I originally asked about HTIB setups in the audio section, but didn't get much love. Maybe some of you Mac guys will be able to point me in the right direction.

I read the sticky about LPCM in the audio section, and I think I learned just enough to partially open my eyes and confuse me. The bottom line is I want to buy a good 5.1 HTIB that is compatible with my Mac Mini HTPC.

I only own DVDs, which I plan to rip to my HTPC (Mac Mini does not support BD), but I want to take advantage of the best 5.1 sound available. I don't care about 7 channels and don't have the space anyway. The LPCM Sticky talks about Lossless audio and whether it's decoded on the player vs. the receiver - is this even relevant for me?. The Mac Mini passes audio over Optical, rather than HDMI. In the LPCM Sticky, at least as it relates to PS3s, the author indicates that Optical doesn't provide the bandwidth for LPCM, so do I need to worry about a system that "decodes" lossless vs. "passes through," or is all of that moot in my case?

And this might be a ridiculous question (so far, I've only had 2-channel stereos), but if I have a 5.1 system and play a 2-channel source, such as MP3s, CDs, or videos without surround sound, will I only hear audio through the 2 main speakers, or will I get audio through all 5.1, just not true "surround sound?"

Again, my goal is to get the best 5.1 HTIB system for my Mac Mini HTPC scenario w/ Optical connection for around $500. And any further education, clarification, and advice is greatly appreciated.

I originally asked about HTIB setups in the audio section, but didn't get much love. Maybe some of you Mac guys will be able to point me in the right direction.

I read the sticky about LPCM in the audio section, and I think I learned just enough to partially open my eyes and confuse me. The bottom line is I want to buy a good 5.1 HTIB that is compatible with my Mac Mini HTPC.

I only own DVDs, which I plan to rip to my HTPC (Mac Mini does not support BD), but I want to take advantage of the best 5.1 sound available. I don't care about 7 channels and don't have the space anyway. The LPCM Sticky talks about Lossless audio and whether it's decoded on the player vs. the receiver - is this even relevant for me?. The Mac Mini passes audio over Optical, rather than HDMI. In the LPCM Sticky, at least as it relates to PS3s, the author indicates that Optical doesn't provide the bandwidth for LPCM, so do I need to worry about a system that "decodes" lossless vs. "passes through," or is all of that moot in my case?

And this might be a ridiculous question (so far, I've only had 2-channel stereos), but if I have a 5.1 system and play a 2-channel source, such as MP3s, CDs, or videos without surround sound, will I only hear audio through the 2 main speakers, or will I get audio through all 5.1, just not true "surround sound?"

Again, my goal is to get the best 5.1 HTIB system for my Mac Mini HTPC scenario w/ Optical connection for around $500. And any further education, clarification, and advice is greatly appreciated.

To be honest the only requirement is for a Toslink digital input in the A/V receiver part of the HTIB to get 5.1. You would need to get a mini toslink to toslink adapater or cable (from www.monoprice.com for instance) and a DVI to HDMI cable to connect to the TV. This would then pass through AC3 (DD) and DTS both in 5.1 to your A/V receiver which would probably decode it. 2 channel sources on the mac will be passed as 2 channel PCM (the L just stands for linear - there is no difference between LPCM and PCM) which your A/V receiver should be able to handle. I believe the mac can also decode 5.1 AC3 (DD) into 5.1 PCM but not DTS it has to pass DTS as DTS and therefore your A/V receiver needs to be able to decode it.

To summarize:
1) You will need a Toslink digital input on your HTIB
2) Your HTIB should be able to decode 5.1 DD (AC3) and 5.1 DTS
3) You will need to buy a seperate mini toslink to toslink cable for the audio since the mini does not currently support audio over DP (Display Port) or DVI.

my goal is to get the best 5.1 HTIB system for my Mac Mini HTPC scenario w/ Optical connection for around $500

By "HTIB" do you mean a complete setup--as in a separate AVR plus speakers? If so, just make sure the AVR has optical audio in, because that's how you'll connect to it from your Mac.

if I have a 5.1 system and play a 2-channel source, such as MP3s, CDs, or videos without surround sound, will I only hear audio through the 2 main speakers, or will I get audio through all 5.1, just not true "surround sound?"

