by Brent Randolph

Home Media Centers have been around for the last 8-10 years, but have gained quite a bit of attention over the last 5 years, as more and more people have justified the need for an all-in-one Media Center in their living room. Below, we’ll go into more detail about the various options that are currently available, the services they offer, and the Pros and Cons of each. This week we’ll focus on using an Apple Macintosh as a media hub.

Mac OS X

Mac OS X has garnered a lot of media attention lately, partly due to the popularity of the iPod and iPhone, but also for the sleek design and increased system security. While the design may be attractive, the price of the hardware is often not. However, the increased security, faster Operating System, and cool, attractive design also make the devices perfect to integrate into a living room or home theater, offering not only full, internet enabled Media Center functionality, but also integration with the iPod or iPhone you may own already.

Apple currently offers two devices that integrate well into a living room Media Center.

AppleTV - A small device (about the size of 3 CD cases) used for purchasing and viewing content from the iTunes Store. The AppleTV does not have an optical disc drive, so it cannot playback DVDs or CDs. The AppleTV does, however, support popular formats such as mp3 and mp4 audio files (as well as m4b audio book files), and mp4 or .mov movie files. The AppleTV connects directly to a Television, and cannot be used as a computer.

Pros

* Compact, thin, very “out of the way” design
* Cool and silent
* HDTV ready
* Small, simple remote and User Interface
* iTunes Store integrated for purchasing content
* Price ($229-$329)

Cons

* One-trick Pony - Made for TV
* Majority of content must be purchased via iTunes (Amazon, etc are not supported), or ripped from DVD (PC/Mac computer required)
* Maximum Resolution of 720p
* Does not play DVD Discs

Apple Mac Mini – A very small Personal Computer. Can be used just as a normal computer (server, workstation, or TV device), and uses upgradable computer memory and hard drives. The Mac Mini contains an optical DVD drive that can be used to playback DVDs or CDs, which can also be easily converted and stored to a hard drive for future playback without the need for the physical disc. The Mac Mini supports almost all commonly used file types (too numerous to mention), including files downloaded from popular internet sites. The Mac Mini is a true computer, so all tasks one would perform on a computer can be performed on the Mini as well.

Pros

* Compact (about the size of a stack of 6 CD cases)
* HDTV ready (DVI – adapter may be required)
* Can playback full 1080p HD content at full resolution from most sources
* Fully Functioning computer (requires wired/wireless keyboard and mouse)
* Can play DVD Discs (and convert the ones you own to the hard drive!)
* Simple remote and User Interface
* DVR Functionality (with additional hardware)

Cons

* Size (compared to the AppleTV, which is about ½ the size of the Mini)
* Vents for cooling get clogged with dust and need to be cleaned (a good practice for the entire Media Center setup!)
* Single DVI output only. Requires adapter for HDMI TVs that lack DVI inputs
* No Blu-Ray or HD-DVD
* Price ($599-$799)

While both of these platforms have their pros and cons, the best choice for a 1080p Media Center setup is the Mac Mini. The AppleTV’s lack of full HD support makes it a great choice for 720p setups, but the inability to playback DVD Discs or your own DVD Ripped digital copies make it less of a value. If these things aren’t important, the AppleTV is a great device for iTunes content.

For the purpose of this article, we’ll focus on the Mac Mini.

Available Software and Uses

Currently there are a few options for the Mac Mini serving as the core of your Media Center:

Front Row - Included with OS X on every Mac. Same interface as the AppleTV, optimized for DVD playback and iTunes purchased content.

Plex – a Spinoff project of a years-old media center for the Original Xbox. Plex works best as a playback application for DVDs and DVD digital copies. Plex does not support iTunes DRM protection, and as a result does not playback iTunes Purchased content. Currently Free.

Boxee - Currently in early testing. A “one-stop-shop” for Audio and Video content available on the web or DVD, but does not support iTunes DRM. Community driven and currently Free.

DVR Funtionality

Currently there is one option for adding DVR functionality to your Mac OS X Media Center. The ElGato EyeTV is a software/hardware combo that allows you to record, pause, and rewind Live TV either from OTA (antenna) or Cable/Satellite sources. This device has won several awards for User Interface, Reliability, and Quality, and comes highly recommended. The EyeTV software integrates directly with Front Row, but not Plex or Boxee (yet!).

Storage Options

The Mac Mini comes with a hard drive that works fine for small digital libraries and normal day to day tasks, but in order to rip and store your DVD collection (or store electronically purchased content), you’re going to need a real storage solution with plenty of space (and preferably a good backup option!).

The Mac is pretty versatile, and just about any storage option should work well. One could always upgrade to a faster, larger internal Hard Drive, but the difficulty of opening the Mini and replacing the hard drive is more than most users want to tackle.

Luckily there are plenty of options for external storage solutions, such as network attached, USB, FireWire, or a network share to an existing computer on the network.

If you’re building your first Media Center and don’t already have an existing library of music and movies, the easiest storage upgrade would be a simple, large USB 2.0 based hard drive. Prices of these drives are continually dropping, and 1 Terabyte hard drives are almost as cheap as a couple tanks of gas, making them perfect candidates for storing all your movies and music.

If you’ve already had a few months to build up a sizeable collection on an existing computer, the Mac will have no problem accessing those files over the network through a Shared Folder on your existing computer. This setup means that you can continue to add storage to your existing media library, and will save you from having a couple external hard drives visible in your Living Room. In our experience this works very well for both Standard and High Definition content.

In either case, external solutions like the DROBO allow for ever-expanding storage with easily upgraded, cost-effective, consumer hard drives. Devices like the DROBO allow your media storage to grow when you need it, without the added expense or shelf space required for multiple external hard drives.

Pros and Cons of the Mac Media Center

Price. $250-$800 for a Media Center may be an issue for some users, especially considering that a comparable Windows machine can be built for less than $400.

Software Options. Front Row is great for iTunes and DVDs, Plex is great for media you already have, and Boxee is currently in the public beta (testing) stage and needs some major work before the average user is comfortable.

Visually beautiful hardware

Rock Solid stability

Simple Remote Control. 6 Buttons...it’s simple and easy to use, but tiny and easy to lose.

In our next article, we’ll be covering the various software packages and hardware configurations for running a Windows Media Center in your living room. The choices are much broader and customizable, but we’ll focus on a few known-good configurations to help make your experience easier.