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Loving the Mac Mini as a media centre!

Donka said:
Yes, this is simple and no additional software is required. On the mini, turn on screen sharing and file sharing under settings, sharing. Now on your MacBook provided you are on the same network, the mini will show up in finder. You can use this new link to copy files to it or to views the screen in the mini from your MacBook. I'm not at my macs just now but if you have any issues, just ask and I'll be able to check and confirm the exact steps.
Click to expand...

Thanks. I don't have the mini yet so can't test it but that all makes sense. Someone else on another thread said I could continue to rip CDs into my MBP iTunes, then find the album folder in the MBPs iTunes library and drag it into the mini's iTunes library. This would make it show up in the Mini's iTunes. He said this allows me to work on any tags and naming, etc. and get it right, and then just drop the completed project into the Mini's iTunes. I assume that would work and solve the issue of how I rip tunes on the MBP and get them into the mini library.

One related question on this though. Right now, just working on my MBP, I will put a cd in and rip songs directly to an existing playlist. Is there a way to do that with the mini set up as we've been discussing? In other words the complete iTunes library and playlists will reside on the mini. I'll have the iTunes app and screen sharing capabilities on the MBP, but not the actual music files. So if I've go an existing playlist (whose song files are on the mini), and I put a CD into my MBP, can I just drag them over somehow and get them transferred to the playlist (and therefore get the ripped files transferred/created to a folder on the mini)?

Thanks,
 
pelzi80 said:
Hi,

I have used mac mini as a media centre for a little while now. For a couple of days ago I got a surround system - (Primare SPA23 receiver). And when i connect the mac with hdmi the picture is good , but the sound....it says MULTI PCM in the receiver display. I can not change it. It gives me sound from front and centre speaker , but not rear speakers. This was in a test from youtube called dolby 5.1 test or something.

Any idea what I can do to fix this?

Rgds
Kjell Inge
Click to expand...

Multi-channel PCM is better than Dolby digital because it has no compression. The OS will by default decode the Dolby stream and send it over its continuous multi channel PCM uncompressed output. But some applications like iTunes do allow you send the raw Dolby digital bitstream over HDMI or SPDIF (with a 3.5mm adapter) and your AF receiver will acknowledge this and the decoding will happen there. There results will be somewhat the same though unless you're an audiophile!

Regarding YouTube im very certain in either flash or HTML 5 the only method of multi-channel audio is via 6-channel AAC (instead of the normal 2-channel AAC used for stereo). I very much doubt YouTube are using this! There is some detail in the HTTP live streaming spec about multiple audio streams of different languages and codecs and binding them to the same video track in the playlist file. Try an MP4 filewith Dolby instead.

Jonny
 
spyrelx said:
Thanks. I don't have the mini yet so can't test it but that all makes sense. Someone else on another thread said I could continue to rip CDs into my MBP iTunes, then find the album folder in the MBPs iTunes library and drag it into the mini's iTunes library. This would make it show up in the Mini's iTunes. He said this allows me to work on any tags and naming, etc. and get it right, and then just drop the completed project into the Mini's iTunes. I assume that would work and solve the issue of how I rip tunes on the MBP and get them into the mini library.

One related question on this though. Right now, just working on my MBP, I will put a cd in and rip songs directly to an existing playlist. Is there a way to do that with the mini set up as we've been discussing? In other words the complete iTunes library and playlists will reside on the mini. I'll have the iTunes app and screen sharing capabilities on the MBP, but not the actual music files. So if I've go an existing playlist (whose song files are on the mini), and I put a CD into my MBP, can I just drag them over somehow and get them transferred to the playlist (and therefore get the ripped files transferred/created to a folder on the mini)?

Thanks,
Click to expand...

Yes, you can rip on your MacBook and then just drag the files over to your mac mini directly into your iTunes library.
I'm not sure exactly what you mean regarding the play list but once you have copied the files over to the mini, can't you then just drag these copied albums onto your play list?
 
Donka said:
Yes, you can rip on your MacBook and then just drag the files over to your mac mini directly into your iTunes library.
I'm not sure exactly what you mean regarding the play list but once you have copied the files over to the mini, can't you then just drag these copied albums onto your play list?
Click to expand...

Hi Donka, I appreciate the responses. On this point we might be talking past each other and it's probably because I don't have mini yet to try any of this out. Here's what I do today, with just a MBP: I have an existing playlist called "80's hits" and I get a Michael Jackson CD. I put the CD into my MBP and it shows me the 10 songs on the CD. I only want to rip "Billy Jean" and I want it to go into my existing "80's hits" playlist. All I have to do to accomplish this is to just drag Billy Jean from the 10 song listing of the CD in my drive into the 80's hits playlist -- with that one move the MBP both rips the song and simultaneously puts it in that playlist.

Now under the new set up, I'd like to do the exact same thing. That is, I'd like to put the CD into my MBP, look on the MBP screen at the 10 song CD tracks, and in one move drag Billy Jean into the existing 80's hits playlist. (That 80's playlist and my iTunes library of course will be residing on the mini). So what I would want to happen with that one move (dragging the song) is that the song Billy Jean will get copied to the Mini's library and also show up on the Mini's iTunes apps 80's hits playlist.

