There was “no way that you would want to use [Apple’s old model] PowerPC Mac mini to watch HDTV. You could record it, but the number crunching necessary to play it back is beyond the G4. The Core Duo [Mac mini] on the other hand, should handle it with ease. The ability to play HDTV is critical for any machine that wants to be taken seriously as a home media center,” The HDTV Tuner writes. “The mini still doesn’t have a TV Tuner, but ElGato’s EyeTV 500 and Miglia’s TVMini HD will solve that problem.”
“So the Mac mini can now play HDTV happily. That on it own doesn’t tell us much. But it now ships with a version of but Front Row which can detect other Macs on your network automatically and stream music, video and photos from them to the mini, and Apple’s media remote control. Finally Apple has added information to the Mac mini pages on its website [here, scroll to the bottom of the page] that describe exactly how to connect the mini to an HDTV and how to set the resolution and other settings on the mini to optimise playback on a TV. It’s also provided links to a handful of third party sites which describe how to use the mini as a media center” The HDTV Tuner writes. “On their own, none of the improvements mean a great deal in HDTV terms, but together they suggest Apple is well on its way to turning the Mac mini into a high definition media center. All it needs now is to start selling high definition movies and TV shows on iTunes. Watch this space.”
Full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Kenny” for the heads up.]
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Related MacDailyNews articles:
Apple Mac mini’s Intel GMA950 Integrated Graphics Core reviewed – March 01, 2006
Apple’s new Mac mini: perfect for HDTV – March 01, 2006
Videos of Steve Jobs introducing Mac mini, iPod Hi-Fi – March 01, 2006
Analyst: Apple’s new Mac mini ‘a good first step into the living room’ – February 28, 2006
Old Apple Mac mini G4 vs. new Mac mini’s graphics and video specs – February 28, 2006
Apple introduces new Intel-based Mac mini – February 28, 2006
This ain´t a computer folks, its a fancy video player.
Apple should take the “Mac” name off it and call it something else. iTv or iVid perhaps.
People please get the facts right before making stupid comments about the new Macmini performance! Directly from intel.com:
– Up to 2048×1536 resolution for both analog and digital displays
– Consumer Electronic display (Digital TV) support
– Display hot plug support to automatically detect new display connection while system is operating (CRT and DVI)
– Two Serial Digital Video Out (SDVO) ports for flat-panel monitors and/or TV-out support via Advanced Digital Display 2 (ADD2) cards or Media Expansion Cards
– Intel Media Expansion Cards available providing TV-out and PVR capability
– Multiple display types (LVDS, DVI-I, DVI-D, HDTV, TV-out, CRT)
– Dual screen support through ADD2 digital video devices
– HDTV 480i/p, 576i/p, 720i/p and 1080i/p display resolution support
– Interlaced Display output support
– 16×9 and 16×10 Aspect Ratio for widescreen displays
– 2×2 Panel Scaler
It has some overall nice specs… Check out yourself if you don’t believe me.
http://www.intel.com/products/chipsets/gma950/
Without reading the specs, Mr. Reee said “the mini uses a 4200 rpm laptop drive”
Nope.
The new mini uses a 5400RPM, 2.5″ drive.
Specs: Okay, I was assuming that it was a 4200 rpm drive.
Yeah, yeah, NEVER assume!
I stand corrected.
Still, Apple should have used a dedicated video card. There’s always Rev. B…
… a bechmark made a year ago on a different platform doesn’t prove anything. Only that XP or DirectX had issues with a new technology which was at the time propably too advanced for them
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If Tivo Series 3 will support zero config (aka Bonjour) then that would solve the problem of using the MacMini for HDTV viewing. However, it would seem that other companies would rush to fill the gap creating a firewire based under Mini box that would contain one or more QAM compatible tuners with cable card support.
Jaakko,
As previously stated, this means the card will support these output modes as a graphics monitor. The CPU in the mini cannot (according to Apple’s latest specs) decode h.264 video at 30fps HD resolution, and even if you overclocked the hell out of the CPU, the intel graphics chip can’t handle it.
Again — viewing your desktop & apps at high resolution is a different animal from displaying 30 progressive HD frames of hi-res video per second.
… Ok it doesn’t state which HD it decodes but again from intel.com if the GPU decodes HD i guess the CPU doesn’t have to.
– High Definition Hardware Motion Compensation to support high definition hi-bitrate MPEG2 media playback
– High Definition Content Decode – up to two stream support
Correct me if I’m wrong.
