Mac Mini As Entertainment System

randombar

Hi Lads,

Just wondering if anyone has done anything along these lines?

I have the house wired for speakers (8x2) and a Cat 6 network (all fed back to the utility room)

Is there any bit of hardware I can get to attach to the mac mini to send audio to multiple zones controlled by the mac mini? Sending video would be a big plus.

A bit vague I know but the home entertainment units are over 2K which I definitely can't afford.

Thanks
Gary

P.S. Open to other suggestions too.

J-blk

Wouldn't multiple Apple TVs work? I don't have an Apple TV but I believe they show up in iTunes the same way Airport Express units do and you can stream content to them from the Mini. Better yet, you could get a Plex client set up on them (jailbreak required) and have the Plex Server instance on the Mini. Add an iPad or iPhone/iPod Touch and you should be able to control the whole setup from anywhere in the house...

randombar

Nice one for that, was looking at the Apple TV's all right, would sort out the Video, anything for audio? Was thinking some kinda control box / amp that plugs into iTunes would be savage!

J-blk

Pretty sure you can stream audio only to the Apple TVs too - I would use iTunes and the iTunes Remote app for iOS, perfect for what you want to do. Or you could have a mix of Apple TVs and Airport Express units for the locations where you only care about audio and not video.

randombar

I was thinking about the airport expresses all right, bit overkill though for what I want though, I have the wiring in and I can get cheapo speakers, just need the control unit. Reckon there isn't much out there.

J-blk

Yep, not much out there it seems - might be worth waiting a bit longer to see if any AirPlay receivers might show up, would be a good alternative but who knows if there will be any (instead of full AirPlay speakers) and if they'll be cheap.

Bluetooth wouldn't give you any control over zones and the only other option that comes to mind is Sonos, which is even more expensive...

Colonel Panic

I use a jailbroken Apple TV and a Synology DS211j NAS for all my media serving needs.

The Big Gig

Have you thought of sonos?

randombar

I've had a play with them all right, just trying to save money since I have the cabling in place etc.

creativedrinker

I have a mac mini which is basically the media hub in the house, all my music/DVD's are on it and then I have 2 apple tv's and a airport express that I can stream all the content with to different points in the house. It's extremely handy! You can also play content off your iphone/iPad/iTouch with AirPlay or use them as a remote..


It's an extremely easy setup and not a bank buster!

Also I don't know if you do or not, but if you want to put your DVD collection on your mac for streaming about your house, if you use handbrake and vlc it will convert them, ive found it alot better than a wall full of DVD cases

ucd.1985

I use a 2010 mac mini with Plex hooked up to my 7.1 surround sound and it is excellent as an entertainment system.

randombar

Ya plex is great for the entertainment center, I guess what I'm looking for though is more for the audio, would love to get some kind of amp that imitates maybe 8 airport expresses? I really dont want to get 8 airport expresses when all I want to do is stream the audio to the different rooms.

ucd.1985

Interesting ...

I only have one other room in my apartment I need music streamed to and I use the Logitech SqueezeBox Boom for that.

Will be interested to see what solution you end up with.

randombar

From the looks of things I'll be moving away from itunes all together unfortunately, maybe using some home automation products. Looks like there isn't an amp/controller with built in multi room airplay yet unfortunately. Sonos has it built in but that would mean buying a lot of those or a lot of airport expresses, still not a proper solution.

studiorat

Couple of these perhaps http://www.amazon.co.uk/Neet%C2%AE-Extender-Cat5e-network-cable/dp/B002ECYEYA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1317248130&sr=8-1