mac mini or apple TV
Hi
I wonder if someone could offer me some advice and answer a few questions on which to buy for what i need please.
I would like to....
1. Play music from itunes through TV
2. Watch home movies (mp4 format) through TV
3. Rip some kids DVDs and play through TV without using the DVDs (which are forever getting scratched)
4. Look at my photos which are all stored in flickr
I am just about to buy an LCD TV which will have hdmi input (not sure if it has VGA or DVI)
I can buy an apple TV for £199 (40gb version)
I can buy a mac mini for £359 (80gb standard version)
Ideally i'd prefer not to have my PC on all the time to stream media to apple Tv or mac mini, although its not a problem if i need too do this.
Q1. Would the apple TV do everything i need or should I spend the extra £159 and get a full mac mini with email, web access, more disk space ?
Q2. Is it possible to get flickr integration in front row 2 on OSx leopard like on the apple TV ?
Q3. Is it possible (and easy i'm not a techie) to get the apple TV to use an external hard disk for media storage rather than stream from a PC ?
Q4. Is it possible (and easy again i'm not a techie) to get apple TV to use divx and other non mac formats ?
Q5. Is it possible to get the mac mini to start front row on boot up so if my wife switched it on it would be ready to play music etc.. without even seeing the desktop and having to navigate to front row to start it ?
Q6. Is it possible to rent HD movies on apple TV and mac mini from the US using a US gift card ?
Q7. Is the mac mini a good device for playing normal DVDs ?
Sorry for all the questions I hope you can help a newb decide on which device to buy for what I need.
Thanks for such a great site
Chris
I wonder if someone could offer me some advice and answer a few questions on which to buy for what i need please.
I would like to....
1. Play music from itunes through TV
2. Watch home movies (mp4 format) through TV
3. Rip some kids DVDs and play through TV without using the DVDs (which are forever getting scratched)
4. Look at my photos which are all stored in flickr
I am just about to buy an LCD TV which will have hdmi input (not sure if it has VGA or DVI)
I can buy an apple TV for £199 (40gb version)
I can buy a mac mini for £359 (80gb standard version)
Ideally i'd prefer not to have my PC on all the time to stream media to apple Tv or mac mini, although its not a problem if i need too do this.
Q1. Would the apple TV do everything i need or should I spend the extra £159 and get a full mac mini with email, web access, more disk space ?
Q2. Is it possible to get flickr integration in front row 2 on OSx leopard like on the apple TV ?
Q3. Is it possible (and easy i'm not a techie) to get the apple TV to use an external hard disk for media storage rather than stream from a PC ?
Q4. Is it possible (and easy again i'm not a techie) to get apple TV to use divx and other non mac formats ?
Q5. Is it possible to get the mac mini to start front row on boot up so if my wife switched it on it would be ready to play music etc.. without even seeing the desktop and having to navigate to front row to start it ?
Q6. Is it possible to rent HD movies on apple TV and mac mini from the US using a US gift card ?
Q7. Is the mac mini a good device for playing normal DVDs ?
Sorry for all the questions I hope you can help a newb decide on which device to buy for what I need.
Thanks for such a great site
Chris
Comments
Q3: Apple doesn't allow the USB port for this and no one has hacked that ability in yet.
Q4: Possible: Yes. Easy: No. You have to remove the hard drive from the apple-TV and attach it to a Mac or PC. Then install SSH and any other applications/video plugins you need. It's not difficult, but I believe it will void the warranty.
Q5: Yes. In the earliest versions of Front Row (FR), you had to create a simple Applescript to launch FR. But now since FR is a proper application, you should be able to add it to the Login Items for any given user. Make sure that user is automatically logged in at startup and you should be golden.
Q7: I have no experience with a mini, but it should work exactly like any other Mac. And using a DVD with a Mac provides as good of a DVD viewing experience as any other device.
Hopefully someone else can snwer the other questions
thanks again for your reply
chris
Q6. You can only rent HD movies with the AppleTV.
thats a shame thought id be able to rent HD movies in itunes via front row 2 on mac mini.
I wonder if they will add this functionality at a later date.
Do you know if I can use a US iTunes voucher to rent movies on the apple TV.
Also did I hear somewhere that there may be a new mac mini soon which will be HD capable ?
Hi
Q3. Is it possible (and easy i'm not a techie) to get the apple TV to use an external hard disk for media storage rather than stream from a PC ?
