Mac Mini and Video Editing

I wanted to find out if the new Mac Mini is powerful enough for basic home video editing. This will not be anything professional, simply Vlogs to post to Youtube. I was looking at building a new PC for this task however I have been looking at the new Mac Mini's, which comes with I movie, and with the new I5 and I7 chips, I was thinking that would be a better option. Thoughts
Mike

I would recommend starting with Imovie on a mini, since it will come for free on your system, and if you don't like it/need more, move up to a higher end program. CS5.5 and Avid Media Composer 5.5 have some great student/teacher discounts if your still a student or have a teacher in the family. FCPX is priced low for non students as well, 300 ain't a lot for a high end program like FCP, it used to be 1 grand for it til this version came out. You should be fine running any program on a mac mini (or any model) with at least 4gb of ram. If you get into professional post production you can always upgrade the mini to 16gb of ram, get a 6g SSD, a external thunderbolt drive, etc. My 2 generation old mini works fine with high end NLE software, so the new one should work just as well/better.

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Mac mini for video editing

I have just started to video edit and need a new machine. As of now I have a late 2006 black MacBook. It is very slow and lags in iMovie. I am considering getting a ssd but I know that won't help entirely. I will use this machine to run final cut pro x or possible final cut 7. I will also be doing stuff involving special effects and what not. I am still new too this stuff. I love film and want to make a couple short films. I am going to college for history and communicatins and want to get my noise wet before hand. Would you consider a Mac mini good for a starter and something that will last a couple of years. Also what model. I want to put a ssd in it and want to know of toi is hard to do. I want quad core so I am looking into the server model. Is the server worth the money? Please don't tell me to get an iMac I don't like them. The glossy screen hurts my eyes and besides I have a grat set up. I have a 23" apple cinema display, keyboard, mouse, and magic trackpad. Or do you think I should get a 15" MBP.

I went to the Apple Store last night after work to by the Mac Mini, but they wanted to charge me an extra £80 compared to the online price. I wanted the 1gb memory upgrade and apparently they was going to charge me for the 500mb they would have to take out to put the 1gb in.
So guess what, I didn't buy it. I've got the order placed online though. Can't wait for it to be delivered, should be about 7 days apparently.

I tried downloading i movie to my mac mini and for some reason it doesn;t take

I would like to use my Mac Mini for video editing clips for U Tube. I tried downloading I Movie from Internet, but it does not take....

Does not take what?
So you purchased iMovie or the iLife package?
Did you download the installer and find it in the "Downloads" folder?

I just bought a new mac mini and an external DVD burner. I want to burn a DVD video and it will not play on the TV but only on the computer? Need this figured out for tomorrow.

I just bought a new mac mini and an external DVD burner. I want to burn a DVD video and it will not play on the TV but only on the computer? Need this figured out for tomorrow. Can anyone help me?

Congratulations on the new Mini. Are you saying you tried burning and it does not play, or do you want to burn it only for the computer to be able to play it?
OS X Mountain Lion: Burn a CD or DVD may help.

Switched video settings on my Mac Mini and now the bloody thing shows "Invalid Format" on my TV (used as monitor for years) and I cannot get it to switch back.

Switched video settings on my Mac Mini and now the bloody thing shows "Invalid Format" on my TV (used as monitor for years) and I cannot get it to switch back.
What can I do to get it to work again as more than an overpriced paperweight?

Hello,
Safe Boot from the HD, (holding Shift key down at bootup), see if you can set a good resolution.

What is the Best Power MAC G5 for Graphic Design and Video Edit

I need the Best Power MAC G5 Processor CPU
and Ram HDD Graphic card for Graphic Design and Video Edit
and the name of the Processor
how much the price

Hi GabreilKnight;
You are aware that the PowerMac G5 is no longer being produced hence if you find one it will be on the used market?
For what you are looking at doing I would suggest that you consider a Mac Pro instead.
Allan

I have a first edition mac mini and internal speaker are not enabled yet.. what can I do?

I have a first edition mac mini and internal speaker are not enabled yet.. what can I do?

