Mac Mini based systrem from scratch

For the video aspect (and maybe also music) check out Plex or XMBC.

Eloise

A DAC. With a limited budget get a Cambridge Audio DAC Magic or a Beresford Caiman. If money is not an issue then a Naim DAC seems to be the order of the day.

If you want to stream get a Transporter (from across the pond - much cheaper) while you can or if limited budget, a Classic or Touch. Or wait to see what Naim offer in the new year.

Kind regards

Neil

Thank you Eloise. I will add these to the short list

Hi Neil

The Naim DAC will figure at some point in the future, for the moment it will probably run through my wife's AV receiver.

Thanks for your suggestions, p

I would go for Elgato's EyeTV software for TV recording. It is not cheap, but a very slick, well established and supported product.
You can get this bundled with a number of USB TV tuners.
John

Forgot to say, get the base model Mini (smallest HD)and 2 external HDs. Regardless of the Mini HD capacity you will fill it. So 2 externals, one to store the music/video and the other for backup.

Neil

John

Thanks - tv element is something new to me on PC.

p

and Neil thank you for reminding me - storage and backup is important. Does time machine work in this sort of set up or do you need something else?

Time Machine will work if you have the files on the Mini. If on an external you have to transfer files over manually (I wait to be corrected). I transferred 300Gb to the back up and now transfer additional stuff as I get it - little point in overwriting everything.

Regarding the naim dac in this type of configuration. I don't believe it has a digitial passthrough.

As such if your video library is in 5.1 then you will need to use the SPDIF to output this to a suitable reciever such as an NVI. If you want quality 2 channel replay being handled by the naim dac you would need a further output say a USB/SPDIF convertor in order to enjoy two channel stereo. I should imagine a 5.1 signal going through the naim dac would not sound too good.

As for storage, I recommend a NAS of somekind and certainly not usb directly attached. Firstly you will need plenty of wall sockets, secondly is sound coming from these drives.

A NAS can be remotly stored and the correct models will be protecting against disk failure and more. Check out drobo.com for the simpliest of the market. Cheaper ones are available.

quote:

Originally posted by badlyread:
Time Machine will work if you have the files on the Mini. If on an external you have to transfer files over manually (I wait to be corrected). I transferred 300Gb to the back up and now transfer additional stuff as I get it - little point in overwriting everything.

Correction coming up as requested
I have an external seagate drive connected via firewire. Drive has 2 partitions, one used for time machine backup the other for stuff. Time machine backs up the internal drive of mac and the stuff partition on external drive.

Graham

So how do I set that up then Graham?

Sorted it! Went to options and unchecked the external drive that held the music.

Hi Graham

Thank you - but if you partition the external drive and the drive fails, don't you lose the original and the backup?

Apologies if that is a dumb question!

Regards, P

quote:

Originally posted by paulr0414:
Hi Graham

Thank you - but if you partition the external drive and the drive fails, don't you lose the original and the backup?

Apologies if that is a dumb question!

Regards, P

You would loose the backup and the data in the partition. The backup is of the data on internal drive, so that would not be lost, but the data in the partition would be gone.
I use this area for storing scratch data that I am working on, picture, video editing etc. Once complete then it is stored on the mac's internal drive or my NAS drive.

Graham

Another option is to use a RAID-enabled external drive. This can be directly connected or NAS.
I use a RAID 1 system, which is 2 x 1TB disks, each a mirror of the other. This provides 2 copies of everything, so if one disk fails, the other stays safe until you get a replacement fitted.
Of course, if the whole box goes up in smoke.....

Kenneth.