![]() It has something called “Activities” that are like “Watch TV”, “Play a DVD”, “Listen to Radio”, etc. It is an expensive remote, but you can do almost anything with it. There are 3 that are really awesome, but the one I use is the Hamony One. Logitech builds universal remote controls. The glue that brings everything together: However, my home-theater-in-a-box also plays DVD’s so I plugged an HDMI cable between the home theater and the TV. And with the Mac Mini feeding directly into the TV too, all I had to do was run audio cable (red and white plugs) straight into the home theater audio-in inputs. Since I used HDMI hook-ups for the XBOX and Cox DVR box the audio signals from those devices go straight into the TV. It is hooked up by FireWire 800 so it is blazing fast and also works as another hub of USB and FieWire ports – very nice! Then I have a OWC-provided Mini-stack 1TB harddrive that I record TV to. The headphone output sends the audio signal to the TV and the TV sends it to the home theater sound system (quality is fine). The regular way you plug a computer into a computer monitor is the same way you plug the computer into a TV except I picked up a DVI to HDMI plug to use HD quality viewing. The EyeTV plugs directly into the Mini by USB. Yeah, that’s about every single plug in a Cox Motorolla DVR box.Ĭonnecting the Mac Mini - click to see larger Then I have the composite video (Red, Yellow, and White plugs) and S-Video plugs running to the EyeTV DVR box – this way I can watch regular TV while recording to the Cox DVR box and/or the EyeTV DVR box. I have this thing hooked up to the TV by HDMI when I just want to watch TV without turning on the computer – you know, traditional TV viewing. And I am only using one audio input from the Mac Mini (plugged in through the headphones output on the Mac Mini). My TV has 4 HDMI inputs that are fully used now. In my case, I have a Cox DVR box, a Panasonic Home theater in a box, a XBOX 360, and the Mac Mini plugged into a Samsung LCD TV. You’re going to want to make sure your TV has enough Inputs for HDMI cables and your stereo system has the capability to play an audio signal coming from the TV.Ĭonnecting to the TV - click to see larger I tried to do this with a projection HD TV and it just didn’t display things from the computer well – it showed TV and movies fine, but the computer programs were a pain. ![]() I strongly suggest researching things a bit especially if you have a Cable Box or don’t have a HD TV. The best article is on TUAW: Ultimate Mac mini HTPC Guide. I first checked out my favorite blogs and forums: TUAW and MacRumors to get some insight on how to set things up. Nothing more needs to be said, but if you want to read more on my switch to Mac, check out Making a Mac work in a Car Dealership. I am writing this article on my TV, with CNN playing through EyeTV and Young Guns recording in the background while also chatting with a buddy on facebook, and fielding emails from work. What I wasn’t expecting is how fantastic some programs are for streaming online content (TV Shows & Movies) that has really made this whole project really incredible! Between Hulu, NetFlix, Boxee, and online streaming News I am wondering why I continue to pay for cable. I also wanted to stream recordings to my bedroom TV. But they don’t so I went searching for another way to expand the recording space on my DVR. If Cox allowed all those USB ports to work, I would have just plugged in some external harddrives. I did this because I am a geek was inspired by my piece of junk Cox Communications-severly-limited DVR box. Home Entertainment Setup with Mac Mini – click to see larger LCD or Plasma HD TV – something that works well with a computer.Computer (the Mac Mini is perfect for this).Streaming TV Recordings to your XBOX 360.Watching movies on your iPhone, iPod, or iPad.Backing up your CD/DVD/BluRay/whatever library.Sharing movies, music, and photos throughout the whole house.Virtually unlimited TV-recording capabilities.So….what am I talking about? When you make a computer the brains of your home entertainment center all kinds of new possibilities and sharing across the house happen. I know this isn’t all about photography, but it was too cool not to write about. ![]() ![]() ![]() Watching TV and writing this article - click for larger view ![]()
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