Mac mini + G5 + FW drive to play back DVDs

ok follow me on this one...
I have a G5 Quad with a 1TB FW drive which contains my DVD collection
If I get a Mac mini, can I:
1 - connect the Mac mini to playback my DVDs on my tv?
2 - can the Mac mini connect via Airport to the FW-HD to access my DVD collection?
Has anyone done this before? (have spent the last hour unsuccessfully trying to find an answer in the various forums)

If I get a Mac mini, can I:
1 - connect the Mac mini to playback my DVDs on my
tv?
2 - can the Mac mini connect via Airport to the FW-HD
to access my DVD collection?
The answer to both is a tentative yes. You can, for example, use airport on the mini to connect to the G5, either directly in ad-hoc mode or via a wireless access point/router/home network and access the external FW drive. The mini would mount that drive on the desktop, and DVD Player could be directed to open your stored DVD collection if indeed it is saved in native DVD format. If ripped and converted, an appropriate playback application would be needed on the mini, such as Front Row, QuickTime Player, or even iTunes.
The tentative part is that while the transfer rate of Airport ought to be good enough to stream a DVD in native format, you would need to ensure minimal noise and interference, and consistently good signal strength, since even a brief outage caused by local devices such as cordless phones or microwaves would be capable of disrupting playback. Streaming QT files is easier of course because there is a lower data rate involved and thus Airport would prove more robust.

Similar Messages

  • Can the Mac mini's Super Drive (Early 2006) *read* DVD-R discs?

    I made a back-up of a movie and burned it on to a DVD-R. I took the burned DVD and popped into my DVD player in the living room and it played just fine. I then put the burned DVD back into my mini, DVD Player.app opened and when I clicked play said the disc was invalid/unsupported (I’m not in front of my mini so don’t have the exact wording of the error). The DVD never even mounts on my desktop or Finder side bar. I went back and referenced the tech specs for my model and it reads:
    Slot-loading SuperDrive with double-layer support (DVD+R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
    That just seems strange that it would burn to a DVD-R with no problem, but then not be able to read it.
    I’ve put other DVD-R’s in the drive to test and the same thing. I had a back-up copy of my iPhoto library that I burned on my PowerBook on a DVD-R and this disc never mounted. I can only push the eject key on my keyboard to get the DVD out.

    I think I found my answer over at 123macmini.com
    Slot-loading SuperDrive with double-layer support (DVD+R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW):
    writes DVD+R DL discs at up to 2.4x speed,
    writes DVD-R and DVD+R discs at up to 8x speed,
    writes DVD-RW and DVD+RW discs at up to 4x speed,
    reads DVDs at up to 8x speed,
    writes CD-R discs at up to 24x speed,
    writes CD-RW discs at up to 16x speed,
    reads CDs at up to 24x speed

  • Mac Mini Region-Free Drive?

    I was curious if anyone knew whether the Mac Mini's optical drive was region-free, as far as being able to play DVD's from other parts of the world?
    For instance, I live in the USA (Region 1). I'd like to purchase a couple of DVD's from Britain (Region 2). Will they play in my Mac Mini? Will I have to download any plug-ins, etc. to make it work?
    Thanks!

    The drive isn't region free, no. It can swap region codes 5 times (if I recall) but after that will remain on the last one set.
    The easiest way to resolve this is to download VLC player. It doesn't take any notice of region codes, so the region 2 DVDs you want to play should work just fine. You can set VLC player to be the default application for DVDs in the CDs and DVDs preference pane.
    VLC player can be downloaded from http://www.videolan.org/vlc/

  • HT1338 Mac mini display connection will not come back after sleep, I have to shut down and restart the monitor.

    Mac mini display connection will not come back after sleep, I have to shut down and restart the monitor.

    Finder icon on dock, macintosh hd, library, launch agent - delete all files & restart sleep to test
    also
    Finder icon on dock, macintosh hd,
    Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/com.apple.PowerManagement.plist
    delete file & restart sleep to test.

  • Satellite L500-1DT - Selectively plays back DVD disks

    Hi,
    My DVD device all of a sudden only selectively plays back DVD disks (movies & music). I have validated the Region settings. All disks tested are compatible to this region and work on other media. The driver version: 6.1.7600.16385.
    The only software recently installed was iTunes (64bit, Windows 7 compatible) - DVD playback still worked fine after installation.
    Music CD's still work 100% as do some DVD's.
    Thanks,

    Hey Ironman69,
    > The only software recently installed was iTunes
    When such CD/DVD related software is installed, they install filters into registry, which can cause compatibility problems.
    That means you should remove the upper- and lowerfilters in Windows registry as you can read here:
    http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314060

  • Mac Mini and startup drives

    I'm not having a problem, but I'm helping my brother, who is new to Macs, with his new Mac Mini. He's having trouble with one drive he wants to use as a mirror-image backup drive; somewhere in the back of my mind I recall reading something about not being able to start up from a USB drive; is that correct?
    Pete F

    You can boot from a USB drive with Intel Macs. I believe that the PowerPC would only boot with an external Firewire drive.
    I use SuperDuper to make a bootable clone of my boot disk.

