Mac Mini as a home theater PC, a file server and a web server
Finally Apple released an update to the mac mini product line. I finally got mine and its already up and running. I set it up to be my HTPC, file server and web server. I want to go through each of these three topics and describe the configuration I used.
Hardware:
The mac mini is way too expensive for the hardware you get. I was really disappointed at first because they even raised the price from 439?(with student discount) t0 526?. For 550 euros I could get twice as much ram and way more disk space, eSata, blueray and hdmi output easily with a linux or windows machine. BUT OS X makes it still worth the money FOR ME. I do not agree with the back and forth disccussion about macs vs. pcs. A computer is a TOOL, like a car is for transportation. There is diffrent cars with different uses and different prices. Some cars are easy to drive some require a skilled driver… Everybody has to decide for himself if its worth the money and if it will do what you want it do in the way you want it to be done. Be glad there is a choice!
1 mac mini 3/2009, 2.0 GHZ, 2GB RAM
mac mini
Mac Mini – The mean reasons I chose the mac mini over other more powerful computer were that its really small and really really quite. The mini is inaudible and I really hated the constant buzz from my old server, even though I already spent way to much money on expensive CPU coolers. The power consumption is also quite low and since the server will be always on its a big plus. The display output options are sufficient. I use the included mini DVI to DVI adapter and connect it to an DVI to HDMI cable. As soon as reasonably priced mini display port to hdmi adapters hit the market I will change to that. I like the built in SPIDIF audio connectors and the built in Firewire 800 port. In combination witth the 2 FW800 enabled drives it is really faster than a USB 2.0 solution and not much more expensive.
2 Western Digital My Book Studio Edition 1 TB
Western Digital My Book Studio Edition
Western Digital My Book Studio Edition – Even though I had some problems with this type of hard drive before I chose them because of their low price and their ability to shut down when not in use. For a HTPC noise is a key factor. The new drives are really quiet in the first place but if the server or just the drives are not in use they turn off and are therefor completly silent. The only downturn to this is that when you want to access the drives it takes a couple of seconds to wake up from sleep but that is not a realy problem. The drives come with a 5 year warranty. Since I already experienced the rather smooth and fast exchange process of such a drive I do not expect any major worries in the next 5 years( In 5 years I hope we will be carrying Terrabytes on our thumb drives).
Setup -The set up is fairly simple. I connected the mac mini to my Flat Screen TV. I attached the two hard drives in serial mode via Firewire 800.
Tags: afp, Apple, file server, home server, htpc, Iphone, Ipod Touch, mac mini, OS X, server, VNC, web server, Western Digital
Now it’s age of Home Theater PC. Your range is very fine and it is a new technology and good thing is that it is a cost effective. I am also fan of Thermaltake VF7001BNS Home Theater Media PC Chassis
Great article. The only difference in the setup I’m building is that I’m using a cheap external enclosure attached to my AirPort Extreme to run as a NAS. I find the extra price for the Western Digital MyBook Studio is not worth it, as sweet as they are.
I’m wondering why you don’t use Plex as a media centre app though.
I also seem to be having some problems with vnc screen sharing, where I can’t always connect to my Mini with my local MacBook Pro. I’d rather not have to buy an extra mouse just for the mini when I can remotely control it, but the screen sharing seems flaky.
I have never heard of Plex before but I will certainly try it now. I only tried boxee, but I did not really like it.
As for the Hard drives, I chose them over cheap enclosures because they auto-power-down and they come with a 5 year warranty which is rather important for hard drives since every drive dies at some point. I already got a WD 500 GB hard drive replaced under warranty and the customer service and replacement went really smooth. The other thing is that the FW 800 port is a lot faster than the LAN. I often move large 10+ GB files around and this setup was the fastest I could achieve without e-Sata, which Apple unfortunatly does not support.
I never had any problems with the screen-sharing, also using my mac book pro , but it greatly depends on the networks bandwidth. Over the Internet it is kind often kind of flaky and I could imagine that if you have lots of traffic on your network it could unsmooth.
