Hi Daniel, this use of the Macmini sounds fantastic and very versatile. I am some time in the near future to set up my home entertainment units and have a simple Panasonic HD recorder currently (with twin digital tuners on board) so it is fine for my current 'couch potato' needs. But to incorporate itunes, iphoto, internet capability, avi file (and other file types) DVD playback and perhaps others by piggybacking a macmini into the mix, sounds like something that will give me access to some of my media which is slightly inaccessible currently and some further functionality that I have never experienced on the home TV platform.
Below you note about burning off to DVD using Toast. Does the macmini have a burner on board or is it an external attachment? How many USB ports does the macmini have? Can it accommodate the eyetv dongle as well as an external drive/burner attached if that is what's required? Can it function with a hub if I need multiple USB ports? I had anticipated up till now an Apple TV would give me what I want (with the atv hack of course and maybe an attached external drive for mega capacity) but maybe the Macmini approach will give me all this and more than the Apple TV will give for around the same or even a little more $$'s. Your comments appreciated. Regards Peter. -----Original Message----- From: wamug-ow...@wamug.org.au [mailto:wamug-ow...@wamug.org.au] On Behalf Of Daniel Kerr Sent: Tuesday, 10 August 2010 10:16 PM To: WAMUG Subject: Re: TV DVD Recording On 10/8/10 10:05 PM, "thefrogs" <thefr...@iinet.net.au> wrote: > > This may be off our usual topic but? > > At home I have my mac set up with elgato eyeTV and it is brilliant. But our > DVD player in the lounge is getting old. We use it to play DVD and recordTV, > however it does not record HDTV and it sometimes fails on other region DVDs. > Has anyone brought or have an idea about playing and recording in a normal > lounge situation? > tom samson > Hi Tom Not sure if you're referring to a similar Mac set up, or something else. But this was a post I sent through to a query Rod asked back about 15/06/2010 covering using a Macmini for a TV/DVD/recording setup. I just set one up for a client last Friday also and they work very well. (And the new Macmini's are fantastic! Especially when set with a wireless keyboard and new Magic Trackpad.) Here is a copy of the post, so hope it's sort of what you mean,... Kind Regards Daniel ------ Forwarded Message From: Daniel Kerr <wa...@macwizardry.com.au> Reply-To: WAMUG Mailing List <wamug@wamug.org.au> Date: Tue, 15 Jun 2010 18:05:52 +0800 To: WAMUG <wamug@wamug.org.au> Conversation: apple store is down internationally as well as here in Australia Subject: Re: apple store is down internationally as well as here in Australia Hi Rod Not that I pertain to be an expert on it all, but I did set up Ronni's MacMini and TV, and have done the same for many clients. Basically, the MacMini becomes the sort of "do everything" system. With the eyeTV range which runs off USB you can then bring in your TV signal. Depending on the eyeTV you choose you can get Analog and Digital signals, and some even allow analogue from other devices (eg VCR or older style movie cameras). With eyeTV you can watch live TV, do "Time Shifting" which pauses live TV until you come back and carry on from where you left of, or you can set it up to record TV (and even have it repeat recording). These recordings are saved to Hard Drive, where you can then watch them later and very easily edit (with the eyeTV software) and burn it to disk (DVD) with Toast. Or delete it once you don't need it. They are very small and excellent units (and many on the list can contest to). The great thing with the MacMini is it's small, low power and very convenient. Once you consider it also has wireless, then you've got full access to the internet (For a tv guide or some quick browsing). With iTunes streaming/sharing you've got access to File Sharing out of iTunes, so you can access all your music as well and listen to it via TV/Stereo (depending on how you have it all setup). Also with other programs like VLC, Real Player, iView (ABC etc) and other streaming internet sites you then get access to a lot more content (which you may have or own already), as well all so much other info that is out there. (YouTube etc). Run out of room or want to store more?? No problem. Plug in a Firewire Hard Drive and you've got access to a whole lot more storage at fairly reasonable pricing. Of course the MacMini also has DVD, so you can also watch your DVD's as well. (And VLC will handle DVD's that aren't Region Code4) So all in one you've then got your TV, DVD player, Internet Access, Music "Access/storage". Oh, and I forgot iPhoto has picture sharing as well....so you can then access all your computers is the house and share photos as well. All displayed on your nice big LCD or Plasma TV. (Or 3D TV??) :o) I can't say I've ever tried to play games on them,..but hey, if you're that way inclined you can do that as well I'm sure. (Sim3 on TV????) :) Hopefully that gives you an idea of how the set up works. Of course, as it's "just a standard computer", you can use it do all that and anything else you'd normally do as well. All it requires (especially with these new ones), is the MacMini and an HDMI cable (if your TV has HDMI). Add on a wireless keyboard and wireless mouse (and Apple remote if you want) and you can sit on the couch and still use all the features. Blow up the resolution and have large icons. Set the Dock to only the major applications you want to use (and large dock size). Set up a couple of others things for ease of use,...and you're in business. It's actually a great little entertainment unit. As mentioned I've set quite a few of these up for many clients. I just sourced the hardware for them, and had it set up reasonably quickly. A quick demo of all the features and away you go. I have one client that has the MacMini set up with a small LCD screen (about 24" I think) and it sits on a "wheelie table". They can just wheel it from room to room for ever want to use it. It's then their "Spare" entertainment centre. People stay over,..wheel it to the "spare room" and the quests have their own TV, DVD player and internet access to use. :o) Quite cool really. I had the same set up here until recently. (Only cause I needed to offload the MacMini for another project). But with the new MacMini, I'll be ordering a new one soon(ish) and set it up again. They work really well. Hope that info helps a little and isn't too confusing. (I have a bad habit of just writing the emails and not doubling checking it as working through more by the time I've finished one email) :o) (Edit: Perhaps I should do another WAMUG demo at some stage on the eyeTV units if enough people were interested???.) Kind Regards Daniel ------ End Forwarded Message --- Daniel Kerr MacWizardry Phone: 0414 795 960 Email: <daniel @ macwizardry . com . au> Web: <http://www.macwizardry.com.au> **For everything Macintosh** -- The WA Macintosh User Group Mailing List -- Archives - <http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/archives.shtml> Guidelines - <http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/guidelines.shtml> Unsubscribe - <mailto:wamug-unsubscr...@wamug.org.au> ***************************** NOTICE - This message from Hatch is intended only for the use of the individual or entity to which it is addressed and may contain information which is privileged, confidential or proprietary. Internet communications cannot be guaranteed to be secure or error-free as information could be intercepted, corrupted, lost, arrive late or contain viruses. By communicating with us via e-mail, you accept such risks. 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