[rustyshelf]

Every time I go over a mates' house to watch some TV, I'm always stunned by the appalling setups people have to watch media in their homes. This is the 21st Century people, wake up and smell the tall skinny double choc latte with extra cheese! There are literally a million ways to go about doing this though, which is where most people trip up. I have been perfecting mine over the years though, and I think it's a winner.

The first thing you need to do is pick out some hardware, and let's face it, if you're reading this forum there's only one brand you should be buying. While any Mac will work in a home theater set up, you just can't go past the Mac Mini for its size, speed, and superb awe-inspiring quietness. For the purposes of this article, let's go with my setup:



Hardware:
- Mac Mini Core Duo, 1.6Ghz, 1GB RAM, 120GB HD
- Elgato EyeTV Diversity USB stick
- Apple Wireless Mouse & Keyboard
- MyBook External 1TB Firewire HD (My Book Home Edition 1 TB Hard Drives ( WDH1CS10000 ))
- Logitech Harmony 525 Universal Remote
- Samsung 32" LCD TV
- Panasonic Home Stereo

Software:
- Elgato EyeTV 3 (Comes with the USB Stick)
- uTorrent
- TED
- Handbrake
- Perian
- Flip4Mac

Extra Cables (eg: ones that don't come with the hardware listed above):
- 3.5" headphone jack -> 2 RCA Stereo
- DVI to VGA converter
- Coaxial Antenna cable

The Setup:
Picture: Plug the DVI to VGA converter into the back of the Mini, and run a VGA cable from that into your television. (feel free to substitute S-Video here if you're an idiot or HDMI if your TV and Mac can handle it).

Sound: Plug the 3.5" headphone jack into the mini's headphone socket, and the other two cables into the left and right inputs on your stereo.

Control: Surely you all know how to hook up a mouse and keyboard?! The Logitech Remote on the other hand is a completely different story. Pray to whatever gods you believe in that they have improved their user interface since I last used it. You basically start by downloading the settings from their web site (telling the model of your stereo, tv and mac) and then spend the next few hours wondering how anyone could possibly make it any harder to move option A from screen X to Y. Once it's done though, you can console yourself in the fact that you'll never have to do it again. The good thing about it is that it can learn from your old remotes, and is highly configurable if you have the patience.

Storage: Replacing a mini hard drive is akin to brain surgery, but with a putty knife. You're better off buying a large, quiet external drive like the MyBook. I chose that one because it spins down when not in use and turns off when your mac does. Two very important things if you want your drive to last. Simple tell iTunes and EyeTV to locate their respective libraries on the drive, and you're good to go. If you value the things you're collecting feel free to buy a second one and use it as a time machine drive just for that content. In my setup I just manually run a time machine back up once a week to another drive.

Broadcast TV: Plug the EyeTV Diversity stick into a spare USB port on the mini. Note that the stick has an infared sensor (clear piece of plastic) that needs to have a fairly clear line of site to your remote. Plug your coaxial antenna cable from that into your wall socket (or rabbits ears if you like that 80s bunny chique)

Sources

Broadcast TV:
Here in Australia, you can get over the air Standard Definition and High Definition Digital TV. EyeTV takes care of that beautifully, with easily the best interface I've ever seen on a DVR program. You can set up smart playlists eg: tape anything with the word 'monkey' in it (don't ask), manually program it, or even get all fancy and program it over the net with the help of IceTV. It records the signal broadcast directly without transcoding it (MPEG2 for the geeky), so you won't lose any quality. From there it has one click buttons to export to your iTunes Library, iPod or iPhone. You can even stream TV directly to your iPhone/iPod Touch if it's on the same wireless network.



But it doesn't end there, for it has the Single Greatest Feature Known To Man(TM) built into it, the Live TV Buffer. The Live TV Buffer lets you pause, rewind and fast forward broadcast television. Someone bugs you with a phone call in the middle of your favourite show? No worries, hit the pause button. Miss a crucial play in that big game, no worries hit rewind. Don't want to wake up at 6am to watch Liverpool thump another hapless euro-trash team, that's fine, wake up at 7.30 and play catch up with the recording (skipping over SBS's often woeful half time coverage along the way). Add to that the ability to edit files and cut out unwanted adverts, and you've got a real winner. I chose the Hybrid model so that I can record two things at once, and watch something while something else is recording, if you don't care about that, then the standard single tuner model is just as good.

