A week or so off of work around the holidays inspired me to get my butt in gear and make my Mac Mini into a media center. I was getting tired of loading (and cleaning) DVDs for my kids and wanted to use my TV and stereo as a center for all my family’s music, photos and videos.
The first thing I did was purchase the proper cables to make the outputs of the Mini match my TV and stereo. I wanted to keep the signal digital if I could. As it turns out, the Mac Mini’s miniplug will output Dolby Digital 5.1 with the proper TOSLink to MiniPlug Adaptor. I also kept the video signal digital with an HDMI to DVI-D Cable.
Once the cabling was correct, I upgraded the Mini’s OS to Leopard. I wanted to be able to use Back to My Mac and the new features of iChat. There were a couple of other surprises with Front Row that I am taking advantage of.
I started down the process by initially syncing my iPhoto and iTunes libraries with the account I am using for my media interface.
rsync –archive –progress Music/iTunes/ /Volumes/homemedia/Music/iTunes
rsync –archive –progress Pictures/ /Volumes/homemedia/Pictures
I plan to keep the iTunes library in sync with syncOtunes, and my iPhoto library with rsync. I choose syncOtunes because I plan on having playlists on the media center that I do not have on my laptop, as well as podcasts for the kids that I do not necessarily need on my laptop. syncOtunes will just copy the media that is different between two libraries and will not change the iTunes xml file. With my iPhoto library, I always upload pictures from my camera to my laptop. I treat my laptop as my master iPhoto library.
The next step was getting all of my DVD’s ripped and into a format the Mini could read in Front Row. I like the Leopard version of Front Row much better than the Tiger version. The Leopard version looks like AppleTV and has a quicker, slicker looking interface.
The part of the process that I was stuck on was the actual format to rip the DVD’s into. A year or so ago, I purchased Remote Buddy. Remote Buddy had the ability to catalog VIDEO_TS files, something iTunes and Front Row was missing in Tiger. This allowed me to rip DVD’s in native quality with the only trade-off being disk space consumption.
Leopard, however, has added the ability of Front Row to access “Movie Folders”. If you have a VIDEO_TS rip in your Movies directory (or an alias to one), Front Row will play it as if it were a DVD. Very nice! So I just used Mac the Ripper, to rip my DVD’s into VIDEO_TS folders.
I did make one error when using Mac the Ripper. I ripped the complete DVD and not just the feature. I am not short on disk space right now, but when I am, I will either re-rip with only the feature or use Handbreak and the process outline in this link: How-To: Turn Your Mac mini into a DVD Jukebox.
Apple has really put a nice combination together with the Mac Mini, Leopard and Front Row. I have a media center with all of my music, photos and movies along with a video conference unit, web browser, etc. I am really happy with the results and happy that I do not have to load up any DVDs.
Happy New Year!
14 responses so far ↓
Switching To Mac // January 2, 2008 at 8:12 pm |
Great article! I too think the Mac mini is the perfect media box, your article spells it out very well. I will be posting a link to it shortly!
Regards,
Mike – Founder – http://www.SwitchingToMac.com
Switching to Mac » Mac vs PC » The Mac mini’s True Calling - Mac Based Home Media Center // January 2, 2008 at 8:23 pm |
[...] makes a good transitional Mac but I really envision it as the ultimate media box. I stumbled on a post from Mike Radomski that covers the steps involved to make a Mac mini just that – The Ultimate Mac mini Home Media [...]
Ondrej // February 12, 2008 at 8:43 am |
Hi, I’m just spending time looking around to set-up a working yet simple home entertainment centre. Being an un-happy user of Windows Media Center Edition since three years ago, and a recent switcher to MacBook, I study if I could use the Mini or AppleTV, how to synchro iTunes and how to – the main reason – rip my little son’s DVDs so I could just list, confirm and play him his favourite movies. The struggle with _extensive_ Disney menus taking eternity to actually start the movie makes me nuts. And yes, we are just unable to keep the DVDs clean of fingerprints and dog hair…
Your article helped me a lot. I’ll go your way. One question: Am I able to have DVD-covers library I could list? Something like a DVD cover-flow I could use in FrontRow? It doesn’t appear to me Apple would allow anything like this.
So thanks, I hope switching our family entertainment to Mac will, as you suggest, make our new year happier:) The struggle with Windows wifi settings is another nightmare, we all surely know. God bless Airport.
Regards
Ondrej
Czech Republic, Pilsen, the cradle of Pils beer…
mradomski // February 12, 2008 at 9:56 pm |
Ondrej,
Thanks for the input. Let me know if you need any assistance.
