2011-07-23, 08:40
People keep on telling me to build my own HTPC and not to get the Mac Mini as though it was some cardinal sin.
I really have no need for a disc reader. If I'm going to watch a blu-ray or DVD, I'll do it on my PS3. I'll be ripping all of my media on my vastly superior desktop to hard drives on a file server I have.
I don't really need a tuner/capture card since I don't have cable.
I wanted something with an IR Port included.
I'd like the option to bitstream (I'm awaiting to hear if this is supported in OSX or Windows, the hardware should support it).
I planned on using XBMC and possibly using MPC-HC as an external player if XBMC's picture quality was some how lacking. I'm not familiar with MPlayer OSX and if you can use things like MADVR or FFDShow. I know a lot of MPC-HC depends on Windows renderers. If Mac XBMC or MPlayer are lacking in quality, I'd just use Windows as a primary boot.
Either way I believe this is a very capable machine, far and away it should play every 1080p video out there.
By the way, I'm glad I got it confirmed that there is indeed an IR port in the Mac Mini, but I heard Remote support is broken right now in Lion. I hope this gets fixed with an update soon. Also I'm still trying to find out whether the Mac Mini's IR supports 3rd party remotes or if say a Harmony Remote is supported by the built in IR while using Windows.
I really have no need for a disc reader. If I'm going to watch a blu-ray or DVD, I'll do it on my PS3. I'll be ripping all of my media on my vastly superior desktop to hard drives on a file server I have.
I don't really need a tuner/capture card since I don't have cable.
I wanted something with an IR Port included.
I'd like the option to bitstream (I'm awaiting to hear if this is supported in OSX or Windows, the hardware should support it).
I planned on using XBMC and possibly using MPC-HC as an external player if XBMC's picture quality was some how lacking. I'm not familiar with MPlayer OSX and if you can use things like MADVR or FFDShow. I know a lot of MPC-HC depends on Windows renderers. If Mac XBMC or MPlayer are lacking in quality, I'd just use Windows as a primary boot.
Either way I believe this is a very capable machine, far and away it should play every 1080p video out there.
By the way, I'm glad I got it confirmed that there is indeed an IR port in the Mac Mini, but I heard Remote support is broken right now in Lion. I hope this gets fixed with an update soon. Also I'm still trying to find out whether the Mac Mini's IR supports 3rd party remotes or if say a Harmony Remote is supported by the built in IR while using Windows.