I have a Mac Mini, Intel, Core Duo 1.6 GHz, 2 GB RAM, Intel 950 graphics. Given that I also have a TiVo Series 3, the role of the Mac Mini is only as media playback device. The Mac is playing through DVI->HDMI and optical, through my AV Receiver to an LCD HDTV.

All my media (All physically ripped MP3, DVD rips, DivX movies, and a few AACs from iTunes) lives on two SMB shares on a Linux server in a closet.

Currently, I'm using Media Central running on Mac OS X. However, this has three problems that are irritating enough that I'm looking for something else:

1) The remote control sensing is really spotty. Sometimes, it works OK (but not great); sometimes, it just refuses to read the remote. Controlling the app through a keyboard with arrow keys works well all the time, but I don't want a keyboard in my couch. This is worst when playing back DVDs.

2) The iTunes playback doesn't have shuffle of play lists. Sounds trivial, but it's actually crucial for my family's needs.

3) DVD playback doesn't give me Dolby Digital, it downmixes to 2 channel stereo.

Ideally, they'd also add something like a Party Mix, where you can queue songs at the end of the mix, much like how the live playlist on SqueezeBox works -- but that's a wished-for feature, not a requirement for the system.

So, I'd like to try a Linux install that can:

1) Use a simple, pretty, remote-control driven UI on 720p (I avoid 1080 to not require too much fill rate on the Intel). Immediate, consumer-electronics level response is highly desirable.

2) Play back music in a variety of ways. iTunes integration is NOT a requirement (the files are available over SMB), but playing back iTunes purchases would be nice. However, they are few enough that I could burn them and re-rip them as MP3, worst case.

3) Play back ripped DVDs; ideally with Dolby Digital output.

4) Play back ripped DivX files.

5) Runs on the Mac Mini hardware.

I know mplayer does 4) well and 3) so-so (DVD navigation is a weak point). However, it's not an integrated component in a larger media system.

Any recommendations for how to put that together? Ideally, I'd want to try it on an external disk or bootable CD first, before wiping the Mac disk.


I should add that I am fairly Linux savvy, vim is my favorite editor, I've written and debugged kernel modules, and I'm OK at perl, sed, find, bash scripts and even awk. If there are components that can be put together to create an integrated whole, I'm ready for it.

Maybe Linux just can't do it?

Are there drivers for the Apple remote?
Are there drivers for the optical out on the Mac Mini?
Can those drivers spit out Dolby Digital instead of PCM?

Mythfrontend under OSX takes care of 1 and 3-5, and then you can just use the real thing (iTunes) for 2.

The wide screen themes look fantastic displayed on a 720p 50" flat screen from my mini.

Plus, then you can ditch your DRM-crippled, no-content-streaming, no auto-commercial-skip Tivo3 and it's monthly subscription fee :)

I think the subscription fee is worth it for them to do the hard work of getting program guides, figuring out which cable channels I have, decoding cable card programs, etc. So, no, the TiVo stays :-)

So, mythfrontend? I'll google for that. However, using iTunes for the music means switching programs. This means it won't be as integrated a system as a consumer electronics device, which is really what I'm going for (the WaF need to use this at least as much as I do).

I tried downloading and building mythtv, but ain't getting too far.

First, when trying to ./configure, it complains that "endian check failed." Reading the config.err, this ACTUALLY means that it's trying to use "cc" which doesn't exist. (On my MacOS X, which is vanilla with developer package, there's only gcc).

Then, it tries to use distcc, which I also don't have -- or, perhaps, I have it, but distcc tries to use cc, which I don't have. So I make up the undocumented "--disable-distcc" option to configure, which works.

Then, it complains I don't have LAME installed. OK, so I download, configure, make and install that. Deliciously, that's as straightforward as can be, no problems.

Now, with the right incantations, I get to the point where it finishes configuring, although it complains that the back-end is disabled. I have no idea why. However, trying to make complains that "qmake" is not found. I have not specified qmake, and there's no option to turn it on (or, indeed, to turn on GNU make, which I use).