Will I be able to do that -- through mirroring or otherwise -- in just that one step as I do today (put the CD in and drag the song over to the playlist)? Or will I have to do more steps? If more, what are they?

Thanks,
 
Okay, I'm with you now and the answer is I don't know. I think if you set up your mini iTunes library as shared, there may be an option to let clients update it. If so, that may indeed work by ripping on the MacBook drive straight onto a shared play list. I have just never tried this.
 
Donka said:
Okay, I'm with you now and the answer is I don't know. I think if you set up your mini iTunes library as shared, there may be an option to let clients update it. If so, that may indeed work by ripping on the MacBook drive straight onto a shared play list. I have just never tried this.
Click to expand...

Donka,

Thanks so much for your help with all of this. I'm probably still a month away from getting the mini but this convinced me to do it and this thread be invaluable once I do. (While I'm sure an older model would suit, I'm debating between a 2014 or a 2012 refurb if and when they ever go back on sale.)

Once I get the mini, I'll report back on whether I can get it to do the "one step rip and drag into mini playlist thing" (and probably have a few more questions!).

Thanks again
 
spyrelx said:
Donka,

(While I'm sure an older model would suit, I'm debating between a 2014 or a 2012 refurb if and when they ever go back on sale.)



Thanks again
Click to expand...

You and me both!!

For home theatre use, I'm actually leaning more towards the newer version - especially if it has faster wifi speeds (.ac) and also it is more future proof with the thunderbolt 2 connectivity....... - v- the cheaper option of a 2012 model, and with self upgrade options.
 
I initially had the 2012 i5 model and it was more than powerful enough for running as a media Centre. I only swapped it out for an i7 model because I got a great price on one and was planning on using it as a desktop too so at any point it may be doing a bit multi tasking.
Any recent mini will be more than up to the task.
 
Just read through this....not sure if the script is still needed but the location and names have changed of the Plex helper

Code: 
#!/bin/bash

#
# Kill off the PlexHTHelper process.
#
killall -9 PlexHTHelper

#
# Restart PlexHTHelper.
#
((//Users/bob/Library/Application\ Support/Plex\ Home\ Theater/PlexHTHelper -x & ) & )

Replace bob with your username
 
Does anyone play .M2TS files on their mini? Do they play perfectly? I have a sony video camera and this is the default file format. I would hate to have to convert them and loose some of the quality.
 
Cbdboz said:
You and me both!!

For home theatre use, I'm actually leaning more towards the newer version - especially if it has faster wifi speeds (.ac) and also it is more future proof with the thunderbolt 2 connectivity....... - v- the cheaper option of a 2012 model, and with self upgrade options.
Click to expand...

It could very well be true that wireless ac and TB2 would make a better HTPC. Just make sure that you do not need optical in or out. A lot of digital is done through HDMI now but there are still uses for optical and the 2014 mini no longer has that capability.
 
scottsjack said:
It could very well be true that wireless ac and TB2 would make a better HTPC. Just make sure that you do not need optical in or out. A lot of digital is done through HDMI now but there are still uses for optical and the 2014 mini no longer has that capability.
Click to expand...

I think the 2014 mini's headphone out is optical. The product page is here:

http://store.apple.com/us/buy-mac/mac-mini

it says "Audio line out/headphone minijack (digital/analog)".

According to a recent review of the 2014 mini the TB2s and HDMI ports support 4K screens at up to 30Hz ( but not 60Hz). Conceivably this could become important as 4K video becomes more prevalent but I don’t fully understand it.

The article also says that the 2014 also has different chips which perhaps improve video performance (I don’t fully understand that either).

The article is here:
http://arstechnica.com/apple/2014/11/not-the-upgrade-we-were-hoping-for-the-2014-mac-mini-reviewed/

I don't understand why better wifi is better for HTPC. Is it better Netflix reception?

If one become available, I could get a two core 2012 refurb with 8 gig cheaper than a new midlevel 2014 model, even if I had to buy and install the RAM. Similar savings if I went with SSD instead of hard drive. I’m just not sure weather there’s a significant difference from a HTPC point of view.

Does the 2014's TB2, some 4k capability and the newer chips matter that much?

And does it beat the ability to upgrade the 2012's RAM and hard drive over time?

Which is more “future proof”, again from a HTPC perspective?

The more I read on this the less clear the decision.
 
Last edited:
Anyone having issues with WOL on Yosemite?

My 2014 mac mini and my 2009 iMac both will not wake. Tried using Fing app on iPhone and even a WOL app on a PC. Both PC and iPhone connected to sam e wireless/wired network as mac mini and iMac
 
urbanmacUser said:
Anyone having issues with WOL on Yosemite?

