[rcrh]

Well, I've just about given up on my appletv as a replacement for my old xbox. But, I'm so excited about XBMC that I'm thinking about dropping the bucks required to buy a Mac Mini.

My one burning question is this: Can I use the mini without a keyboard and mouse? I want this thing in my living room and I want it to work like other A/V components, ie, with just a remote control. Can I expect to be able to control the Mac OS enough with the apple remote control? There isn't much point to this if I have to drag out a keyboard & mouse to get xbmc started.

I hope someone can help.

thx.

[jmarshall]

It's possible to run XBMC on the macmini without a keyboard and mouse connected, yes. As you suggest, the tricky bit is getting xbmc to run either on bootup, or on a press of a remote button, but that is certainly possible.

[rcrh]

hmmm. Interesting. I have to admit that I'm concerned by that answer. It sounds like "tricky" = complicated and "less then stable".

The unfortunate thing here is that I'm shooting for a "wife friendly" solution.

It needs to be dead easy,
No extract steps,
work every time.

Do I have a hope?

[rcrh]

oh yeah, and it would be nice to be able to occasionally get out of xbmc and run safari or itunes (for rentals only).

[gringott]

Wife friendly and latest tech are polar opposites I have found. I just operate everything for her.

[rcrh]

Wife friendly and latest tech are polar opposites I have found. I just operate everything for her.

Funny, too funny. But what if you're away and see finds someone younger and geekier to push her buttons?

[ravidium]

why did you give up on the atv?

[EMHMark3]

If you have Leopard, then launching XBMC on boot is as simple as right clicking on XBMC in the dock and selecting 'Open at Login'. You'll need to setup your mac to autologin tho, which isn't too hard either.

[rcrh]

why did you give up on the atv?

HD performance just isn't up to snuff. I realize that stuff from "the scene" has far too high a bit rate but the real straw was when I purchased an HD TV episode from itunes and the aTV couldn't play it. At that point I figured if the hardware in this thing can't even play Apple's own content (with the internal player's use of hardware acceleration) then what hope did XBMC have of giving a satisfactory result with HD encodes.

[davilla]

HD performance just isn't up to snuff. I realize that stuff from "the scene" has far too high a bit rate but the real straw was when I purchased an HD TV episode from itunes and the aTV couldn't play it. At that point I figured if the hardware in this thing can't even play Apple's own content (with the internal player's use of hardware acceleration) then what hope did XBMC have of giving a satisfactory result with HD encodes.

I think something is seriously wrong with your AppleTV. I've never had problems with purchased HD content from itunes paying on the AppleTV. I have heard of users having problems with Perian messing up quicktime HD rendering.

[ravidium]

i agree with the above - i have had no problems with hd playback

i have noticed if ur streamings it dependent on network speeds - im running wireless n on a 5ghz frequency ..and i also switched from smb to upnp and that seems to have made it smoohter on playback

regardless it should work to some degree

[rcrh]

i agree with the above - i have had no problems with hd playback

i have noticed if ur streamings it dependent on network speeds - im running wireless n on a 5ghz frequency ..and i also switched from smb to upnp and that seems to have made it smoohter on playback

regardless it should work to some degree

"... to some degree" is the key here.
I even removed the Perian install and tried the file again. It still studdered.
So, no Perian with an iTunes file being played from the hard drive of teh aTV and it still studdered.

Someone else want to try the file? its a FREE purchase from itunes.
The ABC's of Samantha Who.

There is both an SD and an HD version. Play them both and be shocked at how choppy the HD version is.