  • Use Mac Mini as external drive

    Hi. I'm considering a setup whereby I combine my Mac Mini with the new MacBook Air. I would use the MacBook Air "most" of the time, but I need a computer that works as both (a) a computing backup in case the MBA gets lost/stolen, and (b) can perform as an external drive when I am at home. Is this possible?

    That is true, so you'd be limited to using a USB to Ethernet adapter and connecting as previously discussed or transferring your data via a Wireless network connection. Frankly both are not optimal. You'd be better off getting a decent USB 2.0 external hard drive. With an external you could also use time machine (or your preferred backup method) from the Mini to back it up as well.

  • Mac mini - 649 days to go for back up to complete!!

    Hi
    I've had my new Mac mini for 1 week now and have still yet to complete a back up to my reformatted external hard drive. The back up shows to be in progress, but states there is approximately 649 days to go to complete back up. It would be quicker just to copy and paste my files. What am I doing wrong?
    Thanks
    Bart

    Thanks! Selected encryption option too and this seems to have done the trick. Cheers

  • Time Machine, New Mac Mini 2011 Storage Drives, Restoring... questions!

    Hi all,
    I've currently got a 2011 Mac Mini with a 500GB internal drive, and a 1TB Firewire connected external drive. Backups are done as as single operation to my time capsule.
    I've just bought a 250GB SSD and 2TB Hard Drive to fit internally to the Mac, and I'm ready to do the install.
    The questions are as follows:
    1- Does it matter which way round the drives go inside. Are both interfaces bootable, and when restoring from the time machine backup, can I specify the SSD as the installation drive.
    2 - With reference to the above, I guess within the time machine backup there are two sections. 1, my main OS Drive (the 500GB Drive backup) and 2, my external drive backup (the 1TB drive). I presume the recovery console will prompt me to restore the main OS drive, and then when I'm back into OSX I can then perform the restoration of hte other data onto the other internal drive.
    Has anyone ever done this, and if so, can they tell me how straightforward it was please?
    Really looking forward to more speed, more storage, and less clutter

    As far as being bootable, it does not matter which
    position the drive is in.  An Option key boot method
    will get you to the drive the first time and then set
    default once booted in OSX.
    I would suggest that you get yourself and external
    USB case or one of the many USB->SATA adapters
    and do the initial system restore to the SSD before install.
    This way you can verify that all is well with the restore
    of OSX (and the drive itself) before installing in the Mini as
    this is a task you REALLY want to do only once.
    As to your time machine restore question, I will defer that
    to someone else as I don't use time machine and personally
    never cared much for it.

  • [Mac mini] Display getting dark and get back to normal, If there is an idle mode, where can I adjust it or turn if off?

    MAC MINI (Mid 2011)
    OSX Yosemite 10.10.2 / OSX Mavericks 10.9.5
    While I were using mac mini for a while, the external display (LG_22MP55) has been getting dark and getting back to normal.
    Did it enter into idle mode?
    Anywhere I can find, can't find the related options to turn it off or adjust it.
    Even adjusting "Never" for both "computer sleep" and "display sleep" can happen this annoying situation.
    Beside, I have tried to connect iphone5S to external display (LG_22MP55) and double check LD will not enter into idle mode itself.
    So, I guess this situation was happened by MAC mini.

    When I use find file http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/30073/find-file (which does tend to find files that "Finder" can't), it's not coming up with any other itunes library files that have been modified in the past week, which I know it would have been - unfortunately, I don't have a very recent backup of the hard drive.  It would be a few months old so it wouldn't have the complete library on it....any ideas?  I'm wondering if restarting the computer might help but have been afraid to do so in case it would make it harder to recover anything...I was looking at this thread https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4211589?start=0&tstart=0 in the hopes that it might have a helpful suggestion but it's definitely a different scenario.

