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Intel Mac mini To Evolve Into Digital Hub?

aswitcher said:
TS has given me some hope for the new year to get some hardware :)
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I'm waiting for new laptop designs using new materials? How about shiny gun metal? Longer battery life of 8 hours using aggressive power management and low-power Yonah (or whatever Intel chip) would make this a reality?

I've read reports Apple was to shrink the motherboard design quite drastically as a step Apple has taken recently of miniaturizing all their product lines.

Here's to the Crazy Ones ​
 
Record your programmes and the Mini will copy these to your iPod Video....

( Apple will upset TV companies - look at Tivo at the moment after their iPod compatibility announcement. )

This machine better be able to support HDTV, otherwise it won't do so well - HDTVs are really quite cheap these days. No one wants to record HD content only to have to watch it downsized. HDTV support would mean a decent graphics card plus a fast CPU. So, I'm not so sure!
 
Well, as long as the speculation and wish listing has run rampent, I'll add mine.

1- a form factor more like standard stereo equipment (that gets you the space for a 3.5" HD, HDMI output, optical audio out, and a GPU that could help with decoding with H.264 files).

2- tuner/encoders sold in same form factor (think stackable) and plugged in via firewire (that allows control of the tuner via firewire and flexibility to do multple tuners).

3- quicktime support to pass AC3 audio to optical output

4- cablecard 2.0 support

I think those are my biggies. Yes, EyeTV does #2 already, but you can (last time I checked) only have one EyeTV unit plugged in at a time. No multiple tuners. I think that's a software limitation.

As for price, I've been costing the hardware necessary to do a MythTV 4 tuner system (2 ATSC, 2 analog cable) to duplicate my HDTiVo capability. That's looking to be around $1,500. So anything around that price (or less) would be fine with me. Maybe $500 for the core system and $300 or so for each tuner module?
 
I really have doubts about the DVR part. If a Mac did have built-in DVR capabilities surely it would be DRM'd so you could only view it on THAT particular Mac (yes, the new P* chips can regulate this), and not exported, to say...an video iPod. I don't need DVR with my Mac. I've got TiVo. I suspect most people other thant the geekiest of geeks needs DVR in their PC. What people want is an easy way to put video shows on their iPod for less than $1.99 and episode. No way Apple will be complicit in that. So DVR is a yawn. I'd like Front Row 2.0 if it's more advanced, but I'm not going to buy a premium priced mini just for FR.
 
Can video and audio out both be replaced by a HDMI port with a breakout cable? That would give them more room on the backplate for Firewire and the like, and allowing connection to home-media-oriented displays while keeping compatibility with normal displays (HDMI-to-DVI+RCA audio cable included)?
 
HDMI = Expensive?

It just hit me but, aren't HDMI cables expensive? I remember seeing them going for over $80, I would assume a HDMI breakout box to RCA or S-Video would be pretty expensive. I honestly can't see HDMI in a Mac mini, I don't know maybe Apple will find an inexpensive way to make it happen :D
 
A TiVo-like DVR app isn't nearly as important as the right hardware to accompany it. It must support HDTV (including cable-based, not just over-the-air) and have dual-tuners, or it will fail. My SA 8300 DVR runs circles around my TiVo, when it comes to HDTV, but the interface leaves a lot to be desired. HDMI/DVI input and output, as well as support for 7:1 surround sound would be a expected.

Support for external hard drives and the ability to stream content to additional Macs and TVs would also be expected. TiVo does the latter with TiVoToGo, slated to appear on Macs in mid-2006 (most likely after the Series 3 with HDTV and dual-tuners come out).

TiVo and EyeTV are also working on DVR to video iPod support, another essential ingredient.
 
Awesome - Inteli Mac minis would be awesome, but not more me. I'd love to have it, but - I gotta save for a car :( :rolleyes: Car = more important that a Mac mini when I got a G5 and the latest iBook G4 :-D
 
I'd be very interested in buying something like this. The only problem is that there's no TiVo in Australia yet! :( ....maybe one day (just like the iTunes Music Store)
 
Two HDMI ports would be needed if the Mac Media didn't have a built-in tuner. One would be input from your external tuner (+ lots of adapters, e.g., SCART->HDMI for us Europeans) and the other output to your display (+ adapters - HDMI->VGA, HDMI->DVI, HDMI->Component and so on). It'd be nice if the input HDMI could also be used as an output for dual-head, of course!

