A Mac Mini in the Living Room
17 Feb 2005 in Macintosh, Projects by GarrickSince the release of the Mac Mini, I’ve been looking for reasons to pick one up. Currently, there’s a G4 tower in my basement and I’d like to return it to the 20th Century.
Here’s what I’m thinking:
- Plug the Mac Mini into my TV, and use either the El Gato EyeTV Wonder or Plextor ConvertX as a personal video recorder.
- Use the KeySpan Remote Control to control the PVR, the Mini’s DVD player, iTunes, iPhoto, and Skype from the couch
- Use the Mini as a file server and WiFi base station to the rest of the computers on the network
In theory, it sounds pretty slick, a true Digital Hub. In practice, I’m less optimistic. I’d rather not have to navigate the Mac OS from the couch.
Two things require further investigation:
- Can a specific key on the KeySpan can be mapped to each of the applications?
- Are the PVRs reliable with broadcast, over-the-air TV?
Has anyone tried something like this in their own home?
Comments (2)
Nicole Netland added these pithy words on May 03 08 at 1:40 pmAny updates to someone who’s very close to giving this a try? Have you found that you can really get away without a keyboard? I assume no problems with with Blu-ray playback?
Garrick Van Buren added these pithy words on May 04 08 at 7:19 pmNicole, Navigating anything covered by Front Row is great with the Apple remote. Occasionally something will lockup and a I need to VNC into the machine to bring it back to life – or there’s a software update to install. Not a big deal considering there’s usually a laptop nearby. Blu-Ray support is rumored for June, but I’m less optimistic about Apple supporting it at all – considering they have a number of machines designed to play video that lack optical drives (AppleTV, iPod, MacBook Air).
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