  • Upgrading mac mini from tiger to leopard with broken DVD drive (long)

    bonjour.
    I have a macmini (1.42PPC) with a broken DVD drive running tiger on which i would like to install leopard (from scratch). I have a retail DVD of leopard, and a macbook. Other equipment includes a PSP and an 8Gb memory stick duo, usb cables, a 40Gb ipod with firewire cable. Wireless keyboard and mouse.
    I've created a bootable image of my leopard DVD onto the 8Gb memory stick in the PSP using the macbook. I can plug the PSP into the macbook and the memory stick mounts as the leopard install DVD. I run InstallOSX and i'm prompted to reboot. Upon rebooting, my macbook boots from the memory stick in the PSP attached via USB and the language option menu of the install process appears. So far so good. I shutdown the macbook.
    I then take my bootable image of my leopard DVD and plug it into the macmini. It automounts, i run InstallOSX and i'm prompted to reboot and the macmini restarts.
    Unfortunately, the macmini reboots from it's internal HDD, and not the memory stick attached via USB so the installation fails.
    Is there a way i can force the macmini to boot or reboot from the USB drive? I only have a wireless keyboard. Does the macmini in fact support booting from a USB device at all?
    I don't know much about the firmware shipped with the macmini, and can not access it during startup to take a look as i have a wireless keyboard. Can i access the firmware from the booted macmini to change the boot device, like i can with a Sun Solaris box (eeprom)
    Could there be another solution that wouldn't involve playing with the firmware?
    I don't have the option of buying additional equipement.
    Any thoughts on this problem would be welcome.
    best wishes
    jack
    ps. I added (long) to topic subject, not to phish, but to save others' time, as it's quite a long and boring post

    thanks for your advice, however this is all but impossible as i have a wireless keyboard which doesn't permit me boot into anything but the OS, as the keyboard and bluetooth drivers don't load early enough in the boot process.
    however, i did find a firewire cable, so this is what i did:
    booted the macmini in target mode and added a 10Gb partition to it from the macbook, onto which i restored the leopard DVD image
    booted the mac mini normally, and it mounted my new partition. I just ran the install from there et voila

  • If I have a Mac Mini ( no Disk Drive ) Can I Still Use Boot Camp ?

    Hi, I have a ma mini... but i have came to a conclusion that I have no disk drive... so can i still use bootcamp ? I was wondering because all of the tutorials I watch, they tell me to insert my disk into the disk drive.
    -Thanks for The Help

    Welcome to the Apple Support Communities
    If you have a Mac mini without a built-in SuperDrive, you have two ways to install Windows on your Mac using Boot Camp:
    - If you have Windows in a ISO file > open Boot Camp Assistant, tick the option to create a Windows installation USB drive and follow the steps.
    - If you have Windows in a DVD > buy an external optical drive, connect it to your computer, open Boot Camp Assistant and follow the steps to install Windows.
    Don't forget to download Windows support software, and install it just after finishing the Windows installation.
    If you need help installing Windows, print this file > http://manuals.info.apple.com/en_US/boot_camp_install-setup_10.7.pdf

  • Installing Windows 7 - New Mac Mini no Optical Drive

    Hello,
    I would like to install a Windows 7 on a new 2011 no optical disk mini.
    I am aware of how to do that, and what do I need to prepare, becouse there is not a optical disk in a mini.
    Any ideas on if I can buy (download) a Windows 7 from www.microsoft.com and how to installed a downloaded package of Windows 7?
    Anybody has successfully installed Windows 7?
    Is there are way to install Windowx XP SP2 from CD (wireless shared cd from other computer)
    Thanks

    I think your best option is either buy an external dvd drive or if you have access to another Mac that does have a dvd drive, boot it into firewire disc mode (restart holding down the F key until you see a FireWire logo), using the appropriate firewire cable (depends on what kind of firewire connections the Macs have, 400 to 800 or 800 to 800) connect the two Macs together and the Mini will see the drives of the Mac booted into FireWire disc mode. Insert dvd and go about installing Windows...
    On another note, I think Lion's version of BootCamp requires Windows 7 to install. If you already have Windows setup on a Mac with SnowLeopard and upgrade then it will work as normal, something to do with installing requires Windows 7.

  • Mac Mini replacement hard drive - will any 2.5" SATA drive fit?