With Sky's dominance in the UK for Satellite TV, if you were to use a Mac Media you would need that input from the receiver - it is highly unlikely that Apple would want to implement all the stuff like subscription cards and the like. I expect that the same is true all around the world.

If a tuner was embedded, it would be a plain-jane terrestrial one (hopefully DVB-T in the UK).
 
LimeiBook86 said:
It just hit me but, aren't HDMI cables expensive? I remember seeing them going for over $80, I would assume a HDMI breakout box to RCA or S-Video would be pretty expensive. I honestly can't see HDMI in a Mac mini, I don't know maybe Apple will find an inexpensive way to make it happen :D
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HDMI cables are expensive IF you buy them at the wrong place like CrapUSA or Beast Buy. Otherwise they can be had for $20 easily.

HDMI won't be part of any Mac Mini until Apple has a monitor that has HDMI, which is probably never. All HDMI is is DVI + digital audio. It is not superior to DVI, just more convenient. It's ideal for TVs, but not computers which have separate sound cards.
 
Chupa Chupa said:
I really have doubts about the DVR part. If a Mac did have built-in DVR capabilities surely it would be DRM'd so you could only view it on THAT particular Mac (yes, the new P* chips can regulate this), and not exported, to say...an video iPod. I don't need DVR with my Mac. I've got TiVo. I suspect most people other thant the geekiest of geeks needs DVR in their PC. What people want is an easy way to put video shows on their iPod for less than $1.99 and episode. No way Apple will be complicit in that. So DVR is a yawn. I'd like Front Row 2.0 if it's more advanced, but I'm not going to buy a premium priced mini just for FR.
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Look at it this way, after Apple announced they were going to sell TV content through their iTunes store, only ABC has provided any shows. All the other networks are scrambing to set up their own direct sales services either on their own or through existing TV outlets (like Comcast and DirectTV). Meanwhile, TiVo announced that they would be introducing iPod export capabilities to their service in early 2006. This seeks to cut Apple out of the content delivery service altogether.

By introducing a DVR with built in iPod export (and built in iPod dock) Apple will effectively eliminate any new threat from TiVo while also putting additional pressure onto the Networks. Some sort of DRM will be added to any recorded content, but it will probably be in line with the current video DRM (probably a bit more strict). Once Apple goes down this road, it will be very hard to remove any features. To make direct sale still viable, the price will probably be cut down and the DRM will be relaxed (with respect to the DVR DRM). This way if you want to record shows you can (but you'll get commercials in there too) or you can just buy the show online and cut the commercials out (and be able to load it onto multiple Macs). Burn to DVD options might also be opened up for the purchased videos while the DVR content is limited to one Mac and a few iPods.
 
Ooh, poor starving student me... I wish I had a TV that I could watch shows on. This could make a nice replacement, it would be awesome if I could attach a coax cable right onto the mini and record family guy:) That would be sweet.

Maybe there is a mini in my future, but for now I want FrontRow and a bluetooth remote for my powerbook:)
 
petej said:
Tivo did come to the UK a few years ago. It was very expensive and required subscription (If i remember correctly).

Sky+ is effectively doing the tivo equivalent and is really starting to build a loyal following even with the monthly charge.
For Freeview, there is a growing range of devices that do the job with varying degrees of success. See http://forum.digitalspy.co.uk/board/forumdisplay.php?f=90
for a discussion on the current crop.
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Nope. Sky+ is a DVR not a PVR. TiVo still working well over here in the UK, and connects to the Mac no problems :)
 
How fast could it be?

Think it'll do H.264 hardware encoding for video capture? Or is MPG2 still alive and well? It's have to be a damn fast intel chip (at least 2GHz), unless there is a seperate hardware encoding option they're planning.

Either way, I'm very interested in this. I'm typing this on the 1.25 Mini right now, which has served me well, but truth be told, it isn't the media hub I was looking for, despite all my add-ons (USB hub, external storage, iMic, 20 ft DVI cable to the TV, etc).

And I welcome a slightly bigger form factor to fit a standard Ultra-ATA drive in there (my 5400 40GB is slow, but not unusable). Plus, they may want to fit more RAM in this thing too, if it becomes a media centre. Although, I don't think Apple would go even slightly bigger at this point...seems like a backwards move. On the other hand, it would create another market of "Mini-2" specific add-ons.

