How do you use your Mac Mini with your HT

[JKCashin]

I have a Mac Mini hooked up to my XMC-1. I actually have it hooked up using HDMI, and have it hooked up using USB, the latter for which I am using Bitperfect (as recommended by KeithL) and iTunes.

So in addition to VLC, and iTunes (video and audio), and of course the web browsers which give me Youtube, Netflix, etc., I have Kodi TV which unfortunately does not seem to be playing well with my Apple remote (more on that in a followup post.)

I also have an Apple TV Gen 3, which I use for streaming audio and video from the Mac Mini and for other purposes (Netflix, etc.) I mention the Apple TV only because it uses the Mac Mini.

I'm looking to understand what others with a Mac Mini hooked up to their systems (XMC-1 or other), mostly for A/V (so surround), but even for Stereo playback are using. What applications have you found that you would recommend.

And please, let's not turn this into a "My Windows HTPC is better than any Apple product" bashing thread. I am just not interested. I already have a Mac Mini, and it's hooked up to my XMC-1, and I am looking to the knowledge base that is the Emotiva Lounge to determine how to get the most of it. I have two friends who have Windows based HTPCs, and one with a Linux based one, and they get great joy out of their setups. I own a Mac Mini and a pickup truck... they own a HTPC and a minivan... let's work with what I have. Feel free to start your own Windows/Linux/beOS/Unix/myOS/Android/HPOS/Whatever based thread and learn from others like you.

Jamie

[JKCashin]

Regarding Kodi TV and the Apple Remote with my Mac Mini, I am having an issue that I have researched to death, but have yet to find a good solution.

If I am running iTunes and Kodi, which is the way I prefer to run things, since having iTunes running lets me stream to my Apple TV and my iOS devices, then iTunes captures the remote. So when I press play on a media source, such as a movie on Kodi, the movie starts playing, and iTunes starts playing whatever was last selected. If I shut down iTunes, it works... sometimes. Other times, Kodi will stop responding to the remote, and a reboot is needed! Other times, pressing play will re-start iTunes.

Additionally, even if I do get it working, if I decide I want to stream music elsewhere in the house, I need to go and manually re-start iTunes. Sigh.

Has anyone else succeeded in getting this to work with the very nice Apple remote? Or do you all do as I do, and simply use the keyboard as the remote? The keyboard is not quite the SAF device that the Apple Remote is.

[JKCashin]

This post is a place I will probably put links shared by others that don't fit well into the original topic post.

[JKCashin]

This post is a place I will probably put links shared by others that don't fit well into the original topic post and post #3.

[KeithL]

I don't have a specific answer for you - but perhaps I can send you in the right direction.

Usually devices like remote controls are going to be associated with a specific device; and programs rarely play well together when it comes to either sharing control, or to passing control back and forth.

You are probably best off looking for some additional program that is designed to work with the remote control, and then pass commands on to the various other programs.
(You might Google "remote control software" or something like that.... or look for programs that might be designed to go with iTunes or Kodi, but which support passing commands to other programs when told to.)

Jul 1, 2016 10:12:59 GMT -5 JKCashin said:

Regarding Kodi TV and the Apple Remote with my Mac Mini, I am having an issue that I have researched to death, but have yet to find a good solution.

If I am running iTunes and Kodi, which is the way I prefer to run things, since having iTunes running lets me stream to my Apple TV and my iOS devices, then iTunes captures the remote. So when I press play on a media source, such as a movie on Kodi, the movie starts playing, and iTunes starts playing whatever was last selected. If I shut down iTunes, it works... sometimes. Other times, Kodi will stop responding to the remote, and a reboot is needed! Other times, pressing play will re-start iTunes.

Additionally, even if I do get it working, if I decide I want to stream music elsewhere in the house, I need to go and manually re-start iTunes. Sigh.

Has anyone else succeeded in getting this to work with the very nice Apple remote? Or do you all do as I do, and simply use the keyboard as the remote? The keyboard is not quite the SAF device that the Apple Remote is.

[audiobill]

The Airserver app for your Mac Mini will allow it to be seen as an Airplay "receiver" allowing you to stream content to it from an Iphone, ipad etc.

As if it were an airport express, apple tv etc.

I use it to stream tidal but control with an i-device.

[JKCashin]

Jul 1, 2016 12:46:54 GMT -5 audiobill said:

The Airserver app for your Mac Mini will allow it to be seen as an Airplay "receiver" allowing you to stream content to it from an Iphone, ipad etc.

As if it were an airport express, apple tv etc.

I use it to stream tidal but control with an i-device.

The Apple TV does that natively... still, a great idea for someone without an Apple TV or who does not want to be switching inputs. Using it with Tidal is clever though. Tidal is supported in Kodi as well.

[creimes]

Jul 1, 2016 12:46:54 GMT -5 audiobill said:

The Airserver app for your Mac Mini will allow it to be seen as an Airplay "receiver" allowing you to stream content to it from an Iphone, ipad etc.

As if it were an airport express, apple tv etc.

I use it to stream tidal but control with an i-device.

Good to know, I use the Oppo for exactly this but will have to try it out on my Mini, my mac Mini barely even turns on anymore now that I use Tidal, my digital library has become second to Tidal when I listen to music which is every single day haha

[AudioHTIT]

I use my mini mostly for iTunes via HDMI (also BitPerfect), but also to show some ski movies I make with iMovie (I either play them through iMovie Theatre or make them iTunes 'Home Movies'). Normally we control iTunes through the Remote app on an iPad, but also use Apple TV as an interface to play music off the mini.

We play games on the mini too, both under OS X, and with Windows 10 using Bootcamp. Of course shopping with a browser on a 73" TV makes anything you buy much more special!

[copperpipe]

I have a mac mini running xubuntu 16.04. A Big Ego for soundcard, then the line out into a tc electronic passive volume knob, then into dual mini-x.

It's a very simple system, but I like it that way. 2 channel for both stereo and movies. Sound quality is excellent. Media is ripped into iso/mkv files, including bluray, and stripped of annoying ads etc.

Playback is through VLC Media Player. At one point I had the apple remote working fully with VLC too; play/pause, volume up/down, next/back etc. But when I got the volume knob (basically same idea as Emotiva control freak) I just ignore the remote because I want to use the line out on the ego. The line out is always full volume, and the passive volume knob does not lose resolution. The headphone out on the ego can also do volume correctly, but KeithL once wrote that you get slightly better sound out of the line out, so at that point I wanted the passive knob. Adjusting the volume with the remote only adjusts the volume in the headphone out jack.

Edit: I had also looked into Kodi, but never liked those massive media player apps. You basically need to learn a whole new system, and I just never saw the benefits to it. A simple file browser is my preference; navigate to the directory holding my media, dive into 1 or 2 directories further (it's all neatly organized on disk) and a simple double click of the iso/mkv will load vlc and that is all I need.