    I want to upgrade the hard drive in my Early 2009 Mac Mini. I see lots of good info online about how to disassemble and reassemble the Mini. But I can't find any info about hard drive compatibility.
    Will any 2.5" laptop SATA drive fit the Mini? I want to make sure that all the connectors and mounting holes will line up correctly. I am thinking about Western Digital Scorpio Black.
    Anyone have any experience with this?
    Thanks for the help!
    Dave

    I want to upgrade the hard drive in my Early 2009 Mac Mini. I see lots of good info online about how to disassemble and reassemble the Mini. But I can't find any info about hard drive compatibility.
    Will any 2.5" laptop SATA drive fit the Mini? I want to make sure that all the connectors and mounting holes will line up correctly. I am thinking about Western Digital Scorpio Black.
    Anyone have any experience with this?
    Thanks for the help!
    Dave

  • Photo library on Time Capsule and want iPhoto to recognise it rather than import to Mac Mini small Hard drive

    As heading states, I have 100Gb of photos and want to have them "sorted" and viewable through iPhoto. at the moment when i add photos it is importing them from the TC to my mini's hard drive duplicating the pictures and using up valuable space. Is there a way of pointing iPhoto to the photo folder on TC as you would music and videos for iTunes library?

    Yes there is but you shouldn't.
    Here's why:
    1. Is this a wireless connection? If you're trying to edit the Library (that is, make albums, move photos around, keyword, make books or slideshows etc.) or edit individual photos in it via Wireless be very careful. Dropouts are a common fact of wireless networking, and should one occur while the app is writing to the database then your Library will be damaged. Simply, I would not do this with my Libraries. 
    Problems with a Referenced Library
    A Referenced Library is when iPhoto is NOT copying the files into the iPhoto Library when importing. The files are then stored where ever you put them and not in the Library package. In this scenario you are responsible for the File Management.
    This is an attractive option for some users at face value, but it contains a significant number of issues that you might want to consider before making the decision to run a Referenced Library
    How to do it:
    iPhoto -> Preferences -> Advanced and uncheck the box at 'Copy items to the iPhoto Library'
    Now when you import iPhoto makes an alias in the Library Package that points to the stored file. Note: iPhoto still creates a thumbnail of the image and it makes a Preview of edited photos inside the Library Package.
    Issues?
    1. You are responsible for file management. That's more work:
    You must first move the files from your camera to the storage location before importing.
    If you want to delete files then you must first trash them from iPhoto and then afterwards find them in your storage and trash them.
    Thereafter, you cannot move the files on early versions of iPhoto at all, on iPhoto 08 and later you may move them on the same Volume or Disk. If you move them to a new volume or disk the aliases my break. If they are on an different volume and you move them the aliases will break.
    You cannot rename the files.
    Migrating: moving to a new machine, moving the files to another disk are all a lot more complex.
    2. You gain no extra functionality from running a Referenced Library. Nothing. This is just storage. You still manage the files via iPhoto. You edit them with iPhoto or via iPhoto's External Editor setting, otherwise you're changes will not be available in iPhoto. You don't save  byte of storage space.
    3.  If you have the Library on one volume and the photos on another you if anything changes in the path to a file (Like if you upgrade your machine, move the files on the NAS or on to another one?) then the alias will break, and you'll have to repair it manually. For every photo in the Library. One at a time.
    You can run a Managed library from an external disk. Make sure the drive is formatted Mac OS Extended (Journaled)
    1. Quit iPhoto
    2. Copy the iPhoto Library from your Pictures Folder to the External Disk.
    3. Hold down the option (or alt) key while launching iPhoto. From the resulting menu select 'Choose Library' and navigate to the new location. From that point on this will be the default location of your library.
    4. Test the library and when you're sure all is well, trash the one on your internal HD to free up space.

Maybe you are looking for

  • K3b, filesystems and a dvd player

    Hi! Im using k3b to burn a dvd with 6 movies... just one have less than 31 characters, and the subtitles .srt for it works ok but the other 5 have more than 31 characters, and my dvd player do not "join" the video file with the .srt file... so, I hav

  • Is It possible to automatically configure ATO Items in OM?

    Dear all We are implementing oracle R12. I have a requirement on which we receive customer demand through EDI. We use oracle ecommerce Gateway and RLM modules for importing demand which finally needs to go to OM. CUstomer however instead of sending u

  • Missing camera raw filter from photoshop's filter menu.

    Hello, I do not have the Camera Raw filter in my filters menu, and I've just updated Photoshop this AM. Thanks for your help Diane

  • EP7 and Outlook Calendar entries

    Hi, I have a requirement where Calendar will be collaborated with EP7 and the calendar entries will need to be edited on events triggered from Portal. is there any connectivity between Outlook and Portal such that i can retrieve calendar data for a u

  • X86 install - No Dump Device Configured

    Hi I tried to install Solaris 8 (x86) on my PII-300 machine with 192MB. However, when I install the Solaris 8, I don't even have a chance to create partition or whatsoever, I got an error sth like "No dump device configured" and it reboots automatica