Anyway, exciting news, hope it's true. I'll start saving my pennies!
 
Chupa Chupa said:
HDMI cables are expensive IF you buy them at the wrong place like CrapUSA or Beast Buy. Otherwise they can be had for $20 easily.

HDMI won't be part of any Mac Mini until Apple has a monitor that has HDMI, which is probably never. All HDMI is is DVI + digital audio. It is not superior to DVI, just more convenient. It's ideal for TVs, but not computers which have separate sound cards.
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Agreed. It's also unneccessary. You can get DVI-HDMI cables anyway, and if the mini simply supported digital optical audio out, you can run the DVI to your HDMI TV, and run the audio to your surround sound receiver and Bob's your uncle.

The problem comes in when you have the myriad of different input sources that many people work with these days. My Satellite receiver (for instance) has two independent tuners, together with my DVD, VCR, CD Changer, GameCube/XBox/whatever, and you've got a lot of stuff to manage.

This box would seem to fit somewhere between your satellite/cable receiver and your TV (would be nice if it could support multi-tuner, but if not, OK). It could entirely replace your CD changer and VCR (for recording, anyway). This would significantly reduce clutter, not eliminate it, but reduce it. It would be especially desireable if it wirelessly networked with my home computer to stream my iTunes library, and if it had TiVO-like record and suggest functionality.

Everyone seems to like to beat on TiVO, but from a user standpoint, they really did get it right.

Oh yeah, bonus points if recorded material could be stored off-unit (either by wireless network transfer to an open share, or via firewire). Additional bonus points if home movies produced in iMovie could be "exported" directly to the device (maybe via iTunes) for playback on your big screen TV. Extra-bonus points if recorded material could be burned to a DVD right in the unit.
 
i want one now

this is the future of home entertainment, TV's, Computer's, Sound System, all with a nice little apple logo!
 
I seem to be one of the few that's less excited about TiVo style functionality but, then again, I hardly watch TV as is. I guess I'm more interested in seeing how the standard specs, hard drive space and RAM, get improved on.
 
sounds like a cool idea, except i would hate to see the mac min grow larger! a 3.5" drive and a tv tuner would take up a lot of space. and the last time i cracked open the mini there was not much extra space at all!!! i would totally go for it though b/c ive been saving for a mac mini and a tv tuner to make my own mac DVR !!!
 
External Video Capture instead of internal device

It seems to me that with all the different formats that video comes to the home, we'll see a collection of external devices (FireWire? or USB2?). The Broadcom chip in the iPod 5G is capable of real-time video encoding as well as decoding, so it would not burden the CPU to use this device.

Making it external would also allow it to be put near the TV and cabled to the PC which, in my house, is about 8 feet away.

It would also allow Apple to sell the functionality to those who want it and are willing to pay for it.

I think the Intel Mini sounds great with a 3.5" HDD so we can store lots. That sounds right to me. Not too big a step for Apple, but a continued series of prodcuts that work well together.
 
TiVo used to be great but...

I'm SO pissed off with TiVo working so poorly with the Mac (and with so many geeks out there willing to write the software for free!!).

It has a slow UI, really dumb "which one should I record?" function and horrible Mac compatibility. I'm tired of having to run the .tivo files through a DRM-stripper under Virtual PC just to watch the stupid TV program on my Treo.

I used to LOVE TiVo, but they've pushed it too far. I say kill the TiVo and liberate the Mac.
 
the hanging mini?

Seems to me the proposed media center mini is an iMac sans screen, a means for apple to have a low-end, configurable cpu to compete with comparable windows devices.

that said, if the iMac's form factor is highly regarded for its small footprint, why not create the new media center mini (MCM?) so that it can mount on the VESA wall mount fittings on the back of apple's LCD monitors? That way, if a user chooses to utilize the MCM with one of apple's monitors, they've basically built their own iMac of sorts. The iPod slot (a great idea, imho, compatible with the iMac's general proposition of reducing desk clutter) could be positioned at the top of the MCM, so that it's flush with the top of the LCD screen when the MCM is mounted via VESA, putting the slot in the ideal convenient location.

thoughts?

terry
 
Phasing out the current iMac...dropping the prices of Apple monitors a hair...it's doable.

I want a Mac Mini that is just as good as the iMac (or better) but I want to buy an external flat monitor. If it works with a TV then call it a gold mine.
 
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