We continue our marchland to the ultimate Mac mini medium center . So far we ’ve shroud advance the mini as well as connecting it to Ab constituent and configure Front Row . In part three , we look at ways to acquire extra content and use third - party media applications to get at that content .
And where to get that content ? Much to Apple ’s disheartenment , euphony and video do n’t set out and cease with the iTunes Store . Multimedia content is available from videodisk you own , unrecorded television broadcast , and substance streamed across the Internet .
Ripping DVDs
We ’ve covered ripping videodisc extensively in our DVD Ripping FAQ as well as this article on converting video recording for any machine . Rather than tread that land again , allow ’s look specifically at my experience with the new Mac mini .
In unforesightful , it ’s not a firm ripper . While I can pull the master feature of a commercial DVD withHandBrakein about an hour with my Dual - Core Mac Pro and its two 2.66GHz processors , the Mac mini takes three to four times as long using HandBrake . With the utilization of other tools it ’s possible to do this more quickly , but HandBrake is a one - plosive consonant solution — slip in the disc , choose the output signal data format ( I favour the Apple TV data format so I can subsequently access my movies from the plant - top box seat in my office ) , take the main feature , click Start , and go away for a few hour .
Optionally , you could perform the rakehell on a flying Mac and then copy the lead video to the miniskirt . But if you ’d care to be a purist and do the problem more cursorily on the miniskirt , you may take one of several approach .
All Together Now: Elgato’s Turbo.H264 will help speed up video conversion on a Mac mini.
One option is to employ RipItApp ’s $ 19RipItto create a full - resolution , full - featured , full - sized videodisc Player Media Document file , playable with Apple ’s DVD Player . On my Mac miniskirt , it took RipIt about 46 minutes to rend The Beatles’Yellow Submarine(a family favorite now no longer in print , making it a unadulterated videodisc to archive ) .
This was a immobile answer , but not one I was completely happy with . Although you may take the Video_TS folder that RipIt produces and place it in your Movies folder ( and thus access it from Front Row or a medium player compatible with Video_TS folders ) , these pamphlet are immense — over 7 GB in some cases . Plus , they do n’t appear under the Movies head in Front Row , which signify you have to navigate to a unlike pamphlet just to get to them . With these limitations in thinker ( and with the mind of being able-bodied to afterward watch these movies with an Apple TV ) I determined to change over the movie files to an iTunes - friendly format .
To do that I used Elgato ’s $ 150Turbo.264 HDencoder / catalyst hardware and software package to convert the video to Apple goggle box format . The steps for doing that are these .
Radio Radio: Create a playlist of streaming radio stations and play it from within Front Row.
All Together Now : Elgato ’s Turbo . H264 will help oneself speed up video spiritual rebirth on a Mac mini .
After plugging the Turbo.264 HD dongle into a devoid USB port on the back of the mini , establish the Turbo.264 HD app and establish it . pass to the Finder and Control - penetrate on the DVD Player Media Document and choose Show Package Contents . In the windowpane that appears , drag the Video_TS brochure into the Turbo.264 HD lotion . A list of the DVD ’s table of contents will appear . Uncheck everything you do n’t need ( in my case this usually means everything but the main feature ) , and click the Start button . ( In the lawsuit ofYellow Submarinethe extras and moving picture imported as a single filing cabinet , which I trimmed using the app ’s Begin- and End Edit controls . ) ConvertingYellow Submarineto Apple TV format took 37 minutes with the Turbo . H264 HD plugged into the Mac mini .
To see how much time I saved , I then grabbed this same Video_TS folder and ran it through HandBrake . It took more than three hour to convert the file .
Boxee Rebellion: Boxee isn’t a complete substitute for a cable- or satellite TV connection, but it provides plenty of content.
Another pick is to utilise Metakine ’s freeFairmountto mount the videodisk as an unencrypted volume and then cart that mass ’s Video_TS folder into the Turbo.264 software . This is n’t specially speedy as Fairmount has to climb up a slew of the disc ’s content before the Turbo software is ready to convert it . For example , I climb the Wallace and Gromit picture show , Curse of the Were - Rabbit(another often - blur family favorite ) and it took 23 minutes before Turbo.264 would start convince it . That conversion took an additional 23 minutes . Certainly this was speedy than using HandBrake , but it did require a measure of babysitting .
Finally , to see how the miniskirt did without the Turbo . H264 HD , I unplugged the dongle and ran the Fairmount Video_TS folder through Roxio ’s $ 80 ( after rebate)Toast Titanium 10 . While not as tight as with the Turbo ( Toast with the dongle converted the video recording in 24 minutes ) , Toast managed the Book of Job more speedily than HandBrake — take an hour and 26 moment to complete the crosscurrent .
Radio
Terrestrial radio post are increasingly streaming their content on the Web and , of course , Internet radio was endure and prosper on the Web . That capacity is sluttish to witness from within one of your favorite applications — iTunes . Just select Radio from iTunes ’ generator inclination and you ’ll find 28 wireless categories include Alternative , Blues , Classic Rock , Jazz , Latino , Public , Sports Radio , and Talk / Spoken Word . Within those categories are over 3,800 streams . There ’s a good opportunity your favorite radiocommunication Stations of the Cross are among those streams .
