# Mac Mini as HTPC Setup: Post your pics here



## milhaus (Jun 1, 2004)

Well, finally, no more PC in my house. The Mac Mini has taken over the role of HTPC, and performs admirably. Let's see how others have set it up as a HTPC. . .


----------



## monokitty (Jan 26, 2002)

Hot setup, milhaus!  I do own a Mac mini, but alas, it is not used as a HTPC (yet).


----------



## Vexel (Jan 30, 2005)

Milhaus, I assume you have the Mini connected through DVI, I have a problem where the overscan rate is too much.. it takes away most of the dock and all of the menubar.. any idea how to fix that?  

Thanks in advance.


----------



## MacDoc (Nov 3, 2001)

*Convergence cometh.*
Interesting I'm actually going at it from the flip side - musing about using my 30" on desk for near field HiDef instead of the 50" DLP across the room.

I might fire up a good DVD and the SoundSticks and try it nearfield. Have to chase down Fifth Element.


----------



## monokitty (Jan 26, 2002)

Vexel said:


> Milhaus, I assume you have the Mini connected through DVI, I have a problem where the overscan rate is too much.. it takes away most of the dock and all of the menubar.. any idea how to fix that?
> 
> Thanks in advance.


Have you tried playing with Displays under System Preferences? (Moving the image, resizing the image, etc.)


----------



## Vexel (Jan 30, 2005)

Yup, I've tried every combination that I can think of. My iMac sees the TV as a monitor.. but the overscan rate is too high. If I use the TV to correct the overscan.. it cuts off too much. No matter what the resolution. 

It's a HDTV.. which is capable of 1080i through HDMI/DVI. So, I'm assuming the iMac should work fine. I'd love to have Frontrow running on the HDTV for parties.


----------



## irontree (Oct 28, 2006)

I have a Mini as well but I'm going to wait for iTV and go that route instead.


----------



## monokitty (Jan 26, 2002)

irontree said:


> I have a Mini as well but I'm going to wait for iTV and go that route instead.


I second that. iTV should rock.


----------



## milhaus (Jun 1, 2004)

Vexel said:


> Yup, I've tried every combination that I can think of. My iMac sees the TV as a monitor.. but the overscan rate is too high. If I use the TV to correct the overscan.. it cuts off too much. No matter what the resolution.
> 
> It's a HDTV.. which is capable of 1080i through HDMI/DVI. So, I'm assuming the iMac should work fine. I'd love to have Frontrow running on the HDTV for parties.


Vexel;
I'm not sure what the problem is, because I fully expected to have that problem. In fact, I pointed out that issue in this thread: http://www.ehmac.ca/showthread.php?t=43913 with my MacBook Pro. I had a ton of issues with my Windows box as well, until I set the refresh rate to 59.something or other instead of 60. http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=715325

I have a 1080p set, and when I plugged in the Mini, it worked out of the box. Dunno, not gonna look a gift horse in the mouth. Might be something about it being the primary and only monitor?


----------



## gmark2000 (Jun 4, 2003)

So is that a Bose radio that acts as an amplifier? I hope those monitor speakers are magnetically shielded.

What are you using as a DVR? 

A HTPC is not complete without a DVR solution.

I am holding out for the iTV from Apple. My big question is to make the jump to buy a Pre-N router from Linksys or Belkin before the standard is established.

I suppose a new Airport _Extremely_ Extreme 802.11n base station will come out at Macworld in January.


----------



## Toronto1970 (Apr 15, 2006)

Here's a pic of my set-up (sorry for the flare from the flash).










I'm using a first-gen PPC Mac Mini on the tv (Sony KDL46XBR2). 

I have a Core Duo Mac Mini as my main machine. When they come out with the Core 2 Duo for the Mac Mini, I may sell the PPC machine and migrate the Core Duo to the tv. My main problem with the PPC is that it can't keep up with some (most?) 1080p video. But it's fine for videos bought from iTunes.

I was not able to hook it up to the tv using DVI/HDMI, since the Mac would not recognize the 1080p screen, and would only output at 1080i (and it looked awful). But the tv has a VGA input which accepts 1080p, so I'm using that instead. The display still looks great with VGA (and as an added bonus, it freed up an HDMI port on the tv, so all is good).

Now I just need to figure out how to hide all those damn wires!


----------



## MacDoc (Nov 3, 2001)

My 30" Apple just whimpered......I heard it....I really did. 

Gonna have to find a long DVi cable and hook up the 50" Sammie I guess.


----------



## milhaus (Jun 1, 2004)

gmark2000 said:


> So is that a Bose radio that acts as an amplifier? I hope those monitor speakers are magnetically shielded.
> 
> What are you using as a DVR?
> 
> ...


Magnetic shielding is not needed for LCD/plasmas (http://www.bwspeakers.com/index.cfm.../ObjectID/51CFC859-5996-11D4-B7E100D0B74745A0)

And BOSE? For goodness sake, no . . . Those are B&W 602s and a LCR600, powered by a Marantz Recevier, which you don't see. Also, you don't see the 1.5 TB of external hard drives in the cabinet. There's an iPod and a Logitech 880 remote as well. 

I also decided to forego the DVR, and just got a Rogers PVR. It's so much more convenient; yes it has its limits, but I can usually find versions of the episodes online, even in HD, a few days later to download if I want to archive. Had I wanted an HD PVR in my HTPC box, I couldn't have purchased a Mini. My former PC had this functionality, and I just prefer the ease of the set top box.

I'm really not sure what the iTV actually will be; people are putting a lot of stock in this device without really knowing what its going to do. I'm still waiting to see, but I doubt I'll need wireless streaming. My place is too small for that.

