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Kennetht85 · 2013-04-23, 13:45

I like xbmc so mutch, and have been using it for 5 years.
last year i changed from a Asrock to a Mac Mini. i must admit i expected a little less bugs and problems.
But man was i wrong, it craches almost every day in some way or another.

My setup:
Mac Mini Ultimo 2012 i5
Pioneer VSX-922 5.0 speakers (conneced to Mac with HDMI)
TV connected to receaver by HDMI

fx:
Craches when closeing xbmc
Sound disapearing
Playback freezes
Closes out of the blue
Can not get optical audio to work at all
Hardware accleration needs to be off.

So i want to hear what the hek dos all you other guys do? use xbmc 11? install windows and use xbmc there?

If someone have the time to post a guide to setup this Mac Mini to work most stable it will be most apriciated.
what OS X midi settings are you using?
What settings are your video and sound set to inside xbmc?

Sorry for my bad english, and sorry for no log file.

Glorious1 · 2013-04-23, 19:21

What is a Mac Mini Ultimo? I can't find it online except for your post. Was it modified by someone? Did you buy it new or used?

I have a 2012 Mac mini and it works fine, including optical audio. Maybe you have some operating system problems. If it's been messed up, you might want to consider reinstalling the OS and starting over.

I will try to post all my settings tonight. But yes, a log file might get you more useful help from someone who knows more than me.

Kennetht85 · 2013-04-23, 20:46

Yeah sorry.
Ultimo is the model name made by apple.
A mac mini 2012 is ultimo 2012

Is has standard mountain lion 10.8.3
And im running xbmc 12.1

Glorious1 · 2013-04-24, 01:34

OK, I don't think they use that model name in the US. In response to your request, here are my settings. They may not be appropriate for you, but they work for me. Obviously they are for using optical audio out to the receiver. I use XBMC 12.1.

*** In OSX System Preferences > Sound, Output tab:

I select "Digital Out: Optical digital-out port", but it doesn't seem to make a difference what is selected here.

*** In OSX application Audio-MIDI Setup:

Audio Devices window
Choose Built-In Output
Format: 44100.0 Hz 2ch-24bit Integer

*** In XBMC, System/Settings/Video output:
Display Mode: Full Screen #1
Display: 1920 x 1080p
Blank other displays: ON
Vertical blank sync: Always enabled
Enable LCD/VFD: OFF

*** In XBMC, System/Settings/Audio output:

Audio output: Optical/Coax
Speaker Configuration: 2.0
Output stereo to all speakers: Off
Dolby Digital (AC3) and DTS capable receiver: yes to both
Audio output device: Built-in Output

*** In XBMC, System/Settings/System/Input devices:

To use Harmony remote:
Set "Apple Remote" to "Multi Remote (Harmony)" (may take many tries, yes to warning)
Set "Allow start of XBMC using remote" to ON (the MENU button starts it)
Set "Remote control sends keyboard presses" to ON

Ipaddle · 2013-04-28, 22:56

(2013-04-24, 01:34)Glorious1 Wrote: OK, I don't think they use that model name in the US. In response to your request, here are my settings. They may not be appropriate for you, but they work for me. Obviously they are for using optical audio out to the receiver. I use XBMC 12.1.

*** In OSX System Preferences > Sound, Output tab:

I select "Digital Out: Optical digital-out port", but it doesn't seem to make a difference what is selected here.

*** In OSX application Audio-MIDI Setup:

Audio Devices window
Choose Built-In Output
Format: 44100.0 Hz 2ch-24bit Integer

*** In XBMC, System/Settings/Video output:
Display Mode: Full Screen #1
Display: 1920 x 1080p
Blank other displays: ON
Vertical blank sync: Always enabled
Enable LCD/VFD: OFF

*** In XBMC, System/Settings/Audio output:

Audio output: Optical/Coax
Speaker Configuration: 2.0
Output stereo to all speakers: Off
Dolby Digital (AC3) and DTS capable receiver: yes to both
Audio output device: Built-in Output

*** In XBMC, System/Settings/System/Input devices:

To use Harmony remote:
Set "Apple Remote" to "Multi Remote (Harmony)" (may take many tries, yes to warning)
Set "Allow start of XBMC using remote" to ON (the MENU button starts it)
Set "Remote control sends keyboard presses" to ON

Nice guide. I want to use a mac mini i7 quad core with a harmony one+. Is the mac mini supported by the logitech myharmony webgui?

Glorious1 · 2013-04-29, 02:27

(2013-04-28, 22:56)Ipaddle Wrote: Nice guide. I want to use a mac mini i7 quad core with a harmony one+. Is the mac mini supported by the logitech myharmony webgui?

