mac mini to drive a tv

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jonathan18

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#197365 22-Feb-2009 21:54

stevenz: The Mac Minis use standard notebook CPUs in a standard socket. Just a case of finding a compatible one, and replacing the existing one. I think the highest you can go is a T7600 Merom CPU which is a Core 2 Duo 2.33Ghz.

Can the previous gen of Mac Mini have its processor upgraded from a Intel Core Duo to a Core 2 Duo? Or would I be stuck on putting in simply a faster Core Duo than the current 1.66GHz processor?

stevenz: And once you've installed Perian onto it, FrontRow will play just about anything you throw at it, although it won't do AC3 passthrough. FrontRow also doesn't use up 10-20% CPU when it's idle like XBMC/Plex does, causing the fan to run fast all the time. One day maybe they'll fix the bug, but it's been in there since day 1.

So there's no AC3 outputed through the digital out, eg from ripped DVDs, if played through FrontRow??

That's annoying - what's the best solution therefore to play ripped DVD files with AC3 over the digital out? I'm kind of relying on being able to do this, and hoped Frontrow could be a one-stop solution for all file types.

Thanks for your help...

stevenz

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#197547 23-Feb-2009 19:48

The current gen is basically the same as the previous gen apart from some minor architecture changes (videochip etc). Mine was originally a 1.5Ghz core-solo which I upgraded to the 2.0Ghz core2duo.

If you want AC3 output then you're pretty much stuck with VLC or other 3rd party apps.

It used to be possible to make Quicktime/FrontRow output AC3 via Perian, but Apple "fixed" the "bug" that allowed it to work.

jonathan18

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#197582 23-Feb-2009 21:10

stevenz: The current gen is basically the same as the previous gen apart from some minor architecture changes (videochip etc). Mine was originally a 1.5Ghz core-solo which I upgraded to the 2.0Ghz core2duo.

Thanks for the reply - can you steer me in the right direction of which particular models of a core 2 duo processor would work in the Mac Mini? I'm not sure which particular models would be suitable.

teszeract

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#197617 23-Feb-2009 23:45

Ok - about the incompatible tv's/resolution - are there any guidelines anyone could offer?

stevenz

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#198010 25-Feb-2009 15:08

jonathan18:
stevenz: The current gen is basically the same as the previous gen apart from some minor architecture changes (videochip etc). Mine was originally a 1.5Ghz core-solo which I upgraded to the 2.0Ghz core2duo.

Thanks for the reply - can you steer me in the right direction of which particular models of a core 2 duo processor would work in the Mac Mini? I'm not sure which particular models would be suitable.

The compatibles Core2Duo CPUs are:

T5600 - 1.83Ghz
T7200 - 2Ghz
T7400 - 2.16Ghz
T7600 - 2.33Ghz

I'd go for the T7200, best price/performance ratio, if you can find one. You really don't want the T7600 as retail on them is over $1000! Even the T7400 is $600-ish.

So it's not a terribly practical upgrade, I did mine as I got the computer itself quite cheap and I managed to find a T7200 for a good price from somewhere (probably eBay, it was a while ago...)

stevenz

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#198012 25-Feb-2009 15:11

teszeract: Ok - about the incompatible tv's/resolution - are there any guidelines anyone could offer?

It's a real pain. Switchres or DisplayConfig can be used to set it up but it's a lot of mucking about if it doesn't just "work".

If you're lucky, you can go into the display preferences and tick the "Displays in menubar" (or something like that) and if there's 2 duplicate resolutions in the menubar icon, try each one and see if one works.

Can't check myself, on a Windows PC at work!

jonathan18

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#198047 25-Feb-2009 18:55

stevenz:
teszeract: Ok - about the incompatible tv's/resolution - are there any guidelines anyone could offer?

It's a real pain. Switchres or DisplayConfig can be used to set it up but it's a lot of mucking about if it doesn't just "work".

I can second that - just plugged in my new (secondhand) Mini today and found significant overscan - downloaded and installed both Switchres and DisplayConfig, and found I couldn't work the latter at all (perhaps because it wasn't yet registered?). Switchres I found fairly frustrating, but ultimately rewarding after a lot of trial and error (it's also my first time with a Mac!) - I wasn't prepared to have either part of the desktop missing or some of our TV real estate not being used. Anyway, it seems to be done now.

Found this page useful:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=751713

Tradepub

Free professional, reference and technical white papers (affiliate link).

teszeract

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#202052 18-Mar-2009 23:20

It looks fullHD screen (ie 1080p) is very suitble from what I've been reading recently. 1080p is something like 1920 x 1080 pixels.

stevenz

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#202058 18-Mar-2009 23:30

1080p is 1920x1080, and depending on how you look at it, 1080i is either 1920x1080 or 1920x540 twice per frame.

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