Comments on: Storming the living room http://www.istartedsomething.com/20060913/storming-the-living-room/ All the stuff about Microsoft and technology you haven't read anywhere else. Sun, 08 Nov 2009 04:06:26 +1100 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.5 hourly 1 By: Tim http://www.istartedsomething.com/20060913/storming-the-living-room/comment-page-1/#comment-18994 Tim Sat, 20 Jan 2007 00:01:39 +0000 http://www.istartedsomething.com/20060913/storming-the-living-room/#comment-18994 BTW, apparently HDMI is backwardly compatible with DVI, so you don't technically need a DVI input on your display (lot's of the HD TV's nowadays don't have a DVI input). You can get HDMI from your Mac Mini with <a href="http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore?productLearnMore=TH573LL/A" rel="nofollow">one of these (admittedly expensive) cables</a>. However your statement about Digital Audio still holds true. Your HDMI signal would not have any audio in it, so you'd need to feed that to your amp seperately (or some TV's might let you feed it as an alternate audio source) via TOS.Link/optical audio from the back of the Mac. BTW, apparently HDMI is backwardly compatible with DVI, so you don’t technically need a DVI input on your display (lot’s of the HD TV’s nowadays don’t have a DVI input).

You can get HDMI from your Mac Mini with one of these (admittedly expensive) cables. However your statement about Digital Audio still holds true. Your HDMI signal would not have any audio in it, so you’d need to feed that to your amp seperately (or some TV’s might let you feed it as an alternate audio source) via TOS.Link/optical audio from the back of the Mac.

]]> By: Long Zheng http://www.istartedsomething.com/20060913/storming-the-living-room/comment-page-1/#comment-1694 Long Zheng Sun, 17 Sep 2006 03:45:35 +0000 http://www.istartedsomething.com/20060913/storming-the-living-room/#comment-1694 A 10-foot interface describes an interface that is specially designed for uses in a large room where you might be sitting a large distance away from the monitor. It takes into account the possible low-resolution of the screen as well as readability, ease of use with remote and keyboard-less navigation. Common features of a 10-foot interface include large text and big buttons. Windows Media Center, TIVO and Front Row are examples of 10-foot interfaces. A 10-foot interface describes an interface that is specially designed for uses in a large room where you might be sitting a large distance away from the monitor. It takes into account the possible low-resolution of the screen as well as readability, ease of use with remote and keyboard-less navigation. Common features of a 10-foot interface include large text and big buttons. Windows Media Center, TIVO and Front Row are examples of 10-foot interfaces.

]]> By: Adam http://www.istartedsomething.com/20060913/storming-the-living-room/comment-page-1/#comment-1693 Adam Sun, 17 Sep 2006 03:34:02 +0000 http://www.istartedsomething.com/20060913/storming-the-living-room/#comment-1693 Nice article. What do you mean by '10-foot' interface? Nice article. What do you mean by ‘10-foot’ interface?

]]> By: Addicted to Digital Media http://www.istartedsomething.com/20060913/storming-the-living-room/comment-page-1/#comment-1600 Addicted to Digital Media Thu, 14 Sep 2006 12:46:10 +0000 http://www.istartedsomething.com/20060913/storming-the-living-room/#comment-1600 <strong>Of ITunes 7, User Trust, and iTV</strong> Of ITunes 7, User Trust, and iTV

]]> By: Chris Boulton http://www.istartedsomething.com/20060913/storming-the-living-room/comment-page-1/#comment-1558 Chris Boulton Wed, 13 Sep 2006 12:29:00 +0000 http://www.istartedsomething.com/20060913/storming-the-living-room/#comment-1558 I don't use any DRM content on my Media Center PC or Front Row on my Mac ;). It isn't a requirement on either. Con of MythTV: On the off chance you have DRM content you can't play it. Works both ways. Hehe. :) I don’t use any DRM content on my Media Center PC or Front Row on my Mac ;) . It isn’t a requirement on either.

Con of MythTV: On the off chance you have DRM content you can’t play it. Works both ways.

Hehe. :)

]]> By: Dagur http://www.istartedsomething.com/20060913/storming-the-living-room/comment-page-1/#comment-1553 Dagur Wed, 13 Sep 2006 08:35:16 +0000 http://www.istartedsomething.com/20060913/storming-the-living-room/#comment-1553 MythTV Pro: No DRM :-) MythTV

Pro: No DRM :-)

]]> By: Long Zheng http://www.istartedsomething.com/20060913/storming-the-living-room/comment-page-1/#comment-1552 Long Zheng Wed, 13 Sep 2006 07:49:31 +0000 http://www.istartedsomething.com/20060913/storming-the-living-room/#comment-1552 The XBOX 360 is a Media Center Extender. The XBOX 360 is a Media Center Extender.

]]> By: tom http://www.istartedsomething.com/20060913/storming-the-living-room/comment-page-1/#comment-1551 tom Wed, 13 Sep 2006 07:22:03 +0000 http://www.istartedsomething.com/20060913/storming-the-living-room/#comment-1551 I think you missed to add xbox 360 to the list. It plays games... It plays DVDs... It plays CDs... It plays music from your mp3 player (including iPOD) It's a media extender playing content from your media centre or Windows Vista installation (can be a pc, mac or virtualized) It's not a DVR but your media centre/ vista installation will do that assuming you have a tuner installed with that. In my opinion the ideal combo would be an xbox 360 (without fan noise), an option to connect to iTunes or a shared drive on you PC/ Mac as well as Media Extender functionality. I think you missed to add xbox 360 to the list.

