dylan:

PhilLondon:

Dylan, do you own that Mac mini already or you're going to buy it?

Nope, not yet

It is very likely that a new version of the Mac mini will come very soon. This new version either have an HDMI socket, or will send audio through the mini-displayport. In that case you won't need the separate DAC. I suggest you wait for the Mac mini update.

p.

Yes - I've seen rumours of this - as you say may well be sensible to wait for this

PhilLondon:

dylan:

PhilLondon:

Dylan, do you own that Mac mini already or you're going to buy it?

Nope, not yet

It is very likely that a new version of the Mac mini will come very soon. This new version either have an HDMI socket, or will send audio through the mini-displayport. In that case you won't need the separate DAC. I suggest you wait for the Mac mini update.

p.

Would be very helpful.

Stefan

stefan:

Great setup...

But do you have the MacBook picture on your link TVs ??

Stefan

Thank you :)

Correct, I do not get the MiniDisplayPort/HDMI output through to the link rooms; that is why I liked the idea someone had of trying to have duplicate paths (one digital, one analogue) from a MacMini or an Apple TV -- the unanswered question is whether those Apples would "broadcast" simultaneously on both connections ......

Pestria:

elephant:

BTW, not sure if you had seen my wiring set-up that has been posted previously

Thank you for posting - this is very helpful.

 

I wonder if you could explain the connections between the connections out of the RF Link Amp at 3-4-6 o'clock -> 2 into DVB-T and 1 into the BV8.

Also, where is your primary aerial input?

Thanks in advance.

AP

The danger of putting in too much detail :-)

I find the B&O RF box complicated to understand (I am no electrical engineer).

This is how I put it together and it seems to work:

-- observe the small dotted RF cable that appears from the wall by the BeoSound 4 - this is my primary aerial coming from the roof

-- that feed is split, one half goes to the right and is the digital input for the DCB-T module 

-- the other half goes left and is the input into the RF amplifier (3 o'clock)

-- then from the RF output of the DVB-T there is a cable that goes to the RF amplifier (4 o'clock)

-- then from the RF amplifier there is a path to the old analogue receiver in the BV7 (6 o'clock)

The B&O RF Amplifier has 6 taps:

Mod. IN which is my 4 o'clock

Aerial IN, my 3 o'clock

TAP 1, my 6 o'clock

TAPs 2, 3 and 4 feed the link TVs and the eyeTV

I hope that helps

(there is a FAQ on this site for the amplifier, but it took several emails between myself, Keith and Phillipe for me to get this all working)

Thank you all, particularly Stefan, for your time and input on this. Think I pretty much know what I'm going to do now - wait for rumoured new MacMini with hopefully the HDMI output, then try the CM388. Will definitely report back as to how it goes. In the meantime I'll have to think of something else to occupy the mind during the dragging days whilst waiting for my BV7

Good luck with your installation and enjoy your new BV7. I`m very interested in your report about the mac mini integration.

Stefan

Guess what, the new Mac mini is here!

With HDMI and Mini display port, and SD card reader.

Half the size, better graphics, integrated power adaptor... great!

p.

If I'd known it was so easy I'd have asked for more!

...oh, and it is all in aluminium now!

Well, I've asked Steve Jobs and he's apologised for not fully reading my email and therefore for not including the analog outputs on the new MacMini.

So looks like I'll be going with the MacMini-CM388 solution.

My question is about the spec of the MacMini; not withstanding the general maxim to get the highest spec possible, money is a factor, so do I need anything beyond the base spec (2.4Ghz, 2GB, 320GB)? As a reminder - this will just be run as a media centre, needs to cope with HD and will probably have the eyeTV elegato hybrid or possibly diversity TVtuner stick (Could get the EyeTV 250plus which has its own processor if we think the mac might struggle). I plan to get some form of networked storage in the short to medium term so not too worried re hard disc size.

thanks again

EDIT: just seen other thread with discussion between re performance of the new macmini - I'm happy to follow/contribute to this rather than duplicating

dylan:

My question is about the spec of the MacMini; not withstanding the general maxim to get the highest spec possible, money is a factor, so do I need anything beyond the base spec (2.4Ghz, 2GB, 320GB)?

I have been trying to make the same decision.

I did price comparisons of yesterday's MacMini with today's, and also looked at where the new server version sits.

It looks like it is more cost effective to buy the server version than to upgrade the entry point ... (save AU$100) ... provided you don't want the CD/DVD drive - or you can buy an external Apple super drive for an extra AU$130; then there would be some who would say that the external drive one should buy is a blu-ray device (but I think you still can't support it from Mac OSX)

True but might there be some hassles using a machine configured as a server? I might be tempted to upgrade the base one to 2.66 and 4GB (same as server) which comes out about the same price as the server - would just be missing out on the larger hard disc - but I plan to have a larger expandable NAS eg Drobo so not too worried about this. If didn't want to do this could add a firewire external HDD relatively cheaply.