I google a while, and find other people with the same problem, but the questions on the MythTV forums have gone un-answered. So... it appears that qmake is part of Qt, which apparently is also a dependency. Interesting that "configure" didn't find the lack thereof on its own.

Four configure problems in 20 minutes -- hardly confidence building. And what's with that disabling of the back-end?

Have you tried the prebuilt binary route for simplicity?

http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/index.php/Myth_on_Mac_OS_X

I successfully compiled MythTV on my laptop with Suse 10.2 . After working thru the errors, I wrote down everthing that I needed to do. I posted it in another thread, here's a link.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=11380852#post11380852

The only change from that post, would be to add more options to the ./configure.

./configure --prefix=/usr --arch=i586 --enable-dvb --enable-firewire --dvb-path=/usr/include --enable-xvmc --enable-xvmc-vld --enable-opengl-vsync --enable-mmx --enable-proc-opt --enable-memalign-hack --enable-xvmc-pro

I tried downloading and building mythtv, but ain't getting too far.

I probably wasn't clear in my first post; by Mythfrontend on the mini, I meant the frontend, not the backend. While it is possible to build the backend under OS X (see above), it's not easy; certainly not as easy as downloading one of the pre-compiled frontend .dmgs from here (http://www.thesniderpad.com//index.php?option=com_remository&Itemid=36&func=select&id=2) or here (http://padilla.net/mythtv-osx).

I'd recommend the first link as there are 0.20.2 builds there that will work with the new SchedulesDirect listing service.

Which reminds me,
I think the subscription fee is worth it for them to do the hard work of getting program guides, figuring out which cable channels I have, decoding cable card programs, etc. So, no, the TiVo stays :-)

as discussed in other threads in this forum, the SD service is now available to take care of the program guide/cable channel issue, for quite a bit less $/mo than Tivo. Also, I thought the CableCard implementation in Tivo was borked. Has that been fixed? Can you now stream shows from the tivo that have been recorded via cable card? That would change things...

However, using iTunes for the music means switching programs. This means it won't be as integrated a system as a consumer electronics device, which is really what I'm going for (the WaF need to use this at least as much as I do).
That's where remote buddy (http://www.iospirit.com/remotebuddy) comes in. Launch and control all of your multimedia apps from your remote.

Finally, for the backend, ideally you have a cheap linux box stuffed with HDDs to store the media, and do the recording if you want. Again, there are many pre-compiled linux binaries available, so you won't need to build yourself. You don't need a fast processor (the intel mini does the heavy lifting at the decoding end), and you will end up spending much, much less $/gigabyte than on a bigger tivo or some kind of external storage for the mini. My mini frontend does a great job of selecting and playing the ~800GB of ripped DVDs and other content.

I thought the CableCard implementation in Tivo was borked.

It works fine for me. I don't use cross-device streaming, though -- Cable Labs won't currently certify that for any implementation. I gotta say that watching and recording digital/HD cable shows on a single device beats not watching/recording those shows at all, though :-)

That's where remote buddy comes in. Launch and control all of your multimedia apps from your remote.

I don't want to launch and control separate media apps. I want one integrated UI, that looks like a consumer device, not like a computer. Media Central on the Mac is close, but has a few significant problems (not shuffling playlists, erratic remote control decoding, etc).

ideally you have a cheap linux box stuffed with HDDs to store the media

As I said initially, that's exactly what I have. All the disks are RAID 1 and use LVM, too, to ease storage transition. This system has been running well for years.

Btw: trying to get and install the QT 3.3.8 distribution for MacOS X also fails, with a "image not found" error, even though I've set DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH. I may try the binary distributions today and see how that goes. I hope I can cut out the TV surfing parts, though, as I neither have nor want a TV tuner.

As suggested earlier have you tried just using the binary on the Mac for the frontend, and installing the backend on your linux box (which distro is it). I have the binary running on my old imac for a frontend, with the backends all being linux boxes.

