[MAC] New Thunderbolt Mac Mini!

Folks,
Just thought I'll share my experience setting up XBMC on my new mini (2.5 i5 with AMD GPU).

Got a kernel panic after rebooting the mini after installing all the software updates. Not a good start

All my mkvs (except one) played just fine with hardware decoding turned on. I was expecting the worst after reading the numerous threads in different forums

Was also concerned about the reports regarding heat. But looks like when the system is in steady state, the temp ranges between 50 and 60 degrees celsius. It goes as high as 85 when the cpu is crunching (say updating the library). While playing a full 1080p HD movie, it hovers around 75.
The mini didn't feel that hot to the touch (compared with my gen 1 apple tv or i7 imac)

While navigating the xbmc menu, whenever i press the up or down buttons on the apple remote, the mac's volume display pops up. Read some other threads where people suggested this is a 10.7.2 thing. Keeping fingers crossed that this gets fixed

Hi there...

I'm really considering the new mac mini but these news of not working properly with XBMC and also that by default it comes with Lion OSx that doesn't support integer mode playback (link with my external DAC) starts to bug me.

I don't know if I should buy a new mac mini or search over ebay for a 2010 macmini!

Any news regarding the supposed limitations of the 2011 mini?

The idea is to use the mini only for media rendering purpose, either for VDO with XBMC (remote app on iPAD) or music with Amarra/Pure Music.

I've a core i7 mac mini with a daft 8gb of ram and couldnt believe that it was unable to play video without stuttering. Seriously, a ludicrous amout of power and playing movies was beyond it?

I did 2 things:

1. Made sure my display refresh rate (40" samsung) was at 60Hz. For whatever reason, 50Hz doesnt cut it.

2. Installed the nightly build from tuesday.

Joy, bliss and order restored in the universe. Thanks to Davilla and the rest of the team for yet more excellent work.

Found some very interesting info from Apple's support forums. Other people having video issues have found a temp fix by not using the built-in HDMI port, but instead using a MiniDisplayPort-to-HDMI adapter: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/324...5&tstart=0

that doesn't really have to do with our video hardware acceleration issues, and they all say it's related to itunes specifically

prophetizer Wrote:that doesn't really have to do with our video hardware acceleration issues, and they all say it's related to itunes specifically

Itunes uses hardware acceleration for playback, and that kind of behavior suggest that Mac OS X is doing something different for one port over the other (which is likely a bug). If anyone has a miniDP-to-HDMI adapter around, it would be worth giving a shot.

i'm always had that exact issue, with different macs and windows with itunes playing video. as they say many times in that thread, they can play it with other video players no problem

Is there any way to get HD audio over HDMI from the new Mac Mini? Either bitstream or LPCM?

Thanks in advance!

prophetizer Wrote:i'm always had that exact issue, with different macs and windows with itunes playing video. as they say many times in that thread, they can play it with other video players no problem

Those other video players might not be using hardware decoding when they tried them. The QuickTime framework that powers iTunes will try to use hardware decoding whenever possible.

And no, you have not had that exact issue. The users reporting this problem are only having it on the HDMI output of the 2011 Mac Mini. Not on other Macs, or PCs running iTunes. They are specifically saying that video playback is fine when you use the minidisplayport. The Mac Mini is the only mac with a built-in HDMI port. How you think PCs would factor into this, I don't know. You must be having some other similar issue with iTunes, but it sure as heck isn't the same issue.

Whatever your experience, this still points to different video playback performance for different ports. If you are so quick to write off something like this, then you will have a hard time in the world of troubleshooting.

Ned Scott Wrote:Those other video players might not be using hardware decoding when they tried them. The QuickTime framework that powers iTunes will try to use hardware decoding whenever possible.

And no, you have not had that exact issue. The users reporting this problem are only having it on the HDMI output of the 2011 Mac Mini. Not on other Macs, or PCs running iTunes. They are specifically saying that video playback is fine when you use the minidisplayport. The Mac Mini is the only mac with a built-in HDMI port. How you think PCs would factor into this, I don't know. You must be having some other similar issue with iTunes, but it sure as heck isn't the same issue.

Whatever your experience, this still points to different video playback performance for different ports. If you are so quick to write off something like this, then you will have a hard time in the world of troubleshooting.

well, thats true, i was merely pointing out they were specifically talking about itunes video playback, so i shared my experience with that. no biggie i guess, we're both right