I have heard good things about Drobo, but it seems expensive here, whereas the Apple store/AU throws this up as a recommened option for the MacMini server:

The Promise SmartStor DS4600 RAID subsystem is the perfect external storage solution for Mac mini. Configured with either four 7200-rpm 1TB SATA drives or four 7200-rpm 2TB SATA drives in a compact, quiet enclosure, the SmartStor DS4600 provides hardware RAID protected storage for your server applications.

elephant:

I have heard good things about Drobo, but it seems expensive here, whereas the Apple store/AU throws this up as a recommened option for the MacMini server:

The Promise SmartStor DS4600 RAID subsystem is the perfect external storage solution for Mac mini. Configured with either four 7200-rpm 1TB SATA drives or four 7200-rpm 2TB SATA drives in a compact, quiet enclosure, the SmartStor DS4600 provides hardware RAID protected storage for your server applications.

Thanks but not a NAS, which is what I mainly want as I want to minimize number of boxes attached directly to BV7 itself (which is looking likely to include the macmini, beoport and the CM388). There is a Smartstor NAS NS4600 but I've seen a couple of not so good reviews. Now looking at D-Link DNS-343.

Hi, I use a drobo and it works fantastic.
Expensive yes, but upgradable and the safe against data loss.

I use the 5-bay FS which has ethernet connection .... no glitch ever. super fast!

I use it as a server for my mac mini home theater/beoport/linkplayer setup. 

@ Elephant

Thanks very much for explaining the connections...

PhilLondon:

Guess what, the new Mac mini is here!

With HDMI and Mini display port, and SD card reader.

Half the size, better graphics, integrated power adaptor... great!

p.

Bought my first MacMini on Saturday (and a BeoLink Active with its PC connection, but that's another story for another time and another place).

Easy to set-up, although the migration of my files (i.e. my iTunes setup!) from the MacBook took 7 hours via a 100MB router.

The one surprise is that I can no longer have the audio output split and it go to the BeoPort and go to BeoVision.

Previously I had this set-up so that NetMusic commands would run via the BeoPort, but LinkPlayer commands would run via the BeoVision.

The new mini-displayport/HDMI capability on the new MacMini now requires a software toggle to switch the MacMini between digital output via the mini-displayport/HDMI to the BeoVision, or to analogue output through the headphone jack to the BeoPort.

I have spent Sunday researching keyboard shortcuts, AppleScripts, and the like to be able to do this without fussing with mouse options as a short term fix ...

Apart from that I love getting what seems a better audio experience

Two things for you all, (1) the video and ...

underscan is new with the MacMini but I prefer to lose some of the edges of the OSX desktop and yet retain some crispness of the text

... and (2) audio setups of the MacMini for the BV8 ...

In addition to a slight cpu upgrade in going from my MacBook's 2.0GHZ to the MacMini's 2.4GHZ I also applied an update to PLEX to use the GPUs of the MacMini (or the MacBook, but this I have not tested)

• http://elan.plexapp.com/2010/04/27/hardware-accelerated-h-264-decoding-on-plex/

The results of testing one 1080P movie were stunning ... totally smooth, no artefacts, no juddering on pans, no dropped frames 

And in case you are wondering I achieved the 1080P through the display 1080I setting I just posted :)

elephant:

Exciting stuff - so you went for the standard Mini rather than the server. Did you leave it with the 2GB of RAM? Looks like the toggling for the analog/digital means I'll definitely be needing to get the CM388 converter to get both simultaneously out of the HDMI.

cooldude:

Hi, I use a drobo and it works fantastic.
Expensive yes, but upgradable and the safe against data loss.

I use the 5-bay FS which has ethernet connection .... no glitch ever. super fast!

I use it as a server for my mac mini home theater/beoport/linkplayer setup. 

Must say more I research more I keep coming back to Drobo - pricey but seems idiot proof and I particularly like the ability to mix different size drives without losing capacity.

elephant:

In addition to a slight cpu upgrade in going from my MacBook's 2.0GHZ to the MacMini's 2.4GHZ I also applied an update to PLEX to use the GPUs of the MacMini (or the MacBook, but this I have not tested)

 

• http://elan.plexapp.com/2010/04/27/hardware-accelerated-h-264-decoding-on-plex/

 

The results of testing one 1080P movie were stunning ... totally smooth, no artefacts, no juddering on pans, no dropped frames 

And in case you are wondering I achieved the 1080P through the display setting I just posted above :)

Sounds intersting. I`m really curious how the Cypress 338 works with the mac mini and the BV.

@ elephant: Do you know why there is no 1080p in the resolutions list?

Stefan

stefan:

@ elephant: Do you know why there is no 1080p in the resolutions list?

Hi, the BV8-32 is not a real 1080 machine, it is only meant to be a 720p but together with the make it seems to be able to push up to 1080i !

dylan:

Did you leave it with the 2GB of RAM?

Yes I did, mainly because the Apple brick and mortar store sold only the two pre-congigured models and I figured I could always add memory later if I needed it ... seeing how the new design seems to have easier access