I’ll take a cab to Soho Apple Store tomorrow and I’ll buy one… Then I can tell everyone for sure what it plays and what it doesn’t play
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Deal or no deal?
No one on this thread seems to really know the answer to whether the mini can play high def. H264, but that doesn’t stop them from “expressing themselves”!
Apple needs to clarify this–their recommended specs for viewing HD 264 are obviously dated.
Kate
While I hope you’re right, you should know that playback of HD MPEG2 is MUCH less demanding on the processor and graphics card than playback of HD264.
Jake
I understand what peoples’ comcerns are, but the arguments are whiney. The mac mini is what it is. Does anything think they aren’t aware of how it performs? They want people to buy UP. You may not like it, but this is business.
They could create the most amazing mini that rivals a top end computer– for what purpose? They aren’t dumb. Is it annoying. Yes. Such is the way this works.
If there were complete satisfaction with the mini, why bother even having an iMac or above?
Real world tests will ultimately decide, but man o man, some of these seem so silly. Complain when you see what it really is. Otherwise, just speculate and leave out the venom.
Let these posts and the many others regarding issues with Apple be evidence that just because we love our Macs does not me we love everything Apple does like mindless Mac Zealots.
iMike
MACDUDE — Will you please STOP with this Chicken Little bullsh-t you keep spouting about HDCP?
PLEASE???
There have been plenty of anti-piracy standards implemented since capitalism began, and every single one of them has been circumvented. If someone wants to crack something, they will.
And the majority of people don’t care, because in principle the reimbursing of artists and creatives and copyright holders for their creations is a BEDROCK PRINCIPLE of the creative system as it operates within a capitalist economy.
So please . . .
SHUT THE F*CK UP about HDCP and DRM and the end of the world.
M’Kay?
Hey Jake
HD MPEG-2 content at 1920×1080 traditionally runs at 12-20 Mbps, while H.264 can deliver 1920×1080 content at 7-8 Mbps at the same or better quality. H.264 provides DVD quality at about half the data rate of MPEG-2. Because of this efficiency, H.264, an ISO standard, stands to be the likely successor to MPEG-2 in the professional media industry.
… but it doesn’t say which requires more CPU to decode…
I’m sure we’ll all be super happy if the iMac Core Solo can play 1080p content using the integrated graphics. I’ll be kind of shocked if it can, but that would be awesome.
There seems to be some confusion with respect to if a video card “is fast enough” to display 1080p. Some of the newer discrete cards like the ATI X1x00 cards can accelerate decoding of compressed video formats on the card itself which is why some people may be thinking the Intel GMA950 isn’t fast enough to decode H.264. However, if the cpu itself can decode the stream fast enough the video card doesn’t have to do any more than it would to display a regular desktop at 1920×1080. Which is to say there would be no problem at all.
from what I can tell the mac mini duo 1.6 should be able to decode a 720P signal because its around as fast as my G5 in that respect – a dual 2.0 w/ slowest card availbe so its hould be able to play 1080p
MacDude,
You’re right about the EyeTV 500.
It took a while, but I finally figured why I wasn’t getting the correct info at ElGato’s website. Even though I had selected their U.S. online store, I was being routed to an outside the U.S. area of their online store where the EyeTV 500 is listed, but can’t be purchased.
Makes sense. I guess.
I’m writing this on the new Dual Core Mac mini that is on display at the Easton Apple Store in Columbus, Ohio. I downloaded the Mission Impossible III trailer in 1080p. It plays full screen on the 20 inch display perfectly. Not a dropped frame, no stuttering of any kind. I’m impressed.
I was told the mini uses a SATA 3.5″ 5400RPM drive. By Apple themselves as I placed the order for the faster of the 2 minis.
Re: “Driver”
They said it was 3.5″ or SATA, or both? There are 2.5″ SATA drives for laptops, and the sizes Apple offers would seem to indicate it is a 2.5″ SATA drive since those currently top out at 120GB.
One other thing… THIS article is
WRONG WRONG WRONG… So W-R-O-N-G
Nowhere on Apples website does it talk about resolutions of the mini itself. It talks about TV resolutions which is old news “TV Tips” on the page itself. Other than Apple’s own ability to change screeen size in the System Prefs nowhere is OSX “optimized” for output to TV’s. You are still on your own when hooking to a HDTV via DVI, VGA or any other resolution with any other device and all the cables for the most part ARE 3rd Party ones.
Don’t get your hopes up Home Theater enthusiasts, nothing has changed, the hurdles remain the same. it’s the same old cables we’ve already known about for some time.