It plays games…
It plays DVDs…
It plays CDs…
It plays music from your mp3 player (including iPOD)
It’s a media extender playing content from your media centre or Windows Vista installation (can be a pc, mac or virtualized)

It’s not a DVR but your media centre/ vista installation will do that assuming you have a tuner installed with that.

In my opinion the ideal combo would be an xbox 360 (without fan noise), an option to connect to iTunes or a shared drive on you PC/ Mac as well as Media Extender functionality.

]]> By: Long Zheng http://www.istartedsomething.com/20060913/storming-the-living-room/comment-page-1/#comment-1549 Long Zheng Wed, 13 Sep 2006 07:07:14 +0000 http://www.istartedsomething.com/20060913/storming-the-living-room/#comment-1549 Thanks Chris. I added some details to the list. The processing power issue is mainly a graphics card problem. I can tell you the Intel GMA950 is very capable, but still not good enough if you want to play something like Unreal 2004 on a good resolution with every turned up. I could also use the Apple & games argument, but I won't. Thanks Chris. I added some details to the list.

The processing power issue is mainly a graphics card problem. I can tell you the Intel GMA950 is very capable, but still not good enough if you want to play something like Unreal 2004 on a good resolution with every turned up. I could also use the Apple & games argument, but I won’t.

]]> By: Chris Boulton http://www.istartedsomething.com/20060913/storming-the-living-room/comment-page-1/#comment-1546 Chris Boulton Wed, 13 Sep 2006 06:56:25 +0000 http://www.istartedsomething.com/20060913/storming-the-living-room/#comment-1546 Whilst a Mac Mini may not have a HDMI output, it has a DVI output. The difference between the two is only the fact that HDMI carries audio as well. Most people with decent home theater setups (those who would use HDMI) would also have DVI inputs on their displays. Audio is usually dealt with in a separate device (surround sound system/amp) so it makes more sense to use the optical out provided by the Mac - so I don't really agree with that point. As for processing power - you'd probably want to change that to video processing power. The Mac Mini can be equipped with a 1.8ghz Core Duo processor which is more than enough for the latest games. The built in onboard Intel GMA950 graphics controller is fairly powerful too, just not up to the expectation of playing very intensive games. TV functionality can also be added to a Mac via the EyeTV USB tuner - though not out of the box and can be fairly expensive (assuming you buy their TV tuner and not one of the additional supported ones.) Instead of "somewhat 10-foot UI" for the Mac Mini, I'd actually (after using it on a plasma TV and projector) say it is better than the Media Center UI (Which I've also ran on the same displays - and still continue to). It feels cleaner to work with. HOWEVER - with all of that being said, my Media Center PC will always be my primary HTPC device because: * TV support is integrated in to the UI out of the box, a little work brings me the Australian TV guide. * I can add various folders (including network locations) to be scanned for media, whilst Front Row only scans what is in your ~/Music and ~/Movies (etc) folders and you can't add additional folders. * The remote, whilst having a huge number of buttons compared to the Mac Mini gives me precision control and quick access to the different parts of the eHome system. * I can burn my movies or music stored in the libraries directly from the interface with my remote - particularly useful when I don't have a keyboard/mouse hooked up. Of course, there are more that I could come up with - but like I said, I still and always will prefer MCE over Front Row/the Mac Mini setup. Whilst a Mac Mini may not have a HDMI output, it has a DVI output. The difference between the two is only the fact that HDMI carries audio as well.

Most people with decent home theater setups (those who would use HDMI) would also have DVI inputs on their displays. Audio is usually dealt with in a separate device (surround sound system/amp) so it makes more sense to use the optical out provided by the Mac – so I don’t really agree with that point.

As for processing power – you’d probably want to change that to video processing power. The Mac Mini can be equipped with a 1.8ghz Core Duo processor which is more than enough for the latest games. The built in onboard Intel GMA950 graphics controller is fairly powerful too, just not up to the expectation of playing very intensive games.

TV functionality can also be added to a Mac via the EyeTV USB tuner – though not out of the box and can be fairly expensive (assuming you buy their TV tuner and not one of the additional supported ones.)

Instead of “somewhat 10-foot UI” for the Mac Mini, I’d actually (after using it on a plasma TV and projector) say it is better than the Media Center UI (Which I’ve also ran on the same displays – and still continue to). It feels cleaner to work with.

HOWEVER – with all of that being said, my Media Center PC will always be my primary HTPC device because:

* TV support is integrated in to the UI out of the box, a little work brings me the Australian TV guide.
* I can add various folders (including network locations) to be scanned for media, whilst Front Row only scans what is in your ~/Music and ~/Movies (etc) folders and you can’t add additional folders.
* The remote, whilst having a huge number of buttons compared to the Mac Mini gives me precision control and quick access to the different parts of the eHome system.
* I can burn my movies or music stored in the libraries directly from the interface with my remote – particularly useful when I don’t have a keyboard/mouse hooked up.

Of course, there are more that I could come up with – but like I said, I still and always will prefer MCE over Front Row/the Mac Mini setup.

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