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New MP, Help me choose!!

R

Rmafive

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jul 25, 2008
296
1
Richmond, Virginia
Hey guys,

I have been waiting FOREVER :rolleyes: for a new mac pro to be released! Now that one finally has I was wondering which model you would suggest for my situation. I am planning on using it as a htpc/blu-ray ripping power-house! I plan on using front row to watch 15 gb blu-ray rips. I believe front row runs using quicktime, so my question is: would a single six core, or two 4 cores be faster for playing blu-ray rips smoothly? I attempted this on my core i7 iMac, and it was still a little choppy. So what do you think?! :)
 
Well, the new Mac Pro has been ANNOUNCED, but it doesn't actually ship until August.

Incidentally, playback of a Blu-ray rip shouldn't even be bottlenecking your iMac. You would even have trouble achieving a bottleneck on a modern dual-core.

But it does however, sound like you'll be spending quite a bit of time rendering video, in which case you can use all the CPU power you can get. But do understand that the 8- and 12-core Mac Pros are awfully expensive machines to be using for leisure. What's your budget?
 
Budget is of no concern, though I do not wish to splurge with the 12 core, but if necessary I will. I really am looking to get a mac pro, not only for leisure, but for the actual conversion with handbrake and other processor intensive work. I assume the 8 core will work perfectly, though I do not know whether or not the single six core would be of more value for my purpose. If my single core i7 iMac, can almost handle this, couldn't a 6 or 8 core mac pro!?

BTW: Trust me, I'm a fanboy, so I know the MP has only just been announced, not released!
 
What displaying are you driving? Bluray doesn't matter under 42" anyway.
 
To add to this thread, seeing that you want this machine to be the centerpiece of your home theater, I'm not sure whether or not there's an actual way of getting a Mac Pro to accept an IR signal (i.e. the Apple remote) usable for Front Row. Out of the box, it lacks an IR receiver. That might be of concern to you if you don't necessarily want to be tied to a wireless keyboard and mouse combo to operate the system.

With that said, Front Row should in theory play any video with a Quicktime or .mp4/.m4v container, so you'd be good to go in that regard.
 
ntrigue said:
What displaying are you driving? Bluray doesn't matter under 42" anyway.
Click to expand...

Yeah it does. I have a 37 and I can very easily see the difference between blu ray and DVD (or lower res HD). Granted, that isn't as easy as it is on the larger screen we have, but it is a noticeable difference.
 
CaptainChunk said:
To add to this thread, seeing that you want this machine to be the centerpiece of your home theater, I'm not sure whether or not there's an actual way of getting a Mac Pro to accept an IR signal (i.e. the Apple remote) usable for Front Row. Out of the box, it lacks an IR receiver. That might be of concern to you if you don't necessarily want to be tied to a wireless keyboard and mouse combo to operate the system.

With that said, Front Row should in theory play any video with a Quicktime or .mp4/.m4v container, so you'd be good to go in that regard.
Click to expand...

I plan on hooking up a USB ir receiver, so that should solve the ir problem. I will then have my crestron dealer come over and hook it up to my fiber video distribution system, so that every tv in the house can have access. Luckily the same codes for the apple tv apply to front row! Hopefully this all will work well, but only if somebody answers my first question!! Should I get 6 8 (or possibly 12) cores for playing blu ray rips in front row.

Btw: I have tested this with a server hooked up to my crestron. While it is pretty much impossible to watch, I know it is possible!!
 
Rmafive said:
I plan on hooking up a USB ir receiver, so that should solve the ir problem. I will then have my crestron dealer come over and hook it up to my fiber video distribution system, so that every tv in the house can have access. Luckily the same codes for the apple tv apply to front row! Hopefully this all will work well, but only if somebody answers my first question!! Should I get 6 8 (or possibly 12) cores for playing blu ray rips in front row.

Btw: I have tested this with a server hooked up to my crestron. While it is pretty much impossible to watch, I know it is possible!!
Click to expand...

1. And the USB IR receiver you speak of has been verified to work in Mac OS?

2. VirtualRain already answered your question, in a way. A single 6-core model would yield the best combination of raw clock speed and threads. In order to achieve the maximum speed in ALL situations, you'd obviously need a decked-out 12-core machine. But do understand that it would really only benefit your rendering speeds while ripping your Blu-rays. For playback, there would be no tangible difference.

3. I used to program Crestron systems at my old job. It's been a few years, but what from what I can remember, controlling Apple gear via IR for Apple TV/Front Row through a control processor was cumbersome at best. At the time, most rock-solid Crestron control systems were connected with RS-232, which basically limited reliable HTPC setups to Windows PCs with COM ports. Things certainly might have changed since then, but do verify with your Crestron programmer that you can indeed do this reliably over your control system.
 
My crestron system is brand new (a few months), and they have it working beautifully with my apple tv, and they say they can replicate that ease with the new Mac pro. I have found a couple of forum posts similar to my situation where people have used a USB ir receiver and know it works reliably. I think I will go with the six core! Let me know if there are any flaws in my plan!

Thanks for the input everyone!
 
Rmafive said:
My crestron system is brand new (a few months), and they have it working beautifully with my apple tv, and they say they can replicate that ease with the new Mac pro. I have found a couple of forum posts similar to my situation where people have used a USB ir receiver and know it works reliably. I think I will go with the six core! Let me know if there are any flaws in my plan!

Thanks for the input everyone!
Click to expand...

Cool, as long as your sure without a doubt that what you're trying to do will work. In my past experience, Crestron systems could be finicky controlling certain things. Plus, Crestron programming isn't cheap. But I'm sure you know that. ;)
 
good luck having a wind tunnel next to your home entertainment system.

Grab some ear muffs while your at the genius bar >;)
 
alust2013 said:
Yeah it does. I have a 37 and I can very easily see the difference between blu ray and DVD (or lower res HD). Granted, that isn't as easy as it is on the larger screen we have, but it is a noticeable difference.
Click to expand...

No.
 
Rmafive said:
Well blu-ray really matters, this is for my home theater with a 120 inch screen.

Im starting to think the six core may be the best bet, but I dont want only 4 ram slots!
Click to expand...

Alright then. Apparently we're playing the penis size game. Reply back with the truth and we'll talk.
 
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