Hi beoworld!

I know there has been a lot of discussions about using the mac mini as a media center and I wanna do the same thing but it's a bit confusing. First of all let me describe my setup: 

I am using Beolab 5s as front speakers, beolab 9s in the rear together. All connected to my Beovision 10-40. I also have a BS9000 that is connected with S/PDIF to the Beolab 5s and with a masterlink connection to the beovision 10.

Here is the thing. I am gonna get the new mac mini which has a built in HDMI. Apparently it feeds multichannel audio through the HDMI. The mac mini will mainly be used as a music device and therefor I want to feed the S/PDIF signal directly to my beolab 5s. But it is likely that I will use the mac mini for video aswell. In that case I have to feed the audio through the HDMI connection so that the Beolab 9s gets a signal too, correct?

So, I am not sure how to solve this when it comes to connections and I find it kind of confusing. I will be using iTunes for both audio and video playback so it will be available in frontrow. Since I am using the same application both for music playback and multichannel video playback and I can't use different audio output for music and video. 

Any suggestions how to set this up?

Best

/Felix Swensson

I "think" (in other words you should check) that you can cable the following:

1. HDMI to BeoVision
2. "headphone" as SPDIF to the Beolabs

I believe you will then need to switch between "headphone" mode and "HDMI" mode depending on which usage you are making.

The MacMini switches between these two outputs via Preference configurations, although there are Apple scripts that also do this.

I am currently testing a special version of Philippe's LinkPlayer to see if we can automate this switching process. 

Okay.. I see

I did read here on beoworld about another way of connecting the whole thing. 

Mac mini S/PDIF-> SPDIF TO LEFT BEOLAB 5--> SPDIF TO RIGHT BEOLAB 5--> SPDIF OUTPUT RIGHT BEOLAB 5--> BEOVISION 10 S/SPDIF INPUT

WOuld that work??

Thanks!

Felle:

Okay.. I see

I did read here on beoworld about another way of connecting the whole thing. 

Mac mini S/PDIF-> SPDIF TO LEFT BEOLAB 5--> SPDIF TO RIGHT BEOLAB 5--> SPDIF OUTPUT RIGHT BEOLAB 5--> BEOVISION 10 S/SPDIF INPUT

WOuld that work??

 

Thanks!

It might work but why are leaving your poor little BS9000 out of the party?  

Haha! I guess I was really tired when I wrote that. So that set-up won't do :(

First, a little discovery I made after reading that the BeoLab 5s give priority to a digital coax s/pdif signal over all other signals being sent to it.

That means the BL5s use the s/pdif over the Powerlink audio from the BeoSound 9000, in your case, because of this override.

I have set up my BL5s with a Beomaster 7000 which feeds it a Powerlink signal, and use the Beomaster to channel audio from various sources. But here's the nifty detail - when I choose CD, the Beomaster shifts to CD control mode, and the BL5s accept what's coming down the s/pdif as if it came from a B&O CD-player's s/pdif OUT.

I can control volume, off/on, etc. from the B&O remote, via the Beomaster, and the PL-control connection to the speakers - but the speakers are getting their coax s/pdif signal from a sound card I'm using. This sound card has various connections for digital and analog sources, and I have connected a variety of FireWire, coax and optical Toslink sources to it, including Mac mini; the s/pdif audio out from the STB, etc.

Thus I can use audio from various non-B&O sources, channeling these through the soundcard, while the BL5s think it's all coming from a B&O cd-player.

I use the BL5s in Option 0 when doing this. When I press CD, my setup remain open until I press the standby-button on the remote.

In your case, you have the problem of your system wanting to believe that your CD-player is the BeoSound 9000. This means that when you press CD, it will start the BeoSound 9000 - but if there was a way of assigning that to another function button; and of using the BeoVision 10 as your master, then you should be able to set up a nice system.

Some of the more knowledgeable about option programming etc may be able to help out?

Mac mini outputs digital in various ways: FireWire, USB, optical digital OUT.

I would send the HDMI signal to the BeoVision 10, and let the BV10 do the processing of your movies, sending audio to the correct speakers.

