boxee / blue-ray / mac mini

[blastactionhero]

hi there.

i think i want to buy a mac mini to install boxee, because my xbox is slowly dying..

so, i have a couple of questions, hope to get an answer..

i want to buy a Mac mini, 2 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo with 2gb ram and i want to hook it up with an external blue ray drive.

is it possible to play full hd blue ray discs without any interruptions. or is the mac mini too weak for that?

thanks in advance...

nils

(sry or my crappy englisch -.-)

[tsella]

don't know. in any case, you won't be able to play them under boxee.

[blastactionhero]

ah, ok. thats what i wanted to know.

so. no blue ray for me ^^

[CelShader]

I have the cheaper current mac mini (1.83ghz Core 2 duo, 1gb ram), and it can play back HD content just fine.

I have tested 720p and 1080p MKV files, and they play without a hitch. So theoretically if any program for mac ever supported Bluray you would be fine, the mini is more than capable (horsepower-wise) for playing back HD...

[bizthepirate]

Well, the Mac Mini could support blu ray playback, in theory, but that's not the case. Boxee doesn't use the same video backends that Quicktime does, or has the same super coded Apple libraries to use.... So boxee doesnt know how to use the Mac Mini hardware to its fullest to play back HD... I could be run, however, but that's what I've been told/understand...

[tsella]

@CelShader, them mkv's are significantly lower bitrate than bluray.

[macona]

I have a dual core 2ghz coreduo mac mini hooked to a 1080p projector. 99.5% of the time it runs fine 1080p, but if there is a grainy effect in the film it can start stuttering. I am looking at sticking a T7600 processor in the mini to give it that extra kick.

[Brian]

I would love to see support for a HD/Bluray DVD drive. They're only $150 now! :)

[tsella]

@Brian i would not hold my breath. its not that we don't want to, but rather the limitations imposed by the parties that decided that this media should be encrypted, who is granted decryption keys, under which operating systems, and so forth.

plus, lets be environmentally friendly and get rid of all this plastic.

[darinhouston]

I can't get anything but a blank screen on my mini. Any ideas? I tried reinstalling with both of the present versions.

[PHermas]

I can't get anything but a blank screen on my mini. Any ideas? I tried reinstalling with both of the present versions.

ppc or intel? boxee is only supported on intel machines.

[darinhouston]

Intel, but I think I figured it out -- apparently, neither Boxee nor DVD Player will play video unless a proper video display is present on the DVI connector. I was testing it through Screen Sharing. QT and other video playback worked fine -- even in fullscreen, so there must be something different for DVD Player and Boxee.