Yes, but it requires hacking the AppleTV. This can be done by using a Patchstick (A USB flash-drive with the right software. Then issuing a long series of commands via SSH.
http://wiki.awkwardtv.org/wiki/index...itle=Main_Page
Hi
Q4. Is it possible (and easy again i'm not a techie) to get apple TV to use divx and other non mac formats ?
Yes. See above. DIVX and XVID are fine. But the MKV format @ 720p will never play on an AppleTV. The processor is just not up to it. The Mac Mini is powerful enough to play MKV.
Hi
Q5. Is it possible to get the mac mini to start front row on boot up so if my wife switched it on it would be ready to play music etc.. without even seeing the desktop and having to navigate to front row to start it ?
Just leave it running FrontRow
Hi
Q6. Is it possible to rent HD movies on apple TV and mac mini from the US using a US gift card ?
HD movies are only available on the AppleTV (at the moment)
Hi
Q7. Is the mac mini a good device for playing normal DVDs ?
I have a big DVD collection from multiple regions. So while my DVD player is happy to play Region1 and 2 disks - Apple's computers arrive with a 5 changes policy. I am not sure if the DVD drive in the Mac Mini can be reprogrammed to be region-free.
C.
Yes, but it requires hacking the AppleTV. This can be done by using a Patchstick (A USB flash-drive with the right software. Then issuing a long series of commands via SSH.
http://wiki.awkwardtv.org/wiki/index...itle=Main_Page
Yes. See above. DIVX and XVID are fine. But the MKV format @ 720p will never play on an AppleTV. The processor is just not up to it. The Mac Mini is powerful enough to play MKV.
Just leave it running FrontRow
HD movies are only available on the AppleTV (at the moment)
I have a big DVD collection from multiple regions. So while my DVD player is happy to play Region1 and 2 disks - Apple's computers arrive with a 5 changes policy. I am not sure if the DVD drive in the Mac Mini can be reprogrammed to be region-free.
C.
Thanks for the reply Carniphage
Once the apple TV has been hacked to use an external hard drive how does it work - does the patch bascially fool the apple TV into thinking the usb hard disk is its "internal drive" and therefore it caches media to the external usb drive rather than the local hard disk. I am just wondering how you add more music films etc...to it when its using the external usb drive rather than the internal hard disk
Thanks for the reply Carniphage
Once the apple TV has been hacked to use an external hard drive how does it work - does the patch bascially fool the apple TV into thinking the usb hard disk is its "internal drive" and therefore it caches media to the external usb drive rather than the local hard disk. I am just wondering how you add more music films etc...to it when its using the external usb drive rather than the internal hard disk
Once hacked, the Apple TV appears on the network as another Mac. The drive can be shared as an AFP or SMB shared server.
So all you need to do is copy files onto it.
Instead of doing this - I have a drive plugged into the Airport Express base station. Which is shared. The hacked AppleTV can play files from this.
To play this file-based content. I use a program called AppleTV Files - which adds itself to the AppleTV menu. This program lets you browse and play video from any local or network file store.
So my current setup is a single Gigabyte hard drive in the basement. And the Apple TV streams the content to wherever it happens to be. With 720P HD mpeg4 content, the streaming is flawless.
C.
Once hacked, the Apple TV appears on the network as another Mac. The drive can be shared as an AFP or SMB shared server.
So all you need to do is copy files onto it.
Instead of doing this - I have a drive plugged into the Airport Express base station. Which is shared. The hacked AppleTV can play files from this.
To play this file-based content. I use a program called AppleTV Files - which adds itself to the AppleTV menu. This program lets you browse and play video from any local or network file store.
So my current setup is a single Gigabyte hard drive in the basement. And the Apple TV streams the content to wherever it happens to be. With 720P HD mpeg4 content, the streaming is flawless.
C.
Carniphage... so once hacked it nolonger uses itunes library ? I would be adding files via a PC is this possible - do you have any screenshots or video of the additional item in the menu ? just wondering what it looks like and if you get the same browsing function as with the itunes librarymenu for music and videos
cheers
Carniphage... so once hacked it nolonger uses itunes library ? I would be adding files via a PC is this possible - do you have any screenshots or video of the additional item in the menu ? just wondering what it looks like and if you get the same browsing function as with the itunes librarymenu for music and videos
cheers
Once hacked, the Apple TV still continues to function, allowing rentals, streaming or syncing with iTunes machines and so on.
The hack adds ability to play video from a file store. Local or networked. A plugin (such at ATV Files) lets you browse and play this content.
