“It’s finally arrived: the Mac that is made to be used with your HDTV! Browsing through Apple’s list of accessories for the new Mac mini reveals just what we have been waiting for. Not only do they list the various adapters that we mentioned in our ‘How to connect your PC to your HTPC’ article but they also mention all the various resolutions. So it doesn’t matter if you have DVI, HDMI, or VGA, you are covered,” Ben Drawbaugh writes for HD Beat in an oddly-titled piece, “The Intel Macmini is perfect for HDTV.”
MacDailyNews Take: What’s up next, “The IBM Power Mac is perfect for Photoshop?” But, we digress…
Drawbaugh continues, “I am the most excited about the mention of the resolutions; in the past you would have to use a third party product such as DisplayConfigX to get your Mac mini to output the correct resolution, now it seems it’s supported by OSX. This in combination with the overscan adjustment built into to the display preferences is very impressive. Audio was considered as well as the new Mac mini includes SPDIF in and out so you can enjoy DD 5.1 in all it’s glory.”
Full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “LinuxGuy” for the heads up.]
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Related MacDailyNews articles:
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
With today’s announcements, Apple’s vision is becoming clearer and bolder – February 28, 2006
Apple introduces new Intel-based Mac mini – February 28, 2006
Amen brother!
The Apple media center is here.. The great thing is that it’s also a pretty powerful computer too!
Does anybody know of that site where mac users can download videos on-demand? I want to explore that but I can’t remember it for the life of me…
Thanks!
Now I can finally enjoy Jared singing in Dolby Digital 5.1 displayed on a widescreen HDTV. Life just got better.
Alan, the mini is the first step..
Hardware first.. Content next.
I’m gonna act like an analyst and predict that Disney and Pixar movies will be available first! Pretty intuitive huh?
Well that takes care of the technical details, except HDCP of course.
Since anything worth a darn to watch is controlled by the cable companies and HDCP, and there is no DRM from the Mini to a monitor, the only thing we can watch is a few “FreeHD” channels.
Still need a ClearQAM decoder like the EyeTV 500.
But at least we can hook up the Mini to a large 60″ Plasma without trouble.
I’m having a Lord-Vader-Rise moment.
I hears minimum requirements to play back HD is a 2.0ghz Intel Core Duo so the Mac Mini isn’t the solution. Recording is no problem.
Too bad though….
Daniel-san, where did you hear that?
Wait a tic….ISN”T THIS MAC MINI SUPPOSED TO SUCK BIG TIME?!!????!!
I mean, c’mon all the Mac users in these forums are bad mouthing the living shit out of it, right?
IT MUST SUCK.
WOW! EXCELLENT!
…except that the Intel graphics chipset and the proc on the mini can’t do HDTV.
Nice thought, but completely off-base.
Quoted from another post:
not even he high end unit is useful for a set-top box if you’ve got an HD screen.
For 1280×720 (720p) video at 24-30 frames per second:
QuickTime 7 for Mac OS X:
* 1.8 GHz PowerMac G5 or faster Macintosh computer; 1.83 GHz Intel Core Duo or faster
* At least 256MB of RAM
* 64 MB or greater video card
QuickTime 7 for Windows:
* 2.8 GHz Pentium 4 or faster processor
* At least 512MB of RAM
* 64MB or greater video card
* Windows 2000 or XP
For 1920×1080 (1080p) video at 24 frames per second:
QuickTime 7 for Mac OS X:
* Dual 2.0 GHz PowerMac G5 or faster Macintosh computer; 2.0 GHz Intel Core Duo or faster
* At least 512MB of RAM
* 128MB or greater video card
QuickTime 7 for Windows:
* 3.0 Ghz Intel Pentium D (dual-core) or faster processor
* At least 1GB of RAM
* 64MB or greater video card
* Windows 2000 or XP
As well, with the increase of $200 in costs, it makes the iMac a better purchase unless you are going strictly for form factor:
Mac Mini $800
Monitor $250
Keyboard/Mighty Mouse $78
Upgrade HD 120GB 5200rpm $125
Total $1253 (not including $150 for iSight)
iMac 17″ $1299
Has faster processor 1.83 versus 1.67, 160GB 3.5″ 7200rpm drive, faster (and not integrated) graphics card, Built-in iSight cam
Not content with content? Here’s are some likely places Apple will be able to find video and audio content for fun and profit:
Pixar, ABC Entertainment, ABC Daytime, ABC News, ABC Sports, ABC Kids, Touchstone Television, ABC Radio, Radio Disney, ESPN Radio and ABC News Radio, ESPN, Disney Channel, ABC Family, Toon Disney, SOAPnet, Walt Disney Television Animation, Fox Kids International, and Buena Vista Television. And Disney holds equity interest in Lifetime Entertainment Services, A&E Television Networks and E! Networks.
Impressive list for a very wide audience.
Only the insipid whiners among us are complaining about the new mini.
Oh and the PC users who have nothing better to do between Doritos and porn.
Oh and as soon as someone points me to the nearest retail outlet where I can buy HD movies (much less download them!) I will care if I can play HD on a computer.
