Posts: 130
Joined: Sep 2011
Reputation:
0
g725s
Senior Member
Posts: 130
I've got one of the first Intel Mac Mini's sitting around unused. I would like some input on how it might work for a dedicated XBMC unit for an HDTV that I am installing in a bedroom.
It only has a DVI out but I'll assume that there would be some way to convert that to HDMI.
Posts: 32
Joined: Jun 2014
Reputation:
0
2014-08-08, 22:45
(This post was last modified: 2014-08-08, 23:01 by mohamedselim.)
I think could be enough in most cases except in extreme scenarios as 3d etc
Htpcs in general do not require a potent computers i have tried xbmc in 7 years old computer and it worked flawlessly
Even on the pi chip (weak processor) people installed xbmc and it worked not so bad and mac mini definitely has a more processing power than these
It depends on your content encoding and bitrate etc if it needs a processing power more than that could be processed by your pc so stuttering etc begin
Try and see no cost on money cost on time if it worked for your content so htpc for free !!!
only problem is that dvi do not output audio so your tv or receiver must have analogue audio in
you could try dvi to hdmi converter (cheap) for pic but you need audio in analogue in audio receiver or tv
another thought if you find the operating system of the mac mini to be heavy with xbmc try openelec (very light weight linux distro for xbmc only) you may gain performance benefits of that approach as less cpu cycles consumed for os so they are dedicated to xbmc performance gains
Also try a light skin for the same reason
Posts: 241
Joined: Jan 2010
Reputation:
4
The Intel Mac Minis do keep their value well. As to using it as an HTPC, it will work fine, but you'll need some solution to get audio into HDMI. I had a converter box that took the digital audio out that is also in that headphone jack and combined it with DVI to make HDMI. It worked, though not perfect (communication between TV and the Mac suffered, so had to do manual resolution setting).
It was a bit of hassle.. I would sell the mini and get a Nuc or FireTV or similar. (both of which I currently use instead of the Mac Mini that found a home with my brother)
Posts: 19,982
Joined: May 2009
Reputation:
451
nickr
Retired Team-Kodi Member
Posts: 19,982
Don't get a firetv, do get a NUC.
If I have helped you or increased your knowledge, click the 'thumbs up' button to give thanks :) (People with less than 20 posts won't see the "thumbs up" button.)
Posts: 31,445
Joined: Jan 2011
One of the first Intel MacMinis? I don't think those can do hardware video decoding.
