**LONG** Mac mini (Mid-2010) as a HTPC with Plex Setup and Review

[Jawnathin]

Do you have a solution (other than buying more HDs) for those of us who don't wish to compress our Blu-rays?

Maybe I'm short sighted, but I'm not sure if there is a solution for that.

If you don't want to compress the Blu-rays, then you'll need more space. If you run out of space, you'll need more HDDs.

So either make the files smaller (compress) or get more storage (buy more HDDs).

 

[Jawnathin]

It's a MyBook World NAS drive, not just a standard USB type drive and it does allow some configuration, I looked into that a couple of weeks back. There's an option to tell it to not go into standby, which it now doesn't do, the drive has activity lights on the front that tells you it's state, it stays active now. Unfortunately this hasn't helped though, the drive still needs manual mounting from any machine (I've got a MacBook as well on the same network) that wants to access it. I think this is a flaw in SL, unless someone can point out something I am doing wrong.

I think I may have found a solution... it looks like it keeps the external drives mounted in OS X without needing to log in. Have you tried this?

http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=5995657

 

[richard.torble]

I think I may have found a solution... it looks like it keeps the external drives mounted in OS X without needing to log in. Have you tried this?

http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=5995657

Thank you for checking this out. I have never had to create a plist file before so am not sure how to go about it. I'll google it tomorrow. The Apple support document looks promising though. I'll post back tomorrow with an update.

Thanks again.

 

[Jawnathin]

Thank you for checking this out. I have never had to create a plist file before so am not sure how to go about it. I'll google it tomorrow. The Apple support document looks promising though. I'll post back tomorrow with an update.

Thanks again.

A post further down notes a terminal command which should do the same thing. Good luck!

 

[MotherFinMike]

I want to provide an FYI for anyone using a Drobo and finds their library inaccessible with 'File not found'.

The Drobo FS allows 2 different ways to mount the drive. This actually caused a problem accessing the content on the Drobo, in which the library was inaccessible, and I had to rebuild it unnecessarily.

1.) Use the Drobo Dashboard and 'Mount' the drive. This has always left the drive mounted and accessible at all times.
2.) Open the Drobo in the 'Shared' section under Finder and access the share. I don't know if the disk unmounts after inactivity as I do not use this feature on the mini.

I have found that 'Mounting' the share via the Drobo Dashboard creates a different directory and path than accessing it via 'Shared'. This caused an issue because when I originally setup my library, the 'Mounted' file directory was used. I was unaware of the benefit of leaving that open, so turned that setting off. I restarted the Mac mini, and when I went to play content within Plex, it couldn't find my file. I remounted it via the 'Shared' option and it was still unavailable within the Library, but available within Finder. I was confused so I cleared my library and rebuilt it using the new 'Shared Directory', but it wasn't needed and actually caused more problems later on. If I just remounted the drive through the Drobo Dashboard using the 'Mount' option, it would have worked just fine.

The solution for this is to leave the Drobo Mounted via the Dashboard. Additionally, I have the Drobo Dashboard setup as a login item, so every time the computer restarts, the Drobo Dashboard reopens and always mounts the drive. I'm not sure if this is necessary, but there was no harm in doing this, so why not.

I shouldn't run into this again, but just an FYI for anyone using a Drobo and finds their library inaccessible with 'File not found'. However, because I remade the library using the 'Shared' directory instead of the 'Mounted' directory, I had to yet again recreate my library because the directory changed yet again. Not a big deal since I figured it out, but can be frustrated for someone who isn't sure whats happening.

How about using

I Don't use Drobo dashboard at all, I use the connect to server method if using a droboshare

 

[talmy]

Just caught this thread. I've been using a mini with Plex since January and have just bought another for use in the living room. I use yet another mini, the server version, as my media file server.

Some comments about previous posts:

1. You can indeed create a desktop link that starts the VNC connection. Easiest way is to drag the center top icon from the open Screen Sharing window to the desktop.

2. With Snow Leopard Server the "keep connected" time for shares can be adjusted, and can also be set to ignore sleep time. So dropped connections is less of a problem. But when I was originally fussing with the networking, I would occasionally lose the connection, and the easiest solution was to restart the client since it's fast and set to auto-login and auto-mount the serves.

3. I'm wondering why the OP feels the need for more RAM. 2GB seems fine here.

4. Concerning backups, I home the OP isn't relying on the Drobo for this. A separate backup is necessary in case of theft or catastrophic failure. I keep a pair of backups sets, one off-site. I don't see any reason to use Time Machine on the clients (I do for the Macs that are used for "work") since nothing is really stored on them. I make an image backup so I can restore in case of corruption, but that is it.

 

[Donar]

Great suggestion on the Harmony, Logitech makes a quality remote.

Could you elaborate a bit more on what you gain by going with the Harmony?

More buttons

Aditionally you can turn on/off your TV / AMP / DVR with this remote. I also use it to turn up/down volume on my TV while navigating Plex.

I have setup mine with automatic functions so that the Harmony wakes the Mac mini from sleep turns on the TV and changes to the appropriate HDMI port, if you want to watch TV after that - press "Watch TV" and the Mini goes to sleep, the HDMI port is changed to the one appropriate for my DVR and the DVR is started.

Why not connect drobo/AE via cable & then wifi the NAS media to the mini and other clients using the networks? Seems it would be an easier setup, is there a performance issue with this?

Because most people will get trouble (performance problems) if streaming HD content, especially to more than one client.

Most places are infested with HotSpots from neighbors which will interfere with your signal. You have a shared medium - so it's only 54/300 MBit for one client or less for more, if you have one client with bad reception it will bring down the performance of all other devices. Prebuffering will take longer over WiFi.

These things can give you trouble, but if you already have WiFi equipment - just try it out it only costs 5 Minutes of your time.

4. Concerning backups, I home the OP isn't relying on the Drobo for this. A separate backup is necessary in case of theft or catastrophic failure. I keep a pair of backups sets, one off-site. I don't see any reason to use Time Machine on the clients (I do for the Macs that are used for "work") since nothing is really stored on them. I make an image backup so I can restore in case of corruption, but that is it.

I'm lazy, i use TimeMachine to Backup to my Synology NAS and always have the newest configuration of the Mini at hand if i ever have to re- install.

 

[Irishman]

Also, if you use your Harmony remote for other AV components as well (eg AVRs or BDPs or TVs), it will duplicate every original command from the manufacturer's remote, PLUS a whole host of discrete codes and commands that make some everyday tasks easier (for example, many TV or AVR remotes only let you change inputs by cycling through a list of options. The discrete codes on the Harmony will let you select the input you want with one button push).

Make sense?

 

[gianly1985]

No time to read the thread now, I'll do it later.

Just an advice for the remote: Wii Remote. (via RemoteBuddy).

Gaming Grade d-pad and buttons feel great imho.

I've been doing Plex+RemoteBuddy+WiiRemote since march 2009 with the 9400M MacMini.

If you fine-tune RemoteBuddy, you can do great things. It takes time though.

 

[nobunaga209]

Also, if you use your Harmony remote for other AV components as well (eg AVRs or BDPs or TVs), it will duplicate every original command from the manufacturer's remote, PLUS a whole host of discrete codes and commands that make some everyday tasks easier (for example, many TV or AVR remotes only let you change inputs by cycling through a list of options. The discrete codes on the Harmony will let you select the input you want with one button push).

Make sense?

Couldn't agree more!!