[steve1977]

I really enjoy the form factor of the Mac Mini as my HTPC. I am planning to buy another one once the new generation with Haswell will see the light.

I just have some concerns and would love to hear other's experience:

1) There is no AudioEngine for XBMC, which makes it impossible for me to use XBMC over HDMI and also requires a specific add-on to boost sound levels from barel audible. Any hope to see AudioEngine being implemented in Gotham or other work-arounds in the meantime?

2) Will Haswell bring any advantages or even disadvantages for XBMC on Mac? The Macbook Air with Haswell is out, so would love to hear your experiences?

3) I frequently read on this forum about issues with 24Hz on Macs and some shortcomings of XBMC. Can anyone shed light into the exact problem? I have not been facing any issues so far, but curious what the matter is.

4) Also read about the lack of support for HD-Audio. Is that a software shortcoming and will eventually be solved or a hardware issue, which will never be resolved with the current generation of macs. Can someone make it specific, what exactly is impacted (no DTS? no FLAC?)


As you can tell, I am desperate to keep my Mac Mini and even by an additional one. Unfortunately reading so many things on this forum that Windows or Linux may be much more mature and just better choices for XBMC. Any thoughts and advice appreciated!!!

[jmarshall]

I have a Haswell 11" Air (my main dev machine for XBMC - awesome laptop). No issues running XBMC on it (Gotham + Frodo). I haven't tried hooking it up to an HDMI device at all.

Others can answer the audio stuff. The sound plays in my headphones and that's all I use it for (it's a laptop, after all). :p

(Note that it XBMC Frodo does actually have an AudioEngine on OSX. It's just a Core audio engine. The API is the same. The proposed change is to move it to a sink for ActiveAE. As far as I'm aware, this is nowhere near done. It would be nice to have it for Gotham, but completely relies on those with time, inclination, and skill to do it.

Jonathan

[steve1977]

Thanks for your message.

Anyone can comment on audio? I really love the Mini, but my current one (mid-2011) really faces quite some audio issues.

[steve1977]

Any thoughts?