If you are using an HDMI connection, go to Apple / System Preferences / Sound and see if you can select the Built-In Speakers?
If you have headphones, buds or something plugged into the Audio Output jack, unplug it.
If not then perhaps the micro switch inside the Audio Output jack is stuck? In that case, try plugging and unplugging some headphones, buds or something in and out a few times to see if it will un-stick.
If it will not un-stick, then you will need to make an appointment for service.
see > Apple - Support - iMac - Service FAQ

Mid-2007 Mac mini and HDMI issues

I have a Mid-2007 Mac Mini with OS X 10.7.3, that, most of the time, will work fine with a DVI->HDMI cable and either of 2 HDMI ports on the TV. The Mini recognizes the display correctly (a Vizio E371VL). The display's native res. is 1080p at 60hz, and the Mini is set to that and looks great. I can switch to lower resolutions and even restart the mini and have the Vizio look and behave correctly.
However, I have an Apple TV (current generation - black brick) hooked up to the other HDMI port on the Vizio. It also looks and acts great.
The problem is when I switch between the inputs on the TV. If I go to the Apple TV (which will be working fine) and then back to the other HDMI input, the Mac mini shows black. The TV does not say "no signal" or indicate any problem. No amount of zapping PRAM, ressetting the SMC or basic restarting helps. In fact, the TV still registers a signal at 1080p. Using Apple Remote Desktop from another Mac (a 2006 Macbook Pro with DVI) shows the Mini is still functioning and still correctly displays the Vizio model and 1080p @ 60hz resolution.
The kicker here is that I can physically disconnect the DVI/HDMI cable from the Mac mini and connect it to the Macbook Pro. The video from the Macbook will pop up immediately. I can switch between the Macbook and Apple TV all day long, switch resolutions, etc. No problem.
Even more bizarre is that this has the effect of "resetting" the Mac mini. If I plug the DVI connector back into the Mini, its video will pop back up. It will work fine as above until the HDMI input is changed again.
Vizio tech support acted as if they'd never heard of Apple, Inc. Useless.
Super frustrating problem.

Opperman,
I went with my gut and got an LG 47LM4600 TV with VGA input in addition to HDMI (seems there are not many--if any--TVs sold with DVI inputs anymore). The 2007 Mac mini is plugged in using my old DVI cable with VGA adaptor. I tested it using the DVI cable with HDMI adaptor, and there was no sound.
I can confirm the same condition that you originally described when I try to switch to the Mac mini on the PC input. The screen is black except for a color bar that flashes on briefly every 2-3 seconds at the bottom of the screen. No amount of switching from one input to the other will make the display come back. The only way I've found to fix it is to unplug the cable from either the TV or the computer and plug it back in.
The annoyance with this is ameliorated by the fact that we'll be using a new Apple TV to watch Netflix from now on, instead of using a Web browser on the mini. Will only have to worry about it when watching DVDs.
Cheers.
Message was edited by: Numenorean

Bridging the gap between Mac Mini and iMac

Does anyone agree that Apple needs to add another model between the Mac Mini and the iMac? I think they need something like a Mac Mini Plus. Two models, one with the 1.83GHz Core Duo and one with the 2.0GHz Core Duo. The unit itself would be slightly larger than the standard Mini and include a PCI Express slot with several video card options and a faster (7200RPM) hard drive. Personally, I hesitate to buy an iMac because of the built in monitor. I would prefer to buy a separate LCD flat panel monitor that I could keep for years and use with different Mac models as I upgrade. As for the current Mac Mini, it's video and processor options are on the low end, albeit perfect for the casual user, but for someone that wants to do some gaming or video editing, they don't quite cut it.
Don't get me wrong here, I love the elegant design of the iMac, but I think Apple needs to offer something that allows us to have the iMac equivalent computing power without the built in monitor and without having spend a thousand more on a PowerMac.
Athlon XP 1800+ Windows XP Pro

