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Mac Mini vs. Media Center
An anonymous reader writes "C|Net is pitting the new Intel Core Duo Mac Mini against Microsoft Media Center. The first round of the fight concludes: 'The Mac Mini automatically recognised the LCD TV we're using, and the third-party tuner was similarly straightforward to set up. Compared to the hours we've spent coaxing similar results out of a Microsoft Media Center system, the Mini is definitely ahead so far.'"
My hacked, Xbox that is. I'm a Mac owner, and a proud one at at. I tell most people I know that ask for advice to get a Mac (they're not computer geeks, or they'd not be asking me for advice, you see). I was seriously consider an Intel Mini core duo to replace my QuickSilver, but I think I'll wait and see what the new PowerMac replacement has to offer first.
So despite all of that, my hacked Xbox with XBMC is bounds and bound beyond what the Mini can do. *Maybe* the only advantage I can see for the Mini is a local PVR connection. Poor me is relegated to using a five-tuner Knoppmyth box on the backend and using xbmcmythtv on the Xbox. Okay, maybe the Mini can do HD; that's not a concern for me (yet).
--Jim (me)
I just don't understand where CNet is running into challenges. The process for hooking up my HDTV to my ATI RADEON:
1)Attach component adapter to DVI port.
2)Plug in TV.
3)Change channel on TV to component input.
How could they f*** that up? Mind you, things used to be a real chore about 10 years ago. I haven't run into a modern driver suite, that doesn't "just work".
I won't even touch the gross genealizations about an entire market of computers made in the first paragraph.
The Mini is a really cool idea. I haven't seen any of the hardware that WMC is running on. Personally, I use KnoppMyth, which is alarmingly functional, as far as PVRs go. I am not so into Windows solutions, due to the FUD: How often do I have to reboot WMCE? Will it record my shows? Do I have to have a 500+ Ghz machine to run it on? Will DRM cripple my ability to watch NetFlix DVDs? With an open-source solution, I know that I can do what I want with my hardware, and in this case, means watch Star Trek whenever I want.
Zhrodague.net - I do projects and stuff too.
Rude Turnip wrote:
>
> I think a far more interesting proposition would be to pit a 100lb pit
> bull against 100lbs of chihuahuas.
>
Prior art -- of a sort -- can be found in the grudge Match, "A Rottweiler vs. a Rottweiler's Weight of Chihuahuas":
www.grudge-match.com/History/rott-chi.shtml
Makes it more unsightly than a Windows box. You have to add a hard drive -- external because the internals have OSX on it. There's one device.
:)
Then you need a TV Tuner -- external.
Then you need to be able to pass the sound to a reciever perhaps -- more external devices.
After all is said and done.... sad to say, but Microsoft's Media Center is more suitable for a DVR solution. However, if you're just using it to browse movies (you already have digitally stored) or music, then the Mac Mini may be a good choice, since Front Row is really nice. But for recording TV (As I do now), the MCE solution is far, far better. And it's unfortunate because I'd much rather have a mac on my TV
The price is always right if someone else is paying.
please, it doesn't take hours to get a tuner set up on MCE. You "may" need to install a driver for your TV, but, I haven't had to yet. The only valid comment is that the mini is quieter. Of course, you can also get a MCE machine that's quiet as well. Of course, what they haven't mentioned is that the amount of disk space on the mini isn't anywhere near enough to be a useful PRV. While they seem content with just popping on USB and firewire devices, they seem to ignore the kind of rats nest and clutter that would create. My MCE is contained in a single shuttle box. That includes two TV tuners and 400GB of disk space of which 100 is dedicated to Music and Video files I already have. That would be two USB Tuners, and at least one USB/Firewire external hard drive and all the external powercords and cables associated with them, just for the PVR capability I have in a single box that is 7.87" x 7.28" x 12.2" and quiet enough for the living room. In my case, I don't even have the media center in the living room. It's in the kitchen and used as a normal PC and in the living room my X-Box 360 acts as a media Center Extender giving me full access to all my videos, music, recorded TV and live TV without the clutter of having the PC there. Sorry, the mini might be a fun media center project for some, but it's nowhere near as good as a media center PC.
My network was slow when I have a 802.11g router.
Even though connection speed was reported as 54Mbps I was only able to get much less than 6Mbps (with WPA enabled). I had the same issues as you did when watching videos remotely. It was very jerky.
I just moved to a 802.11a router (with WPA2 to boot) since then the slowness has completely disappered.
Note that H.264 is a derivative of MPEG; in fact, it is MPEG-4.
HDTV is typically transmitted as MPEG-2. This codec by itself is much less processing intensive than anything MPEG-4 (DivX, H.264, what-have-you) - it's the same used to compress DVD video. But what's saved in complexity is more than compensated for in outright resolution; HD uses significantly more pixels than DVD video (which in itself is high resolution compared to standard def TV), to the order of almost 3 times as many in the case of 720p (exactly 3 times as many in 1080i - not that it matters too much, since post-processing deinterlacing eats up a good bit of CPU in itself...and...well, forget 1080p). That's a lot of extra pixels. Ignoring operating systems, processors, and the rest, this is a tough cookie for any computer.
Still, I dare say any modern PC, no matter what the OS, can decode MPEG-2 at 720 just fine - maybe even 1080. I say this because I've never thrown an MPEG-2 that any PC of mine, since running Duron 600's, hasn't liked; although, never one at full HD res. But I still remain faithful.
That said, PVR'ing content of that kind of resolution, which essentially involves constant recording to disk, is enormously more demanding on any PC. So it all depends on the input card/adapter; I'm pretty sure no HD video adapter doesn't come with some kind of video compression chip on it. My standard def Hauppauge comes with an MPEG-2 encoder, without which my MythTV PVR would be a sight more skippy - it would be silly that HDTV tuners wouldn't, either.
All that said, I think little (performance-wise) depends on the software, and more attention should be paid to the hardware, which in the case of the new Macs is very similar to many PC's (or laptop, I should say). Worth noting that a Mac PVR probably would be specifically tied into Quicktime and iTunes, and dealing seamlessly with iPod Videos - a major plus for the majority.
Anybody know if Linux with MythTV can be installed onto an Intel Mac of any sort, and combined with a USB based tuner?