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

Similar Messages

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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

  • 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.

  • 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)

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • Home Theater with Mac Mini and Mac book Air

    We are currently using our Mac Mini 2GHz Intel with our Sylvania HMDI TV connected with HDMI cable. The only downfall is that our desktop has to be close to our tv. I would like to put the desktop in our bedroom and use the new macbook air for tv watching downstairs. The questions is, how would I get all of my content from the desktop down to the laptop to view on tv.
    We will also be using Plex 9 when we get a bigger harddrive. Will we be able to run that on the laptop if it is located on the desktop upstairs?
    A run down of how someone else has thier home theater set up using something similar would be great!
    Thanks in advance!

    The Plex software bundle you download and install includes two components, Plex Media Server and Plex Media Manager. The former (PMS) needs to be running on your desktop all the time, the latter (PMM) is the client that can find the content on your network. When you run PMM on your laptop, it can see the content on any system running PMS on your network, and stream the content from there. The PMM is the 'Plex' you see in your Applications folder.
    For more in depth help with setting up Plex, you should consult the Plex Forums.

  • IMAC =HDTV&HOME THEATER

    How can i connect my IMAC to both HDTV(LG) and LG surround system (home theater) and get everything to work as one i.e IMAC to work on both TV & SURROUND SYSTEM. I got HDMI cables . I will appreciate  your help.

    I don't think it work work for HD, at 800 MHz G4. Not enough graphics or CPU processing power to display HD at full screen without a lot of dropped frames.
    Also, there is no way to connect a digital display over HDMI. You may be able to get acceptable standard def results with connecting it over VGA or other analog connection, but I believe an iMac G4 only mirrors the built-in display. So it may be stuck at 1024x768 as the max resolution. A typical HDTV's native resolution is 1920x1080.
    You should test the output from the mini-VGA port using a regular multi-sync CRT display, if you happen to have one collecting dust or know someone that has one. See what resolutions you can achieve. You won't get any better if you connect it to an HDTV.

  • Connecting home theater projector and monitor in kitchen

    I just ordered a refurbished 2.0Ghz mac mini so I can use it as my home theater computer. I would like to connect it to my receiver's HDMI input so I can display the video on my projector. I also want to connect it to a monitor in my kitchen so I can use it on a daily basis for basic emailing, surfing, etc. It appears that I can connect the mini's mini DVI port with the included mini DVI port to DVI adapter and then attach a DVI to HDMI adapter which will in turn connect to my receiver's HDMI input. Another option is that I can purchase a mini DVI to HDMI cable and avoid the DVI to HDMI connector. Audio would be fed to the receiver from the optical digital output jack to the receiver's optical input.
    In order to connect it to the monitor in my kitchen which has a DVI and VGA input, can I use the mini Display Port? I believe I can just attach a mini display port to DVI cable and attach to my monitor's DVI input? The run is about 25 feet. Will the mini mirror to my projector and monitor this way? Also how can I send the audio to both the receiver and the monitor in the second room. The monitor has a regular mini Jack audio input. Thank you.

    Welcome to the Apple Discussions!
    I use the enclosed mini-DVI to DVI (D) adapter with a DVI (D) to HDMI cable and it works just fine. There is no DVI to HDMI converting the signals are compatible. And I am using an analog patch cable for the audio as you propose with the digital.
    On the kitchen monitor, Apple makes both a mini-DisplayPort to DVI (D) adapter and a mini-DisplayPort to VGA adapter. But you need to know what DVI input the monitor requires, the mini is DVI (D) only. If the monitor uses DVI (D) then you can use a DVI (D) to DVI (D) cable with the mini-DisplayPort to DVI (D) adapter. If you go with VGA, then a VGA to VGA cable with the mini-DisplayPort to VGA adapter.
    Audio for the kitchen is another story. The mini's audio port is either analog or digital. It cannot do both at once. There are USB audio dongles, but I do not think that the Mac is capable of doing both digital and analog audio at the same time, even out of different ports, but I do not know for sure.
    Dah•veed

  • Connecting Soundblaster Audigy 2zs to Home Theater Amplif

    Can I connect my Soundblaster Audigy 2zs directly to an amplifier and still get 5.,6.,or7. speaker setup? I feel it's kind of redundant to use a reciever when the Audigy has all the capabilities of a Home Theater Reciever. And it outputs sound at 92khz, which currently is only available on more expensi've recievers.
    My goal is to use my pc as a souce and connect it directly to amps and speakers. I would like to put money I save on recievers into a high end speaker system
    I have read in the previous posts that it may be possible to do 5. by getting an mini jack to RCA adapter for each channel. But no details on 6. or 7..

    I am in the same situation as you. As the CL told me
    http://forums.creative.com/creativelabs/board/message?board.id=soundblaster&message.id=5343 --
    You can either use the audigy to decode the sound or your reciever to decode the sound with the SPDIF passthrough. Just whichever has the better specs.
    From my situation I would recommend having speakers with analog hookups to the front/rear/center sub rather then the digital output. The only way to take advantage of the digital output is with a DVD and in that case you can just watch a DVD on your TV rather then your computer. For games the analog 5. hooks is better as well because with games it decodes it and with your reciever it would only have 2. sound.

Maybe you are looking for