Your Legally Purchased Definitely Not Rented DVDs:
Having a 200 metre tall DVD stack is so 1999, and digging through those DVDs to find one to watch is a chore no human being should have to endure. Handbrake to the rescue! Handbrake will take any DVD you throw its way, and convert it straight into a Quicktime file you can import into iTunes. I always choose the 'AppleTV' preset, and the only thing I change is to turn on 'de-interlacing' in the 'fast mode'. This stops old DVDs from driving you nuts every time the camera moves.

Other...Ummmm...Videos:
So you've got all your DVDs and Broadcast Television shows, but there's a gap in your life. An IT Crowd size gap perhaps? That's where TED comes in. You simply tell it what TV shows you are interested in, and it will go out and find them for you. No messing around with crazy Torrent sites and their MEET SINGLE PEOPLE IN ADELAIDE NOW YOU LONELY FREAK type ads. TED you see, respects your self esteem. Once TED finds an episode it will whisk it away into you Bittorrent client of choice (uTorrent is my client de jour).




The iTunes Store
The iTunes store here in Australia and in other countries has both movies and tv shows to buy and rent. The great thing about the store (apart from the warm fuzzies you get from buying legal content) is that on a fast connection you can start watching a few minutes after you hit buy, because it will download the rest in the background while you watch it.

The Big Picture:
The idea with all these different streams is that they are getting accumulated and filed in iTunes, so that you can play them back through the convenience that is Front Row. A lot of people diss Front Row for its lack of 'feature X which my Linux Super Hot Distro has' but in truth it's more than capable once your media is all there ready to be played. Once you've installed Perian(for DivX and much, much more) and Flip4Mac (for WMV) it can handle pretty much any video format known to man.

I've been running my setup now for over 2 years, and the mac mini has excelled itself. I've upgraded a few things like the external hard drive and keyboard/mouse along the way, but for the most part it has stayed pretty static.

There's another dimension that we haven't even explored that involves words with altogether too many vowels like Boxee, Hulu, Youtube, etc but I think that's enough to digest for one day. So what are you waiting for, grab your credit card and go go go. Don't forget the decryption link to the Apple Store so that he can buy me some gum next time we meet.

[ozerus]

another app to look at is Plex, it doesn't do live tv, however it can play just about any media file, grabs tv/movie info, the latest version lets you install scripts that get content from youtube, hulu, ted talks and so on and it works well with the apple remote (for browsing content at least)

I've been using it for a while now on a mini that sits just under my tv (there is just enough space to slide it in under the plasma) and practically disappears...

[Reubania]

for Plex. Haven't used it personally, but have seen demos and it looks slick! Something Front Row should have been. I don't watch live TV, so the rest is something I will consider.

Cannot wait to move into my brand new inner city apartment and working out the logistics of how I want to set up my HTPC from scratch. Will definitely be coming on here often to brainstorm and network with you guys who've been "perfecting" the art of HTPC!!!

[arkenstone]

I think the biggest weakness in any HTPC is the software. Plex, XBMC and Boxee are all trying really hard to get their shit together but as has been pointed out, none of them support live TV yet.

If someone were to making something as functional as XBMC with the interface of Boxee and support for dual HD tuners and PVR functionality I'd pay several hundred for it.

[ozerus]

I don't get boxee, I've tried it several times and the interface is confusing and uncomfortable to use, nothing is where you expect it too be and it feels clunky... that said I'm not a big online media watcher, I don't bother with youtube and so on plus with the latest update of plex it does everything that boxee does I think, I will however be the first to state I don't get boxee.

I'd like plex to be able to handle the live tv but then I wonder what I'd do with it, I don't watch free to air tv and I rarely watch foxtel these days.. however, what would be nice is a torrent client that can auto download tv shows and so on..

