(ask) mac mini for media server

[hendrilei]

Hello

I just purchased mac mini 2014 for my tv media server

I need some suggestion/input for the setting

1. if I plan to never shut down the mac mini, is it safe ?
2. if some power failure happened, will it damage the mac mini ? (I have set automatic reboot without login)
3. should I turn on the option for prevent computer for sleeping automatically when the display is off?
4. during the idle periode, it should have no activity needed, should I turn on option for put hard disk to sleep when possible ?
5. if I set to wake for network access, is that mean that, if I need to screen sharing from my office, I can do that even my mac mini is in sleep mode ?
6. should I turn on enable power nap as well ?
7. Do I really need to put automatic schedule to reboot my mac mini at certain time ?

Your help would be much appreciated

thx in adv

 

[Gav2k]

1. if I plan to never shut down the mac mini, is it safe ? Yes but you should schedule 3-6 monthly dust cleans.

2. if some power failure happened, will it damage the mac mini ? (I have set automatic reboot without login) providing you have a surge protector alls good.

3. should I turn on the option for prevent computer for sleeping automatically when the display is off? Yes you should

4. during the idle periode, it should have no activity needed, should I turn on option for put hard disk to sleep when possible ? Yes

5. if I set to wake for network access, is that mean that, if I need to screen sharing from my office, I can do that even my mac mini is in sleep mode ? Yes a wake packet is sent. There will be a delay whilst the machine wakes.

6. should I turn on enable power nap as well ?
Up to you. If the machines on the there is no need.

7. Do I really need to put automatic schedule to reboot my mac mini at certain time ?
No need but up to you

 

[Jozone]

I would advocate for your to schedule a normal restart time for the machine depending on what media center suite you will be running. For my case, Plex, I find that its happiest giving it a schedule restart every morning at 5am (when both no one is watching, and nothing is downloading).

 

[hendrilei]

thx all for your suggestion

For the media server, actually I do own NAS, but unfortunately my NAS is not powerful enough to play PLEX , that's why I bought mac mini

I played with my mac mini for several days, and found out that plex do not have any specific app for mac os x, we must use browser and act as a server. Meanwhile, I'm not happy to use plex theater app since I do not have apple remote

Currently, I switch to kodi instead of plex

I connect my mac mini to my LED TV screen, which has 1080p, 100/120Hz and 1920x1080 resolution, but on mac mini, I can't find any option to choose for this resolution, it only provide several options such as 1080p, 1080i and 1600x900. Why is that ?

I tried 1080p, but the windows is too small and it's uncomfortable to watch from some distance

I tried 1600x900 as well, and it seems like to resolution is not smooth enough

about the refresh rate, max from mac mini only 60Hz ?

any idea for this resolution option ?

thx

 

[Jozone]

To the best of my knowledge, 120hz is just referring to the refresh rate on your display, and your Mac Mini would not be able to output a native 120hz signal (this really shouldn't be an issue anyways if you just playing back media on the machine which is going to be 24-30fps content).

I know what you saying about the screen resolution issue :| 1080p can be nearly impossible to use, which is why I only really use the Mac Mini for Plex.

I'd also say that you should give Plex another try if you have an iPhone or iPod touch -- you could try using an App like Mobile Mouse Pro ($2) to control the Mini.

 

[hendrilei]

To the best of my knowledge, 120hz is just referring to the refresh rate on your display, and your Mac Mini would not be able to output a native 120hz signal (this really shouldn't be an issue anyways if you just playing back media on the machine which is going to be 24-30fps content).

I know what you saying about the screen resolution issue :| 1080p can be nearly impossible to use, which is why I only really use the Mac Mini for Plex.

I'd also say that you should give Plex another try if you have an iPhone or iPod touch -- you could try using an App like Mobile Mouse Pro ($2) to control the Mini.

I did give it a try, but I don't know what happened, it seems like it didn't run as smooth as kodi, sometimes, the movie buffered, sometimes the movie didn't have any sound, meanwhile with kodi, I never met this issue

I do like plex interface though, maybe I have some setting unable .. not really sure

 

[avkdm]

HDMI supports 1080p maximum resolution (1920x1080x50/60hz)
120hz refresh rate is only supported with Display Port and DVI-D on Windows (Question mark on Mac OSX Support - which is bizarre)
You might want to look for a setting on your television which defines input as PC- this can fix resolution/scaling problems when connecting a PC/Mac to your tv.
I have a Tb/mini Display port to Display Port cable coming to test out if 120hz works, although I have been told by the supplier it wont work on OSX. Will let you know the outcome.
If it doesnt work Apple have really dropped the ball here for a company that professes high image quality with their devices.
Apple have an expensive MDP to DVI-D/ USB COMBO adapter available, but there are people that have complained that 120hz is still not an option in OSX for them.

 

[Deepc5]

New to this forum, and new to Mac.
I have had iPods, currently my household has 2 iPhone 6 2 IPad Air 2, I purchase a 2012 Mac mini for my wife. After seeing the simplicity, adaptability, and power of the machine, I decided when my PC was becoming ready to upgraded I would purchase a Mac mini. I am on the verge of taking that step.
The few things I need for the Mac mini to do are as follows to replace my PC:

Serve as a media server, currently I use Airvideo I am open to other programs.
Currently my PC is an core i7 first gen, it can transcode multiple mkv files and send them to various appletv in my home and other family members across the globe. The mob is files are on 2 2TB external HDD which I would like to replace with a NAS.

I tried to setup my wife's Mac mini as a Airvideo server however when it sleeps I cannot get it to wake up. I have tried Plex as well with no avail.
Qnap and Synology NAS are not capable of transcoding on the fly due to the processor limitations.

