Apple Hardware - all the way!

[deebo]

if only they had added an ati2400 to the minimac, it would be the ultimate htpc

but with the gma950 i have no interest in it

[Vlaves]

Hi,

I would like to buy the new Mac mini to use it with MediaPortal. Is the CPU and the Intel OnboardGraphics
fast enough to handle DVB-S2 and HDTV? If Someone of you could give me some Info it would be great.
Thanx

Vlaves

[jcee]

hey guys, I got across this thread one more time..

I had a Windows machine running for almost 2 yéars now for HTPC. I used MP all the way, and I am aware that it is still under development.. But I have so much trouble with it... !!

I often asked this forum for help and I am (too) often pointed to Windows problems. 8Driver issues, DX9 issues, Board drivers, codecs etc...).
I have rebuild my HTPC many times with 3 different DVB cards, two gfx cards, a very expensive fan controller and the big silverstone LC13 case I have still is audible.. (tried undervolting, cool and quite etc..)
I did so many registry hacks I cannot count, also did I reinstall quite a couple of times and only put the neccesary software on the box, also disabled all unwanted services etc...

I can tell you - and that is the experience of a colleague too - I have not yet reached the state of a 99,8% working system. 99.8% means to my that it will run for ONE month without stuttering, slowing down, and fast response times.
Often when we want to watch TV, we turn that box on and my girlfriend is zapping TV, it is slowly and not smooth.. I do not know what to tell her. As I have already excahnged board+gfx+tv cards and played around too much with patches/codecs/fixes.. I cannot tell her "I will go the store and buy a new piece of equipment and all trouble is gone.."

So what am I gone do now?!

I do want to complain about MP and the people here. it is fabulous work been done here.. not questioning at all.

But when I read all the topics here, I understand that MP is 10% complicated but getting a Windows system in place is 90% complicated..

I somewhere here already raised the question here if Windows is really is the first choice as a basis?!

I mean, MS is developing a OS for thousands of hardware pieces from different vendors and even each vendor has its huge set of different driver versions... This multiplies to a set of combinations uncountable...

Who can foresee and gurantee that it will work....?!

Maybe a little more closed system ist better choice?

This apple stuff really draws my intention. I bought a Apple Laptop (MacbookPro) on Ebay last weeks, just to find out myself what this is all about..
I can tell you, (my personal opinion). Everything on this computer works like a charm!! All things happen smooth and without stuttering, the experience is lightyears beyond what I experience with Windows (and I use Windows professionally at work).

First I thought, "Err... all this fancy colourful animations... who needs this, its only using up resources..."
Then I loaded up Windows in a virtual machine, run Itunes+Photo application, the calendar and the webbrowser and had a look at the ressources: 400MB of 1,5GB main memory was left!!! Wowww..
CPU load similar..

Guys, this seems to be much more like an efficient system design.. I talked to my colleague who has meanwhile given up on his TVcentral and PC and had turned to Apple also..

He bought the Eyetv software and hardware and is telling me that he is experiencing a completly new HTPC feeeling. Everything runs smooths and stable. He did not had to reboot for a month, TV has never freezed or stuttered and the channel switching is unrivaled ...

Ok, he admits that this system has not that much features as MP and TVcentral.. But it all just works.. even hibernation and waking up is no problem at all.. out-of-the-box..

From what I learned from my new Macbook Pro I can imagine what he is talking about..

Maybe it is time to try something else?!

Did you guys, owning a Macminii, thought about using the Apple OSX and a mediacenter soluttion natively?! Or did you just stay with MP, why?


I am not sure if I will just bootcamp and MP in the end or the apple applications..

[unimonkey]

Ok.. so I got my Mac Mini in this weekend and have been playing around with just about every HTPC software option.

I've got a few XBMC boxes and MediaPortal seems my best shot. I like the interface and some of the options already.

I am having one area of difficulty and that is getting a remote to work. I do not have an MCE remote but I programmed my Harmony 880 to work as one without any luck.

Has anyone else tried to use a harmony remote with MediaPortal?

[Darre]

If you have a harmony remote you can actually add mediaportal as a component. But mine works as a MCE remote as well. Harmony 525 is the one I have I believe. Oh and try the IR Server suite, it makes remotes work

[unimonkey]

Originally Posted by Darre

If you have a harmony remote you can actually add mediaportal as a component. But mine works as a MCE remote as well. Harmony 525 is the one I have I believe. Oh and try the IR Server suite, it makes remotes work

Ok.. so I feel like a moron b/c I cant seem to get this thing to work.

I have the harmony remote set up as MediaPortal.

I have IR Server suite installed and have the generic HID device using the Apple IR Receiver. I have the remote setting in MediaPortal configured to use the General HID.

Yet I still dont get any responce from my remote.

What step am I missing?

[strontium]

I believe the apple IR receiver only works with the apple remote. This is due to the way boot camp drivers are installed.
If I am wrong let me know, but I have never been able to get it to work so just bought an MCE remote/receiver bundle in the end.

[unimonkey]

Originally Posted by strontium

I believe the apple IR receiver only works with the apple remote. This is due to the way boot camp drivers are installed.
If I am wrong let me know, but I have never been able to get it to work so just bought an MCE remote/receiver bundle in the end.

Thanks for the info. I'll pick up a super cheap MCE remote/receiver and see how that behaves.

Going to be a few days before I get it so I'll have to use my Apple Wireless keyboard until then

[clobber]

Anything else, besides the remote, different about installing MP on a mac mini? For example, does the Standard Def TV out work through the DVI connector as it does under OS X? Basically, are there any unique challenges I should expect when installing on the mac mini?

thanks

[unimonkey]

Originally Posted by clobber

Anything else, besides the remote, different about installing MP on a mac mini? For example, does the Standard Def TV out work through the DVI connector as it does under OS X? Basically, are there any unique challenges I should expect when installing on the mac mini?

thanks

Hmm. Well for me I used a program called PowerStrip that can write custom drivers for whatever video display you hook up to it. So that I was able to run the Mac Mini in Windows XP on my 480p Panasonic PDP at its native resolution of 852x480. OS X offered it as a choice by default but this extra step was required by Windows XP before I could use that resolution.