mac mini htpc q/a

hey hows it going.
well im planning on buy a mac mini in the next week or so. i have a sharp 42 inch with 1080p and a 5.1 sound.
1. does this have a optical out
2.can it upconvert dvds to 1080p
3.if i upgrade the ram will this be able play bluray disc when support is available.
4.what software should i use, and is there a remote or should i use keyboard and mouse
last is there any tutorials around for mac mini as htpc
thanks dave

A Mac Mini isn't going to do 1080P or Bluray. The onboard graphics just can't cut it.

Get something else.

hate being discouraging but i'd advise to stay away from the mac mini solution. it is not a solution by any means. i tried it when they first came out, then again when the core2duo version came out. used every 3rd party codec and software out there and it just couldn't cut it. if you are set on it and nothing is changing your mind prepare to be frustrated.

but to answer your questions directly:

1. no
2. no
3. no

yes there are tutorials, frontrow (the default), and I used my universal remote. you can take the remote they give and just "learn" the controls, there are only 5 buttons.

Encoded 720p videos with a Mac mini will work (some of them).. but even the fastest Mac mini struggles with most 1080p encoded files.. so Blu-ray, especially native with encryption will definitely be a no-go.

Upconverting DVDs... any PC does that. Just maximize the screen. If you need beautiful filters, there are apps that do that. Still, standard def DVD's look like shit no matter what.

See my sig for a working solution that meets all your needs. Comes with a free MCE remote too.

I can play encoded 1080p h.264 mkvs just fine in VLC on mac mini. In fact the c2d 2.4 with 2GB RAM mac mini I have smokes my p4 3.4 unless I'm using a hw decoding video codec.

I'm not certain if the mini supports 1920x1080 though, my monitor only does the 720p. Come to think of it, that would mean that any 1080ps that I run are actually downconverting.

Not to mention but the Mini doesn't support HDCP anyways so the only Blu Ray vids you'll be watching on it (even though the IGP isn't able of playing them back anyways) would have to be ripped versions that are downconverted to 720p.

Anyways, like everyone has said the Mini is a terrible/stupid solution for an HTPC.

I can play encoded 1080p h.264 mkvs just fine in VLC on mac mini. In fact the c2d 2.4 with 2GB RAM mac mini I have smokes my p4 3.4 unless I'm using a hw decoding video codec.

I'm not certain if the mini supports 1920x1080 though, my monitor only does the 720p. Come to think of it, that would mean that any 1080ps that I run are actually downconverting.

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I've got plenty of encoded x264 1080p movies that will not play on a Mac Mini. Don't spread falsehoods into people's mind so they waste their money.

Sigh....

I have a CoreDuo AND a Core2Duo MacMini, BOTH of which play 1080p x264 MKV's without skipping a beat. The key is in the software.

PLEX, formaly known as OSXBMC is THE software to play HD material on a Mac, dont listen to what anyone else tells you.

After exhausting ALL the available (not to mention complicated) options of getting an easy to use HTPC setup with my current Q6600 rig, nothing matched the ease of use and beauty of running PLEX. All you do is download the app, point it to the directory containing you're media and you're all done. Its streaming 1080p content from my Windows Home Server box via 100Mb Ethernet without a hiccup and sending DD and DTS to my reciever via the Mini's optical out. The PLEX project is ongoing and the people helping develop it are great. New updates are released amost weekly with amazing fixes and updates added each time. The apple remote is supported without any configuration aswell.

http://elan.plexapp.com/

Why people hate on using a MacMini for HTPC duty is beyond me, and I would never use anything else. PLEX and a MacMini make the PERFECT HTPC.

MKV's with VLC is garbage in OS X, trying to skip through a movie always results in crashes.

w1retap, are you using PLEX? Nothing else on a Mac will play 1080p stuff perfectly smoothly.

they are just mac haters, but im still very confused on this issue.
so if i use plex and nothing else with lots of ram would i be able to play blu ray movies from an external drive and play 1080p h264 files with out any hiccups
thanks

dajaga said:

they are just mac haters, but im still very confused on this issue.
so if i use plex and nothing else with lots of ram would i be able to play blu ray movies from an external drive and play 1080p h264 files with out any hiccups
thanks

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i don't have a blu-ray so i can't help with providing info there.

i'm not a mac hater and used a G5 mac pro as my desktop machine at work with a 30" cinema monitor.

honestly i never heard of PLEX but i'll give it a shot for sure.

