MiniMAC?
#1
Hello,

Would it be a good idea to buy a mini mac for running Xbmc? better than a windows or linux machine?
I want something that just works, and plays full hd content without stuttering.

Greetz

Henk
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#2
I have a mid-2010 mac mini and did have some minor stuttering problems playing 1080p MKVs with XBMC and Plex, but these seemed to go a way since XBMC 10.1 and MacOS 10.6.7, as far as I can tell. I need to use the hardware acceleration to get smooth playback though. I keep a close watch on the dropped frames and in the last month or so, I haven't had any dropped frames in the movies I have watched.

What I don't like though is that XBMC can't automatically switch between 24p and 25/30fps depending on the source file. I believe the Linux version can do this. I will investigating using SwitchResX, but it would be nice to get this feature built in to XBMC.
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#3
chipsteroo Wrote:I have a mid-2010 mac mini and did have some minor stuttering problems playing 1080p MKVs with XBMC and Plex, but these seemed to go a way since XBMC 10.1 and MacOS 10.6.7, as far as I can tell. I need to use the hardware acceleration to get smooth playback though. I keep a close watch on the dropped frames and in the last month or so, I haven't had any dropped frames in the movies I have watched.

What I don't like though is that XBMC can't automatically switch between 24p and 25/30fps depending on the source file. I believe the Linux version can do this. I will investigating using SwitchResX, but it would be nice to get this feature built in to XBMC.

if you get smooth playback and no dropped frames, why play the tv rez switch game. you do know that playback will be delayed several seconds while the tv re-syncs ? on some hdtv's this came be as much as 10 seconds while hdmi does it's handshake.
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#4
davilla Wrote:if you get smooth playback and no dropped frames, why play the tv rez switch game. you do know that playback will be delayed several seconds while the tv re-syncs ? on some hdtv's this came be as much as 10 seconds while hdmi does it's handshake.

I only get no frame drops when I know what the source files frame rate is and set mac and TV accordingly.

If I play a 24p movie with the mac and TV at 25 Hz I get annoying judder. Likewise if the mac and TV are set at 24p and I play 25 fps content, I get dropped frames and playback is not smooth. Sound is also crackly.
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#5
The 2010 Mac mini has been easiest and most problem free thing to setup for XBMC. Depending on what you mean by stuttering, it doesn't, but watching 24hz videos at 60hz looks like crap. As it does with every other PC.

If it only would do refresh rate switching it would be perfect. It doesn't seem to be high on to do list so that's something we just have to deal with. But the ease of using OSX and Apple remote with XBMC is the more important thing to me.
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#6
Thanks, and what type of minimac would you advise? storage is no issue I have a NAS setup in my house.
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#7
One with either Geforce 9400 or the new one with 320M. Someone correct me if i'm wrong.

The new one looks nicer and is smaller, doesn't require an external power brick, has HDMI builtin.
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#8
new mini with 320M run nicely smooth with no issues , I run on 24p mode no issues...
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#9
Ok, I'll degrade my ATV2 to mp3 player and go with the mini.
Gonna save the dough and get one online.
Seems like a wise decision. Thanks guys.
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MiniMAC?0