Hey Everyone,

I have a predicament i am ripping all my DVD's to my external Hard Drive in preperation for the purchase of a mac mini.

What i want to do is use the mac mini as the sol player for all my music & films i don't want it to control my tv as i have digital sky + for that and i dont want it to record tv again sky+ will do that.

What i would like to know is how would i connect the Mac Mini to my tv/sound system all i have is a Old style CRT with Scart inputs Also what software would u use, is frontrow the best?!

Many Thanks
Richard

For audio connection, get a 3.5mm (headphone jack) to left/right RCA cable. Headphone jack goes into the mini. RCA jacks go into your TV. If you ever upgrade your sound system, the mini also has a toslink output.

For video, get a mini-DVI to composite adapter. You can get them through Apple. That adapter should also have an S-Video output.

Front Row is probably your best bet. It's easy to use and there's really no work involved with setting it up. Just have all of your music in iTunes and all of your movies in your ~/movies folder (assuming you're ripping to video_ts folders, which is what I do). I tend to just use iTunes directly with a mouse/keyboard when playing music as it just takes too long to navigate my music collection using a remote.

Richard, the advice from mslide is correct except for the scart connection. I have never seen Scart to DVI. I think you will need to get a DVI-VGA from Apple, then a VGA-Scart cable and you should be done.

Richard, the advice from mslide is correct except for the scart connection. I have never seen Scart to DVI. I think you will need to get a DVI-VGA from Apple, then a VGA-Scart cable and you should be done.

Its DVI to S-video/Composite adapter.

Hi lilrichie I'm using Mac Mini with CRT TV, for the TV you need to get this adapter from apple - http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore.woa/wa/RSLID?mco=7E50163B&nplm=M9267G/A

It has S-video & Composite you must have at least one of them as an input to your TV.

Its also good idea to get this one
For audio connection, get a 3.5mm (headphone jack) to left/right RCA cable. Headphone jack goes into the mini. RCA jacks go into your TV. If you ever upgrade your sound system, the mini also has a toslink output.

You can find it http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/516240-REG/Hosa_GOP_490_TOSlink_Optical_Female_to.html

Its DVI to S-video/Composite adapter.

No, it's a DVI to VGA adapter and according to Apple (http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore.woa/wa/RSLID?mco=7E50163B&nplm=M9267G/A) "Use a separate DVI to VGA Adapter for VGA video out for Mac Pro, MacBook Pro, Mac mini or Power Mac G5 (included with all Mac Pro, MacBook Pro, Mac mini or Power Mac G5 systems or available for order as a standalone kit)."

A VGA to Scart cable is needed to finish.

Since the VGA adapter already comes with the machine, it is the easier and cheaper solution.