Mac Mini HTPC w/ Elgato EyeHome

[junior77blue]

I'm looking at purchasing a new mac mini for a HTPC, mainly for music.

I would plan on hooking this up to my HDTV via S-video.

Has anyone experienced using Elgato Eyehome for macs? I'm trying to figure out what the purpose of this device really is. Is it just for a better GUI?

http://www.elgato.com/index.php?file=products_eyehome

My plan would be to purchase 1 or 2 external disk drives, or possibly some form of a RAID array for mirroring. I believe Lacie makes something of that nature. That way I don't have to worry about loosing all my music if ONE hardrive crashes.

What can I do about the SQ from a mac mini? Would it be worth using a some form of USB to digital output? Or just stick with the analog output?

Thoughts / comments are appreciated!

[tubeman]

Well, where to start?

I had the same thought as you, using the mini because it's so small and oh so silent. I have a buddy that is a huge Mac nut and convinced me to take the plunge. I purchased a complete mini set up including a bluetooth keyboard, mouse, 500gb Lacie HD and an ederol usb to toslink convertor for sound to go direct to my reciever. The thought was to store music and movies and run them off the big HD.

In theory, everything should work fine except Apple short circuted some of the ATI video card features to have it fit and they are having a whole host of issues when you're trying to adjust the resolution. This is the case with some LCD monitors via DVI. Apple does not support any projectors and their help desk is completely useless! This issue appears to be only with the mini, not the other mac's

I did find a reseller that would let me hook up my projector to a new mini and it worked fine. I did not want to touch the resolution of his machine. He suggested wiping the drive and starting fresh. This works, but I made the mistake of trying to adjust and poof, no video. My whole setup has now been sitting in a pile and I have not had the patience to play with it of late. My wife is after me to get it cleaned up as it makes the rest of our new theatre look like hell. Check out mac.com's discussion under the mini and the display area.

Good Luck as I'm just about ready to drop kick it to e bay and hopefully get some of my money back.

Gary

[junior77blue]

This is strange....as you commented other macs don't have this issue.

My apple powerbook connected via an DVI to HDMI cable works flawlessly @ ~ 1920x1080, or whatever 1080i resolutions is. It even acknowleged it was connected to a hitachi TV.

This worked fine for viewing photos. I really don't plan on doing much more than music or photos and possibly even some web surfing....movies on HardDrive just isn't that economical...yet.

If you can point me to any specific mac.com discussions that would be helpful.

[westrock]

I connected my Mini to my 65" Mitsubishi (CRT) over DVI. The Mini showed all the compatible resolutions the TV had to offer. The only real problem was a obvious amount of overscan, about half the Dock was off the screen...though this is a CRT TV which are notorious for having overscan from the factory.

I keep thinking about moving the Mini to the TV and doing the movie thing. Its super easy to copy and play DVD's from disc on OSX. Then I guess just run a long USB cable to a side table and probably get one of the Griffen PowerMate remotes or a wireless remote.

As far as getting optical output, M-Audio makes some USB & Firewire interfaces that output Optical/Coax.

The Elgato EyeTV 500 is pretty cool because it can tune in Off-The-Air HDTV (and SDTV) channels as well as pull some forms of cable connections. So you can watch the TV through the Mac, as well as record with the Mac....just like a DVR.

The Mac can actually record stuff and control stuff that has Firewire very easily. It can controll many cable boxes, TV's with built-in HD tuners, and (my favorite) DV Camcorders. Its pulls the digital stream right from the source, and it doesn't take alot of system resources either.

If you get a Mini, you'll want to get a 1Gb stick for sure....and even replacing the internal drive or using an external Firewire drive will significantly improve the "feel" of the OS.

[Brandon B]

One other cool thing if your TV has a firewire port. There is a virtual DVHS recorder that Apple puts in their firewire software devloper kit which allows you to use the mac as a record/playback unit for hidef. Some have modified it for better useability and offer it for download elsewhere on the web. You can only record, though, if you have a set top box with an actuve firewire out, or your TV outputs HD it is receiving over its firewire port.

Nowhere as developed as an HTPC or anything, but an interesting way to build up a HD library. Mini has no problem doing it, as it is just streaming a digital file. TVs with the 1394 port have their own MPEG2 decoders built in.

BB