BlueRay, HD-DVD, HDCP etc questions answered here
http://www.digitalhomecanada.com/content/view/1067/98/
“Doritos and porn” Funny stuff!
They’re not just for breakfast anymore. Cheetos and anime? Dangerously cheesy! Snicker doodles and film noir? Too sweet and sour.
Skittles and British TV comedy? Now we’re talking.
Speaking of cheesy, I can’t believe the unimaginitive PC press hasn’t made endless puns with Apple and Core Single and Duo. Or maybe I’ve gotten better at tuning them out.
anybody know if the core duo mini can import HD using iMovie HD or FC express?
i saw where someone said it would record HD, but what about importing through firewire.
Thanks in advance.
Hey Dude,
The fact that Apple allows creation of HD movies, the fact that TV is now available in HD format, compiled to the reality that all new non-crt tv’s are able to play HD makes this more important. Frankly, for a decked out mini, I can get an iMac with much better specs for a similar end price and the iMac has a built-in cam.
I believe the price jump will ultimately hurt sales and that the $499 price might have been a perfect psychological barrier that attracted a lot of attention. Perhaps the $599 version should have been offered at $499 without the remote just to have this appeal.
If PVR had been added, a $599 PVR computer with a full-blown computer OS, virus-free email and web-surfing, and the best user-experience on the market, coupled with iPhoto-photocasting, Front Row, iTunes/iPod, etc. would have destroyed the market and capture 80% of the PVR market within 18 months. I still think this is the game plan but PVR will canabalize efforts to get studios on to iTunes. The functionality has been there ever since firewire appeared on cable boxes. Apple obviously has a fully functioning PVR in their labs.
Everything Jobs is about timing – introducing products and services at the right time either to dominate a fragmented portion of the industry, or to gain leverage of studios or other companies.
As a side note, no one has mentioned that Disney has its own cell phone service: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8485103/
Why hasn’t anyone linked this with the debut of the Apple iPhone? This sounds like a slam dunk for Apple.
Well, it certainly does not have HDCP support, it does not have component video-out, and unless you pay $799 for the Core Duo model you aren’t up to spec to play HD Quicktime content. Otherwise, uh, sure! A cheap-ass Mac mini for your $5000 plasma display and $1200 surround sound system! What a perfect match!
Gosh, I hope nobody calls me a whiner for not being a Mac fan boy. That would be really awful and stuff.
The Intel 950 can handle it. As the first Mac Mini owner will learn from playing HD trailers at Quicktime.com.
And it’s OK to call something an Intel Mac because we didn’t know for a long time what the chip would be called. If we didn’t know the PPC name, we would have said IBM Mac.
https://register.go.com/disney/disney_mobile_mvno/index
Disney Mobile + Apple iPhone
http://mobile.espn.go.com/
ESPN
So now Disney/ABC/ESPN/APPLE have a huge purchasing-power block over Sprint, either to have their own MVNO or to use Sprints openly.
Kind of gives a LOT more leverage to the Apple iPhone if Sprint can get great stuff (and much better content) from the Disney family.
As well, Apple’s mobile browser is now becoming a mainstay for Nokia. Interesting stuff!
I’m going to wait for a tuner to toss my HTPC (a 6 year old Dell, windows 2000, 160GB Hard Drive) out the window. I’m sure the Mini will play mpg2 just fine… but it is not a media center unless it can record tv and has some space to store at least 45 hours. Am I missing something?
If you look at the apple H.264 website you see that for 1080i HDTV decoding you need a 2GHz intel core duo. Far more powerful than the puny core solo or even the modest core duo included. In a year the mac mini will be the perfect HDTV companion, but right now it’s just a soon to be obsolete box.
Since anything worth a darn to watch is controlled by the cable companies and HDCP
You need to get out more. The stuff controlled by cable companies and HDCP is shit. You can find much, much better stuff, for free, using DTV, Google Video, Limewire or Bittorrent.
Dug asks “Am I missing something”
yes, you are.. Apple’s movie service will be streaming rentals. Just like the current quicktime movie trailers.
You will pay 3 or 4 bucks to rent the movie and have access to stream for a couple of days… Just like paying 3 or 4 bucks to rent a dvd from blockbuster, except you will do it from your couch.. The file will never reside on your hard drive.
PVR on a Mac? Never.. Not as long as apple is in the business of selling video content on the ITMS.
Do you really think that this ‘new’ Integrated Graphic chip may/will/can handle HD TV????
Apple always had promoted the graphic cards inside their machines; with a full page dedicated to graphics:
http://www.apple.com/imac/graphics.html
http://www.apple.com/macbookpro/graphics.html
http://www.apple.com/imacg5/graphics.html
http://www.apple.com/powermac/graphics.html
http://www.apple.com/powerbook/display.html
Now… it’s a ‘mini’
” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”wink” style=”border:0;” /> side note in the lower right hand of this page:
http://www.apple.com/macmini/intelcore.html
Is Apple hiding something? or Don’t want to promote Intel’s Integrated Chip as it does with ATI’s or Radeon’s???