I think this link describes what you want to do: http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20071029182617245
Basically, you will need to put a file called Preview.jpg in the VIDEO_TS folder.
The other way is to convert the movie to a different format using Handbreak. Then you can select artwork via iTunes. This could also allow you to strip off the DVD menus.
Cheers,
MikeR.
Hugh Akston // February 13, 2008 at 2:22 pm |
Great article. Thanks for the tip on syncotunes. I was wondering how I was going to keep my iTunes library sync’ed between my MacBook and mini. What are you using for storage? I’m thinking about using Netgear ReadyNAS NV+ for the RAID capability. I like the idea of having the redundancy since I’m most of my video and music files are on the hard drive now.
mradomski // February 16, 2008 at 9:23 pm |
I just have a 500GB LaCIE drive for now. I do not really care if I loose some of the movies, as I have them on the original DVD as the backup. I have my photos and songs on 3+ disks.
I like the idea of redundancy, just am not willing to dish out the $$.
Have fun with your project, let me know if I can be of any assistance.
MikeR.
Lee P. // February 18, 2008 at 11:52 am |
Hi MikeR.,
The family and I currently have an old tube TV that is about to croak, what was once a top-of-the-line but now non-operational amp/tuner/CD/speaker system, a DVR w/ Tivo, an old VCR, basic cable, and a TON of wires and cables. Our system is ugly, outdated, falling apart, and in desperate need of replacement. We’d like to completely simplify and have a one box/one LCD/two speaker set up with minimal cables–or somethings as close as possible to that. Although we now have some iTunes/MP3 files and many photos on our iBookG4 drive, we still have many DVDs and music CDs, so we’d need to be able to play DVDs/CDs on occasion, at least until we find the time and figure out how to “rip” all of them. We also still watch regular television (like the news), so we’d need a tuner. We have the iBook and I use Macs at work, but I really don’t have the knowledge or time to mess around too much to get set up. Given our situation, do you think your approach would get us any closer to our one box/one LCD/two speaker dream? If not, are there other approaches/websites you might recommend? I sure wish someone would make a Mac-based, plug-n-play media center.
Your insights and wisdom would be most appreciated!
mradomski // February 18, 2008 at 12:18 pm |
Lee,
Your dream can come true. I am not far off in my setup with the exception of a Harmon/Kardon receiver that has a center, two fronts and a subwoofer connected to it. I also have a Wii and cable box in the picture. I have the cable box’s video and analog audio hooked up to the TV, with its digital audio hooked up the Harmon/Kardon receiver. My Wii is directly connected to the TV for both video and audio.
For your setup, I would suggest looking at the EyeTV (http://www.elgato.com). I have a HD-DVR through my cable box, but EyeTV will give you that capability through your Mac. This way you can hook your cable to the Mac, and then the Mac to the TV. You can then use the Mac’s audio out for a set of speakers.
I was in SF for a conference and went into a Handspree store. They had these $20 set of speakers that were absolutely phenomenal add a subwoofer, and you will be quite happy: http://www.hannspree-usa.com/jump.jsp?itemID=159&itemType=PRODUCT&path=1%2C2%2C7%2C57&iProductID=159
The other comment I have is if you are going with an LCD screen, seriously look at HD. It is like the experience you have with a 56k modem and broadband, once you see what is out there, you will never go back. My cable company, if you have cable modem service,they actually broadcasts the local HD channels w/o extra cost. If you go with the EyeTV, the HD option is recommended.
Please let me know if you would like more details on my wiring. I could create a quick schematic.
Cheers,
MikeR.
Lee P. // February 18, 2008 at 5:46 pm |
Hi MikeR.,
You are TOO kind! It’s so funny that you mentioned HANNSpree, as we just wandered into their store on Saturday when we were in downtown San Francisco having lunch with our two little ones (…who, I neglected to mention, are the ones who toasted my amp. They loved the volume knobs when they were little). HANNSpree did have some very nice LCD monitors.
I’m also vaguely familiar with EyeTV. If I recall correctly, it did sound like a cool product. Do you know if it has a “Season Pass” feature like TiVo?
We actually have a pair of fairly expensive British made Castle speakers that are still functional. If we replaced our now deceased NAD tuner/amp with another (recommendations?) would we be able to use the same speakers, along with the Mac Mini and software you recommended?
Do you like LCD better than plasma? Is plasma compatible with your set up? We are lame. We’ve only just begun to consider upgrading our entire home entertainment system. Haven’t touched in over a decade.
