Mac Mini Headless - help required

I use VNC viewer, works great! 

Audivarna should have an iPad app out very soon but at the moment i'm using screen share on a mac laptop to control Audivarna on my headless mini.

James

VNC. Does indeed work fine, the Apple IR remote is also useful especially for adjusting volume and pausing....

S

Does audivarna not use itunes? i.e. can you not just use the itunes remote app?

If you play to plug the mac into the TV for other duties there is a superb screen saver call ScreenSleeves which sees what music is playing and puts its cover/track playing info on the screen.

Thanks guys, much appreciated.  Don't want to use Itunes as a) I detest it and b) all my music is in flac.  I'm about to set off to the Trafford Centre to purchase, should be interesting. 

It can do. Better when not in iTunes integration mode though. 

Let us know how you get on Dayjay.

Setting up Mac Mini is next week's extra-curricular task for me.

@James n - how do you access internet radio btw?

Nick

i suppose it depends on what software you are using, but in JRiver you just save the radio station URL to a playlist, so you just click on it to start playing. Works very well

When streaming radio, I have found that the best on the Mini is to go direct to the radio station web page and not use iTunes.

The BBC internet stream from the website is a model of how to do it. [Go to BBC, and click on Radio].

iTunes used to hang about once a fortnight, but I could get perfectly unfussy radio streaming from the BBC [on anything from Radio Three or Four to the World Service, and just for curiosity on about twenty other streams] that seems completely stable.

Radio Three is truly great sonically, and Radio Four is startlingly good - as shown by when they play music, which has a quality not beaten by CD rips or even playing CDs directly.

ATB from George

PS: A rider. I have a superb optical fibre BB service, which is important for stability ...

Not the best of starts - bought a lovely new mac mini, brought it home, plugged the HDMI lead into the HDMI out on the Mac and the HDMI in on my tv and nothing, no output detected.  Tried the same on three TVs and four cables and not a sniff of a display so tomorrow it goes back to the shop.  I'm assuming its a dodgy unit

What a PITA not a good start at all. Is there any other output that maybe active

There are two thunderbolt ports on it but I don't have any display unit that will connect to a thunderbolt port.  Hopefully I can exchange it tomorrow and the new one will just connect.  Not the best start to my Apple PC ownership though

Grrrr....

What software are you going to start with though, Dayjay?

Thanks for the iradio tip, Graeme. Tomorrow's the day....

If I can get one that I can actually see on a screen I'm going to try Audivarna, looks good from what I have seen.  I was really looking forward to having a play with it so disappointed that it hasn't worked out yet

Setting up a mini for the first time with HDMI will be problematic.  I had the same issue.  If you can, get it set up for the first time at the Apple Store or retailer.  When you connected the mini up to the TV, did you have a keyboard connected to the Mini ( the Mini looms for this upon start up).

There are also plenty of YouTube videos on set up.

Worth perserviring as the mini is fab once set up.

jude 

Thanks Jude, I had a usb keyboard plugged in.  How did you manage to get it working in the end? 

I had no problem setting up the Mac Mini with a Samsung flatscreen via an HDMI lead, using a wireless keyboard and mouse. There must be a fault with the unit. 

Good luck.

Steve

You are correct Steve, there was a fault with the unit which has been replaced.  HDMI lead connnected and working and after a half an hour or so working out how to get it onto my network I've purchased Audivarna and it is currently, slowly, adding all my music files to its database.  hopefully it will finish that in the next hour or two and I can have a play with it.  It wasn't seeing my Hugo at first so I'll need to find out my once the database has been populated.  Will report back

That's good. It sounds as though you've bought the latest Audirvana with the Music Library. I hope it works well for you. 

The Thunderbolt sockets on the MM are useful to Wat and I for connecting our WD drives.

ATB

Steve

Dayjay, glad to see your up and running, well almost. try to get Hugo connected on its own dedicated USB hub. Shows you how in the Audirvana user manual, i think page 38. It made a difference on my 2012 mac

Thanks guys, I've got it playing which is encouraging, going to park it now, with the family home until tomorrow.  I'm currently pulling my music via ethernet from my Nas which appears to work ok but I need to have a good play with it tomorrow.

Glad to hear that it's sorted. Enjoy 

Well, I can't get the MM to recognise the Hugo's HD USB input, only the SD....