Does anyone have a Media Center for their Home Theater?

I've been toying with the idea of setting up a media center for my home theater. I've found that the Mac Mini is getting high reviews for such a thing. Has anyone set one up? If so what did you use?


Do you feel it's worth the money and effort?

I have been thinking about this myself. I am interested in anyone else's input.

A topic very close to my heart. I've had HTPC for several years and honestly do not know what I did before it. I have heard good things about the mac mini but sadly I do not have one so I can not comment on it first hand. I have used a boxee box which performs very well and the interface is fairly nice. For my needs though I have actually found Windows Media Center to the best solution. My current setup has evolved from when I first slapped together a machine and sat it next to the TV. I have found that fan noise was always an issue for me so now all my equipment is in the utility room in the basement feeding HTPC goodness via HDMI. With a USB extender to a small hub so that I can use to hook up whatever I want game controllers, remotes, keyboards etc. I have used wireless remotes in the past and they worked quite well but the kids always end-up breaking them. So I switched to the standard IR windows/x-box remote that you can buy anywhere. What I really like about it is I can store everything in one place. I have even went so far as make it rom machine as well.

This is not my setup but a close friends that I help put together, might be a little pricy but it is pretty cool.

He runs a server that has Windows 7 Ultimate that runs the Media center software. From that server he connects his cable card and has one that can handle up to 4 simultaneous HD connections and acts as his DVR.

He then uses Xbox's for all of his end points to stream the content through. So he has one server in a closet and then xboxs at all of his TV's to then stream that content plus netflix and games and anything else.

It is a little more complicated and robust but that is because of the need to have one in every room. You don't have to use xboxs, you could use mini computers or Boxee Box (might have to use XBMC then).

Something Sexy said:

This is not my setup but a close friends that I help put together, might be a little pricy but it is pretty cool.

He runs a server that has Windows 7 Ultimate that runs the Media center software. From that server he connects his cable card and has one that can handle up to 4 simultaneous HD connections and acts as his DVR.

He then uses Xbox's for all of his end points to stream the content through. So he has one server in a closet and then xboxs at all of his TV's to then stream that content plus netflix and games and anything else.

It is a little more complicated and robust but that is because of the need to have one in every room. You don't have to use xboxs, you could use mini computers or Boxee Box (might have to use XBMC then).

Click to expand...

Man the xboxs are so damn loud though.

Something Sexy said:

This is not my setup but a close friends that I help put together, might be a little pricy but it is pretty cool.

He runs a server that has Windows 7 Ultimate that runs the Media center software. From that server he connects his cable card and has one that can handle up to 4 simultaneous HD connections and acts as his DVR.

He then uses Xbox's for all of his end points to stream the content through. So he has one server in a closet and then xboxs at all of his TV's to then stream that content plus netflix and games and anything else.

It is a little more complicated and robust but that is because of the need to have one in every room. You don't have to use xboxs, you could use mini computers or Boxee Box (might have to use XBMC then).

Click to expand...

I have buddy that runs basically the same setup and works great for him. I do not like the xbox's because they are loud and you still can't stream all the file types you can pull off with a standalone box.

Haha yea the xboxs are definitely not for everyone but it is an option. Another friend I have has a similar setup but he builds mini-PCs and uses those instead. He has a lot more control over the noise. Apparently all of my friends have setups but me.

Something Sexy said:

Haha yea the xboxs are definitely not for everyone but it is an option. Another friend I have has a similar setup but he builds mini-PCs and uses those instead. He has a lot more control over the noise. Apparently all of my friends have setups but me.

Click to expand...

Maybe that is sign?

The Godfather said:

Maybe that is sign?

Click to expand...

I know I need one and want a complete system badly but I am waiting to move.

This is what I have come across. I'm thinking of getting the Mac Mini and setting up an external, maybe a DROBO ? Of about 4TB.


https://eshop.macsales.com/shop/turnkey/Mac_Mini_Media_Center/AV

Darthrazz said:

This is what I have come across. I'm thinking of getting the Mac Mini and setting up an external, maybe a DROBO ? Of about 4TB.


https://eshop.macsales.com/shop/turnkey/Mac_Mini_Media_Center/AV

Click to expand...

Get the DROBO they kick ass.

The Godfather said:

Get the DROBO they kick ass.

Click to expand...

What are you using as a back up for your media? That's one of my concerns.

Western digital. Stable and cheap

I've had a Mac Mini as my HTPC for years....I absolutely love it. Easy to set up, will play anything, (but blu ray of course, but it'll play mkv's just fine) and is even better if you have an iPhone/iPad. Let me know if you have any questions.

EDIT: And I use one of [ame="https://www.amazon.com/ProBox-Drive-Enclosure-3-5-inch-drive/dp/B002UUPWP6/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1328129419&sr=8-2"]these[/ame] for storage with four 2TB drives. Never had a problem.

irmoballen said:

I've had a Mac Mini as my HTPC for years....I absolutely love it. Easy to set up, will play anything, (but blu ray of course, but it'll play mkv's just fine) and is even better if you have an iPhone/iPad. Let me know if you have any questions.

EDIT: And I use one of these for storage with four 2TB drives. Never had a problem.

Click to expand...

AWesome. How do you have your drives setup? In some sort of RAID configuration?

Darthrazz said:

AWesome. How do you have your drives setup? In some sort of RAID configuration?

Click to expand...

Nope...I keep it simple because I'm lazy - 2 drives being used, the other two I use for manual backups.

Darthrazz said:

What are you using as a back up for your media? That's one of my concerns.

Click to expand...

Right now I have a ASUS TS700-E6 running Windows 7 Ultimate. Inside the case I have 2 tb drive for the OS and two raid 5 arrays. One contains four 750 gig HD giving me 2.250 TB of storage the other contains four 500 gig giving me another 1.5 tb. I love the machine for storage and I have used it from trans-coding which it does quite nicely. However I would still trade it out for a drobo any day of the week.

irmoballen said:

I've had a Mac Mini as my HTPC for years....I absolutely love it. Easy to set up, will play anything, (but blu ray of course, but it'll play mkv's just fine) and is even better if you have an iPhone/iPad. Let me know if you have any questions.

EDIT: And I use one of these for storage with four 2TB drives. Never had a problem.

Click to expand...

Question for you, is your Mac Mini hooked up via HDMI to a receiver? Do you get surround sound with it?

I have all my equipment in a different room. I have it all hooked up to a receiver and just use a logitech RF remote that controls it all. Controls my projector and receiver, my xbox, ps3, etc.