You do n’t have to play those streams within iTunes , however . Again , the point is to stay away from the Mac ’s user interface when possible . Instead , just create a play list , call it Radio , and sweep up the Stations of the Cross you like into that Radio playlist . When you like to listen to one , just conjure Front Row , choose Music , blue-ribbon play list , choose your Radio playlist , and there ’s your assemblage of streams . Choose the one you desire and the station roleplay through Front Row .
Radio Radio : Create a play list of stream radiocommunication post and represent it from within Front Row .
If you do n’t find a post you ’re after , put Google to work and find the station ’s Web situation . Many stations stream their subject matter and there ’s a fair - to - middling chance that when you sink in a station ’s hear Live tie , iTunes will spread out and the station will seem in iTunes main window as an MPEG audio recording stream . Although these audio streams do n’t appear within the Radio head , they can also be copied to your wireless play list .
If even that does n’t work and you ’re uncoerced to give up Front Row and expend a Web web browser , RadioTimestreams more than 60,000 stations from around the globe . To enhance your RadioTime experience you may purchase Rogue Amoeba ’s $ 32RadioShiftand not only tune in to live flow , but schedule recordings so you may listen to your favorite programme whenever you like . Those recording are re-create to an iTunes playlist , making them available from within Front Row .
Over the air
I ’m not sure when the last time was that you looked at your cable- or artificial satellite - tv set bill , but there ’s a dear chance that , per calendar month , you ’re ante up a whole bunch more than nothing . And , in this tight economic system ( and given the wealth of on-line germ for video scheduling ) , nothing was what I was after . The means to getting something for nothing was Elgato ’s $ 150 EyeTV Hybrid goggle box radio . With this lilliputian USB dongle plugged into my mini and an antenna plugged into the EyeTV Hybrid , I was able to pick up the few over - the - melodic phrase TV transmission channel available to me . duad the Hybrid with the EyeTV software and I could schedule recording of the major net ’ programs .
The timbre is as good as response allow . Plus , the late EyeTV Hybrid get and records FM radio broadcasts . Oh sure , I missed out on the hundreds of channel offer by my planet idiot box provider , but I was also looking at a savings of more than $ 80 a calendar month . ( And , aboveboard , given the detached and less - expensive alternatives — as outlined in my Unthinkable ? Unplugging the TV Playlist blog introduction — I was n’t all pull back from the media universe . )
Beyond Front Row
Front Row is a proficient selection for local and networked content , but it does nothing for video stream across the Web . Again , you could sprain to a Web web browser , but surf the Web from the couch to visit Hulu.com , Netflix , Comedy Central , PBS , and YouTube pee the Mac miniskirt less than a friendly member of the AV folk .
Thankfully there are a handful of third - company medium center program — based on the opened - origin XBMC — that present these streams in a coordinated and reasonably friendly interface . This smattering includesXBMCitself , Plex , andBoxee .
Among them , Boxee may be roughest count ( XBMC and Plex have lovely interface ) but , in my experience , it ’s the good implementation so far . While all these app are update frequently , Boxee seems to deal with incompatibilities more quickly than the others .
For example , Boxee and Hulu.com have been engage in a well - publicized squabble over Hulu ’s subject . Boxee want entree to Hulu ’s TV shows and Hulu has hold every opportunity to pull the wad when Boxee gains that access . Boxee establish a way to play Hulu ’s content via its RSS feeds and Hulu has n’t stopped it . Plex , on the other hand , keep on to tell me that Hulu was n’t working a week after Boxee had made its way in . A Plex update issued to begin with this hebdomad has brought the program up to speed and it now playact Hulu programming too .
In addition to Hulu , Boxee lets those with Netflix accounts play Netflix ’s Instant watch cyclosis capacity within the lotion , thus avoiding a trip to a Web internet browser . ( The Apple TV translation of Boxee ca n’t do this . ) Granted , Netflix has n’t made its best stuff available for streaming , but it ’s not unmanageable to findsomethingworth Instant Watching if you set your intellect to it . Plex also supports Netflix cyclosis subject but , as I publish this , I ca n’t get it to play through Plex .
All that say , Plex and XBMC are quite good and each of them is updated routinely . Boxee may get my approving nod today , but tomorrow it could be Plex or XBMC . It ’s deserving your while to check out each one and switch between them every so often to see any new wrinkles they ’ve tot up .
Boxee Rebellion : Boxee is n’t a all over stand-in for a cable- or satellite television receiver connexion , but it provides plenty of content .
Boxee offers audio stream as well , including BBC , last.fm , NPR ( podcasts ) , Pandora , RadioTime , and SHOUTcast . With Boxee installed on my Mac mini , I had one of the most knock-down and far - reaching radios on the planet .
And if you want to shun Front Row all , Boxee can adopt its responsibilities . In improver to fiddle Internet content , Boxee can play unprotected video , music , and slideshows on your Mac and Macs connected to your local connection . ( Note the wordunprotected . Boxee ca n’t play moving picture and TV shows or protected music you ’ve find from the iTunes Store . ) Adding networked volume to Boxee is n’t near as well-fixed as doing the same thing with Front Row . This YouTube tutorialshowed me how it was done .
Forward!
My mini was configure , connected , and full of media . The final step was to master it and my AV system from across the room ( and across the house ) . air in tomorrow for that story .
Updated story to correct statement regarding Video_TS compatibility with Front words and other media instrumentalist app program .
[ Senior editor Christopher Breen blogs regularly about iPods , Apple TVs , and other accessory of the digital lifestyle at Macworld ’s Playlist blog . ]