We’d welcome your quick schematic very much.
Cheers,
–Lee
mradomski // February 22, 2008 at 7:39 pm |
Lee,
Plasma vs. LCD, the great debate. I my mind there is one option for anything 46″ or less; LCD. They use less power and some of the knocks such as poor blacks, pixelation on fast moving things, etc have been fixed in all the recent models. On top of that, the price on LCDs has dropped. In my opinion anything 42″ and smaller, there is no noticeable difference between 780p and 1080p. Both LCD and Plasma will have HDMI inputs, making them both compatible with my setup.
As far as your other questions, yes, EyeTV has a season pass feature just like Tivo.
I have a low end Harmon/Kardon receiver. It does not have the watts per channel like a equally priced Sony or Oynko, but it had some things I liked. The H/K had more digital audio imputs and its Total harmonic distortion (THD) was <0.07% where consumer Sony’s are in the 1.0% range. Which basically means, that 100 watt per channel Sony will start to distort much sooner than the H/K. I can crank my receiver up and never hear any distortion in sound.
Enjoy,
MikeR.
Ondrej // March 8, 2008 at 6:26 pm |
Hi, it’s me again. Nice discussion going on here.
Just to let you know about my progress.
I connected my MacMini to the fullHD plasma (black is black, picture is better than LCD…) with a DVI-VGA cable. DVI-HDMI does not work, I think about about adding AppleTV to make it complete – has anybody tried that? Does it make sense to have a Mini AND an AppleTV which than would be HDMI connected and synched with other macs?
The resolution I reach now is just 1280×768 at 60Hz. The only setting that works in respect of aspect ratio. So definitely no HD (:
I rip DVDs and add covers – just drag the picture from a movieposterdb.com site. They fit great in Front Row. I only have trouble with MacTheRipper ripping just the main feature, trying to play the movie crashes FrontRow – so my goal with no-menu movies is still to be reached.
The 1TB disc is on the way so I’ll see what happens when I move the libraries there.
Anyway, although not complete yet, it is already WAY better than the Windows Media Center I am leaving! I can even listen to my fav internet radios through FrontRow.
Thanks for the push
Ondrej
Taking the Plung: Dropping Cable TV « Mike Radomski // April 20, 2008 at 6:41 am |
[...] HD DVR service for my local channels and HD, of course. If you recall, I am very much enjoying my Mac Mini Media Center. So, I turned to my existing setup to integrate the HD-DVR [...]
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dkj // January 28, 2009 at 11:37 pm |
hey there Mike, about a year ago i bought a used 17″ iMac CD(running Leopard) to use in my living room entertainment setup(sometimes i want to look up info about a movie, show or i check AOL TV listings-set for my cable co. to see what’s on. i like it better than the guide from my cable co. & i can see what’s on up to 2 weeks out!). i have 2 accomdata 500 GB & a 250 GB FW HDDs connected for recording movies & shows in real time in 16:9 from the HD channels on my cable box into iMovie6–i’m using a Sony Digital 8 for transcoding over FW, even though it’s not HD & only stereo audio they look & sound pretty good, i convert them to M-PEG4 as well i’ve ripped a good chunk of my DVD collection(MTR + Handbrake) & my entire CD collection onto one of the 500GB HDDs. the iMac is connected to my 42″ Sony RPTV via DVI>HDMI, the HD cable is analog component(only 1 HDMI on TV), & both the iMac & cable audio are optical into a Sony AVR for 5.1 audio.
i have a MacBook(client) that i connect to the TV in my bedroom over S-Video & stereo RCA audio connections. w/ my Airport Extreme 802.11n Base Station i have a fast, reliable connection. i can watch tv shows in HD from ABC & NBC sites via the iMac over the Sony or i can watch them in SD/HD on my MacBook. the MacBook has been a pretty good client for watching /listening to content from my iMac server & to add a “cool” factor i got an iPod Touch(a gift) & dl’d the Remote app from the App store & can control music playback from the iMac & MacBook libraries using the iPod Touch. Apple has made it very simple & easy to have an on-demand media center/server + client set-up.
i’ve even begun working to set-up a system for my cousin(iMac 800 G4 + MacBook) & another good friend(24″ iMac + 15″ MacBook Pro). i’m considering EyeTV, not sure how it would work w/ my cable co. box to be HD-DVR?
i hope this post helps/inspires someone else to take the plunge & establish their own on-demand media center/server set-up… if i can do it, i think anyone can. sites like your & others i researched are a great help.