2. pc-audio
  3. 1105542684

Mini Mac as audio server?

OK, I've existed in blissful ignorance of the OSX world, being a Windows dude. But, this little miniMac thing might change my world. Small enuf to stick next to the stereo... Cheap enuf too... With DVI and DVD, probably eliminates my DVD player as well. Check it out:

http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore/

Sooo, someone wanna educate a non-OSX user on audio via Macs? Right now I'm 70% through ripping over 1K CDs to WAV files. I'm thinking the files will eventually end up on one of the Buffalo Terabyte NAS RAID 5 devices when they become available next month. So... the questions...

- Can I play the WAV files via iTunes?
- Is iTunes smart enuf to recognize that I've dropped the files into /Artist/Album directory format and create tags?
- Anyone using an Edirol UA-1D via USB out of the Mac? Any compatibility issues?
- Anything better to do PCM output from the Mac than the Edirol?
- If I watch a DVD, and output the video to my plasma via the DVI port, will the Apple media software recognize that I want PCM output, not multichannel?

Any help appreciated.
edesilva
edesilva OP
768 posts
 
I'm guessing you didn't get the fan to kick on. Mine's a 1.4 GHz w/1 GB, but it takes a lot--like HD video rendering--to get the fan to kick on. I'll run iTunes/visualizer without hearing a peep. When it comes on, its audible. Trust me on this one.

Dunno what the MDD is, or how fast, but the mini is basically a G4. Its got a DVI output, which works great for me and the plasma in my living room. Yeah, needs some more disk space, but that is what NAS is for...
pabelson
344 posts
 
Modern computers are designed to handle video processing, which is far more data-intensive than audio. If audio kicked the fan on, video would probably melt it!
talbot8b89
1 posts
 
Hey guys,

Here's a good article on using the new mini as a HD video box.

http://www.pbs.org/cringely/pulpit/pulpit20050120.html
fishpatrol
30 posts
 
How-to at Engadget as well:
http://features.engadget.com/entry/1234000057028826/

Several new websites trying to create a home theater software package to use with the Mac mini. Hopefully they'll actually get some programmers and not just people sending lists of this-is-what-it-should-do.

If playing back 720p video doesn't crank up the fan, I'd be real impressed. Maybe even enough to sell my setup. (MDD = Apple's "Mirrored Drive-Door" G4 tower; mine was co-released with the first G5s. 1.25Ghz, faster video/HD, DVI, and a case full of fans)

Does a NAS accessed via 802.11g deliver the goods in a reasonable amount of time? Transferring files by 802.11b is agonizingly slow.
edesilva OP
768 posts
 
My NAS is hardwired ethernet. iTunes pulls wav files through w/o any stutters. Took me a while to figure out how to automatically tag the files (which show up as just song title w/o artist or album) from the directory structure, but thanks to applescript, its now working fine.

As far as 802.11g, the answer is probably "it depends." 802.11g runs in the same spectrum band as 11b, so if you have bad interference issues with 11b, 11g is probably going to have some issues as well. That said, it is supposed to run faster in an ideal setup. Ideal set up, in this case, meaning short distance, no walls, low interference, etc. It will be totally environment dependent.

720p playback causes my mM fan to turn on, even with nothing else running. For those who are interested, there is a Mac-specific subchat on the http://www.avsforum.com website on HTPCs that has a lot of info in it.
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