My 2014 mac mini and my 2009 iMac both will not wake. Tried using Fing app on iPhone and even a WOL app on a PC. Both PC and iPhone connected to sam e wireless/wired network as mac mini and iMac
Click to expand...
Yes, my 2011 Mac mini does not show up on the network anymore, and if I do an SMB request directly, it doesn't wake. Not surprised though, since WOL has been working really badly since Mountain Lion.
 
Working fine for me. Rowmote, VNC Viewer and Plex all wake my sleeping Mac Mini without issue. I haven't changed any settings since upgrading to Yosemite.
 
I now have it working.

Had to setup up my router to give the same IP to the Mac mini based upon its MAC address and also had to put Powernap on in the Energy Saving prefs.

Now I can wake it from a WOL app on my iphone when I'm on the same network.

Next part is to try and get it to wake when I'm on a different network so then I can remotely control....

My external IP is not static so I've set up dynamic dns and also opened ports 9 and 7 on my router. Hopefully I'll be able to send the magic packet to the dynamic dns URL which in turn goes to my router through the firewall and on to my mac mini.
 
yosemite or mavericks?

Hi Donka and other contributors,

This is a really useful and informative thread - thanks.

I have just purchased a 2012 mac mini to use as a media centre. I have the base model with 4GB ram but I am planning to update to 8GB if needed.

The mini came with mavericks and i am thinking about updating to yosemite but thought i'd ask this group whether this is a good idea or not.

Current setup is that I have an ATV2 with xbmc and have a Time Capsule and an 7yr old QNAP NAS (no longer updated) that still works great although doesn't play nice with OS X - especially yosemite.

Given the age of my NAS, i'm thinking that I will move to attached external storage on the mini for media, time capsule for time machine and use the NAS as a backup server.

looking forward getting this all up and running.

thoughts on any of this appreciated.

jata
 
I can't comment on the QNAP since I don't have one but everything is still working fine for me since upgrading to Yosemite.
 
@jata1

Similar setup to you, ATV2, old NAS.....Now moving to 2014 Mac mini and eventually attached storage and retire my NAS.

So far all is ok for Yosemite although I also run a few python apps and python seems to crash frequently.
 
@urbanmacUser - thanks for the post. I'm going to stick with mavericks and get the whole setup working and settled. Then I will consider an upgrade to yosemite.

@donka - any particular reason why you upgraded to yosemite? Also wanted to check what you use logmein or team viewer for? I can access using vnc/screen sharing from my MBP and I have rowmote pro so I can only assume it's for access from iPad, iPhone, Android. Is that correct or is there more to it?

tomorrow i get my new external usb drive and i will move all my data to this drive and setup plex.

Final step is to create an automated process where i can convert my dvd collection and move the library. I'm planning to use IVI for this. Anyone got any tips for this?

thanks all.
 
jata1 said:
@donka - any particular reason why you upgraded to yosemite? Also wanted to check what you use logmein or team viewer for? I can access using vnc/screen sharing from my MBP and I have rowmote pro so I can only assume it's for access from iPad, iPhone, Android. Is that correct or is there more to it?
Click to expand...

Mostly just to stay current but also for Airdrop between iOS and OSX.
I use Teamviewer to access the mini when I am away from home e.g. When at work so I can kick off a download or similar.
 
mini media centre & plex up and running but...

Hi all,

My Mac mini as as a media server is working out ok but i have some issues that i hope you can help me with.

Config is that i have mini (late 2012) connected to yamaha AV receiver RX-V671. this is a mid range 7.1 system with a analog zone 2. so setup as 5.1 in main zone with a second zone (garden/patio) as 2 channel. Problems are outlined below.

AV 5.1 config:
1. HDMI connected via AV receiver for 5.1 is detected as Sony TV due to hdmi implementation on receiver - so this causes an issue with holding the 5.1 settings as the receiver switches to 2 channel stereo when receiver is switched off (or set to hdmi pass through) and switched on again. this is a big problem and a hassle to change. Any ideas? Following link explains the issue quite well although I can't get the solution to 'stick'.

http://blog.hqcodeshop.fi/archives/146-Mac-OS-X-Dolby-Digital-5.1-with-Mac-Mini-solved.html

2. output to zone 2 needs to be analog so I am using the headphone analog/digital output (headphone jack) and when this is plugged in the mini only outputs via the analog. Thinking about this i get it but i'd like a way to make this all work. I'm thinking about a hdmi splitter - that splits to hdmi & analog. thoughts or solutions appreciated...

Plex/remote:

3. I need to find a mac utility that watches a folder on external drive (NAS) and copy/move when files detected on watched folder. Any suggestions?

4. I have one ATV remote and when i use it for controlling the mini it also controls the ATV. any way to avoid this? what if i had 2 x ATV remotes?

5. in Plex, how can you manually change matched media that has been matched incorrectly?

6. how do you manually add media when not matched at all - e.g. I have a tom and jerry xmas special that doesn't match using TVDB or Movie DB. I want to manually add the media so I can see it in the library. Is this possible?

Sorry for the long post and I hope someone can help me with these irritations.

Thanks
 
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