I'm not sure why you are trying to compile the frontend and backend on your Mac. you should install the backend on your linux box-take note of the settings, and then install the frontend on the Mac box.

back-end on linux

Yes, I'm now convinced that's what I need to do. I've downloaded the dmg for the front-end, and will work on the back-end next week-end.

which distro is it

No distro :-) To give you an idea, it started out with kernel 2.0 back in the hintertime, on a Pentium/120, and is now at 2.6.22 on a Core Duo 6550.

Note that the box is headless, so I hope the backend doesn't require me to install X or Qt :-/

Have you tried posting your original questions in the Mac forum?
There may be a commercial program that will meet your needs.

Additionally, Leopard OS X.5 will be released next month with a new media player. It is possible that this will also meet your needs.

Yes, I'm now convinced that's what I need to do. I've downloaded the dmg for the front-end, and will work on the back-end next week-end.



No distro :-) To give you an idea, it started out with kernel 2.0 back in the hintertime, on a Pentium/120, and is now at 2.6.22 on a Core Duo 6550.

Note that the box is headless, so I hope the backend doesn't require me to install X or Qt :-/

Wow...

You're in luck. Backend doesn't require X or Qt.

Have you tried posting your original questions in the Mac forum?
There may be a commercial program that will meet your needs.

Yes, I've already gone that route (as indicated by my initial post), but the best candidate (Media Central) has a few annoying problems that make it hard to use. One is the spotty decode of the remote control. Another is the lack of shuffle in iTunes play lists. A third is the lack of a build-as-you-go playlist (like in the SqueezeBox). A fourth is random UI lock-ups, where it appears to be hung on some file operation, and the UI doesn't respond -- I don't think it separates the file operations from the GUI thread.

1) The remote control sensing is really spotty. Sometimes, it works OK (but not great); sometimes, it just refuses to read the remote. Controlling the app through a keyboard with arrow keys works well all the time, but I don't want a keyboard in my couch. This is worst when playing back DVDs.

Your remote issue may actually be caused by your LCD TV. As we all Know Remotes are just IR blasts. Your LCD (also sunlight) generates a significant amount of IR it may be "blocking" the IR receiver on the Mini Mac. For a test try using a box that can cover your hand remote and mini mac then use the remote from under the box if the usage is better then this is you problem. You can either relocate your mini mac to out of range of the TV or get a remote that will send the signal to a base station via RF and then flash the front of the unit with a mini blaster. URC makes many products that will solve this problem. I personally am a big fan of the mx 900 mrf 350 combo .

Geexbox will do 1-5 except the iTunes media format (don't buy into proprietary/DRM'd media in the future- obligatory scolding ;) )

Geexbox is the smallest Linux media player distro I know of that can play files over a network, locally and from USB/burned media, complete with full auto detection of hardware and IR control with set top interface.

http://geexbox.org/en/index.html

Geexbox 2.0 will give the XBMC and Myth guys some healthy competition :D

I'm already using a URC MX-950 with a RF-250 (narrowband) RF receiver, and the Mini is not in the sight path of the LCD, so I don't think that's the problem.

Anyway, I figured I'd give you all an update: After testing everything else, I installed Vista Ultimate on the Mac Mini, and tried out the Windows Media Center that comes with it. It's actually the closest to what I want that I've seen so far. The UI is responsive, it has all of the features (except for iTunes -- I'll have to live with MP3s ripped from burned copies of the AAC tracks), and zero configuration hassles.

Now, the problem I have is that I updated the network card in my Linux server to a Yukon 2 PCI-Express adapter (had no free PCI slot), and the sky2 driver seems to stop working under heavy fileserving load, so I can't watch a DVD over it uninterrupted -- it'll stop responding to pings, even, so it's a driver problem. Grumble.

Anyone have a good recommendation for a solid PCI Express network card for a Linux box, that doesn't use the Yukon2 chipset?