Mac Mini Home Theater

Recently, I downloaded a high-def TV show through iTunes to watch on my Mac Mini Home Theater. Was this the seamless ‘on-demand’ experience I had hoped for… not exactly.

So, I’m a little late to the game and I decided to check out AMC’s Mad Men television show.  Thanks to Netflix, I worked through the three disks of Season 1 just in time to set up my DirecTV DVR to record the Season 2 marathon.  The next day, I sat down to start Season 2 and it began with a recap of Season 1… only during the recap I realized that I somehow must have missed an entire episode, specifically the season finale.  I had already returned the disk to Netflix, so my solution for an instant fix was to buy the episode off of iTunes.

Purchasing via iTunes

Anyone who has used iTunes for purchases before knows that it’s generally very easy to find what you’re looking for.  A quick search in the text field got my right where I wanted, but I could have easily browsed through the links and genres in the iTunes store interface to find my television show.

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OpenRemote Logo

OpenRemote is an “Open Source community for Automation”.  They are trying provide a complete open source solution to control the variety of “closed protocals and stacks” from typical home automation companies.

More importantly, they may be the answer to my “One Remote to the Rule Them All” quest!  If you look at my recent article on Controlling The Mac Mini,  I mention that my biggest issue with iPhone apps is that they cannot easily control other components in my system (for example, turning on the TV, changing the volume on the receiver, etc.)  According to OpenRemote’s recent tweets, they have managed to do a simple “proof of concept” test using an iPhone, a Wifi network, and an IR blaster to launch FrontRow on a Mac.  Read on to find out why this is so exciting.

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We’ve all been there… it’s Tuesday night, you’re in bed, your wife is asleep, but you’ve really got a hankering for some Iron Eagle.  Unfortunately, your wife doesn’t understand the integral part the rock ballads play in Doug Master’s intense training or daring rescue mission at the end of the film.  Enter Airfoil…

Airfoil is a software app that runs on a Windows or Mac computer which can send the audio from your computer to several other network devices, such as another computer, an iPhone or Airport Express device.  The interface is very simple.  You choose the application with the audio you want to send elsewhere, and then select the device you want to send it to.

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Send music to another room with Airport Express

For most people familiar with the Apple product line, this post is restating the obvious.  For the rest of you:  The Airport Express lets you broadcast your iTunes library to any other room in your house over your wireless network.  I feel like the Airport Express has potential to do so many things, that Apple doesn’t do a good enough job toting it’s ability as a music streaming device.

I recently configured an Airport Express to stream music from a Mac Mini to a stereo receiver on a different floor of a house.  I wrote a review of the Airport Express setup and configuration, and without ruining the surprise, it took quite a bit of patience.

For ideas on how to maximize the Airport Express in your network, click the link to read more.

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Screenshot of Adam Carolla Plex Plugin

Plex just continues to get better as more and more developers write apps and plugins to integrate with Plex. A relatively recent addition is a plugin for the Adam Carolla Podcast. For those not familiar with Adam Carolla, he is a longtime radio personality who got his start working the Jimmy Kimmel on KROQ’s morning radio show. He spent some 10 years with Dr. Drew on Love Lines and has had success on Comedy Central with The Man Show and Crank Yankers. After a recent retooling of an FM talk station, Carolla is now sharing his wisdom with a self-funded podcast. The content definitely earns an “M” for mature, but Carolla really shines in his self proclaimed “long format” interviews with an impressive batch of guests.

I typically listen to the Podcast in my car during my commute, but this Plex plugin makes it even easier to pull up the latest episodes of the Adam Carolla Podcast so you can broadcast it through your entire house.  Fans of the show as well as anyone interested in some fresh comedic anecdotes should definitely check this out.

Not sure where to start? Check out the new Quick Start Guide on the site. The article is meant to serve as an introduction to getting a Mac Mini Home Theater setup in your own home. More advanced articles will continue to show up on the site, but for those just getting their feet wet, here’s a great place to start.

Perhaps the most important aspect of a Mac Mini Home Theater is the actual software you use to view your media.  The ease of use, stability, and flexibility of the software program is ultimately going to determine if the Mac is a viable solution for you to use on a regular basis.  In this article, I primarily weight the pros and cons of three apps which evolved from the Xbox Media Center Project as well as Apple’s own Front Row application.  Find out which is my favorite after the break…

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I posted a review over at Lunch.com on the Boxee iPhone App.  The iPhone app is great and really makes me want to use Boxee — However, I’ve found Plex works better for most of my needs.  I’ll post a Boxee vs. Plex review shortly, but until then, check out the video of the Boxee app in action!

Boxee iPhone App Demo from Andrew Werhane on Vimeo.

Ok, I love how well the Mac Mini handles digital audio.  The audio quality is great, DTS and Dolby Digital come through untouched, and music never sounded better.  So why am I considering analog audio?  I recently installed some Polk Audio Atrium 55 speakers in the backyard.  They are connected to Zone 2 from my Yamaha receiver.  Unfortunately, the Yamaha Receiver can only send analog sources to Zone 2.

Ideally, I’d like to find a way to send out both Analog and Digital output from the Mac Mini simultaneously, but from the limited research I’ve done, that doesn’t appear to be an option.  The best I’ve found is an application called AirFoil which allows you send audio from the Mac Mini to another computer or an Apple Airport Express which could in turn output the analog signal.  It might also be possible to find a receiver which passes digital audio to a second zone, but if they do exist, it is most likely out of my price range at this point.  The AirFoil software would also require a hardware purchase of the Airport device, but it seems a little silly to plug an Airport in right next to the Mac Mini for the single purpose of passing analog audio to the receiver.

If anyone has any suggestions before I drop any more cash at the Apple Store, please let me know by posting in the comments.

Ripping DVD’s to the Hard Drive

While trying to clean-up my “Media Closet” (affectionately referred to as the Server Room), I realized that I have a significant investment in DVD’s which I almost never watch.  The DVDs are cluttering up the closet and the shelves to the point where I decided to pack them all up and store them in the attic — however, I knew as soon as I did that, I (or my wife) would want to watch one of the movies that had been sitting untouched for months.  So, before packing the movies away, I began the Herculean task of ripping the DVD’s to the Mac Mini.

Enter HandBrake

HandBrake is a software program which offers a very simple GUI for ripping DVDs.  This is by no means a “new” application, but it is constantly updated for new features, added stability and convenience profiles.  The profiles are my favorite feature of HandBrake.  They are essentially pre-defined preferences for ripping your DVDs so I don’t need to worry about things like bit-rates, resolution or codecs.  The profiles are generally named after the target for where you intend to watch the ripped DVD, such as iPod, AppleTV, PS3, etc…  There are also profiles for different types of sources such as Animation, Television and Film.

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