First Intel Mac mini Media Portal? - Page 3

MrMario64 · 2006-04-06, 23:01

And using boot camp from apple you now have an official way to run XP on an intel mac.

Got it running here great!

Now booting back to OSX, this was just a test

paulers · 2006-04-16, 07:32

wow this is very tempting. I just picked up a duo 1.6ghz, 1g ram Mac mini and I must say I am very tempted to try out Apple's bootcamp. My only concern is losing the functionality of my mac if I dedicate it to being a media center. It would be sweet to have a DVI switch box that could switch between an LCD and HDtv. I guess you could install VNC and connect to the mini remotly.

nielsi · 2006-04-21, 15:10

Just walked by an Apple Store this week and really love the design of the Mac Mini. My main concern is the graphical power of the onboard GPU. Is it sufficient for Media Portal stuff or even DirectX games? And what about ejecting the optical drive under XP, since it has no eject button

CHli · 2006-04-21, 15:55

Quote:

Originally Posted by nielsi

Just walked by an Apple Store this week and really love the design of the Mac Mini. My main concern is the graphical power of the onboard GPU. Is it sufficient for Media Portal stuff or even DirectX games? And what about ejecting the optical drive under XP, since it has no eject button

Right click on the CDROM unit in My Computer and Eject

nielsi · 2006-04-22, 19:37

And the graphics? Can it handle HD or directX games?

gorman · 2006-05-01, 12:48

Some questions for people that already have this running. I'm an XBMC user and I'm considering moving to MP for playback of hi-res content.

1) Does the IR receiver on the machine work with any remote? I have an Harmony 676 and would like to program it for a Media Center activity to control the MacMini+MediaPortal.

2) Does the MacMini have a "Turn on" IR code? With Xbox I modified it so as to be able to turn it on from the remote.

jk2300 · 2006-05-01, 12:55

@Gorman:

You can put the Mac Mini in and out of sleep mode by pressing the play button on the Apple remote for 3 seconds.

I don't know if specifically the Harmony will work since I haven't tried it. But i have a "manual" learning remote (where you put the remotes front to front, press one button on one remote and the learning button on the other etc) and that has learned the Mac Mini remote signals just fine, incl the in/out of sleep mode feature

/Jonas

jk2300 · 2006-05-01, 12:57

@nielsi: Hardware-wise the Core duo can play HD content just fine in 1920*1080. No dropped frames (HD movie trailers played in Quicktime) with a CPU util of btw 25 and 40 %.

I have no idea what happens when trying to play HD content on a windows-booted mac mini.

/Jonas

gorman · 2006-05-01, 15:34

jk2300, are you using it with MediaPortal or still under MacOSx?

And thanks for your answers!

jk2300 · 2006-05-02, 10:25

I'm using it with OS X for now.

I'm planning on installing Windows & mediaportal during the weekend to test whether the MS MCE remote works - no reason it shouldn't though, as long as you plug in the insanely ugly IR receiver to an USB port.
If this works you should have no problem programming your Harmony as a standard MCE remote and using it with a Mac Mini. However, in my mind it won't get interesting before Windows drivers for the Mac mini IR receiver are released (if ever) so you can dispense with the MCE IR receiver.

One problem is that the problem-free in/out of sleep mode is a feature of the hardware and OS X combined so I cannot see how you would implement that feature in Windows. In Windows the remote controlled S3 sleep mode can be achieved through a combination of jumper settings, bios settings and a windows registry addition. Macs have no BIOS and I'm not technical enough to even imagine how you would implement the Windows specific S3 mode on a windows-mac unless Apple releases drivers / software for that specific purpose, but I don't see that one coming for the foreseeable future (!!!).

However, the Mac Mini is silent (!!) and uses a very limited amount of power. No fans are spinning etc so in actual use you would not have much need for the sleep mode in windows, cause you cannot hear it when it is turned on.

