Hooking up mini to home theater

Good afternoon.
I have a 1st gen Mac Mini. I want to hook it up to my home theater setup to be able to stream my videos, music, photos to my HDTV. What's the best way to connect this to my setup (i.e., what cables, connectors, etc.)?
Thanks.

I should expound on the AppleTV, yes you can keep the MM in an office and as long as it is within Wi-Fi range of the AppleTV which woudl be connected to your TV you can stream video, audio, photos etc to it. I have a movie collection on my iMac of roughly 350 movies and 20-30K sounds and thousands of photos. Streaming using an AppleTV is extremely easy and the quality is very good. Considering you can get ATV's from Apple refurbished for only $75 cost is hardly a consideration. It worked so well that my wife insisted we get a second ATV to connect to the TV in the kitchen so she can stream media while she's in there.

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Desktop/Finder keeps rebooting after upgraded to Maverick (mac mini hooked up to a home theater system)

My desktop keeps rebooting ever since I upgraded to Mavericks.
Current setup, Mac Mini hooked up to home theater (Panasonic SC-HTB20) that is then hooked up to my Panasonic Plasma TV.
I usually leave my Mac Mini on running and at least once a day when I turn on the TV I can see that my desktop was rebooted. Firefox and Chrome will say that it wasn't shut down properly and if I want to restore my previous session. Also some times when I switched the input to watch TV and switch back, all my windows will be scattered out of place. For example Chrome will be in the top left hand corner to the point that it's almost minimized and I wouldn't be able to move it as well. Only thing I can do is close out these applications and relaunch them. It doesn't appear that the OS actually crashed, but more like the desktop/finder itself crashed. Cause once in a while I will switch back or turn on the TV and the screen will stay black for a few minutes then I'll see the cursor in the top right hand corner. After that I will start to see the desktop and my application start loading. It doesn't go through the regular process of rebooting where you see the Apple logo so I don't think the OS actually crashed but I could be wrong.
For some reason it seems like Maverick doesn't like the home theater system. An almost guarantee way to reproduce the issue is to wait for the home theater to turn off after it's been inactive for a while. If I turn it on the home theater to have the audio coming from it I will see the desktop goes black immediately then the whole desktop reboot process I mentioned above will kick in.
Never had any of these issues on 10.7 before I upgraded to Maverick.
Anybody have any suggestion? I really don't want to format and downgrade back to 10.7.
Thanks

Sounds like a kernel panic.
If you post the report we could have a go at deciphering it.
It would be in /Library/Logs/Diagnostic Reports.

Playing iPod Mini through Home Theater system

Hi all,
I have a Sony Home Theater system. It plays CDs, DVDs, AM/FM, and video from the TV. I bought a Monster cable to hook up my iPod Mini to the player (it has 2 jacks, a red and a blue one that goes to the player), hooked it up per the instructions (put the same color plug in the same color jack on the player), but no sound comes out. The menu options on the player are DVD, Video (which comes from the TV), FM and AM. I don't know how to program the player to make it play from the iPod, and as you can probably tell, I'm a girl and extremely technically challenged. I don't even know where to begin. Can someone offer some guidance, please? Thanks in advance!

There should be an auxiliary input on the Sony.
You need to select this input on the Sony.

Connecting mini to Home Theater

I'm going to be connecting my mini to my home theater using a DVI to HDMI cable and a mini TOS-Link for sound.
I will be streaming my music, photos, videos to my 47" HDTV. I have a couple of questions:
1. How will the picture quality be using FrontRow?
2. I have a NAS that I will be streaming from. How do I get FrontRow to "see" the directories on the NAS where my photos, music and videos will be stored?
3. What is the best format to store my videos in for playback on a 47" HDTV?
Thanks.

I can't say my setup is the same but similar enough to warrant a reply.
I have a mini hooked up with TOS-link and VGA (I have an older non-HD Plasma - 720x480).
1. The video quality is superb, so long as the source is excellent. That said, Front Row isn't the most robust of software. It only reads certain formats - There are tons of posts regarding this. You can with little effort get it to read AVIs. It will also play anything that Quicktime can play. But DVD rips have to be played outside of front row.
2. Just make an alias in the mini's "Movies" Folder from your NAS ( I assume that's an external drive or data source of some sort). Make sure the mini is connected to the external source. I have a G5 connected to a lacie firewaire with all my content. I use ethernet to connect to the G5 which is connected to the Lacie and it streams no problem...not the case if I try to do it wirelessly, it "skips" occasionally if I attempt it.
3. Anything quicktime can read. I don't really have a preference so long as it's encoded at a high quality.
Other things to note...I have my mini going through a pre-amp which is connected to an amp. I use TOS-link, which means the volume controls are useless on the front row remote.
hope that helps...I'll follow-up with more if I think of anything.
good luck.
Geoff

Hooking up MBP to home theater receiver: Surround sound for games?

