Mac Mini, a 32" LCD TV, a DVI to HDMI cable - Coolness!

[Black]

I've just started using a macbook (as a mini, lid closed) with a 24" 1080p TV via DVI to HDMI.

Would be kind of stupid to add an EyeTV in order to watch TV on a TV, but I'm missing a way to do so. Any LCD TV's with picture in picture allow one to view via one input on the main screen and via another via PIP?

[dk62]

I am very much interested in possibilities of using the mini for watching content available on the Internet (like Hulu, or networks' sites).

As for Apple TV, 5 Mbs corresponds to mediocre DVD quality and is 3X lower than decent HD and 5-10 times lower than good HD. You can see the impact of bit rates here:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1008271

[Article Accelerator]

dk62 wrote:
As for Apple TV, 5 Mbs corresponds to mediocre DVD quality and is 3X lower than decent HD and 5-10 times lower than good HD.

I know you're not that naive, dk62...

It's all about the codec. Apple TV uses H.264, widely considered to be the most efficient and highest quality video compression codec available. There is a huge difference in image quality between a 5,000 kbps MPEG2 datastream (your "DVD" example) and a 5,000 kbps MPEG4 H.264 datastream.

I can tell you from personal experience that the image quality of well-encoded video on Apple TV (e.g. HD movies and TV shows) is exceeded only by Blu-ray sources. (I use OTA for TV and have both plasma and CRT HDTVs, i.e. I have the means and experience to judge image quality.)

I find it very frustrating that Apple's botched original launch of Apple TV continues to haunt them to this day...sad.

[dk62]

Yes, the DVD example may be questionable (although good DVD bit rates can go into the 8-9 Mbps), but the HD FiOS and BD are real and much higher than that. I have also seen Netflix stream HD content at 4 Mbps and I find the picture not worthy of the "HD" monicker (unfortunately, "HD" definition has little to do with real picture quality).

[The UnDoug]

Let's just leave it at some people prefer Apple TV, some prefer the Mini.

Myself? I have a Mini (same one as the Microcenter one, but I got mine a couple months ago. I have it connected to my Samsung 32" LCD using the TV's VGA connector. I didn't have a HDMI cable, and haven't gotten one yet, but I had heard about problems with connecting via HDMI to TVs...forget exactly what it was.

But in any event, I've been *really* happy with my setup. I don't have it connected to a stereo, because I don't really have my stereo set up yet. I use Plex to play movies, iTunes music, and iPhoto pix that are stored on my iMac in a different room. The Mini has built-in wifi, but I opted to connect it via ethernet. I also have lots of the Plex "channels" installed: CNN videos, Comedy Central, Hulu, etc. There is a TON of content available for free, and it all is accessible via the one app, Plex, and can all be controlled via the Mini's remote.

I also got rid of my DVD player since the Mini can play DVDs. I don't have any HD or Blue Ray discs, and probably won't get them any time soon.

I've thought about getting an EyeTV or something...not so I could watch TV on the computer on the TV...but so I could record TV on the Mini, then play it back on the LCD TV easily. Isn't there some type of programming guide one can use with an EyeTV to make it easy to record shows?

Oh, and I also have an iSight camera (one of the older stand-alone ones) that is connected to the Mini, so I can do video iChats with my family. I can sit in the comfort of my living room, and they can see me chillin' like a villian...and I can watch them on the 32" LCD. Yeah.....it pretty much rocks. ;-)

I have the Apple wireless keyboard (the small one) and think it's awesome. I have an infrared wireless mouse that I had lying around. I never really have liked the Mighty Mouse, so didn't get one of those wireless ones.

[sekker]

I, too, use the mac mini with front row attached to our living room TV. I am using a G4, recently upgraded (thanks to suggestions from this forum) to a solid state drive made from a CF 16GB card with a CF to 2.5" sled.

I had both DVI to HDMI and VGA cables. In the end, I went with a straight VGA input to my Panasonic 50" Plasma. Looked great, good for audio, and kept an HDMI slot free.

The 'expensive' part of this was the time converting my family's DVD collection. Handbrake has really improved in the past 2 years, it's now VERY easy and stable to do so. I used an original Intel MBP to do the conversions. But it does take time if you have more than a few DVDs.

For the G4 Mac Mini, I found media on external firewire drives to have less dropped frames, etc. I DID substitute with a G4 PB12 temporarily, and it worked fine with a USB2 drive that the mac mini could not use properly. For modern macs, you should be able to use the cheaper USB external drives just fine.

I do not like the Apple remote, and instead use a Keyspan Front Row remote (from newegg, etc). Works great so long as your dogs don't chew on the remote first!

[silvarios]

The UnDoug wrote: I didn't have a HDMI cable, and haven't gotten one yet, but I had heard about problems with connecting via HDMI to TVs...forget exactly what it was.

The problem is with 10.5.7. I had my MacBook connected via HDMI to my Samsung TV/monitor. Worked great. The MacBook automatically connected at the correct resolution. Updated with 10.5.7. BAM!!! Broken. Tested with several Macs. There's a bunch of hits all over the interweb regarding the issue.


Nathan