A few Mini Mac Issues

2011

I just bought a Mac Mini and I am having a few minor issues. I am hoping that one of you more experienced Apple people can help!
They are:

1) The Mini Mac is connected to a local network in my home. Also on this network is my existing iMac and time machine. I have turned on "Home Sharing" in iTunes. Although this allows me to see the iMac's entire library (including movies) and play songs from it, it does not permit me to play movies from my iMac library.

2) The only view option for my iMac library is in list. Cover flow is greyed out. No biggie, I just prefer to see the album covers.

3) Sound output: I can get stereo analog sound output via phono leads, but the optical output (from the same 3.5 port with a Toslink cable) will not work. I have tried a second lead that I know works. I know that I can bring an optical cable from my display to my amp, but that is a difficult 5m cable run. If necessary does anyone know where I can buy a 5m optical cable?

4) Picture quality: The display is a 42" 1080p LED connected to the Mac Mini via a 5m high speed HDMI cable. I find writing hard to read when surfing the net. The icons on the home screen are not as defined or sharp as they are on my iMac. Is this down to screen resolution? However, DVD playback quality is very good. I am using an external "Superdrive" for this.

Any help at all would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

2011

For anyone interested:

2011 wrote: »

I just bought a Mac Mini and I am having a few minor issues. I am hoping that one of you more experienced Apple people can help!
They are:

1) The Mini Mac is connected to a local network in my home. Also on this network is my existing iMac and time machine. I have turned on "Home Sharing" in iTunes. Although this allows me to see the iMac's entire library (including movies) and play songs from it, it does not permit me to play movies from my iMac library.

Still can't resolve this!

2) The only view option for my iMac library is in list. Cover flow is greyed out. No biggie, I just prefer to see the album covers.

Issue closed - Cover flow is not available on home sharing

3) Sound output: I can get stereo analog sound output via phono leads, but the optical output (from the same 3.5 port with a Toslink cable) will not work. I have tried a second lead that I know works.

Resolved. Unplugged everything and held the power button on for 10 seconds. Apparently this reset the ports. Sounds strange, but it worked.

4) Picture quality: The display is a 42" 1080p LED connected to the Mac Mini via a 5m high speed HDMI cable. I find writing hard to read when surfing the net. The icons on the home screen are not as defined or sharp as they are on my iMac. Is this down to screen resolution? However, DVD playback quality is very good. I am using an external "Superdrive" for this.

Issue closed. Screen resolution (1080P) not as high a resolution as my iMac.

Padgeman

What format are the movies in, what codecs do they use to play, and do they possibly have any DRM on them?

2011

1) The Mini Mac is connected to a local network in my home. Also on this network is my existing iMac and time machine. I have turned on "Home Sharing" in iTunes. Although this allows me to see the iMac's entire library (including movies) and play songs from it, it does not permit me to play movies from my iMac library.

Issue closed - A different Apple ID had been used to buy these movies. However this was not an issue with the songs

Interestingly DVDs would not play in Dolby Digital using Apple's DVD player despite the fact that I am using an optical output. All I could play was 2 channel sound through my Toslink cable. The 5.1, 6.1 and 7.1 options were greyed out.

But when I use VLC (free download) to play the same DVDs 5.1 and 6.1 Dolby Digital worked automatically.

2011

Padgeman wrote: »

What format are the movies in, what codecs do they use to play, and do they possibly have any DRM on them?

All issues resolved/closed thanks for asking.

Movie format: MPEG-4 video files from iTunes.

Colonel Panic

2011 wrote: »

Issue closed - A different Apple ID had been used to buy these movies. However this was not an issue with the songs .

The movies probably have some sort of DRM that ties them to that Apple ID. Music purchases on iTunes doesn't have DRM anymore which is why it didn't restrict playback.

Dont be at yourself

2011 wrote: »

Issue closed - A different Apple ID had been used to buy these movies. However this was not an issue with the songs

Interestingly DVDs would not play in Dolby Digital using Apple's DVD player despite the fact that I am using an optical output. All I could play was 2 channel sound through my Toslink cable. The 5.1, 6.1 and 7.1 options were greyed out.

But when I use VLC (free download) to play the same DVDs 5.1 and 6.1 Dolby Digital worked automatically.

Can't you authorise the Mac Mini with the other Apple ID as well?

2011

Dont be at yourself wrote: »

Can't you authorise the Mac Mini with the other Apple ID as well?

Exactly what I did. I was just surprised that this was required for the movies and not the songs. All were purchased with the same Apple ID

2011

Colonel Panic wrote: »

The movies probably have some sort of DRM that ties them to that Apple ID. Music purchases on iTunes doesn't have DRM anymore which is why it didn't restrict playback.

Thanks. Please explain what is DRM? Thanks

Colonel Panic

Digital Rights Management. A way of restricting who can use media. In your case, you need to be signed in with the Apple ID that bought the films to watch the films.

2011

Colonel Panic wrote: »

Digital Rights Management. A way of restricting who can use media. In your case, you need to be signed in with the Apple ID that bought the films to watch the films.

OK thanks. I wonder why Apple did not apply the same rules to their music?

Colonel Panic

They used to then eventually dropped it from music. These things are usually imposed at the request of music and film studios. They reached an agreement with the music people but film studios might be harder to sway.

DRM is a touchy subject for a lot of people who feel that if you pay for something, you should be able to do what you like with it. I personally don't care as long as the DRM isn't too invasive.

2011

Colonel Panic wrote: »

They used to then eventually dropped it from music. These things are usually imposed at the request of music and film studios. They reached an agreement with the music people but film studios might be harder to sway.

DRM is a touchy subject for a lot of people who feel that if you pay for something, you should be able to do what you like with it. I personally don't care as long as the DRM isn't too invasive.

Thanks for the explanation.