Thanks. I don't know what the Logitech myharmony webgui is. Are you talking about a way to program the Harmony? I use the Logitech Harmony Remote Software.

Ipaddle · 2013-04-29, 14:19

(2013-04-29, 02:27)Glorious1 Wrote:
(2013-04-28, 22:56)Ipaddle Wrote: Nice guide. I want to use a mac mini i7 quad core with a harmony one+. Is the mac mini supported by the logitech myharmony webgui?

Thanks. I don't know what the Logitech myharmony webgui is. Are you talking about a way to program the Harmony? I use the Logitech Harmony Remote Software.

It is a webbased software to configure/program the harmony (add devices and activities). The "device" should be the mac mini. The Xtreamer Ultra2 is supported. I wonder if the mac mini is supported as well.
Another question: The audio out from the mac mini is a minijack. To connect this output with your amplifier/receiver optical audio input you will need an adapter, right? Minijack to S/PDIF?
Like this:

Or one use a minijack to optical cable. Can you confirm this?

Glorious1 · 2013-04-29, 15:15

(2013-04-29, 14:19)Ipaddle Wrote: It is a webbased software to configure/program the harmony (add devices and activities). The "device" should be the mac mini. The Xtreamer Ultra2 is supported. I wonder if the mac mini is supported as well.
Another question: The audio out from the mac mini is a minijack. To connect this output with your amplifier/receiver optical audio input you will need an adapter, right? Minijack to S/PDIF?

Or one use a minijack to optical cable. Can you confirm this?

OK, so the webgui just a way to program the remote. The key thing is that you DON'T use the Mac mini device, you need to use the Plex Player device. That is what XBMC is set up for. Tonight I could post more details on how to do it, but you can probably take it from there.

Yes, you can use the adapter or, as I do because I avoid adapters, a dedicated optical to mini-optical cable, like this one I got from monoprice.com:

1557 1 6ft Optical Toslink to Mini Toslink M/M 5.0mm OD Molded Cable $2.41

Ipaddle · 2013-04-29, 20:08

(2013-04-29, 15:15)Glorious1 Wrote:
(2013-04-29, 14:19)Ipaddle Wrote: It is a webbased software to configure/program the harmony (add devices and activities). The "device" should be the mac mini. The Xtreamer Ultra2 is supported. I wonder if the mac mini is supported as well.
Another question: The audio out from the mac mini is a minijack. To connect this output with your amplifier/receiver optical audio input you will need an adapter, right? Minijack to S/PDIF?

Or one use a minijack to optical cable. Can you confirm this?

OK, so the webgui just a way to program the remote. The key thing is that you DON'T use the Mac mini device, you need to use the Plex Player device. That is what XBMC is set up for. Tonight I could post more details on how to do it, but you can probably take it from there.

Yes, you can use the adapter or, as I do because I avoid adapters, a dedicated optical to mini-optical cable, like this one I got from monoprice.com:

1557 1 6ft Optical Toslink to Mini Toslink M/M 5.0mm OD Molded Cable $2.41

So, I add a plex player as a device and the mac mini will understand the commands being sent from my harmony. The mac mini from 2012 still uses IR receiver, right? Nice.

aerick79 · (This post was last modified: 2013-04-29, 20:29 by aerick79.)

yes. Or if you are interested you could get an app called Remote Buddy, it controls the mac plus other apps on the mac. It's amazing. I love it.

Ipaddle · 2013-04-29, 23:50

Ok, thanks for your replies for now. How is the mac minis XBMC performance? I am planning to install the Aeon MQ4 skin. The HD 4000 is sufficient to play HD files with 1080p?

Glorious1 · 2013-04-29, 23:56

No problem. People in the know say the minis for years back all have more than enough processing power.

Ipaddle · 2013-04-30, 08:43

(2013-04-29, 23:56)Glorious1 Wrote: No problem. People in the know say the minis for years back all have more than enough processing power.

Ok, as I understood from your guide. You use 2.0 speaker config.

*** In XBMC, System/Settings/Audio output:

Audio output: Optical/Coax
Speaker Configuration: 2.0
Output stereo to all speakers: Off
Dolby Digital (AC3) and DTS capable receiver: yes to both
Audio output device: Built-in Output

But, of course you can set this to 5.1, right?

Glorious1 · 2013-04-30, 14:02

No, only 2 channels can go out, but the info for all 6 channels is there and the receiver decodes them into 6 channels. So the receiver reports that it is seeing DTS 5.1 or whatever.

Don't ask me how it works, but it does. I'm definitely getting 5.1 surround sound.

**Memphiz** · 2013-04-30, 14:58

5.1 AC3/DTS is an encoded format which gets "compressed" to 2.0 channels when transfered. Thats why it is working when the receiver is able to decode it.