I'm looking for a way to hook up my MBP to my home theater receiver to play games in surround sound. From what I've read, it sounds like the digital optical out will only provide 5.1 sound for DVDs, not games.
I have also read about the Griffin Firewave which supposedly provides 5.1 sound from the firewire port...however, it looks like there are five separate outputs from that device (center, and both front and rear speakers), and my receiver's inputs are not arranged in this way, so I don't think this will work for my setup.
Anyone know of a way to do this successfully? It's looking like it's not possible, but wanted to see if there were any solutions I was missing. Thanks!

Peep this...http://www.forums.bestbuy.com/bb/board/message?board.id=TV_Home_Theater&thread.id=1153
Disclosure: Former BBY employee.

Hooking up DVD Player/Home Theater System to my Powerbook???

I was wondering if I could connect my one piece dvd player that is also a home theater amplifier to my powerbook. The player has the usual connectors, RCA, S-Video, and Component outs. Is there a way to hook it up so the video is displayed on my tiny 12 inch powerbook?
BTW, it's an one year old powerbook.

Anyone???

Connected Mini to Home Theater... no sound

Good morning.
I've connected my mini to my Home Theater. I ran a mini TOS-Link from the output (headphone) jack on back of mini using an optical cable to my receiver. I''m not getting any sound.....
How can I fix this or what have I done wrong?
Thanks.

Do you know for sure that the cable is good?
If so, unplug the receiver end, leaving the other end plugged into your mini, and without looking directly into it, see if you see the red laser.
If you see the red laser light, then odds are good it's not a problem with the mini. Maybe there is a setting on the receiver to enable that input.
If you don't see the light, then you probably need to change a setting in OS X.

Hooking up my Panasonic Home Theater System

I need help! I wanna hook my Theater System up with my HDTV, HD Cable box, and with my PS3. My goal is to watch tv and watch my blu-rays with my surround sound system. My tv only has one hdmi input and that is currently hooked up to the ps3. So I am wondering what audio/video cables I need to purchase and where to run them. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Peep this...http://www.forums.bestbuy.com/bb/board/message?board.id=TV_Home_Theater&thread.id=1153
Disclosure: Former BBY employee.

Apple TV hooked to an outdoor home theater projector

My backyard theater is to be set up in an outdoor living space that is about 100' from my house. To save on duplication of equipment I'd love to use the iMac, receiver and dvd player in my house and stream content to the theater. While by the pool I currently listen to music via iTunes and control that app with my iPhone. I wish to do the same with the theater, loading both music and video into iTunes and combined in a playlist. In such a setup all I'd need to purchase are outdoor speakers which I can run wire to from the receiver located in the house. That receiver currently has an Airport Express hooked up to connect with my iMac. The issue is getting video the 100' feet from the house to the pj. A coworker suggested looking into the possibility of an Apple TV to handle the video. Can this be done? Can iTunes send music to the Airport Express and video to the Apple TV?

Yes iTunes can stream music to ATV and Airport Express as well as stream movies and music to ATV. ATV can also stream music to Airport Express.
Kevin

Mini-Based Home Theater Overhaul

Hey, so I have a couple questions about using the new Mini as a media server. I basically want to rip all my movies and CDs, and possibly record tv with an EyeTV. So first, I'm wondering if you can easily capture TV or DVDs to a wireless Time Capsule, and then if you can easily stream from the TC to the Mini? Also, would there be any advantage to getting an AppleTV (simpler interface, HDMI out etc)? And finally, do you guys think this Mini will be able to handle HD? Thanks!

hi Adam,my Mac Mini is 2 years old,it came with the GMA950 graphics cards which everybody seems to hate,i'm not because i dont play games on my Mac,i bought a Lacie 320 gig HDD, downloaded Handbrake V0.9.3 and copied all my R1 original dvd's,using the .mkv preset first and afterwards save the file in Quicktime Pro so i can still play it in Itunes and Front Row,then download MetaX,which fills in the artwork,artist and movie info,if you have iTunes 8.0.2 and click on Movies you will see how awesome it looks,once all the copying of cd's and movies is finished then it can be backed up to Time Capsule and re-install back to the Mac if you delete a file by mistake,i am 2 minded when it comes to the Apple TV,i just can't decide to buy one because my movies look and sound so great using front row,and by the way they all play in Dolby Digital 5.1 via a 3.5 mini jack to Toslink optical to my Sony 5300 ES Amp. i am using a DVI to VGA adaptor to my HD LCD,resolution is 1280 x 768,picture is perfect,i can also use a DVI to HDMI adaptor/cable to my LCD,resolution is 1920 x 108i,problem is the screen is not completely full,i think Front Row is a wonderful media center but the inability to copy movie trailers instead of streaming it is a bit bad,but hey thats why iTunes are there for,just open iTunes store,click on HD movie trailers,select 480p/720/1080p and hit download,until the Mac gets and HDMI output i dont think it can ever handle full HD content,Elgato EyeTV and Hauppauge WinTV for Mac both can work with the Mac, hope this is useful for you, cheers

Using Mac Mini in my home theater set up...please help...

