Home Theater
The Mac Mini can be used for home cinema (theater) applications. The small footprint, multi-format video output, digital audio output, remote control IR receiver and the relatively powerful Intel Core 2 Duo processors make it easy to use the Mac Mini as part of a home entertainment system.
It can be classified as a home theater PC (HTPC) with some limits. The Mac Mini does not include an integrated TV tuner card and cannot be upgraded to install one internally; accessing TV requires external devices like Elgato's EyeTV USB adapter or SiliconDust's HDHomeRun networked TV tuner which will encode and manage broadcast television from a cable or satellite receiver. The July 2011 model lacks a built in CD/DVD player and OS X Lion no longer supports FrontRow remote control software.
Pre-2009 Mac Mini models had a video connector which was compatible with DVI, HDMI (video only), SVGA, S-Video and composite video with the appropriate adapter. Sound is provided by a combination jack that uses both mini-RCA (analog) and optical fiber cables (digital). Unlike the Apple TV, the Mac Mini is backward compatible with televisions that have only composite or S-Video inputs. As of the July 2011 revision of the Mac Mini, the computer sports an Intel HD3000 graphics processor with an optional Radeon graphics processing unit available and Thunderbolt which makes decoding high-resolution video much quicker and efficient. The addition of an HDMI port simplifies connecting the Mini to high-definition televisions and home theater AV receivers.
Because of the similar small form factor, HDMI port, remote control IR receiver, and media browser interface, some users see the Mac Mini as an Apple TV alternative. It has both iTunes for media rental, purchase, and management, and a native user interface with Front Row, based on the user interface of the original Apple TV. The Apple TV is limited to video in the MP4 format, whereas Mac Mini users employing the appropriate QuickTime codecs can watch other video formats like Divx, Xvid, and the Matroska (Mkv) container, or almost all other formats using an open source player such as VLC, without resorting to hacks. The current Intel models of Mac Mini can display video via the HDMI port at a maximum resolution of 1080p.
The Mac Mini can also run third-party front-end media player applications for Mac OS X, such as XBMC, Plex, or Boxee, to be used as a home theater PC (HTPC).
Famous quotes containing the words home and/or theater:
“No: until I want the protection of Massachusetts to be extended to me in some distant Southern port, where my liberty is endangered, or until I am bent solely on building up an estate at home by peaceful enterprise, I can afford to refuse allegiance to Massachusetts, and her right to my property and life. It costs me less in every sense to incur the penalty of disobedience to the State than it would to obey. I should feel as if I were worth less in that case.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“screenwriter
Tony Pastor, the pioneer of vaudeville, played the theater in 1876.... He had been preceded by P.T. Barnum, and an occasional performer such as Professor Simmons, “Great, Weird, Wondrous, and Invincibly Incomprehensible ... Basiliconthamaturgist.””
—State of Utah, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)