MacWorld Articles On The Mac Mini Media Center
Very good series of MacWorld articles by Christopher Breen documenting his quest to place a Mac Mini at the heart of his entertainment system. His situation is essentially the same as what I was contemplating, even with the mention of a less-tech savvy spouse.
Most interesting is the last article: is it worth it? Results were mixed, and he pinpoints some of the confusion on too many options:
“…using these tools effectively requires knowing which is best for what and I could sense the frustration when I told my wife she’d be better off switching applications to perform particular tasks.
Given these experiences I’ll suggest that a Mac mini media center isn’t something you should just spring on the family unless your family is wholly enamored of technology. Keep your current components, bring as much media as possible into iTunes so that it can be accessed via Front Row, and show your family how to use it. Getting content from Netflix, Hulu, or one of the other many sources available from Boxee, Plex, or XBMC is, in most cases, going to be the family geek’s job for awhile.”
So based on that statement — I’m going to follow reader JC’s suggestion and integrate the Mac Mini with existing devices (Apple TV, Roku Box, DVD player) rather than try to get it to replace them all.
Here’s my progress so far:
- Tested hooking up the Mini to the television, and it worked perfectly — some insanely huge monitor size. Tested Plex, MAME, Hulu Desktop.
- Found an optical cable with a “toslink” adapter. Looks like the Mac Mini headphone jack can output digital audio this way. Worked fine hooked up to the surround sound.
- Started bending Plex to my will, which again, deserves its own post. It’s XMBC ported to OS X and has some “skins” designed specifically for large screens.
- Got a wireless keyboard.
Haven’t hit any big glitches yet. More to come as it develops.