I am looking to purchase a mac mini to incorporate it into my home theater. I recently purchased Apple TV, but after doing research...i'm begining to think a mac mini just has several more options (a few $100 more...understood).
A few questions...
1 - What specs do i need on my mac mini? Which model..and how much memory?
2 - Would love to eliminate dvd collection & rip all movies onto an external HD. Anyone know the best program to use to keep the DVD quality (file size is irrelevant to me -- 1TB of drive space)
3 - is EyeTV the way to go to use the mac as a DVR?
4 - Would i have HD content and surround sound?
Thanks.
iMac Mac OS X (10.4.8)

I've been using a Mini (first a PPC and now and Intel) for this same purpose for over a year now. As a result, the AppleTV didn't really impress me. The AppleTV seems like a good idea if you have a large household with a lot of computers and you want to "stream" all these computers' content to one location. But the Mini can do all that plus it can act as a DVD player, a DVR, and a stand-alone computer in your living room when you can't get off the couch. I highly recommend it.
As for specs, if you can afford the highest end Mini that they're selling right now, I'd go down that road. When I upgraded from the PPC to the Intel Mini, the better performance was noticeable. Particularly since all my media files are stored on an external drive.
I just started ripping some of my DVDs. HandBreak works wonders (and it's free!)
With FrontRow and an optical audio cable hooked up to my receiver, I'm able to get 5.1 stereo surround sound. The mini is hooked up to a Samsung LCD HD TV. Looks/sounds amazing.
I've been considering getting EyeTV as well and ditching TiVo. (But my wife is terribly attached to TiVo, so we'll see who wins that one!) Let us know how it works.
Oh, one more plus is that I installed Windows on the Mini via BootCamp. So I have a PC in my house if I need it.
Hope that helps.

Connection Error with iPod mini to Bose Home Theater System

When connecting my iPod mini to my Bose Home Theater system, it recognizes that iPod has been connected, but after the "Acquiring Signal" process, it gives me an "iPod connection error. Please re-insert iPod into docking station." I tried several times, but the result is the same.
My iPod mini has been updated with the latest software, and I did a system restore to return everything to factory defaults, but still no luck.
Any suggestions.

Hi. What you need to do is Launch DVD Player. Go to Preferences. Select Disc Setup tab. In Audio Output under Audio in the second part of the menu, select Digital Out-Built-in-Output. Then click OK. See if this works, 'cause mine does.

How to connect Ipad Mini to external home theater speakers

Hi,
Recently i bought a new ipad mini, now i want to know how can i connect my Ipad Mini to external home theater speakers (Sony). Please let me know what type of hardware and steps i have to use.
Thanks in advance.

You should be able to use a 3.5mm plug cable to connect iPad to the AUX input of your sound system.
Make sure you set the volume to about 5% to 10% on you iPad.
http://i1224.photobucket.com/albums/ee374/Diavonex/Album%201A/42b5c54b81daaca734 ddff52ee609cfb.jpg

Best resolution for mini connect to my home theater TV

Good afternoon.
I have a 47" Panasonic HDTV (Widescreen). I would like to integrate my Intel Mini into my home theater.
What would be the best resolution to set the mini at to display on this TV?
Thanks.

I figured as much. I ran into this problem with my Sony 40" connecting via HDMI. Always ended up with borders, etc. and tried all the things so many on these boards have suggested--all to no avail. The TV mfg suggested connecting via VGA and I admit I was frustrated wanting to connect digitally. I went ahead and tried it and am amazed it looks so good--no fuzz that I would expect.
Of course, with an AV reciever, this may not be a very good option. My TV has lots of inputs so I was able to bypass the need for an AV receiver.
I haven't yet seen anyone on these boards solve this problem the way we all want (HDMI or DVI connection)--the solution I suggested was suggested by another member as well.

Mac mini home theater resource and OS survey

AVS Forum (AV Science Forum) is a free, discussion group Web site that offers a wealth of member-contributed information about home theater technology. Since June of 2005, it has offered a Mac subforum and the discussions in that group have increased with recent, Intel-based Mac mini sales.
Currently a poll in the main "Home Theater Computers" forum asks "What OS drives your HTPC?"
If you're a Mac user who's connected your Intel- or PowerPC-based Mac to a high-definition TV, you might consider taking part in this poll before it expires, though you do have to join the forum to do this. However, you just may find it to be a worthwhile experience, and your knowledge will undoubtedly benefit the Mac community using that site. I'm not formally affiliated with AVS Forum, just a member who has learned a lot there. The survey results have fluctuated between about 5% and 12% during the past few days, but as of today (4/19/06), the current "What OS drives your HTPC?" results are:
Windows: 83.40%
Mac OS X: 12.45%
Linux :6.64%
Other: 0.83%

Oops! I forgot the links:
http://www.avsforum.com
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/register.php? - (Registration)
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=666858 - (OS Survey)

Hooking up mini to home theater

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