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Mac mini + widescreen
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cms
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May 9, 2007, 09:54 AM
 
The first Mac minis had really poor quality graphics cards and were not really up to the job of displaying hi-res images on widescreen TVs. Does anyone know if this has been sorted? I am thinking of buying a Mac mini to hook up to my 40" HDTV, to play movie files created with HandBrake. I thought this would be a more flexible solution than AppleTV, given its limitations but am prepared to be persuaded otherwise. I'd really appreciate some advice here -- thanks!
     
mduell
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May 9, 2007, 10:57 AM
 
The PowerPC (G4) Mac minis had issues with under-spec video output voltages, but the Intel minis have no such problem. Both generations of minis have low-end graphics cards, but that only affects the framerate when you're playing games; viewing photos or watching video* is fine no matter how big your widescreen TV is.

* The G4 minis will choke on higher bitrate/resolution H.264 video, but they'll be fine for most DVD rips.
     
cms  (op)
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May 9, 2007, 11:00 AM
 
How's that for service?!!! Thanks so much for your speedy response -- very much appreciated.
     
phobos
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Jun 3, 2007, 11:34 AM
 
So can you play back 720p videos without any problems? Is it taking most of the cpu or does it leave enough for other minor stuff to run in the background?
     
mduell
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Jun 3, 2007, 01:36 PM
 
Originally Posted by phobos View Post
So can you play back 720p videos without any problems? Is it taking most of the cpu or does it leave enough for other minor stuff to run in the background?
With VLC, playing an H.264 720p30 video should only take about one core, leaving the other for you to do with what you please. I'd expect the CPU demand to be a bit higher in QuickTime, but not dramatically so.
     
phobos
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Jun 4, 2007, 11:22 AM
 
that's excellent news! thanks!
     
   
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