Now im sure the slightly older, current, and obviously older MacMini's have the power to play 1080p content, im NOT sure about the support for BD drives at the moment. But as long as PLEX (OSXBMC) has been out, its still only in RC1, so alot of features are still being developed and are planned. If you have any other questions, you probably should look on the PLEX forums. PLEX has done what i want it to do for months now (play x264 MKV's), so i havent looked into things like Blu-Ray support.

criccio said:

w1retap, are you using PLEX? Nothing else on a Mac will play 1080p stuff perfectly smoothly.

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I helped a friend setup one with that software, and it still wouldn't play some of the higher bitrate 1080p movies I have encoded such as Hellboy, Planet Earth, and some SkyHD Star Wars caps. It dropped frames quite often, especially above 35mbit/sec. And for god sakes, don't even try 1080p/24.. it's a nightmare of stuttering. I think that's a graphic chipset issue though.

I myself don't own a Mac Mini. I wouldn't want to waste my money as I have no use for one.

w1retap said:

I helped a friend setup one with that software, and it still wouldn't play some of the higher bitrate 1080p movies I have encoded such as Hellboy, Planet Earth, and some SkyHD Star Wars caps. It dropped frames quite often, especially above 35mbit/sec. And for god sakes, don't even try 1080p/24.. it's a nightmare of stuttering. I think that's a graphic chipset issue though.

I myself don't own a Mac Mini. I wouldn't want to waste my money as I have no use for one.

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Well, I have one and I can totally back up what your saying Wiretap. The thing did nothing but drop frames and it's very well known that the GMA950 isn't capable of H264 playback. Shit, it could just barely keep up with web encoded H264 clips (1080p movie trailers) and as I already mentioned it doesn't support HDCP which is needed for Blu Ray playback.

I've got plenty of encoded x264 1080p movies that will not play on a Mac Mini. Don't spread falsehoods into people's mind so they waste their money.

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I'm just conveying my own experience. These aren't falsehoods, I simply don't have a problem playing 1080p content on the Mac Mini. Your mileage may vary - and it seems indeed it has!

Granted the content is being downconverted, but I don't think this affects the amount of data needed to be decoded or rendered.

Also granted that I've only tried a few videos and they weren't your typical downloaded stuff or blu-ray rips - its 1080p from an HD camera pushed out from Premiere, then re-encoded with x264. The few 1080p samples that I've downloaded also seem to be fine. I've not tried Hellboy or some of the other movies mentioned in this thread. Again - Your Mileage May Vary.

Well then in that case, you cannot say 1080p works fine, because it doesn't. Consumer/pro-sumer HD cameras don't record at very high bitrates, even miniDV HDV. The most you'll see is ~30mbit.. then once you encode to x264, you'd only need a 17mbit/sec bitrate or so maximum. In terms of 1080p, that's at the low end of the spectrum. Again.. this is in the HTPC subforum, not a video editing forum. We're talking about HD movies.

Just to add to what everybody else seems to be saying. My friends macmini could do 1080p but with low bitrates and we had to cap the average bitrate on the encodes, so that say a 10Mbit avg bitrate encode wouldnt go over 12Mbits or we got stuttering.

Its a pain in the ass and i wouldnt entertain wasting my time with it.

w1retap said:

Well then in that case, you cannot say 1080p works fine, because it doesn't. Consumer/pro-sumer HD cameras don't record at very high bitrates, even miniDV HDV. The most you'll see is ~30mbit.. then once you encode to x264, you'd only need a 17mbit/sec bitrate or so maximum. In terms of 1080p, that's at the low end of the spectrum. Again.. this is in the HTPC subforum, not a video editing forum. We're talking about HD movies.

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LOL I was pretty sure that was the case from the way he was talking about it and having tried 1080p material myself. Of course those kinds of sources will playback fine on a Mini; they use a much lower bit rate then on an actual Blu Ray disc. That doesn't mean the IGP is capable of it.

they are just mac haters

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This is just fucking stupid. It's a limitation of the hardware and has nothing to do with "hating macs" and if you had a fucking clue as to why Mini's suck as an HTPC (like, you know, doing any research before now on the subject or even on the IGP used) you wouldn't have been so quick to, stupidly, jump to the "fanboi" corner over a technical limitation of the IGP.

For the (ridiculous) price of a Mac Mini you can build a HTPC that performs significantly better and offers the possibility to upgrade.

Apple is a software company. You don't need Apple software for a HTPC. Therfore, chose different software with better hardware for less or equal money. The only argument that _could_ speak for a Mac Mini is the design, but with a bit of effort you can easily put together a good looking alternative. Besides, the Mac Mini didn't see a hardware refresh for ages.

- written on a MacBook