Mac Mini and VLC, external disks

[mcs37]

Hey folks, I'm looking to get a new Mac Mini for use as a home media center. Specifically I want to hook it up to a projector, run DVDs, audio, maybe some actual computer use, but also playing movies I've downloaded in DIVX format.

Typically I use VLC to play AVI files since it works out of the box, but I doubt QuickTime can support it. How does the Mini handle this? How does it handle browsing a folder of videos using Front Row? Is there a way it can seamlessly play movies using VLC or some other non-default video player in Front Row? I think it would be great if it would read a folder of videos, show them, play them--all through Front Row, not escaping out of Front Row and loading VLC separately. I also subscribe to the Daily Show through iTunes -- do all the downloaded videos appear in Front Row? In short, I want to use the Apple Remote to control everything in my media.

Also how does it handle mounting another external drive? Like if I attach a 300GB external, does it scan all those and add them to its pretty index?

 

[JAT]

Well, it's not the Mini, it's Front Row. It only works with what it works with, and that is not much. But, go to avsforum.com and find the Mac HTPC forum. Somebody figured out a lot of this stuff you want with workarounds, and some homebrew software. I forget if they actually got VLC working through FR or not, but I think you can find some of this stuff.

And I believe that is a Yes to the indexing question.

 

[solvs]

If you use the right codecs, QT (and therefor iTunes and Front Row) will be able to play most of your files. You'll need Perian and Flip4Mac, plus DIVX if you want it. There are some other ones out there, but that should do it. All of the codecs are free. The movies you download via iTunes will appear automatically in FR. For an external disk, you'd need to make an alias of it in the movies folder. FR should see it. VLC won't work through FR, but you can use it on it's own just fine. If you want to use your remote with other apps than FR, you'd have to buy a 3rd party app like Mira.