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+--- Thread: New mini for HTPC (/showthread.php?tid=88776)
New mini for HTPC - richorlin - 12-01-2009
Just picked up an Early 2009 Mac Mini (2.0ghz) at Microcenter for $425 to use as a home theatre PC.
I intend to use Front Row to watch my local media and Boxee and Plex to stream video from the internet. I currently use TiVO HD to stream Netflix and the quality is just like watching a DVD.
It currently has Leopard 10.5.6 on it. Should I upgrade to 10.5.9 or install Snow Leopard? Thanks.
Re: New mini for HTPC - kj4btkljv - 12-01-2009
The ONLY benefit I found with upgrading one of my Mac Mini TV machines to 10.6 was that if you pause a movie you've got on the hard drive (NOT through iTunes, it always worked correctly) or an external hard drive, or a server, and you go back to your main movie list, you can then go back to the paused movie and pickup right where you left off. In Leopard, the movie would start over from the beginning. Really frustrating if you accidentally hit the Menu button on the remote.
For some reason Apple had this working perfectly in Tiger Front Row, removed it as far as I know from Leopard Front Row, then put it back in Snow Leopard Front Row. Leopard FR is much faster than Tiger FR, Snow Leopard seems to be a smidge slower in FR than Leopard was/is.
Jeff
Re: New mini for HTPC - deckeda - 12-01-2009
Hmm. My kids have Leopard on their MDD and use Front Row. For them, Front Row always gives them the option to resume.
Re: New mini for HTPC - Ombligo - 12-01-2009
I have the full run of OS's on our three macs (g4 mini with Tiger, intel mini with Snow and macbook with leopard) - all have a resume option.
My advice is ram the Ram in that mini and put you library on an external raid drive.
Re: New mini for HTPC - Plumbking - 12-01-2009
After I upgraded to SL on my mini HTPC streaming HD/ Blu ray via Plex was much better. I also prefer watching Netflix streaming with Plex than with my Tivo HD.
Re: New mini for HTPC - richorlin - 12-02-2009
Plumbking wrote:
After I upgraded to SL on my mini HTPC streaming HD/ Blu ray via Plex was much better. I also prefer watching Netflix streaming with Plex than with my Tivo HD.
I just checked it out and Netflix has more options on Plex than on the Tivo.
Now the question is: which is a better media server - Plex or Boxee?
Re: New mini for HTPC - kj4btkljv - 12-02-2009
Ombligo wrote:
I have the full run of OS's on our three macs (g4 mini with Tiger, intel mini with Snow and macbook with leopard) - all have a resume option.
My advice is ram the Ram in that mini and put you library on an external raid drive.
deckeda wrote:
Hmm. My kids have Leopard on their MDD and use Front Row. For them, Front Row always gives them the option to resume.
Is that playing a movie that is loaded in iTunes, or is it a .mov, .avi, .wmv, or other file type living on some part of the hard drive in a folder. I'm almost 100% positive that content on the hard drive doesn't resume when you exit from the movie. If it's in iTunes, and made available to Front Row, either through sharing your library, or in iTunes on the same machine connected to the TV, It let's you resume. Try it, unless I'm smoking something and completely wrong...
Jeff
Re: New mini for HTPC - Will Collier - 12-02-2009
Front Row on my Mini (10.5.x) resumes at the spot where I left off for ripped DVDs, but not for single files (.mov, .avi, etc.). I haven't bothered upgrading that box to SL yet.
Re: New mini for HTPC - kj4btkljv - 12-03-2009
Will Collier wrote:
Front Row on my Mini (10.5.x) resumes at the spot where I left off for ripped DVDs, but not for single files (.mov, .avi, etc.). I haven't bothered upgrading that box to SL yet.
Where do those movie files live, inside your Movies folder in your user account folder? Or, are they ripped, then imported into iTunes? There's a difference.
I have files in my Movies folder, all the formats originally mentioned, and I can't get them to resume. If I rip the file so iTunes can import it into it's movie list, then load Front Row, it will let my exit and resume the movie just like Tiger used to thru Front Row.
Jeff