My question is how can I use the Mac mini as my PC and a media server which can wake upon someone accessing the media I am sharing?

The current media types are primarily .mkv .mp4, all are 1080p and most are blu-rays. I really don't want to convert them to MP4 since I currently have a lot of files and I spent 6+ months ripping my discs to a media formats.

I also remotely connect to my PC while I am away with teamviewer to access documents and media from various parts of the US. I know there are apps to send a WOL command to the Mac mini , I was hoping to find away around it as I would need to install it on 8 devices scattered in various parts of the country.

Eagerly waiting some advice.

 

[Gav2k]

New to this forum, and new to Mac.
I have had iPods, currently my household has 2 iPhone 6 2 IPad Air 2, I purchase a 2012 Mac mini for my wife. After seeing the simplicity, adaptability, and power of the machine, I decided when my PC was becoming ready to upgraded I would purchase a Mac mini. I am on the verge of taking that step.
The few things I need for the Mac mini to do are as follows to replace my PC:

Serve as a media server, currently I use Airvideo I am open to other programs.
Currently my PC is an core i7 first gen, it can transcode multiple mkv files and send them to various appletv in my home and other family members across the globe. The mob is files are on 2 2TB external HDD which I would like to replace with a NAS.

I tried to setup my wife's Mac mini as a Airvideo server however when it sleeps I cannot get it to wake up. I have tried Plex as well with no avail.
Qnap and Synology NAS are not capable of transcoding on the fly due to the processor limitations.

My question is how can I use the Mac mini as my PC and a media server which can wake upon someone accessing the media I am sharing?

The current media types are primarily .mkv .mp4, all are 1080p and most are blu-rays. I really don't want to convert them to MP4 since I currently have a lot of files and I spent 6+ months ripping my discs to a media formats.

I also remotely connect to my PC while I am away with teamviewer to access documents and media from various parts of the US. I know there are apps to send a WOL command to the Mac mini , I was hoping to find away around it as I would need to install it on 8 devices scattered in various parts of the country.

Eagerly waiting some advice.

I run plex on my 2011 Mac mini for exactly the tasks you detail. It's running OS X server though as it has other duties. It's set to not sleep and wake after power failure. I've not bothered with ups.

 

[nebo1ss]

thx all for your suggestion

For the media server, actually I do own NAS, but unfortunately my NAS is not powerful enough to play PLEX , that's why I bought mac mini

I played with my mac mini for several days, and found out that plex do not have any specific app for mac os x, we must use browser and act as a server. Meanwhile, I'm not happy to use plex theater app since I do not have apple remote

Currently, I switch to kodi instead of plex

I connect my mac mini to my LED TV screen, which has 1080p, 100/120Hz and 1920x1080 resolution, but on mac mini, I can't find any option to choose for this resolution, it only provide several options such as 1080p, 1080i and 1600x900. Why is that ?

I tried 1080p, but the windows is too small and it's uncomfortable to watch from some distance

I tried 1600x900 as well, and it seems like to resolution is not smooth enough

about the refresh rate, max from mac mini only 60Hz ?

any idea for this resolution option ?

thx

Plex has two parts a Client and a Server and they both run on OSX. Personally I find the architecture of Plex much more suited to a Media server environment. The server runs on the Mac Mini and will organise all of your media that you have on the NAS. You can run multiple clients that use the same server and the same media.
in my case I have the Mac mini installed near the main TV and have an HDMI connector to the TV with the Plex client on the Mac mini. I also have other smart TV's that can run the Plex app as well as a laptop, Chromecast, iPad and iPhone that all run the Plex client and connect to the same server.

You can select 1080P and then adjust the screen size.

 

[Deepc5]

I run plex on my 2011 Mac mini for exactly the tasks you detail. It's running OS X server though as it has other duties. It's set to not sleep and wake after power failure. I've not bothered with ups.

Thank you for the info, does your Mac mini currently go to sleep after inactivity?
If it does not have you come across any issues with it being on all the time, like overheating etc?
I apologize if it seem like a dumb question my current PC I built is in a Thermaltake case with 15-20 various fans and coolers.

 

[Gav2k]

Thank you for the info, does your Mac mini currently go to sleep after inactivity?
If it does not have you come across any issues with it being on all the time, like overheating etc?
I apologize if it seem like a dumb question my current PC I built is in a Thermaltake case with 15-20 various fans and coolers.

My mini runs 24/7 without an issue.

Every 4-6 months I take the bottom off and clean any dust out with compressed air.

 

[Deepc5]

Is there a way to use the Mac Mini to replace the AppleTV to stream audio and video from iOS devices? I have tried airserver, air squirrel and a couple of other programs. I can mirror my iPad but it will not play any video files on the Mac Mini.

 

[iDento]

Is there a way to use the Mac Mini to replace the AppleTV to stream audio and video from iOS devices? I have tried airserver, air squirrel and a couple of other programs. I can mirror my iPad but it will not play any video files on the Mac Mini.

Try Reflector app, install it in your Mac Mini and your iOS devices will see it as an Apple TV.

 

[Deepc5]

Try Reflector app, install it in your Mac Mini and your iOS devices will see it as an Apple TV.

I have tried reflector it will mirror my screen, when I play a video off of my iOS devices it will not mirror the video.

 

[cappers]

I am going through exactly this using mac mini as a plex server etc. Only problem I have is not being able to wake my mac remotely over internet from my ios device to watch media. I have port forwarded 7 and 9 etc. it only seems to work when the mac has been asleep for a very short period, other than that it does not seem to wake it. Ideally I would want my mac to sleep when I am not using, and be able to wake it remotely when I want.
Anyone else come across this?