
 
donga

donga

macrumors 6502a
May 16, 2005
841
1
AZ
are there step by step instructions on how to set the cables up with the mini to the tv?

also, does the apple remote work with plex? or only front row?
 
basesloaded190

basesloaded190

macrumors 68030
Oct 16, 2007
2,693
5
Wisconsin
Cave Man said:
1. What types of media are you wanting to play?

2. Are you willing to invest half an hour a week managing the system?

If #1 is anything other than MPEG4 H.264 720p or #2 is "yes", then you want a Mini with Plex installed.
Click to expand...

Well i guess i would just be using all my music and podcast from itunes, then ripping all my dvds onto an external HDD. What kind of managing would you need to do?
 
DoFoT9

DoFoT9

macrumors P6
Jun 11, 2007
17,586
99
London, United Kingdom
hey OP,

wonderful setup!!

we recently got an HD panasonic TV, and i am comtemplating getting a Mac Mini to play some of my ripped BluRay content.

have you had any experience playing back 1080p movies on the MacMini yet? it would be awsome if you could test it out for me as im not 100% if it will play it flawlessly :)

love your setup
 
rogersmj

rogersmj

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Sep 10, 2006
2,161
1
Indianapolis, IN
donga said:
are there step by step instructions on how to set the cables up with the mini to the tv?

also, does the apple remote work with plex? or only front row?
Click to expand...

Oh yes, the Apple Remote works with Plex.

DoFoT9 said:
hey OP,

wonderful setup!!

we recently got an HD panasonic TV, and i am comtemplating getting a Mac Mini to play some of my ripped BluRay content.

have you had any experience playing back 1080p movies on the MacMini yet? it would be awsome if you could test it out for me as im not 100% if it will play it flawlessly :)

love your setup
Click to expand...

Thanks! My TV is 720p, so I don't know about the 1080p content. Someone else might be able to chime in though.
 
rogersmj

rogersmj

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Sep 10, 2006
2,161
1
Indianapolis, IN
It plays 720p perfectly smoothly. Today I watched the Battlestar Galactica miniseries in 720p, streaming over the network, and it was flawless.
 
DoFoT9

DoFoT9

macrumors P6
Jun 11, 2007
17,586
99
London, United Kingdom
Cave Man

Cave Man

macrumors 604
Feb 12, 2007
7,112
316
Neander Valley, Germany; just outside Duesseldorf
DoFoT9 said:
we recently got an HD panasonic TV, and i am comtemplating getting a Mac Mini to play some of my ripped BluRay content.

have you had any experience playing back 1080p movies on the MacMini yet? it would be awsome if you could test it out for me as im not 100% if it will play it flawlessly :)
Click to expand...

Give this a re-read, then download Plex. You'll be in Blu-Ray heaven with your Mini. ;)

basesloaded190 said:
Well i guess i would just be using all my music and podcast from itunes, then ripping all my dvds onto an external HDD. What kind of managing would you need to do?
Click to expand...

In that case, an Apple TV would be best for your needs. If you were wanting to play other file formats (e.g., MKV, Blu-Ray), then a Mini with Plex would be the way to go.
 
S

soLoredd

macrumors 6502a
Mar 12, 2007
967
0
California
Nice setup. I went back and forth on the Apple TV vs. Mac Mini decision for about a month. Plex was so enticing after having used XBMC for years and having a Mini readily available sounded great. The more I thought about it though, the more I realized how much extra time I'd have to spend keeping everything running smoothly for my wife and with a baby on the way, I just didn't want to deal with the whole XBMC-type set ups anymore. Not that they are cumbersome once set up but my wife and anyone else who would be at the house would find some way, some how to mess it up. <sigh>

Who knows, I might get one anyway.

Question: you said you control everything with a Harmony? That includes control of the Mini? What Harmony is it?
 
ChevyAppleJR

ChevyAppleJR

macrumors newbie
Sep 13, 2008
25
0
Spokane, WA
Want to do this on a 1.25GHz G4 PPC Mac Mini

I want to do this on my my 1.25GHz G4 PPC Mac mini with 1 GB Ram and 100 GB HD Can anyone help me?

Garett:apple:
 
brand

brand

macrumors 601
Oct 3, 2006
4,390
456
127.0.0.1
ChevyAppleJR said:
I want to do this on my my 1.25GHz G4 PPC Mac mini with 1 GB Ram and 100 GB HD Can anyone help me?
Click to expand...

If you bothered to check out the Plex website and more specifically the FAQ you would find...
Will you support PPC and/or Tiger?

It's unlikely that we will ever support PPC. Many people think that it is as simple as "checking PPC" in XCode, it is not. Additionally, as stated above one of the goals of Plex is to support HD playback on most hardware this is just not likely on legacy Mac PPC hardware. Tiger support is not a near term goal, but it is a possibility in the future. It's obviously quite possible to get Plex to work on Tiger, but the team has determined that it is also non-trivial. As we get closer to a 1.0 release we will poll the community to see how much demand there is for Tiger support.
Click to expand...
 
rogersmj

rogersmj

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Sep 10, 2006
2,161
1
Indianapolis, IN
Aegelward said:
How well does streaming work for high definition files under plex?
Click to expand...

Scroll up 5 or 6 posts.

soLoredd said:
Nice setup. I went back and forth on the Apple TV vs. Mac Mini decision for about a month. Plex was so enticing after having used XBMC for years and having a Mini readily available sounded great. The more I thought about it though, the more I realized how much extra time I'd have to spend keeping everything running smoothly for my wife and with a baby on the way, I just didn't want to deal with the whole XBMC-type set ups anymore. Not that they are cumbersome once set up but my wife and anyone else who would be at the house would find some way, some how to mess it up. <sigh>

Who knows, I might get one anyway.

Question: you said you control everything with a Harmony? That includes control of the Mini? What Harmony is it?
Click to expand...

Interesting that you mention the maintenance issue...I ditched the hacked AppleTV because it was such a headache. It crashed periodically when playing my videos, and of course every time there was a software update I'd have to re-hack it, which wasn't trivial for me because I needed the SMB filesystem stuff too.

Any Harmony will work, but I have the 550. It controls everything in that room, including my lights via X10.
 
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