justinlarsen
December 14th, 2008, 11:20 PM
So the more I play with boxee on the Apple TV the more I realize that I'm a power user and need more power. The Apple TV will have a wonderful home in the bedroom as the mac mini will take center stage in the living room. I have a few questions in regards to what I need.
1) HOW MUCH POWER DO I NEED?
Right now in my office setup I have an Intel 2.0 Core 2 Duo with 2 Gigs of ram, this runs Boxee at an impressive speed and plays all of my media I want. Can I get away with slightly less power and still have a snappy interface, play 1080P MKV files, stream netflix without hiccup, ect. I'd like to pick up a used 1.8 Core 2 Duo with 1 Gig of ram to save some money, but will I be kicking myself later by skimping out?
2) HDMI HACKS?
I have my whole living room setup finally all HDMI, the problem is the mac mini does not support HDMI out of the box. I have found DVI -> HDMI cable but then I need to still run an optical cable to a separate input.
3) OPTICAL AUDIO?
I know the mac mini supports it, it looks like I need that little converter cap for it to work, is the correct? Also i have never play with digital audio on a computer system before will it work as expected and play 5.1 without much tweaking?
4) SHOULD I WAIT TO BUY?
I know Macworld 2009 is coming up, and rumors of an updated Mac Mini or a replacement to the mac mini. Should I hold off to see what goes on at mac world? I know this will defeat my used price saving option, but I'm a sucker for new mac products.
5) DIRECT BOOT TO BOXEE?
I know there is an option for this, but is there a way I can have the Mac Mini run less system level functions to save CPU and RAM and focus on BOXEE?
6) PLAYING DVD'S WITHIN BOXEE?
Clearly I would never see this option on the Mac Mini, and my IMac optical drive took the dump a few months back before i started playing with Boxee. Will I be able to play DVD's within Boxee? Also just day dreaming for a second would an external Blu-Ray player be an option or is there too many tight limitations on play back for Boxee to worry about right now to support it?
Wow what a handful of questions, I will add these to the Wiki once i get some answers as I am sure they will be useful to other people later looking to get into boxee.
1) HOW MUCH POWER DO I NEED?
Right now in my office setup I have an Intel 2.0 Core 2 Duo with 2 Gigs of ram, this runs Boxee at an impressive speed and plays all of my media I want. Can I get away with slightly less power and still have a snappy interface, play 1080P MKV files, stream netflix without hiccup, ect. I'd like to pick up a used 1.8 Core 2 Duo with 1 Gig of ram to save some money, but will I be kicking myself later by skimping out?
2) HDMI HACKS?
I have my whole living room setup finally all HDMI, the problem is the mac mini does not support HDMI out of the box. I have found DVI -> HDMI cable but then I need to still run an optical cable to a separate input.
3) OPTICAL AUDIO?
I know the mac mini supports it, it looks like I need that little converter cap for it to work, is the correct? Also i have never play with digital audio on a computer system before will it work as expected and play 5.1 without much tweaking?
4) SHOULD I WAIT TO BUY?
I know Macworld 2009 is coming up, and rumors of an updated Mac Mini or a replacement to the mac mini. Should I hold off to see what goes on at mac world? I know this will defeat my used price saving option, but I'm a sucker for new mac products.
5) DIRECT BOOT TO BOXEE?
I know there is an option for this, but is there a way I can have the Mac Mini run less system level functions to save CPU and RAM and focus on BOXEE?
6) PLAYING DVD'S WITHIN BOXEE?
Clearly I would never see this option on the Mac Mini, and my IMac optical drive took the dump a few months back before i started playing with Boxee. Will I be able to play DVD's within Boxee? Also just day dreaming for a second would an external Blu-Ray player be an option or is there too many tight limitations on play back for Boxee to worry about right now to support it?
Wow what a handful of questions, I will add these to the Wiki once i get some answers as I am sure they will be useful to other people later looking to get into boxee.