Sep 28, 2014  Windows and Linux on the Mac Mini will handle files with HD audio streams without reducing them down to core Dolby and DTS. If I recall, Zoltac, Asus and about 3 other makes have mini style computers that work very well with XBMC and similar size to the Mac Mini. 3D Compatible MediaPlayer/HTPC for XBMC. Discussion in 'Video Streaming Boxes & Services' started by KILLER NADS. Mac Mini - is the absolute last choice because of price at around £500. (DTS-HD or TrueHD), it doesn't have the support for it within the OS.

Is a Mac Mini plugged into a tv a good replacement for Xbox Media Center? Depends how you connect the mac mini to the tv. DVI to HDMI is best, then DVI to VGA and if all else fails try DVI to S-video or component/composite (I can't remember which it is, it's only one of component and composite, not both you can choose from). Will it stream music from other Windows machines on the network easily Yes.

Just make sure you have a good wireless router and that your windows machines have a program like iTunes. In the preferences of iTunes turn sharing of your library on for all computers that have music that you want to share. (You may need to add the mac mini's Ip to your trusted IP address list in your firewall). If you're just streaming music it should work really well, but streaming video could be problematic due to speed limitations of your wireless network.

And can it play high definition video files (which is one thing that XBMC cant do)? Yes, I think it can. I recommend you get VLC (can play just about anything, so a good thing to have just in case even if you prefer to use other apps). You may also want Flip4Mac so you can play Windows Media files in Quicktime and the Perian codec is quite useful to play many different video formats in quicktime. Has anyone else done it? I haven't personally used a mac mini, but I was thinking of getting one for a long time. I use a macbook and a mac mini can play all the same videos that a macbook can.

I think it should work really great. Is a Mac Mini plugged into a tv a good replacement for Xbox Media Center? Leopard and Front Row 2 make it even better. You can use these methods for plugging it in to your tv: HDMI - Via a DVI to HDMI cable. This is the best quality as it's digital all the way and can handle full high def. Mac Minis don't like some TVs with 1366 x 768 resolutions.

1920 x 1080 seems to not cause any issues. Even if your TV is the 1366 x 768 variety, there's things you can tweak to get the image filling the entire screen. Utils like SwitchResX should help.

Alternative to snapseed for mac. Alternatives to Snapseed for iPhone, Android, iPad, Windows, Mac and more. Filter by license to discover only free or Open Source alternatives. This list contains a total of 25+ apps similar to Snapseed.

VGA - Via a DVI to VGA cable. This is still very good quality and can handle full high def. The signal is going to analogue and back, so it's not as good as the HDMI solution. It should work on all TVs that have VGA though. Component - Not possible without some kind of (very expensive) DVI to component converter.

Not as good quality as either VGA or HDMI. S-Video or Component - Both rather shoddy quality wise. A DVI to S-Video and component converter can be purchased from Apple. I mean will it play every type of video file easily You can install Perian or use VLC, so it'll play anything any other Mac can play. Will it stream music from other Windows machines on the network easily If you can mount the Windows share on a Mac, then you should be fine. Front Row doesn't have a file browser though, so you'll have to use aliases or do something else tricky to get it to work.

It won't be identical to XBMC. That's just not how Front Row works (it only looks for movies in the Movies folder). Can it play high definition video files (which is one thing that XBMC cant do)? Certainly can. It can probably play video higher than 1080p HD, depending on the codec used. Has anyone else done it? I have a 1.66ghz Core Duo Mac Mini with dual HD TV tuner and external HD that I watch and record a lot of TV on and use for playing files.

Things you might not have considered that will make you realise XBMC still reigns supreme in a lot of areas: - Front Row is SLOW to browse around. I loathe how slow it is. XBMC kills this HANDS down. - The remote has 4 buttons? Think about how restrictive that becomes over the XBox remote. There are other media centre alternatives for OS X, haven't really tried them, but they're probably better than Front Row. Having the ability to set up SMB shares and all your other sources and everything else makes XBMC extremely flexible.

On the other hand, Front Row uses your iTunes library and 'Music' folder for Music, iPhoto and 'Pictures' for pictures and iTunes and 'Movies' for your movies. If only the original XBox could handle HD better. Can it play high definition video files (which is one thing that XBMC cant do)? Not sure if you back yourself, but I believe you can upgrade the processor in your xbox so as it is able to handle h264 encoded files. Of course, you'll no longer be able to go on xbox live and some games won't run correctly with the faster processor. But if you're just using it as a media centre, this could be an option to look at. I believe XBMC is still one of the best media centres, it's just the old XBOX processors that fail it.