Mac Mini Core 2 Duo 1.83GHz used for $300 a good buy as an HTPC?

[aszatk01]

Hi guys, I know someone that is looking to part with their mac mini. I've been debating for a while between the mini and the ATV as my HTPC-have been streaming to AE from macbook. Is this particular model good enough to shell out $300 used (no warranty or anything)? I've been leaning towards the ATV for ease of use and it can do everything I really want...but the expandability for not too much more $$ sounds good!

 

[Nemo128]

Honestly, yes, it is a good price. This is coming from an Apple hater. Throw XBMC on it. Nuff said.

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

Honestly, yes, it is a good price. This is coming from an Apple hater. Throw XBMC on it. Nuff said.

+1
Alternative to XMBC is Boxee and Plex. Depends of personal preference.
Xmbc is more flexible, boxee is easier to install and use. I heard good things about Plex on MacMini but never had the pleasure.

300$ for 1.8Ghz is awesome price, typically 1.6ghz model costs $400 on ebay.

 

[jeffsg4mac]

Good price for a Mini no matter what you use it for. My Dad has one and for some reason it feels faster than my 2.2 core2 duo Macbook. I can't explain why that is though because when I ran Xbench mine beat it in all the tests.

You know just installed all those apps mentioned and took a quick peek at them, but I fail to see how they are any better than Apples own Front Row which should be on that mini already. Maybe they do some things Front Row wont, but I did not see it just playing for a few minutes, and none of them looked as nice.

Please enlighten me to how they are different or better.

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

Good price for a Mini no matter what you use it for. My Dad has one and for some reason it feels faster than my 2.2 core2 duo Macbook. I can't explain why that is though because when I ran Xbench mine beat it in all the tests.

You know just installed all those apps mentioned and took a quick peek at them, but I fail to see how they are any better than Apples own Front Row which should be on that mini already. Maybe they do some things Front Row wont, but I did not see it just playing for a few minutes, and none of them looked as nice.

Please enlighten me to how they are different or better.

Front Row - very limited file format support, no HD, no stored DVD menu navigation, No Netflix or any other internet streaming(expect iTunes), only works with Apple remote, Not sure - Jeff correct me here - Can FrontRow do Digital Sound out including DD & DTS ?

 

[jeffsg4mac]

Front Row - very limited file format support, no HD, no stored DVD menu navigation, No Netflix or any other internet streaming(expect iTunes), only works with Apple remote, Not sure - Jeff correct me here - Can FrontRow do Digital Sound out including DD & DTS ?

Front row DVD uses the DVD player app settings. It does have HD support and it will stream Dolby Digital and DTS. You have open the DVD player app first and set the audio prefs to the digital out. You must have the movie stopped when making these settings though. Then when a DVD is chosen with front row you will have 5.1/6.1. There are HD settings there as well. I just tested this and it works.

Did that answer your question?

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

You must have the movie stopped when making these settings though

Sounds like a way around rather than feature. HD support ? Is it limited to Quicktime and mpeg4 files? More common are mkv files...

Netflix, yahoo, abc,fx,nbc video streaming support still missing. How about playback of DVD from ISO/IMG disk images? Remote control support

Did that answer your question?

I wasn't asking question really, but lets agree to disagree that FrontRow is very features limited application, which tweaked could somehow imitate what xbmc/boxee do out of the box.

 

[jeffsg4mac]

Sounds like a way around rather than feature. HD support ? Is it limited to Quicktime and mpeg4 files? More common are mkv files...

Netflix, yahoo, abc,fx,nbc video streaming support still missing. How about playback of DVD from ISO/IMG disk images? Remote control support

I wasn't asking question really, but lets agree to disagree that FrontRow is very features limited application, which tweaked could somehow imitate what xbmc/boxee do out of the box.

It is not a tweak but just a preference setting you have to make. You just have tell the player that you want to use the digital outs is all. Otherwise it thinks you are using the analog stereo outs. The setting is greyed out while a movie is playing is all. It is not a tweak at all. Once you made the setting you are done for good. Also, Front row does HD and it will play back Ripped DVD Video TS folders. I don't have a blu-ray on my Mac so I cant test that, but I think it does that as well.

No netflix or other streaming though, and I have not tested other file formats other than Ripped DVD's. I would think it will play anything that quicktime will play.

I did find this. It might answer a few questions about front row.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Front_Row_(software)

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

I did find this. It might answer a few questions about front row.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Front_Row_(software)

I actually found it and I think by wikipedia's standards this should be considered a stub.
I never seen so little information (on wikipedia) about established and popular product.
Gotta love quote like this one:

However, Front Row uses Quicktime, not Quicktime X, so it lacks support for certain codec features like Sample Aspect Ratio.

Take a take and read link below for (possibly multiple) eye openers:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boxee


p.s: I wasn't referring to digital audio out as tweak, rather to fact you have to open DVD player first to have DVD Menus support.

 

[krzywica]

Anything built by Apple is going to be limited to formats that are built by Apple.

Anything built by Microsoft is going to be limited to formats that are built by Microsoft.

Anything built Open Source will likely play any format out of the box because it wasn't build by an evil money/power hungry fascist company.

This is a generalization obviously but you get the point.

 

[jeffsg4mac]

I actually found it and I think by wikipedia's standards this should be considered a stub.
I never seen so little information (on wikipedia) about established and popular product.
Gotta love quote like this one:



Take a take and read link below for (possibly multiple) eye openers:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boxee


p.s: I wasn't referring to digital audio out as tweak, rather to fact you have to open DVD player first to have DVD Menus support.

To be honest I have not even used front row except for music. It works really well for that. The only thing I did was figure out how to get it to stream DD and DTS. I did that by pure accident too. I changed the setting in the DVD apps preference and it also changed it for Front Row too. Purely by futzing around for about 5 minutes

Macs are limited for a HTPC anyway because you can't stick in a awesome video card. The exception being a Mac Pro. That is a little overkill for an HTPC though. Even with the other software mentioned you are still limited by the video card. That is one of my HUGE beefs with Apple. I want a intel mac tower like my old G4 tower for around 800-1000 bucks that I can stick in any old thing I want

 

[JohnA]

Front Row will stream Hulu and Netflix using a plugin called Understudy, it is not perfect..but...

http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2009/02/apples-front-row-gains-hulu-netflix-streaming-via-plug-in.ars

Here is the plugin:

http://code.google.com/p/understudy/

 

[kiweed]

I've been using Plex on my macmini for over 2 year now, and it's fantastic.
Plays everything format you can throw at it.
If you have a relatively new mini (with nvidia chipset) you can get hardware acceleration for H264 1080p content.

Also, rumor has it that the macmini refresh, which is due very soon, will see a HDMI port added...