Regards Jonas

2006-04-06, 23:01	#21 (permalink)
MrMario64 Retired Team Member Join Date: Apr 2004 Age: 34 Posts: 822 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts Country: My System	And using boot camp from apple you now have an official way to run XP on an intel mac. Got it running here great! Now booting back to OSX, this was just a test __________________

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2006-04-16, 07:32	#22 (permalink)
paulers Portal User Join Date: Apr 2006 Posts: 1 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	wow this is very tempting. I just picked up a duo 1.6ghz, 1g ram Mac mini and I must say I am very tempted to try out Apple's bootcamp. My only concern is losing the functionality of my mac if I dedicate it to being a media center. It would be sweet to have a DVI switch box that could switch between an LCD and HDtv. I guess you could install VNC and connect to the mini remotly.

2006-04-21, 15:10	#23 (permalink)
nielsi Portal Member Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: The Netherlands Posts: 18 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	Just walked by an Apple Store this week and really love the design of the Mac Mini. My main concern is the graphical power of the onboard GPU. Is it sufficient for Media Portal stuff or even DirectX games? And what about ejecting the optical drive under XP, since it has no eject button

2006-04-22, 19:37	#25 (permalink)
nielsi Portal Member Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: The Netherlands Posts: 18 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	And the graphics? Can it handle HD or directX games?

2006-05-01, 12:48	#26 (permalink)
gorman Portal Member Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 39 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts My System	Some questions for people that already have this running. I'm an XBMC user and I'm considering moving to MP for playback of hi-res content. 1) Does the IR receiver on the machine work with any remote? I have an Harmony 676 and would like to program it for a Media Center activity to control the MacMini+MediaPortal. 2) Does the MacMini have a "Turn on" IR code? With Xbox I modified it so as to be able to turn it on from the remote.

2006-05-01, 12:55	#27 (permalink)
jk2300 Portal Member Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 14 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	@Gorman: You can put the Mac Mini in and out of sleep mode by pressing the play button on the Apple remote for 3 seconds. I don't know if specifically the Harmony will work since I haven't tried it. But i have a "manual" learning remote (where you put the remotes front to front, press one button on one remote and the learning button on the other etc) and that has learned the Mac Mini remote signals just fine, incl the in/out of sleep mode feature /Jonas

2006-05-01, 12:57	#28 (permalink)
jk2300 Portal Member Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 14 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	@nielsi: Hardware-wise the Core duo can play HD content just fine in 1920*1080. No dropped frames (HD movie trailers played in Quicktime) with a CPU util of btw 25 and 40 %. I have no idea what happens when trying to play HD content on a windows-booted mac mini. /Jonas

2006-05-01, 15:34	#29 (permalink)
gorman Portal Member Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 39 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts My System	jk2300, are you using it with MediaPortal or still under MacOSx? And thanks for your answers!

2006-05-02, 10:25	#30 (permalink)
jk2300 Portal Member Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 14 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	I'm using it with OS X for now. I'm planning on installing Windows & mediaportal during the weekend to test whether the MS MCE remote works - no reason it shouldn't though, as long as you plug in the insanely ugly IR receiver to an USB port. If this works you should have no problem programming your Harmony as a standard MCE remote and using it with a Mac Mini. However, in my mind it won't get interesting before Windows drivers for the Mac mini IR receiver are released (if ever) so you can dispense with the MCE IR receiver. One problem is that the problem-free in/out of sleep mode is a feature of the hardware and OS X combined so I cannot see how you would implement that feature in Windows. In Windows the remote controlled S3 sleep mode can be achieved through a combination of jumper settings, bios settings and a windows registry addition. Macs have no BIOS and I'm not technical enough to even imagine how you would implement the Windows specific S3 mode on a windows-mac unless Apple releases drivers / software for that specific purpose, but I don't see that one coming for the foreseeable future (!!!). However, the Mac Mini is silent (!!) and uses a very limited amount of power. No fans are spinning etc so in actual use you would not have much need for the sleep mode in windows, cause you cannot hear it when it is turned on. Regards Jonas