Mike has explained things nicely for you--the Mac will send all audio out through the optical cable and it's up to the AVR to recognize whether it's an AC-3 or DTS stream or just plain stereo PCM. What you actually hear, and through which speakers, well, that comes down to how you configure the settings in your AVR and what kind of management it is capable of--but usually it will be your choice whether you listen to music through 2 speakers only (2.0) or add a sub (2.1) or let the AVR process it as Dolby ProLogic II (5.1) so you hear it through all of your surround speakers.

Over optical your Mac can send bit perfect audio from iTunes and pass the AC-3 audio stream though from your DVDs untouched--then it's up to the AVR to recognize what's coming in and up to you to instruct the AVR what to do. (Many of us have different settings for different content--music versus movie--and then use the AVR remote to switch off one and onto another.)

So, like mikefl52 said, as long as you choose something with optical in the real issue isn't Mac-related, it's how to get the best bang for your $500.

I originally asked about HTIB setups in the audio section, but didn't get much love. Maybe some of you Mac guys will be able to point me in the right direction.

I read the sticky about LPCM in the audio section, and I think I learned just enough to partially open my eyes and confuse me. The bottom line is I want to buy a good 5.1 HTIB that is compatible with my Mac Mini HTPC.

I only own DVDs, which I plan to rip to my HTPC (Mac Mini does not support BD), but I want to take advantage of the best 5.1 sound available. I don't care about 7 channels and don't have the space anyway. The LPCM Sticky talks about Lossless audio and whether it's decoded on the player vs. the receiver - is this even relevant for me?. The Mac Mini passes audio over Optical, rather than HDMI. In the LPCM Sticky, at least as it relates to PS3s, the author indicates that Optical doesn't provide the bandwidth for LPCM, so do I need to worry about a system that "decodes" lossless vs. "passes through," or is all of that moot in my case?

And this might be a ridiculous question (so far, I've only had 2-channel stereos), but if I have a 5.1 system and play a 2-channel source, such as MP3s, CDs, or videos without surround sound, will I only hear audio through the 2 main speakers, or will I get audio through all 5.1, just not true "surround sound?"

Again, my goal is to get the best 5.1 HTIB system for my Mac Mini HTPC scenario w/ Optical connection for around $500. And any further education, clarification, and advice is greatly appreciated.

mikefl52 & chefklc explained this perfectly. i have my mac mini connected to my rotel rsx-1058 avr. when i play 2 channel audio (itunes) i have my rotel present for 2 channel. for movies and tv shows i have the preset to dd/prologic IIx. this is probably the best piece of gear i have ever purchased. if you do intent to purchase a mac mini, purchase the iomega minimax 1tb. it goes under your mac mini and is almost and exact copy of the mac. i am up to 161 movies so far on my mac!!!!!!!!!!!!! finally, check this site for more options on your mac : http://macminihometheater.blogspot.com/

Thanks for the responses. Does anyone have any opinions on the Onkyo HT-SR800? It's a 7.1, although it apparently doesn't decode BD sound formats, but then again I don't have a BD player nor anticipate getting one. I do like the fact that I can use the 6/7 speakers as a "zone 2," pumping sound out to another room while playing music.

I don't have any personal experience with that particular model, but I've had a 5.1 Onkyo HTIB system for the past 6 years or so and have been extremely happy with it, and I have a couple friends with different Onkyo models who are similarly happy. Onkyo has the best bang for the buck in terms of sound quality and features, IMO.

The SR800 averages 4.5 stars on Amazon with 120 reviews, and will definitely handle anything the Mac Mini can send it. I say go for it.