The Mac mini as a Media Computer
by Anand Lal Shimpi on February 16, 2005 12:05 AM EST- Posted in
- Mac
The Mac mini as a DVD Player
Why would you ever use a computer as a DVD player? Ask any average user and they'll tell you that it's a waste of a computer; ask any videophile and they'll talk about the advantages of the scaling and filtering effects that a HTPC can offer over a standalone DVD player. Not to mention that there's a good group of people (with significant movie content) who would rather not burn to DVD discs - they just want to double click on a .vob file and play the movie that way.Hard drive size limitations keep the mini from being used as a DVD file server (unless you get into using external FireWire storage), but we still wanted to take a look at its DVD playback quality, since storage space isn't the only important aspect of a good HTPC.
At the release of NVIDIA’s PureVideo DVD decoder, we performed a fairly extensive comparison of DVD decoder quality. What we found was that although PC DVD decoders managed to handle the majority of cases quite well, it was the remaining few percent of cases where they would still produce some artifacting. NVIDIA’s PureVideo decoder did manage to give an overall improvement in image quality over the competition, but it still wasn’t quite perfect.
We aren’t going to reiterate the importance of de-interlacing quality with regards to DVD decoders, so if you’re not intimately familiar with the subject matter, please have a look at our Interlacing Primer – particularly the section about frame rate conversion.
First, we have the Big Lebowski test…
This is what the screenshot should look like:
Both ATI and NVIDIA also failed the Big Lebowski test in our PureVideo article, so it’s not too surprising to see Apple’s performance here. But let’s move on.
In our PureVideo article, we took a number of screenshots from The Best of Friends – Volume 3 DVD, a particularly tricky DVD to decode properly as it is recorded in 24 fps and flagged as being 30 fps content. Should a DVD decoder derive its behavior completely from the DVD flags, it would inevitably screw up the deinterlacing of the DVD. What we found was that on the PC, using either ATI or NVIDIA’s DVD decoders, they never relied exclusively on the DVD flags – but let’s see how Apple fares.
In this scene, ATI on the PC doesn’t do so well:
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
39 Comments
View All Comments
Thresher - Wednesday, February 16, 2005 - link
This was an excellent read.I have a PowerBook and PowerMac G5 and never knew about the Firewire cable box. I am excited about hooking that bad boy up.
CrankyTodd - Wednesday, February 16, 2005 - link
Anand,Regarding playback of HDTV Mpeg-2 streams, El Gato's EyeTV software for their EyeTV PVR products is currently far and away the best performer. The software is a free download from their site, and doesnt require you to own one of their PVRs.
Incidentally, by default it EyeTV won't open certain filetypes... this is an interface issue, not a capability issue. Holding down ctrl-apple while clicking on "Open Quicktime File" in the file menu will allow you to select any file.
MIDIman - Wednesday, February 16, 2005 - link
Superb article."The result is that playing a DVD eats up between 40% - 60% of the 1.25GHz G4 in the Mac mini..."
This and the visual problems are huge fallbacks as DVD and mp4 playback likely one of the best uses for a mac mini. Granted, not including certain HTPC features (digital audio, CATV in) shows that Apple isn't necessarily orienting this towards such users, but I have a number of friends who plan on purchasing this specifically for this purpose - DVD player, Internet on TV, etc.
IMHO, this issue alone makes mini-itx desktop-based systems a much more usable alternative. They haven't quite reached the size, but I think they're well within an inch or two.
Here's a second hand for seeing mp4 codec captures and how the mini handles them, as well as some method of getting in on the nvidia hardware decoding.
paulbeers - Wednesday, February 16, 2005 - link
What about the new Myth TV port for Mac OS X. I know it just came out probably too late for this article, but it is VERY interesting. It doesn't make the Mac Mini an HTPC by itself (the mac mini actually only acts as a front end with a "server" on the network to do all the recording). This actually makes the mac mini even more interesting to me, as per I can build a cheap and basic pc with as many tv cards and storage as I want that could be built from the many parts I have sitting around my house (and be as loud as I want because it isn't in my living room) and have the mac mini in my living room (attractive and quiet) actually playing the content.I do agree with Reflex that the lack of digital audio out is a disappointment, and I am riding the fence right now as to whether to buy a Mac Mini or wait for Part Deux as per I am disappointed with the GPU mostly. I would love to hear everyone else's opinions on the matter.
Gatak - Wednesday, February 16, 2005 - link
As for deinterlacing... Well, that shouldn't be a problem if you are connecting to a TV which will render the fields as single frames (as all TVs do, except some new TFT and plasma screens).When rendering on the monitor it should be using BOB mode - each field scaled up to a full frame and then rendered at twice the normal framerate (as you have double amount of frames). Even better if there are some smart motion compensation features together with BOB =).
AtaStrumf - Wednesday, February 16, 2005 - link
I'm quite surprised you didn't even try testing how the Mac mini handles different Mpeg 4 video codecs, diffrent audio codecs, different subtitle formats, etc. basicly how it plays "DivXs". With there still not being a perfect set top Divx player I guess I was hoping a MAC mini could serve as one.I also missed any mention of how to connect a mini to a SD TV. We have said here under comments, that there is a DVI->S-VIDEO adapter available for MACs, but I think you should make note of it in your article since I'm sure many don't read the comments section or at least not all of them.
I agree that stereo sound is a bit of a dissapointment, but I don't think all that many people have surround sound in their living rooms to really miss a 5.1 sound output.
hopejr - Wednesday, February 16, 2005 - link
#10, you're forgetting that the first Macintosh, which came out in 1984, was an all-in-one (and I think the Lisa was too).Reflex - Wednesday, February 16, 2005 - link
First off, they neglected to mention the largest thing that keeps the mini from being an acceptable HTPC: Lack of a digital audio output. If you want to watch your movies in stereo audio, great, but thats only half the experience that DVD offers.Put me in the "Cool deal, but I'll wait for v2 crowd". I am interested but its shortcomings are just too much yet even at that price...
#8: The iMac and iPod were not the first in their class. All-in-One cheap PC's have existed since 94 or so, I know because I owned an old Compaq Presario integrated PC(486 w/14" monitor built in). And MP3 players existed for several years before the iPod. I will say that Apple was the first one to do these things *well* and actually attract media attention to them, but they were not even close to the first in those markets....
faboloso112 - Wednesday, February 16, 2005 - link
great article...keep it up!Zebo - Wednesday, February 16, 2005 - link
" had phone calls and emails from reporters and other news writers asking me if the mini was a threat to the PC"Apple is innovative no doubt about it, but if the Mini works for Apple then dozens of PC clones will come out with thier own PC Minis negating the threat. I kinda feel sorry for Apple sometimes. Always breaching new ground with innovative products only to be copied. IPOD, IMAC are other instances of that.
Anyway great read as usual from the Master.:)