Yes, I'd love something in the form of a Mac Mini that was closer in spec to the iMac.
Honestly, the only reason I won't buy an iMac CoreDuo is the built-in monitor.
And, the only reason I won't buy a new Mac Mini is that they are underpowered.
I have owned two iMac G5 systems, and both had serious faults with their built-in LCD panel.
The first would permanently etch in anything on the screen for every hour of intensive use.
It wouldn't etch it in in normal use. But, if I did any of my audio work, it would heat up the system so hot that the image on the screen would literally cook into the LCD panels plastic surface.
It literally looked like you took a razor blade, and precisely carved the exact image into the surface of the screen. Pretty nasty looking. Nothing would get rid of it, and it would happen every time I did my audio editing / processing work for an hour.
Naturally, the more work I did, the worse it got. I only got two editing sessions out of an LCD panel before having it replaced.
After going through that for a while, I sold the system after having a fresh panel installed under warranty.
I got tired of damaging the screen after every hour of work.
The second iMac G5 was purchased a year later. That one also suffered permanent damage to it's LCD panel. But, not quite as noticeable.
I know that there are a bunch of people getting ready to hit me with the "Image Persistence" explanation. But, trust me, I know about Image Persistence, and this wasn't it.
I was seeing actual permanent screen burn-in (which is not supposed to happen on LCD panels).
The service tech was absolutely amazed at the appearance of my screen. And, yes we verified it was the actual panel that was damaged. He wouldn't replace it without verifying that it was the panel itself.
Anyway, I called to arrange service on the second system again, and before I could get it in there, the backlight started flickering. And, I had already had tons of other stuff fixed on the machine. So, I sold it and bailed-out.
Now, after all the problems I've had with the built-in screens on the iMac G5 systems, I don't want another Apple product with a built-in screen. I want to use my own LCD panel.
I have an LCD panel that I'm using now. It's about 3 years old, and only cost me $200. And, it doesn't have even the slightest indication of image burn-in or image persistence. I use it every day, and use it just like I did the iMacs.
So, what I want now, is a machine comparable to the iMac CoreDuo, but without the built-in screen.
The current Mac Mini's cost way too much for their very low specifications.
I already have a Mac Mini G4. It's underpowered as well. But, no worse-off than the current Mac Minis.
Now, if Apple produced a Mac Mini with identical specs to the iMac, I'd gladly buy it.
Even better for them, I'd pay the same price as the current iMac to get it without the built-in monitor.
Yes, that's right, I'd pay the full price of the iMac to get a Mac Mini without a monitor if it was of the same specifications otherwise.
The current Mac Mini is obviously stripped-down to prevent competition with the iMac. But, I think they'd find that they would simply expand their user base if they offered a better Mini.
With their product line as it is, the current Mac Mini is not a compelling machine, and the iMac is not an option because of it's built-in monitor.
Get me a high-end Mac Mini and you've got a sale.

Mac min and i movie

When i launch i movie it says my mac mini does not contain an quartz extreme compatible graphics card & quartz extreme is not working in i movie. Any suggestions of the source of the problem and how to fix would be appeciated..thanks..

Its nice that this problem was solved, but it would be even nicer if we knew what solved it.
I am looking at either a Mac Mini (2g/2g) or the iMac 2.4g/24", and have been perusing the Mini forums for info on how well the Mini runs iMovie, or even FCE. I have used FCP 3.0 for years on my G4 / 900 m, but don't need the power of FCP (or the hefty upgrade price).
I took a look at iMovie 06 an iDVD 06, and find they will pretty much suit my current needs. I am mostly just moving (and editing) old VHS home video to DVD. However, iMovie bogged down quite a bit on my tired old G4 after some extensive editing that required lots of sound track work. While this isn't normal in the simple VHS-DV conversion process, I figure I might as well get a newer, faster, system to allow for it.
Many comments on the Mini address "great for everything but 3D graphics gaming" This is perfectly fine, but I noted a warning about "quartz extreme" regarding FCE, so am interested in the same problem with iMovie.
The real question I am asking, tho, is whether iMovie or FCE editing is as the upper edge of chanllenge for the Mac Mini, and I should go for the iMac, or is the editing just a middle-of-the-road challenge for the Mac Mini.
I am intrigued with saving hte $1000 on the iMac by reusing my Monitor, Keyboard and Mouse, bu tnot at the risk of finding that the Mac Mini only "almost" does the job.
Thanks

Can a Mac mini support video to two 30" apple studio displays?

Can a Mac mini support video to two 30" apple studio displays at the same time? If so, how do you do it and what resolution can be acheived for each monitor?

