# Mac Mini to become a digital hub?



## Thank The Cheese (Nov 30, 2005)

I found this article the other day which suggests the mac mini might evolve into a media center type device. 

I have never even considered buying a mac mini, because I need something with a bit more grunt, but if it was useful as DVR/media centre/ etc. then I would snap one up in a second. 

Wouldn't be a huge leap, I mean, minis have been fitted into cars and living rooms for a while now, but I'd love to see Apple actually release a mini version that was _made_ for such a purpose.


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## Lt Major Burns (Nov 30, 2005)

i don't like the 3.5" drive thing.  it would suggest to the public a U-turn.  it wouldn't be a mac mini any more. it'd be mac slightly-bigger-than-a-mini


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## Thank The Cheese (Nov 30, 2005)

Lt Major Burns said:
			
		

> i don't like the 3.5" drive thing.  it would suggest to the public a U-turn.  it wouldn't be a mac mini any more. it'd be mac slightly-bigger-than-a-mini



lol, true. although surely they can fit a 3.5" without needing to enlarge the mini. I mean, it's only 1 inch. There has got to be a way to compress the other components to compensate for the larger drive. 

Perhaps I'm being naive; it's probably more complicated than that.


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## texanpenguin (Nov 30, 2005)

Thank The Cheese said:
			
		

> lol, true. although surely they can fit a 3.5" without needing to enlarge the mini. I mean, it's only 1 inch. There has got to be a way to compress the other components to compensate for the larger drive.
> 
> Perhaps I'm being naive; it's probably more complicated than that.




Have you ever seen the inside of a Mac mini? The only way they could introduce a bigger HDD (or a bigger ANYTHING) would be to shrink EVERYTHING ELSE. Which would be a huge expense (especially with things like RAM, where non-standard is not a good idea). And when you say "it's only one inch", well it's one inch more on the HDD platters. Which manifests itself about threefold in volume. A 3.5" HDD is enormous next to a 2.5" one.


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## Thank The Cheese (Nov 30, 2005)

aah. so I _was_ being naive 

how much bigger are we talking? I mean, a 3.5" would certainly bring the cost down and disk space up, which is good. unless it's *a lot* bigger, I think it may be worth the trade-off imo.


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## kainjow (Dec 1, 2005)

Either way, the Mac mini is still a small computer! You can't really complain about its size.

I have a feeling that if they come out with an Intel Mac mini in January, they will sell an insane number of them! Not only will the consumers want them madly, but developers who can't afford to rent a $1000 computer, will go after them also!

Apple's a freakin' genius


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## fryke (Dec 1, 2005)

Maybe such a home entertainment device would _not_ be called the Mac mini and would maybe not even replace it?


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## Reality (Dec 1, 2005)

I would love a Apple DVR. I hope it has wifi support too or something so that it can broadcast to other macs or even accept veido/picture feed from one to display on the TV.


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## gwynarion (Dec 2, 2005)

I have to say that I'm not all that eager to see Apple release a DVR.  Consumer Reports (magazine) had a piece about DVRs in a recent issue and their general assessment of them was that it is not worthwhile to buy one.  Their reasoning was that the technology and the features and the services that they tie in to are changing so rapidly that anything you buy will be quickly out of date.  Their stated preference is toward renting your DVR from your cable or satellite company.

Now that being said it is entirely possible that Apple will design and release a DVR which will change my mind.  I was completely uninterested in MP3 players until Apple came out with the iPod and revolutionized the product category.  And I _would_ like to see something similar to a Mac mini but with FrontRow built in and connections for high end audio and video equipment.  Maybe they could create such a device that tied in with the DVRs you rent from your AV provider, I don't know.


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## fryke (Dec 2, 2005)

Hm... A Mac mini with FrontRow... My home entertainment system today is this: One 300 GB harddrive contains all my movies (handbrake-ripped to MPEG-4 by myself, so I don't have to search through my DVDs). I have to connect my PB to that drive as well as the video projector and the Dolby Digital system in order to watch a movie. A Mac mini with Front Row could simply be "always there"... On the other hand, that'd almost be too expensive only for that task, no?


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## Lt Major Burns (Dec 2, 2005)

it depends. how much did you spend on that projector?  people will pay £3000 for a tv, so £400 is nothing.


