Will this Mac Mini suffice as a Home Theatre PC?

[DoFoT9]

Yeah, Ive been thinking of pulling the trigger on both upgrades. But dont I need some type of cable access for the EyeTV to work? I think I just need to do some research on it! Obviously!

yes thats correct you need a coaxial cable for it to work. im not sure how your setup is over there in the US - but most of our TV shows come through free to air TV on coax cable. some EyeTV models also have RCA inputs - if that helps?

I need to figure out how to set that up. I was playing with it last night for a bit and couldnt get it going for some reason. I was tired though, probably didnt help.

videos->add source->network share?? does that work for you?

 

[OSX-SUX]

Mini is a bad choice for HTPC

I bought a new Mini in Nov 2009 with the same idea as a HTPC, 2.53 w/ 2GB Ram. It is fine for Plex and streaming content, but it certainly isn't fast when navigating menus in Plex. It can play HD content, but I really bought it to use as a DVR with EyeTV. I did a ton of research, and was back and forth between Linux, Mac, and Windows, but I wanted to try the Mac as I haven't had one before.

The problem is that there is so much misinformation out there. People say they have older model MMini HTPCs that perform flawlessly a with HD content, but I find it hard to believe. EyeTV has problems and the Mini crashes/locks up frequently. I am regretting the decision to build a HTPC (and I have a ton of patience and technical skill) using a Mac. I also use my Mini for other things, so maybe if you buy the Mini and only install what you need for HTPC and nothing else...then it might work well. My Apple advisors blame the Mini though, FYI.

edit: I use the HDPVR to capture 1080i off of my Cable Box, this is the only way to do that. Otherwise, use the EyeTV hardware to capture clear channels (QAM unencypted channels) or broadcast HD content with an antenna

 

[DoFoT9]

I bought a new Mini in Nov 2009 with the same idea as a HTPC, 2.53 w/ 2GB Ram. It is fine for Plex and streaming content, but it certainly isn't fast when navigating menus in Plex. It can play HD content, but I really bought it to use as a DVR with EyeTV. I did a ton of research, and was back and forth between Linux, Mac, and Windows, but I wanted to try the Mac as I haven't had one before.

i can tell from your name that you didnt like the OSX experience plex sure is a hard UI to learn, but once you do its quite amasing to use. the "transitions" between menus are annoying, but i thought you could change the preferences to get rid of that and make it more instantaneous?

The problem is that there is so much misinformation out there. People say they have older model MMini HTPCs that perform flawlessly a with HD content, but I find it hard to believe.

well, in all honesty, they say it because its true! my CoreDuo 2.16GHz MBP can play the HD content (with plex only, granted) fine! FF/RW is crap, but playing is FINE. rarely are frames dropped according to plex. tbh, there is no misinformation going around.

EyeTV has problems and the Mini crashes/locks up frequently.

eyetv is pretty buggy - but did you have the latest version?

why did the mini lock up?

I am regretting the decision to build a HTPC (and I have a ton of patience and technical skill) using a Mac. I also use my Mini for other things, so maybe if you buy the Mini and only install what you need for HTPC and nothing else...then it might work well. My Apple advisors blame the Mini though, FYI.

well i guess each persons experiences are different. i dont have a mini, my MBP is fine playing videos. i use my PS3 + PS3 Media Server (installed on imac) to watch all my movies and whatnot. works great for me.

 

[OSX-SUX]

Thanks

My name is tongue-in-cheek, but I have had issues with my Mac Mini and Snow Leopard. I try to maintain a Free-Thinking approach to different manufacturers and their products and I am giving Apple a try.

I realize that an older Mini could play HD content (heck, an Eee PC can), but the point I didn't do a good job of making is that it doesn't do it well. When you have a HTPC, it needs to have a good user experience so the wife doesn't throw it out the window. If you're talking about some dorm-room solution sans DVR, then I think the Mini is fine...actually better to save money and go with something like an ASUS Eee Box HD.

I bought the mac for Plex and I was buying into the "things just work" advertising hype, but now after owning one I realize that it has just as many quirks as Windows. Nothing I have "just worked" with it. I do think it is a great little computer to leave on 24/7, but I am thinking a MS-PC at the same specs would perform better. What I meant by misinformation, was that it is really unclear when someone says that HD and PVR work great and someone else says HD plays fine but FF/RW is not good and EyeTV is buggy.

I get the ever spinning Beach Ball and the Apple blue screen of death (yes, they have one too, lol).

 

[DoFoT9]

My name is tongue-in-cheek, but I have had issues with my Mac Mini and Snow Leopard. I try to maintain a Free-Thinking approach to different manufacturers and their products and I am giving Apple a try.

thats always a great way to be! means you get the best experience no matter what. im the opposite haha

I realize that an older Mini could play HD content (heck, an Eee PC can), but the point I didn't do a good job of making is that it doesn't do it well. When you have a HTPC, it needs to have a good user experience so the wife doesn't throw it out the window. If you're talking about some dorm-room solution sans DVR, then I think the Mini is fine...actually better to save money and go with something like an ASUS Eee Box HD.

that is very true! the user experience from Plex would be bad - its really more of a professional HTPC application lol.

I bought the mac for Plex and I was buying into the "things just work" advertising hype, but now after owning one I realize that it has just as many quirks as Windows. Nothing I have "just worked" with it. I do think it is a great little computer to leave on 24/7, but I am thinking a MS-PC at the same specs would perform better. What I meant by misinformation, was that it is really unclear when someone says that HD and PVR work great and someone else says HD plays fine but FF/RW is not good and EyeTV is buggy.

well thats fair enough, your own experience if your own experience. FW/RW is performance of the HDD, not really the CPU. eyetv can be annoying at time, thats a given

I get the ever spinning Beach Ball and the Apple blue screen of death (yes, they have one too, lol).

im well aware of the spinning ball me but that is troubling.. could there have possibly been someting wrong with the mac mini? it SHOULD NOT freeze up like that. what applications was it happening on? eyetv? or others? i can understand if it were eyetv - its not fully optimised for SL yet..

 

[minik]

I recently gave my sister a 13-inch MBP and took her stock 1.83 Mac mini (mid-2007) as a HTPC.

The hardware spec doesn't fly (Snow Leopard, 1GB RAM, 80GB HDD, GMA 950), but it does the job well.

I have eyeTV Hybrid with eyeTV 3 software, h.264 turbo (for exporting to AppleTV format), 500GB G-drive mini (for eyeTV recording). No keyboard, no mouse. The video will sync up to my Apple TV after being exported.

More RAM would be better since there's a tiny bit of room during the exporting, but so far it is alright.

 

[iMerlin]

Never even thought of that! Running it off USB probably isn't helping... I might have to copy one to the internal and see if it's better. Thanks!



I think all I did was install Plex on the desktop and set it up to start the server automatically on it. I recall it being really easy.

It's nice - the album artwork shows up!

Wow, I was really over thinking it. I just got it going in a matter of minutes. Originally I was trying to import my itunes library into my iMac Plex in order to serve it to the Mini. Oh, it also didnt help that I had sharing turned off in iTunes. Hey, I told you guys I was tired!
This time I just enabled sharing in iTunes, fired up Plex on my iMac and told it to serve it up. Then went into "Listen to Music" in Plex on the Mini and "iTunes (iMac)" was listed. Done!!

Thanks for the help guys. This is a great feature. It makes Plex so much more of an all-in-one app now!