Hi Brian,
Nope, or not very well...
Display Support:
Dual Displays
Resolution Support:
1920x1200*
2nd Display Support:
Dual/Mirroring*
2nd Max. Resolution:
2560x1600*
Details:
*This model simultaneously supports 1920x1200 on an HDMI or a DVI display (using the included HDMI-to-DVI adapter) and2560x1600 on a Thunderbolt or Mini DisplayPort display or even a VGA display (with an optional Mini DisplayPort-to-VGA adapter, which is compatible with the Thunderbolt port).

My wife and i both have an itunes library installed on to our separate pc's, we are now de-commissioning the pc's and are moving over to a single mac mini, can we install both libraries on to the mac mini and run them as separate libraries?

my wife and i both have an itunes library installed on to our separate pc's, we are now de-commissioning the pc's and are moving over to a single mac mini, can we install both libraries on to the mac mini and run them as separate libraries?

graham218 wrote:
are moving over to a single mac mini, can we install both libraries on to the mac mini and run them as separate libraries?
Generally YES.
It's possible to hold separate iTunes library's on a single machine.
Generate two new folders inside the Music folder of the Mini and name them differently; e.g. man and woman.
Copy your whole library into "man" and your wifes into "woman"
Go to sharing in the system settings of the Mini and share the Music folder in your network.
After copying the whole library's to the Mini you may point iTunes to the new location at startup by holding the option key (alt) at the keyboard.
iTunes will then ask you where the library is located.
Point it to the matching library on the Mini.
That's all.
Lupunus
PS ... If you both use only the Mini you have to setup a user account for each and just copy the whole library to the Music folder in particular.
Message was edited by: lupunus

Mac Mini Slow Video Streaming

I'm not sure if there's really a solution to this problem, but I thought I'd give it a try and see if anyone out there had an idea.
I recently purchased a new Mac Mini and I'm trying to stream movies off of my MacBook. Unfortunately, the connection speed between the machines seems to be quite slow and the streaming barely works.
I have an Airport Extreme and I also have an Airport Express near the MacMini extending the network.
Is there any way to have the MacMini stream directly from my Macbook wirelessly rather than going through the router? Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

That type of closed, peer-to-peer network is called and "ad hoc" network. You could Google search on that or else ask your question in the Airport catagory of this forum to see if it is possible to establish such a connection between two Macs.
Do you know the data rate requirement for the videos you are trying to run by network? How do they look when run on the native machine and not over the network? Have you tried connecting the two Macs ad hoc by an ethernet cable to see if it works wired?

Mac Mini and USB 2.0 hubs (hubs stop working within a month)

I have an aluminum Mini running OSX 10.6.6 (Snow Leopard). With only 4 USB ports, I have need of a USB hub to accommodate my external drives and other peripherals: keyboard/mouse, camera and iPhone have to use the existing ports in the Mini (difficult access to ports due to space limitations), leaving one port for up to 4 external drives (older drives 40-60gb used for backup and extra storage).
I have problems using powered USB 2.0 hubs with this computer; I have 'burned out' 2 hubs since buying the Mini in February. They just flat out stop working, though they still show power (the power indicator light on the hubs); no peripheral is recognized when plugged into the hub (which worked fine for about a month). I can unplug the 'must use Mini ports' (camera, iPhone, charger, etc) and the peripheral drives are recognized and work normally when plugged directly into the Mini ports.
One hub was a Belkin 4-port hub (about 1 year old) and the other was a GE 3-port hub with several flash card readers (19-in-1 card reader), also about a year old. Is there any reasonable explanation why powered hubs would suddenly stop working, related to use with the Mac Mini 2010 aluminum version?
I had worse problems with the USB ports in an old (~2006) Mac Mini (out of warranty), where the USB ports in the Mini stopped working, which is partly why I bought the new mini. In light of this tidbit, (be honest, please) are there known issues with Mac Minis and USB?