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## fjdouse (Dec 2, 2005)

mmh, I found this out from this article:

http://www.thinksecret.com/news/0511macmini2.html

Not withstanding the pseudo-elitist comments about the Mac mini, mine has served me well as my main computer and a true digital hub. Hell, I'm even running Lightwave and making animations with ease.  The new mini will (obviously) have a bit more 'umph' and be Intel-based, a-hem, upto six months earlier, or so the article says.  I hate to say to a certain member here, "I TOLD YOU SO", but I did say over and over that they would have Intel Macs on the market BEFORE the conference next year.

I think it will be a great machine, shame about Front Row, it's great for Mac-made media but if it only plays videos which are compatible with Quicktime (perhaps someone can clarify this), it will be useless for my own needs, I have to rely on VLC.


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## chevy (Dec 2, 2005)

Front Row plays DVDs and will be able to play content from the web (as it works for trailers today).


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## kainjow (Dec 2, 2005)

I just want a cheap x86 Mac that's Apple branded


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## MacFreak (Dec 2, 2005)

I am sure they will call Mini Mac to iHome. Like we saw iHome. Maybe?


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## fryke (Dec 2, 2005)

fjdouse: You're aware that the way you've said it it's much more aggressive than if you just had come and said: "Fryke, I told you so..."? I can admit that my assumption was wrong - no problem there. (Besides, only because the rumour-web thickens now about an intel-release in January, it could still be _wrong_...) ... And what pseudo-elitist comments are you talking about? Be more specific, please...


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## Lt Major Burns (Dec 3, 2005)

fryke: little off topic questions:

1) how much space does 100 dvd's take up ripped into mpeg4?

2) why not h.264?

3) how long does it take you to rip a dvd feature on your powerbook?


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## chevy (Dec 3, 2005)

1) We can probably go for 1G/DVD if one does not need the highest resolution (DVD is NO high resolution, it's just better than VHS).
2) H.264 is a variant of MPEG4
3) I don't want to answer for Fryke, but this takes very, very long. Therefore during some time, people may use real DVD and not rip the content. The other way to access the movie is over Internet. And if you think bandwidth will not be sufficient, I suggest you try to play trailers on Front Row. And who has a good Internet shop for multimedia content ?

Now, it's clear that within a few years the Mac CPU will be strong enough to rip DVDs in real time.


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## Lt Major Burns (Dec 4, 2005)

and beyond.  when did computers get powerful enough to rip mp3's in realtime and beyond?

i've now ripped Romeo+Juliet, American Psycho, Fight Club and Scarface into h.264 mpegs.  they're averaging about 1gb, and taking between 5 and 7 hours.  it depends, if i put my processors onto Highest then it goes about 12 fps, reduced is about 7 fps.


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## fjdouse (Dec 4, 2005)

[begin off-topic
Fryke: Yeah I should have just said it, so I will...  Fryke, I told you so, didn't I?  A lot of people were saying it would be at the time of the next conference, but simply listening to his exact words, in plain english (As an Englishman I can claim to have SOME knowledge of my own language even if it was said by an American) reveals that they will be already on the market by then.  I got shot down for saying that, I still hold to that view. We'll see how it develops, and one of us will be right, the other will owe a beer ;-) (But I don't drink)

As for the pseudo-elitist comments, that's not you my dear friend, it's a general elitism which is found here, hence why I rarely bother logging in nowadays.  Mac minis and eMacs get quite an unfair battering off many people here, and there is an air of elitism among G5 users.  (I could state why I think that is, but, that really would upset too many, I don't want that) That's the impression I get and a friend was saying the same only a few days ago and we've never discussed this site before.  But that's something we can discuss privately if you wish, it's not an attack on you  ;-)
[/end off-topic]


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## Lt Major Burns (Dec 4, 2005)

i've never seen anything like an eliteism towards minis/quad-core g5's.

the mini is a very capable computer, it's very stylish, and both a design and price breakthrough.  many people have mini's on here.


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## lilbandit (Dec 4, 2005)

What type of media centre are we talking about? Sitting beneath the family television? Hidden away in a cupboard piping television/movies/music/images etc. around the house? Can't speak for the rest of the globe but I do know that the majority of Irish adults find programming a VCR challenging! Apple would have to work some magic in order to break into the living room outside the usual geeks/early adopters/ tech literate crowd.