If you can do the workaround I outline above, then all you need is an interface between the Mac mini and the BL5s. I'm using the Konnekt 24D soundcard, which does an excellent job; but there are many simpler ways of getting this conversion done. However, given recent developments in music playback, I would recommend having a FireWire enabled interface to do your translation.

With this setup - you should be able to have your system recognize the Mac mini as one source for movies, and another source for music. I use my iPhone to select music for playback.

Thanks for a really complete and good answer Soundproof!

This whole thing seems like a tough thing to figure out. I can't understand why B&O isn't making this easier. For an example it would be amazing if the Beovision 10 had a digital output allowing it to output digital signals to the BL5s when playing stereo soundtracks and switching over to powerlink when playing 5.1 signals. 

Interesting hearing your thoughts about a sound interface for mac mini. I have though about just using the internal optical out and just converting it to coax but maybe a good soundcard with a coax output is more reliable and better? 

I think I'll start off with getting the Mac Mini, just connecting it with the HDMI, and output powerlink signals from the BV10. And if I get it to work with S/PDIF that would be great. 

Thanks!

Yes, my workaround above would fail if I had a CD-player connected to the Beomaster 7000. But I haven't looked into the possibilities for assigning the cd-player to another unit through LIST, to free up CD for the soundcard, as I have it now.

I believe B&O abandoned their coax s/pdif connection when they came up with Beosystem 3, which doesn't have coax s/pdif out for the BL5s ...

You do get a good connection from Mac mini > BeoVision 10 through HDMI, and you can control the Mac mini output with your Beo-remote if the BeoVision 10 has the proper PUC.

Linkplayer is also worth looking into. If the BeoVision 10 correctly processes audio out from the Mac mini, then you shouldn't have to worry about rigging a work-around.

There are complaints in Apple-forums and elsewhere that the new Mac mini has trouble with some televisions, particularly those from Samsung, with kernel panics and shutdowns. I don't think that's the case with Beovisions?

We're gonna keep the BS9000 for a while but I don't know how much it will be used to be honest. I will upload my entire music library to the Mac Mini so I think the BS9000 will be used less and less. 

I didn't know that you could control the Mac Mini with a Beo remote. That's great! Do I need to update the BV10 with a Mac Mini PUC?

I'll have a look at Link Player, seems like a good app! 

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/media-link-player-lite/id313455652?mt=8 Is that what you mean?

Thanks!

http://web.me.com/philrobin/LinkPlayer/Linkplayer.html

Found what you mean with Linkplayer now!

soundproof:

There are complaints in Apple-forums and elsewhere that the new Mac mini has trouble with some televisions, particularly those from Samsung, with kernel panics and shutdowns. I don't think that's the case with Beovisions?

No problems on my BV8-32 after several weeks of daily operation for many hours of use (or do I mean abuse!)

Felle:

http://web.me.com/philrobin/LinkPlayer/Linkplayer.html

Found what you mean with Linkplayer now!

I have just finished putting together for Cliff (another Beoworlder) a guide for setting up and using LinkPlayer with his new BV7 and MacMini.  If you would like a copy please send me a PM (the guide is written from the perspective of using LinkPlayer without a BeoPort but it may give you an appreciation of LinkPlayer's value)

I would as well if that is at all possible...

Thanks beoaus.

elephant:

I have just finished putting together for Cliff (another Beoworlder) a guide for setting up and using LinkPlayer with his new BV7 and MacMini.  If you would like a copy please send me a PM (the guide is written from the perspective of using LinkPlayer without a BeoPort but it may give you an appreciation of LinkPlayer's value)

Hi Elephant

I would also like to recieve your manual if possible.

I will PM you right away :-)

/Ehlerz

Ehlerz:

elephant:

I have just finished putting together for Cliff (another Beoworlder) a guide for setting up and using LinkPlayer with his new BV7 and MacMini.  If you would like a copy please send me a PM (the guide is written from the perspective of using LinkPlayer without a BeoPort but it may give you an appreciation of LinkPlayer's value)

Hi Elephant

I would also like to recieve your manual if possible.

I will PM you right away :-)

/Ehlerz

Got your pm, and sent the first "chapter" on iTunes usage