Each of the external drives has its own power supply; I generally only use one drive at any one time, but on rare occasions I have powered up more than one to confirm or transfer files. I don't leave any of those drives on when not in use, and when everything is working I properly eject/unmount them before turning them off.
There have been times when I powered up a drive connected to a powered hub and both the hub and the drive indicated activity but the drive didn't mount. On those occasions the drives sometimes would not appear in Disk Utility, and other times would appear, but would not be "mountable". I didn't know what the best way to deal with that was, so I would just turn the drive off, hoping the lack of mounting on the desktop meant no real drive activity was occurring and I wouldn't risk data loss or drive damage. So far all the drives seem to work fine when plugged directly into the back of the mini.
The main external hard drive I was using when the Belkin hub failed (iomega 40g) is USB 2.0 only (no firewire). I have another drive that is only firewire (la cie 60g)... so it wasn't a factor. Two other external drives are ACOM, one 40g one 120g, and then there's my old iMac G5 disk (display fizzled and everything but the disk recycled through Apple's recycling program) which is mounted in an external enclosure and is part of the USB contingent, but is not being used for anything but backup (all three both USB 2 and FW400 capable). (I know, too many toys... but why throw them out?)
The USB hubs both had their own power supplies, too, and I never used them without power (though I tried it as part of troubleshooting, before reading the Apple article on USB and power requirements). Other USB devices that only work when plugged into the mac directly are my Epson Stylus CX4800 all-in-one, and my Radio Shark.
So, whaddya think? Should I risk buying another powered USB hub or just live with plugging in peripherals to one available USB port (through a short USB 2.0 extension) and only use one at a time? That would be a bit of a pain, but if there are no issues you've heard of with Mac USB ports (several unanswered questions in the Mini Support forums here involving USB and peripherals, I noticed), what else would explain the seemingly short lives of USB hubs?
Oh, here's something I just remembered: the last time the Belkin hub was working (last night), I had my Radtech BT mouse charger cable plugged in (not charging, mouse not attached) along with two of the external hard drives, and my Fuji camera USB cable. I got an error message onscreen (on the Mini) that a drive had been improperly ejected (or put away?), yet the hard drive in question was still mounted on the desktop. I looked at the hub, and the loose ends of the charger and the camera USB cable were touching. Could that have caused the error (and maybe the hub to fail)? (Edit: the camera cable I think was plugged into the mini's one available port; 3 external drives and the mouse charger were plugged into the hub, _but only one drive powered up and in use (3rd edit)_. The camera end of its USB cable contacted the mini-plug end of the mouse charger... could that have short-circuited the hub? +That wouldn't explain the failure of the GE hub a couple weeks before... but I don't know if any of this is connected, so to speak--2nd edit.+)
Message was edited by: blick
Message was edited by: blick
Message was edited by: blick

Current Mac Mini and HD decoding

Hi there,
I am considering buying a Mac Mini as an HTPC to connect via DVI->HDMI to an LCD TV. I was wondering if any of you has experience in playing HD content on a current generation Mac Mini and how does the Mini cope with it. Please note that I am not talking about BluRay since the drive only supports DVD, but rather .MOV, .MKV or .AVI videos encoded at 1080p using codecs like H.264 or similar. Can the Mini decode those without missing any frames on a 1920x1080 LCD TV?
Thanks in advance!

480p seems to be the minis domain with H.264
The processor hits 100% in spots and can find a safe cushion of 9% free CPU from time to time. It seemed to lock on fine at 24fps constant, with the smallest of climbs to 24.57fps on the BBC Motion Gallery Andes Film [848 x 480 resolution].
Full screen locked on fine but I didn't have any fps readouts up. Only stuttered once for a short while, could have been the end of the download stream.
Compression artifacting is still readily visible on this particular 480p encoding when viewed on the much sharper 2005FPW LCD monitor.
This is why I primarily never saw the Front Row package ever being available for the current minis. Apple wants it to be a centrepiece for H.264 which the current graphics and cpu powered minis just aren't up for (H.264 pushes G5's and the fastest Intel CPUs to the wall as well when decoding.) Then again, a mini with all the extra hardware wouldn't be the mini I want. A low powered, silent beast that sips electricity and is perfect as a heavy web browser/email task oriented machine.
--add a G5 and a faster GPU and you end up with an iMac which low and behold is what Front Row ships on
Jan J.

Mac Mini and Video Editing

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