[xbot]

I think this the right place to ask this...

Basically, I want to know some specifics about using a Television as a monitor, instead of using a monitor (using an adapter of course)

This idea is this: I want to get a Mac mini as a universal home entertainment system. I have a DVD player that plays MP3s and VCDs etc but I could easily have a mac play them and do much more. Also, we have an iMac that only gets used for the internet and the occasional word processing. If I get a Mac mini, it will replace the DVD player and the iMac.

I think I'm right to say that the TV has a resolution of 640x480 (not a HD TV). If so, web browsing and word processing would be a problem (for us) on such a low res screen, cause everything would look huge on a 30" TV.

So, is the resolution of the TV 640x480?

If so, will trying to set the output of the Mac to a higher resolution work or will strange things happen? I've heard that if you set it to, say, 1024x768 that the TV will onl display a portion of the screen.

Any way around it? Any/all comments appreciated.

[ixus_123]

Some TV's can output 800x 600 or even one thousand & something wide. Text however will not be sharp.

The mac would be perfect however for watching DVDs / DVD ripped Avis / Xvid/ etc For playing music, viewing photos & photo slide shows, playing emulated games like Snes, Mame etc.

Take a look here for ideas

mythtv

^ Thats for a Linux living room PC set up but it's pretty swish & great for ideas. Setting up something similar on the MAc shouldn't be too hard. OR you could just put Linux on a partition of your Mac & run MythTV, then switch back to your Mac with a reboot when you want to use it anotherway.

If you want to use Linux on your mac, I think Ubuntu Linux is they way t o - loads of good apps, one CD free download, easy to install more things, & great support via forums, or iRC

check it out Ubuntu

or just ask a bit on the irc channel
channel #ubuntu on irc.freenode.net

[OperaMan]

I think using a Mac mini for a home theater box is a great idea, its a very nice looking box. The problem with hooking a computer up to a normal TV is that TV's interlace the picture. Only 1/2 of the lines are put up in each refresh. This means that the picture quality will pretty much suck. It would work well for dvds and recorded tv shows because that's how they are normally viewed, but surfing the web and word processing will be difficult unless the text is very large, meaning only part of the document would be shown at a time. All of this is from my own experience with my regular old sony tv.
Also, I think that when you set the resoultion too high, the tv will just turn blank. At least that's what mine does.

[tooki]

No matter what you do, the TV resolution will be lousy. It's really not usable for computer tasks, but is OK for watching DVDs (though I think a standalone DVD player does a better job of that) and QuickTime/Windows Media/Real Video stuff.

Note that composite and S-Video can't carry even 480 lines of resolution. More like 400. So the Mac's lowest resolution -- 512x384px -- is one that also works well for TV output, if you want pixel-for-pixel display.

tooki

[macaddict0001]

It depends, on a digital input(like s video)I believe it will just turn blank, but on an analogue input(like component video) it will scale to fit the screen. But the ideal resolution will be 640x480 with your tv's sharpness turned way up.

[tooki]

S-video isn't digital, it's analog.

Basically, video has three components to the signal. "Component" video provides a separate wire for each component. "S-Video" combines the three components down to two wires. "Composite" video combines all three components onto one wire. The more combination, the more image quality is lost.

I do not agree that VGA (640x480) resolution is ideal for TV, if you want pixel-for-pixel display. The S-Video output will not be able to accurately convey that signal. For DVD and other movie playback, it will be fine, but for many other applications, the pixels will be too blurry.

tooki

[xbot]

Just wanted to drop by and say thanks for the replies. I read the replies ages ago, but I didn't want to seem ungrateful, so thanks guys.

I'll probably wait till I get a HDTV before I start trying the whole media center thing. Lots of people have had this idea now, so I'll see if others have a better solution as well. =)

[-Q-]

I'm using my mini as a Divx player for my home system. I haven't made the jump to an HDTV yet, so the picture does absolutely suck when on the desktop, but it plays recorded movies and tv shows very well.

Right now, I think it makes a nice compliment to a home theatre but needs a few tweaks to make a full home theatre system.

[OreoCookie]

The resolution will suck, no matter what you do, but it'll work.

BTW, is there a way to use MythTV without using the TV part (I don't want/need a TV, I just want to listen to music and watch DVDs and all). Is there any way to do that, since all these Media Center solutions are so TV centric.