New Mac Mini or Windows HTPC as media center?

[Cave Man]

A post in the Plex forums suggests that HD audio can be sent by HDMI on the Mini.

http://forums.plexapp.com/index.php...-dts-over-hdmi/page__view__findpost__p__88693

 

[tom.bcn]

A post in the Plex forums suggests that HD audio can be sent by HDMI on the Mini.

http://forums.plexapp.com/index.php...-dts-over-hdmi/page__view__findpost__p__88693

That's good news. Now, if only Apple would ship my Mini, I'd be able to get it set up.

(BTW: Does anyone else think it's weird that there are users who joined this forum two years ago to specifically announce their permanent divorce from Apple products, and that nearly 700 posts later, they're still here, still complaining? Seems like an awful waste of time to me.)

 

[CWallace]

(BTW: Does anyone else think it's weird that there are users who joined this forum two years ago to specifically announce their permanent divorce from Apple products, and that nearly 700 posts later, they're still here, still complaining? Seems like an awful waste of time to me.)

Eddie Valiant said it best in Who Framed Roger Rabbit? - "Everybody needs a hobby."

 

[sdv5]

You can get EP6000B, DVICO, POPCORN, DUNE, range from $159.00 to $450.00 and thrown any media content to it. It will play and you never need to deal with codec(s) like in mini-MAC, Windows or Linux system.

But, but all of the devices you mentioned tend to be released to market with horrible bugs, and you essentially end being a permanent beta tester for as long as you own them. The quest for the next improved firmware is never ending and frustrating. Also, most of these devices are based on Sigma/Syabas implementations, and the UI is absolutely attrocious for anyone who has ever seen XBMC, Windows Media Center, Plex, or any decent computer based UI.

I agree with you that a full featured computer is not as simple to use and configure as a purpose built device; however, for many people the flexibility is well worth the trouble. For example, I like to have a webcam connected to my HTPC for family video chats.

 

[FireWire2]

But, but all of the devices you mentioned tend to be released to market with horrible bugs, and you essentially end being a permanent beta tester for as long as you own them.

Actually I'm using DVICO M6500A (no longer making) cost me $365.00 two year ago. It's the best device Media Center that I have. It fully supports DTS-HD, True HD (7.1) from BD.ISO and ATSC tuner built-in

Look at the review of people who use these devices:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductReview.aspx?Item=N82E16815135006

I don't think you can built/mod any MAC or PC to support DTS-HD/trueHD 7.1 without cost an arm and leg.

Sure full blow OS of course will do more. But the question is do you need all that? or just enjoy High Definition contents

 

[dannyjl]

Firewire2 - thanks for the link to the dvico product. That looks like it'll do the job nicely. I was also thinking of a mac mini as the solution to a media center but this looks great. The smaller cafe model also looks good. I'm just getting into this new realm but what I can't figure out yet is how macs deal with NTFS formatting. Can't do it in osx. Ok, so format the drive on a pc - but can macs write to NTFS format drives?

 

[michaelmac]

Firewire2 - thanks for the link to the dvico product. That looks like it'll do the job nicely. I was also thinking of a mac mini as the solution to a media center but this looks great. The smaller cafe model also looks good. I'm just getting into this new realm but what I can't figure out yet is how macs deal with NTFS formatting. Can't do it in osx. Ok, so format the drive on a pc - but can macs write to NTFS format drives?

I have been doing this for some time now by using Paragon's NTFS Manager. works well and once installed you do not notice it.

 

[Cave Man]

Ok, so format the drive on a pc - but can macs write to NTFS format drives?

Install the freeware Macfuse and ntfs3g and you can write to ntfs volumes.

 

[FireWire2]

MAC or PC as media center

Just got a "rumor" from DVICO.

By this late July or early August a new model call TViX Slim S1
Fully supports BD.ISO, DTS-HD, TrueHD, SAMBA and NFS with Wifi-N Optional and about $250.00

This certainly kill my desire to built media center with MAC mini and Windows HTPC

 

[Seydlitz]

Hard drives aren't loud either way. The optical disk drives and fans are much louder. Capacity seems like a very important thing if you're going to be storing hundreds of hours of HD video. A single 2.5" drive seems totally unsuited.

And there's another thing about the Mac Mini: yeah its a tiny little minimalist thing, but now start attaching an external hard drive, an external blu-ray drive, external video input for DVR... now you have a mess of pods and cables, not sure why this would be considered better aesthetics than a single brushed aluminum A/V styled PC enclosure which looks like any surround sound receiver.

Sorry, but why in the world would you put your storage on eternal disks? You use a NAS!. One small cable (run under the floor!) or even with WIFI.

 

[Seydlitz]

Just got a "rumor" from DVICO.

By this late July or early August a new model call TViX Slim S1
Fully supports BD.ISO, DTS-HD, TrueHD, SAMBA and NFS with Wifi-N Optional and about $250.00

This certainly kill my desire to built media center with MAC mini and Windows HTPC

But will it be the first hardware player to do true A.S.S. subtitle scripts? As anime lover I'm very curious about this. And no, neither Popcorn nor WD live (sigma, realtek) can do it correctly, even though they claim they can.

 

[FireWire2]

But will it be the first hardware player to do true A.S.S. subtitle scripts? As anime lover I'm very curious about this. And no, neither Popcorn nor WD live (sigma, realtek) can do it correctly, even though they claim they can.

Just doulbe check! It does support it