I’m still playing around with Plex, and so far it seems like a great solution.
I’m using WD drives with my cheap enclosure, because I trust them too. I’d go with the FW800 option, but my enclosure will be attached to the AirPort Extreme (ordered, not delivered) and it only supports USB. I read that the AirPort powers down any drive attached to it after a certain amount of inactivity, so I’m not worried about that. I do have a 2TB MyBook Studio to move large files and use as a workspace when editing HD video in Final Cut Pro.
I’m currently on a g network, and when my AirPort arrives, I’m hoping the screen sharing issue doesn’t happen anymore (as I always connect locally, never through the internet). By flaky I meant that it doesn’t even connect, but it appears to be a bug that not everyone is having.
I was not aware that the basestation powers down all drives, please let me know if that really works. Depending if you have your mini as an always on server or just on when you need it I think it would be more performant if you attached the drives directly to the mini and simply share them, making the mini a NAS. I have had the experience that streaming video over Lan does not always work so smoothly, especially with high dev content. When I watch video on my Mac Book Pro I always transfer the video to the hard drive first and play it from there. I don’t know the reason for this problem though since the wireless N network should be plenty fast to stream video.
I can now confirm that the basestation powers down my drive. It’s a Vantec NexStar 3 (3.5″ SATA to USB). I’m not sure how long it takes to power down, but I copied a file over to it, then left the house for two hours, and when I came back the drive was cold and silent. I brought my MacBook to the basestation, copied something over, and heard the drive spinning up again.
I found some more cheap SATA drives, so I’m purchasing extra NexStar 3 enclosures as well as a USB hub to attach to the basestation. I’ll let you know how that works out.
Streaming content over the network seems to be working well with the n network, but I had to force my Macs to connect to the 5Ghz bandwidth, otherwise I wasn’t getting a decent transfer rate.
I also solved the issue with the Screen Sharing; turns out it’s a bug with the network service that occasionally doesn’t close, so I have to force quit it.
thanks for sharing your findings, thats very interesting, I guess I can go with cheaper drives then in the future. How do you force a mac to use the 5GHz spectrum? I am quite sure that is the cause for my streaming problems as well. I’d really appreciate it if I did not have to copy everything to my hard drive first befor watching it.
To force a 5Ghz connection, you have to create a separate network with a different name. There’s an option to do this in the Airport Utility. Then simply join this network. Otherwise, if both the 2.6Ghz and 5Ghz networks have the same name, the Airport automatically will choose between the two, depending on the signal strength (sometimes choosing the 2.6Ghz network by mistake).
To be sure, you can test this if you hold down the option key while clicking the airport icon. It will display the transmit rate. If it’s above 54, you know you’re connected to the N network. I generally get somewhere between 161 and 240 (in a small apartment, about 20 feet from the Airport Extreme).
Good luck! Copying something to your hard drive before watching it certainly ruins the point of having such a convenient home theater system!
I found it, and just as I suspected mine is set with the slower default setting to be compatible with b/g networks. That is a good thing because otherwise my ipod touch would not work anymore since it can not handle 5Ghz or even 2.4Ghz N. Since my Basestation is an older version it does not support the multicasting that yours has now –> being able to have a 5GHz network and a 2.4GHz network simultaniously. I can only choose between 5GHz or 2.4GH b/g/n. The best solution would be to use an old router for the b/g stuff and set the base station to a 5GHz N only network. I will try that tomorrow and see how it works out. thanks again for your detailed help!
Christoph…I am considering this type of configuration. Any thoughts on like a Play Station 3 in the mix, since it is a Blue Ray and has games. Also, are you up on some of the apps that allow the ipod touch to control the mac mini /tv etc the remote app. Thanks for this valuable info and I look forward to hearing from you. BC
HI I am not a console gamer so I have no experience with these devices but if your tv has enough hdmi ports its probably one of the best ways to add blueray to the setup. As for the apps, there is something called “vlc remote” that works quite well. Most of the time I just use the regular Apple IR Remote or I VNC into the mini and control it with my laptop.