[wabbit]

Nice write up Rusty, i smiled when i saw the external HD light covered up, i hate flashing lights aswell. I personally hate the idea of using a keyboard & mouse for a HTPC solution, i feel they shouldn't even be in the room... but hey thats just me. I had a few goals when making my setup;

• "Highly" configurable
• To look like a media solution (not like a computer running software)
• Ease of use (ie: the girlie, family and non geek friends can use it)
• Control done by a simple remote, the less buttons the better

So with a new Mac Mini with Apple remote, Plex and a NAS its really fantastic compared to the old Laser MediaMate which has been retired. Im also lucky that i don't require live tv. But now you've given me ideas, as i don't & wont download Neighbours episodes

[Trabb]

Gonna be setting up an almost identical setup when I get home from my overseas trip... It'll be a tossup between Plex and Boxee... but while I think Plex can look prettier at times, I like the more social aspects of Boxee and the features it has to pull in content from online... but I'll be testing both (and others!) when the time comes.

I think I will also have a keyboard and mouse but only really for setup purposes and if anyone ever wants to use it to go online... But I think the Apple Remote is perfect for anyone to be able to pick up and use.

[davidw89]

You controlling it with a wireless keyboard and mouse, that's hardly sofa compatible = /

[Trabb]

Well the wireless keyboard is VERY small!

Oh... and of course there is the Boxee remote app!

[rustyshelf]

That LED Dampening Technology is patent pending, I could become a millionaire! Nothing annoys me more than bright LED lights blinking at you while you're watching a show. The MyBook takes the cake, as it has a long LED strip where the light travels up and down while the hard drive is being accessed!

We don't use the mouse and keyboard every day, normally they sit on top of a cupboard out of the way of my 2 kids. You can do everything with the logitech remote. Turn on the TV, stereo, all the Eyetv functions (including scheduling recordings), etc. The two times I break out the keyboard and mouse are when I need to download something over bittorrent or buy it from iTunes.

Don't forget that since it's a mac you can just use the screen sharing app (you can find that hidden under /System/Library/CoreServices/Screen Sharing.app) to remote desktop to it. I normally just use that from my laptop to start downloads. Once they are downloaded Front Row picks them up no worries.

The other thing you miss in that screenshot is that my TV cabinet has frosted glass doors, so once you close the doors all that setup is pretty much invisible, and the mess of cables disappears

It's both silent and invisible, and my wife knows how to operate it (as does my 2 1/2 year old son...well he knows which button to push to start the show again, which can get old really quickly)

[Dust For Eyes]

Nice write up.

You don't have optical inputs on your amp? That'd give give 5.1.

[rustyshelf]

Originally Posted by Dust For Eyes

Nice write up.

You don't have optical inputs on your amp? That'd give give 5.1.

No I don't, and neither does my mini. The new one seems like it does though. Either way my stereo only has 2 speakers, so 5.1 would be a bit of overkill. But yeah if you have a 5.1 setup and the new mini, that would be a nicer way to go!

[wabbit]

Originally Posted by Dust For Eyes

You don't have optical inputs on your amp? That'd give give 5.1.

That's going to be my next bit, first challenge was getting from Mini DVI-D to component. I better start thinking about optical out for audio.

[DeKa]

rustyshelf,

Cool set up - I like it! There are so many ways to do this stuff, and I'd love to use a Mac Mini - but for me, TiVo with its dual tuners and relatively cheap and easy connectivity back to my iMac using pyTiVoX is a winner.

Originally Posted by rustyshelf

Every time I go over a mates house to watch some TV, I'm always stunned by the appalling setups people have to watch media in their homes. This is the 21st Century people, wake up and smell the tall skinny double choc latte with extra cheese!

I have to agree with you here. The killer for me is people who have their HUGE TV, and Home Theatre in Box (HTIB) system with all six speakers lined up along the front of the room... what's the point? Just buy a stereo system!

[Mac Ram]

Nice write up rustyshelf.

Although I find frontrow very easy to use, I love the look of Plex. But for the life of me I cannot get it to scan just my movies, it keeps wanting to scan all my itunes media - incl music and tv shows. I've tried following the guides, but to no avail.