I was worried that my Mini wouldn't be able to do 1080p, or would struggle. No problems so far. The new Spiderman trailer in 720p looked amazing.


----------



## Toronto1970 (Apr 15, 2006)

milhaus said:


> I was worried that my Mini wouldn't be able to do 1080p, or would struggle. No problems so far. The new Spiderman trailer in 720p looked amazing.


What processor is in your Mini? And what kind of tv is it?

I like the look of your set up (certainly cleaner looking than mine, where all of the wires are exposed). Talk about a perfect fit for your centre speaker!


----------



## milhaus (Jun 1, 2004)

Toronto1970 said:


> What processor is in your Mini? And what kind of tv is it?
> 
> I like the look of your set up (certainly cleaner looking than mine, where all of the wires are exposed). Talk about a perfect fit for your centre speaker!


Core Duo 1.66. Ran Spiderman 1080p Teaser trailer just fine. Runs the 300 trailer in 1080p as well. I was having some VLC issues until I realized I was running the Power PC version . . . doh! 

My only issue right now is that I'm looking for a universal AC3 filter for Quicktime for all my divx movies (using AC3 sound encoding). I can play them via VLC, but Quicktime is a more elegant solution.

That's a Sharp 1080 p 37D90u. I got killed on that thing; bought it for $2500 or so, when list was 3K. Within a month, list price dropped $800. List is now $2200 or so, so you can probably get it for ~ $1800. But, I love it.

I'm actually very happy about the stand. I spent ages looking for the right one that would house all the key components well and hide the wires.


----------



## gmark2000 (Jun 4, 2003)

How timely this discussion and this article was released yesterday:
Building a Mac Home Media Center, Part 1: How To Get iTV Capabilities Today, For Less


----------



## yatko (Oct 9, 2004)

Is there an Media Center Edition Software for OSX already?

To bad someone is not making an ATSC & NTSC(hardware encoded) USB tuner in a mac mini like case.


----------



## gmark2000 (Jun 4, 2003)

Yeah, I agree. Something in a Mac mini form factor with multiple ATSC and NTSC tuners and hardware encoding to a built-in drive. It would hook up to a Mac via Firewire and mount like an external drive.

BTW, with Apple's iTV on the horizon, what flavour of hardwired ethernet would be chosen for network streaming/broadcast in the final product. Would I have to rewire the house in CAT-6 to take advantage of Gigabit ethernet??


----------



## SoyMac (Apr 16, 2005)

milhaus said:


> Well, finally, no more PC in my house. The Mac Mini has taken over the role of HTPC, and performs admirably. Let's see how others have set it up as a HTPC. . .


Beautiful set-up, milhaus!

- And I'll assume that's a wireless mouse and keyboard, or else you don't have knees.


----------



## gmark2000 (Jun 4, 2003)

Ooooo... I saw this at the Apple Store today.

The Miglia TV Max










TVMax is made by Miglia Technology and uses Elegato EyeTV bringing you "a user interface on par with TiVo."

TVMax has all the basic PVR features you would expect for a Mac including:
Watch, pause, rewind and skip forward Live TV, timeshift on your Mac.
Record and edit your favorite shows with a built in EPG (Electronic Program Guide).
One click Apple iPod (writes directly to iTunes) or Sony PSP export.
Hardware compression to MPEG-2, MPEG-4, DivX
Convert VHS and Hi8 tapes to DVD

Gregory Ng of Apple Matters has done a detailed review of the TVMax Mac PVR, and he considers it to be a must have for anyone with a video iPod and Mac PC. The only complaint being the lack of digital or HD support for video capture.


----------



## Vexel (Jan 30, 2005)

gmark2000 said:


> Ooooo... I saw this at the Apple Store today.
> 
> The Miglia TV Max
> 
> ...


I recently bought a Miglia TV Micro. It's great. If you have a fast enough Mac, you can record at the highest quality. It's not hardware compression like the TV Max, but, it's great for recording nonetheless.  $150 is what I paid.. but I've seen them recently under $100.


----------



## NewGuy (Jun 23, 2005)

It's not a mac mini, but I think the 24" looks pretty damn good in front of the 42" plasma.









p.s. sorry for the flash burn on the photo


----------



## SoyMac (Apr 16, 2005)

Hey, NewGuy and Toronto1970, you both have really nice looking set-ups.

But more importantly, you both have the same paint colour on your walls!!


----------



## phuviano (Sep 14, 2005)

NewGuy said:


> It's not a mac mini, but I think the 24" looks pretty damn good in front of the 42" plasma.
> 
> View attachment 2334
> 
> ...



The 24" looks small in front of a 42" plasma. Plasma's are not my preference, but whatever floats your boat.


----------



## MacDoc (Nov 3, 2001)

Any one know the longest DVi cable I can get.
It would be very cool to have the 50" DLP available.
Googleearth etc,
Even to have my mail pop up on it via Notification.










Convergence......ain't it glorious :clap:


----------



## gmark2000 (Jun 4, 2003)

MacDoc said:


> Any one know the longest DVi cable I can get.
> It would be very cool to have the 50" DLP available.


Go to www.monoprice.com. Cheapest A/V cables and often no problems with shipping from the US. Lots of references on RFD about pricing, shipping and quality there. I bought a 10' HDMI to DVI cable to hook up my Macbook to my 37" LCD TV and it work terrific.


----------



## MacDoc (Nov 3, 2001)

Cool thanks - weekend project....oh yeah Black Friday sale....hmmm must write flyer.....THEN PLAY


----------



## Zoiks (Sep 5, 2005)

Here is my setup... With Plex and VLC, there's nothing my Mac Mini Can't handle well. 

Just wish we had Over the Air High Def as in the States...


Cheers


----------