This blurry video shows it in action.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qL_T9...eature=related
The interface lets you browse by filename - but you can also add metadata to the files to see covers and show details.
C.
Once hacked, the Apple TV still continues to function, allowing rentals, streaming or syncing with iTunes machines and so on.
The hack adds ability to play video from a file store. Local or networked. A plugin (such at ATV Files) lets you browse and play this content.
This blurry video shows it in action.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qL_T9...eature=related
The interface lets you browse by filename - but you can also add metadata to the files to see covers and show details.
C.
sorry for all the dumb questions carniphage. The link you sent me seemed to show the apple TV has a new menu interface (basic bluc screen) once its been hacked and doesnt use the nice front row 2 interface. do you loose the front row 2 interface completlely ?
sorry again for all the dumb questions
chris
sorry for all the dumb questions carniphage. The link you sent me seemed to show the apple TV has a new menu interface (basic bluc screen) once its been hacked and doesnt use the nice front row 2 interface. do you loose the front row 2 interface completlely ?
sorry again for all the dumb questions
chris
Hi Chris,
That (basic blue screen) *is* the AppleTV Take2 interface. No more spinning giant icons. Just two columns of text. Checkout the interface on:
http://www.apple.com/appletv/guidedt...ml?size=medium
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7n8CN...eature=related
O, and the guy in the video is in the UK. So with no movies available for purchase or rental. You get a black screen behind the interface. :-(
Once you install the AppleTV files plugin, the word "Files" appears between "Music" and "TV Shows."
There are other plugins which do something similar.
C.
Hi Chris,
That (basic blue screen) *is* the AppleTV Take2 interface. No more spinning giant icons. Just two columns of text. Checkout the interface on:
http://www.apple.com/appletv/guidedt...ml?size=medium
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7n8CN...eature=related
O, and the guy in the video is in the UK. So with no movies available for purchase or rental. You get a black screen behind the interface. :-(
Once you install the AppleTV files plugin, the word "Files" appears between "Music" and "TV Shows."
There are other plugins which do something similar.
C.
Sorry i dont undertand the link you sent me shows the same fancy spining man interface not the blue interface you showed earlier - am i missing something ? I cant believe they would ditch the spinning menu system shown here in favour of the boring blue screen !!!! i want the fancy version shown in the video clip above -
If you are using the apple tv in the UK you will basical just get a black screen because there are no movies to rent. In the US the main background sreen would populate with movie art - am i getting it now ? if so.....
Is it posisble in the UK to change the settings so the main background on the main menu shows pictures for example or will it always be just a blacak background ?
Finally are the podcast and flickr features only available in apple TV version 2 ? or will these work in apple TV 1 ?
thanks again for taking the time to answer my questions before i take the plunge and buy one
chris
Is it posisble in the UK to change the settings so the main background on the main menu shows pictures for example or will it always be just a blacak background ?
I looked... and I can't see a way of doing this. The background behind the menu box stays resolutely black.
Finally are the podcast and flickr features only available in apple TV version 2 ? or will these work in apple TV 1 ?
Flickr is exclusively V2.
Podcast support in V1 was limited to streaming or syncing podcasts from the computer hosting iTunes.
In summary I like my hacked AppleTV and use it a lot. Although I think one of the reasons I like it was that I had to invest my time and effort to do the conversion. For me, a Mac Mini would be better suited to the role. The ability to play MKVs without re-encoding would be a boon.
If you are coming close to a purchase, it might be sensible to wait for the next hardware release. Apple is rumoured to be releasing an updated Mac Mini.
C.
I looked... and I can't see a way of doing this. The background behind the menu box stays resolutely black.
Flickr is exclusively V2.
Podcast support in V1 was limited to streaming or syncing podcasts from the computer hosting iTunes.
In summary I like my hacked AppleTV and use it a lot. Although I think one of the reasons I like it was that I had to invest my time and effort to do the conversion. For me, a Mac Mini would be better suited to the role. The ability to play MKVs without re-encoding would be a boon.
If you are coming close to a purchase, it might be sensible to wait for the next hardware release. Apple is rumoured to be releasing an updated Mac Mini.
C.
Thanks for all the help Carniphage. Ive heard the rumours of new mac mini - but who knows when this is likely to be - could be waiting for ages ! plus what improvements will it bring ? who knows
I'm swaying towards mac mini but will mull it over for a few weeks before i take the plunge
cheers
chris