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Anyone use a Mac Mini rather than AppleTV?
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Forum Regular
Join Date: Apr 2005
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I've been looking at AppleTVs but they're limited to 540/30fps and 160gb. Wondering if you could just use a Mini via DVI out to HDMI and audio to the stereo. Used Mini's are pretty easy to find and offer a lot more storage via FW/USB... feel free to tell me I'm about 2 yrs behind.
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Posting Junkie
Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: in front of my Mac
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I use a Mac mini to drive a 720p movie projector. I hook it up through DVI and use VLC as the player. Works like a charm. Quality is excellent. Flexibility is great. I'd never swap this for an AppleTV.
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Forum Regular
Join Date: Apr 2005
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Originally Posted by Simon 
I use a Mac mini to drive a 720p movie projector. I hook it up through DVI and use VLC as the player. Works like a charm. Quality is excellent. Flexibility is great. I'd never swap this for an AppleTV.
Do you have any issues?
Could I do the same using Front Row?
Do you work with iMovie? I need to know if you can export 1080i from iMovie to playback on a Mini and what the file size would be. I ran test on a small file with my MacBook Pro. Exporting at "full resolution" (no compression) looks like it'd creat a 40gb/hr file -- quiet a bit larger than AppleTV's 2.5gb/hr. Can't store too many 2hr home videos like that! Wondering what settings I'd use.
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Posting Junkie
Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: in front of my Mac
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Offline
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Front Row works on it too. Just the same as on the AppleTV.
I use HandBrake to convert DVDs to h.264 and iSquint (basically a GUI wrapper for ffmpeg) to convert stuff to MPEG4. Works fine for me.
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Mac Elite
Join Date: Jun 2006
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A DVI -> HDMI cable or adapter will work fine (Minis can push 1920x1200 which is 1080p), and they also have mini-toslink optical out, so you can have 5.1 when watching DVDs.
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Moderator Emeritus
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: Up In The Air
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The pain that I noticed is that I had to keep a keyboard and mouse around, and that wasn't welcome in the living room. Although, I could have set front row to open at login, which mostly would have overcome this...
Where are you finding mac minis at a price that is comparable to appletv?
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Posting Junkie
Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: in front of my Mac
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Originally Posted by vmarks
The pain that I noticed is that I had to keep a keyboard and mouse around, and that wasn't welcome in the living room. Although, I could have set front row to open at login, which mostly would have overcome this...
That works.
Also, a Bluetooth KB and mouse work very well in the living room. While you're using FR and the remote keep them stored away. Use them on your lap if the need comes up.
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Clinically Insane
Join Date: Dec 2000
Location: Caught in a web of deceit.
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Another option is a trackball instead of the mouse. I find that there's no easy way to use a standard mouse while sitting on the couch.
Mind you, I don't even bother. I just stream my Handbrake H.264-ified DVDs to my Xbox 360 instead. No keyboard or mouse required. The drawback though is that you're limited to about 10 Mbps for Quicktime files, and there is no 5.1 support with Quicktime files on the 360.
If I want 5.1 I suppose I could just stick in the original DVD. 
OTOH, a Mac is better than the Xbox 360 for upscaling DVD. The Xbox 360 is excellent for upscaling H.264 Quicktime files, but absolutely horrible for upscaling native DVD for some stupid reason.
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