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## Lt Major Burns (Dec 4, 2005)

well this is why P/DVR solutions look so good - recording something on one is ten times simpler than prgramming a vcr: as simple as finding the program you want in the tv guide.  on a sky+ box (british tivo) you just press the record button on the remote when you're looking at the program you want.

if apple did one, it very likely that it'll be the best solution on the market


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## Quicksilver (Dec 4, 2005)

Think secret and macrumors are stating that apple may be utilising the .mac resource to further enhance this method. After all, it would be a good for apple revenue with .mac memberships, and secondly be much more secure than allowing content to be downloaded to your computer HD.

Think Secret states that the media will be loaded to your iDisk. But i can't see apple giving everyone 200GB space per $99.95! However, i can see apple having a media server where the media data would reside, and then members would purchase a movie to have access to that movie via their .mac membership, Front Row would be utilised to access the video data on Apples media servers through your .mac membership as verification and purchase history. 

Thats how i see it could be done, if .mac was combined into this. Not to mention the possibilities if every home user spending that $99.95 per year, now i also wonder if that would include movies or not. If so, id have to say bye bye to the video store down the road and hello to the apple video store online.


.


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## Thank The Cheese (Dec 5, 2005)

fjdouse said:
			
		

> ...but if it only plays videos which are compatible with Quicktime...it will be useless for my own needs, I have to rely on VLC.



yikes, I never thought of that. Hopefully someone can clarify, but I'd be betting good money on it only allowing Quicktime-Compatible movies. That could be a deal breaker for me I think.


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## kainjow (Dec 5, 2005)

All you'd have to do is install Flip4Mac, a QuickTime plugin, and you can play virtually all WMV and WMA's.


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## fjdouse (Dec 6, 2005)

kainjow said:
			
		

> All you'd have to do is install Flip4Mac, a QuickTime plugin, and you can play virtually all WMV and WMA's.



mmh, costs though, and I've never (in all my years) had a need to play either of those formats, I'm thinking of Divx, Xvid etc. which have to be 'doctored' to play - no good for me.  I simply could not use the huge collection I have without VLC, Front Row won't cut it - unless it can use third-party players??


Mr Cheese man, I'm thanking the cheese right now... ;-)


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## fryke (Dec 6, 2005)

btw.: fjdouse: intel macs due june 6? -> http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/12/06/apple_intel_macs_due_june/ ... like i said: nothing's done yet. (until they're actually out...)


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## fryke (Dec 6, 2005)

oh, and i'm elitist alright.  but i ain't got a g5 and i've got nothing against eMac or Mac mini or iBook users. not at all... but i must say: i don't see such an elitist way on the board... maybe we'd really have to discuss that in private messages. (now _that'd_ make it elitist, in some way, eh?)


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## lilbandit (Dec 6, 2005)

Any Mac with a 4 in the name is for peasants


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## Lt Major Burns (Dec 6, 2005)

does quad count?


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## lilbandit (Dec 6, 2005)

nah...just a 4!


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## Martyn Ford (Dec 7, 2005)

Software company Geniecommands last Thursday released an exciting new Macintosh software program designed to give users more control and fun over their digital entertainment experiences in their lounge room.
GenieCommands is a unique programmable software application that allows you to control all your applications and media via simple menus and a KEYSPAN REMOTE, in a theatre or lounge room environment.

Genie is not a one stop solution like Front Row, it is more user definable and can do more with iTunes. It's about audio and good cheap content is what we want. We know Apple will take Front Row further and we love what they have done with the first version, so we have incorporate it into our software on top of the first menu so nobody misses out.

Future upgrades to Geniecommands in the coming weeks will include a Themes importer. There has also been suggestion of an small screen version in the near future.
So dip your toes in the water is warming for the Mac Media Center.
www.Geniecommands.com


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## Lt Major Burns (Dec 7, 2005)

it's a nice idea, but one look at it put me off. it's not apple at all. it looks like a powerpoint presentation. shoddy.


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## fryke (Dec 7, 2005)

Plus we don't allow cheap advertisment like this here. Please read the board rules.


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## Martyn Ford (Dec 7, 2005)

Sorry about the post but we are looking to engadge the Mac community not to sit and wait for Apple to do it all or there will be no choice. It's not Powerpoint, Geniecommands can run Applescripts.

Front Row is only a small part of the solution. Using iTunes to catalogue your videos is just wrong. Also content is streamed in more formats than Quicktime, although no were as high quality as Apple it uses less bandwidth and there is alot of it out there. 

At least this forum is alive.


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