[rustyshelf]

I just gave Flex an hour of my life. It looks damn hot, and I can see why the screenshots of it are so gorgeous. The problem for me is that all that hotness gets in the way, and in the end it just gets confusing. Add to that the fact that it's just slower and clunkier than Front Row and I quickly realised that it was not for me. It also doesn't play DRM movies from iTunes, which while Apples fault, is still annoying. The final frustration was when I had to add all my content in, and it picked it all up (and even found internet info for some of it) but went I went to TV shows there were no episodes there (just all my shows listed as 0 episodes each). It also crashed 3 times in the space of that first hour. From reading the guides it looks like I have to name my files in a certain way or something, but in the end I just gave up.

I can see why people like it, because it has other things going for it like youtube/cnet tv/revision 3/etc apps built in that let you watch all that stuff, but I think it's just not suitable for what I need. Perhaps if I devoted a few days of my life to it I could get it running all sweet, but why would I bother when Front Row already does everything I want?

[ozerus]

the crashing sounds none too good, it will occasionally crash for me about once a month maybe twice, usually when its about to start playing a movie.

Yeah tv shows have to be organised in a certain way however if you have them in itunes plex should have picked them up from there or at least I believe thats how it should have worked.

Plex is still beta software so its not as smooth as front row, mind you, front row wont play MKV files either and it doesn't scrape tv shows..

just out of curiosity did you set up the source folder as a tv shows folder??

[rustyshelf]

Originally Posted by ozerus

just out of curiosity did you set up the source folder as a tv shows folder??

I added my movies folder and my iTunes 'TV Shows' folder as sources. I set the content of the movies one to be movies, from imdb and the tv shows one to be tv shows from tvimdb I think. From there I can see all my movies if I go to those source folders under 'watch my videos' but none of them have any extra data from the internet. If I go to the actual tv shows area then it looks like it imported about 20% of my TV shows, but couldn't find the episodes for them, even though you can play them through that other section.

I respect the fact that it's a beta and a work in progress, so I'm happy to leave it alone and try again in six months time.

[ozerus]

aaaah ok, yeah, its not finding them because of the folder/file names aren't recognised by the tv database site.. when I first started using plex I had all the movies pretty much still named after the torrent file name and it picked up about 60% of the files, it wasn't until I used the database naming scheme that it pickes up everything, same with the movies too, using the IMDB.com names ie, moviename(year).mkv and so on.

However it requires you to manage the folders and files your self which with an already extensive collection can be a cow of a job to organise..

The DRM thing is apple and the networks, i personally think it high time they dropped DRM completely too, but alas we can only hope.

thats great that you gave it a go, hopefully in 6 months it will be more to your liking, I'll have a look into the itunes stuff, I could have sworn it would grab all that information directly anyway.

I use plex because its just one app, there is no opening and closing of stuff, it plays everything and just does its job.

edit..

I don't know if anyone else is interested.. but heres my setup

Eventually I'm going to mount the mini onto the back of the tv and the foxtel box will be mounted underneath the stand so only the receiver and center speaker will still be on display

On the right hand side you'll notice a gray box behind the screen there are two of those one ontop of the other, they are 1.5 terrabyte drives that I use for among other things time machine, extra storage space and just because I have them and they are useful for keeping often watches stuff available to plex immediately without any network lag

[rustyshelf]

That's a pretty slick setup, I take my hat off to you sir.

Since I was trying out new media centers I went out and downloaded Boxee. I prefer the interface on it (less sexy, but much more usable). It beat Plex at some things and was worse than others. Unlike Plex it seems to recognise Bittorrent naming, and filed all my IT Crowd and Boston Legal Episodes by season, and gave them all pictures and descriptions. This was impressive considering I hadn't really ordered those files at all, and just left them with their bittorrent names.

It failed miserably at the iTunes TV Shows though, and picked up even less of them than Plex did.

It did give me a laugh though, when it labeled one of my sons Wiggles shows as : 'Biggles - One minute the new Yorker advertising expert Jim Ferguson is at a business part -- the next he finds...'. It also wreaked havoc with my EyeTV taped Top Gear episodes, since I just named them by what the show was about, so it went and found movies called 'North Pole' and 'Vietnam' hilarity ensued.

I think overall (and with not that long spent in each app) I would rate Boxee higher than Plex, but I can't see either of them making me go and edit the names of all my shows just to get them picked up. Does anyone know a plugin for them that supports iTunes TV Show meta data? It would seem like a logical thing to have?