Mac as Media Center, Best Media Format

While the mini will play almost any format using Plex (free) I would recommend using a free program - DMGConverter - to create your rips as .iso files. This is what I do so as not to lose any quality and keep all the sound and language options as needed.
You can find both Plex and DMGConverter on macupdate.com. Two great programs. With Plex, you can also get content from Netflix (if you have a Netflix account) and various other sites that offer video.
You will definitely enjoy yourself.

Matt515c wrote:
That sounds like a great idea, I will most certainly give that a shot. Sounds like exactly what I am looking for. What about for recorded content. I am also thinking about getting the eyeTV so that i can record digital content from my HD cable subscription. Generally we have a lot of HD movies streamed directly from there that I wouldn't mind capturing. Would I be able to convert that media to an .iso or would I even need to? I believe that would record as an Mpeg-4. Any ideas or suggestions?

Plex is a Mac version of XBMC (which is also available for Mac). Plex will play ISOs, VIDEO_TS folders, VOB files, MPEGs, AVIs, in other words pretty much anything.

For DVDs I personally use VIDEO_TS folders, and for TV shows (from DVDs) I extract them to individual VOBs which retain the original video quality, and all the audio and subtitles tracks (which Plex can still access even when not part of a DVD).

Plex should also be able to play TV recordings, even HD ones, however currently EyeTV recordings are not perfectly handled by Plex (or XBMC) due to the fact they are stored as folders (or Packages in Mac speak). There is a way to handle them in the video mode as opposed to library mode of Plex/XBMC (once you have tried it you will understand the difference). You can also export them from EyeTV to a more traditional format. You can also 'run' EyeTV from within Plex.

Sadly Front Row which is built-in to Mac OS X has been neglected and Plex is light-years ahead of it.

Currently there are no CableCard solutions for Mac, but there are Clear QAM and ATSC solutions, or in Europe DVB-S/S2 and DVB-C and DVB-T.

The one thing a Mac currently cannot do, not even with Plex, is to play Dolby TrueHD or DTS-HD as there is no suitable hardware for the Mac to do this, the built-in hardware uses a mini TOS Link which can only do Dolby DTS (5.1) and even though in theory the Mini DisplayPort could carry Dolby TrueHD Apple have not provided this ability. This only really applies to Blu-Ray as I am not aware of any broadcasters using TrueHD or DTS-HD.

"The one thing a Mac currently cannot do, not even with Plex, is to play Dolby TrueHD or DTS-HD as there is no suitable hardware for the Mac to do this, the built-in hardware uses a mini TOS Link which can only do Dolby DTS (5.1) and even though in theory the Mini DisplayPort could carry Dolby TrueHD Apple have not provided this ability. This only really applies to Blu-Ray as I am not aware of any broadcasters using TrueHD or DTS-HD."

Minnetonka Audio Software is going to be releasing a codec for Quicktime. Its a DTS-HD decoder for $29 bucks. I'll probably be buying it as soon as its available...just an fyi.

Minnetonka Audio Software is going to be releasing a codec for Quicktime. Its a DTS-HD decoder for $29 bucks.

Here's the URL for anyone interested:

http://www.dtshdforcompressor.com/justPressPlay.html

neumiller wrote:
"The one thing a Mac currently cannot do, not even with Plex, is to play Dolby TrueHD or DTS-HD as there is no suitable hardware for the Mac to do this, the built-in hardware uses a mini TOS Link which can only do Dolby DTS (5.1) and even though in theory the Mini DisplayPort could carry Dolby TrueHD Apple have not provided this ability. This only really applies to Blu-Ray as I am not aware of any broadcasters using TrueHD or DTS-HD."

Minnetonka Audio Software is going to be releasing a codec for Quicktime. Its a DTS-HD decoder for $29 bucks. I'll probably be buying it as soon as its available...just an fyi.

Hmm, thanks for this heads up.

Just to make it clearer (to others) you also need a suitable external multi-channel box e.g. Digi 003 as current Mac hardware cannot directly output DTS-HD.

It will not make it possible to play Blu-Ray rips directly you would still need a proper Blu-Ray player for that, but might make it possible to play an MKV extraction from a Blu-Ray which has a DTS-HD audio track. Currently you have to convert down to mere Dolby DTS or AC3.

It definitely will not help Plex or XBMC as they do not use QuickTime. It might work with Front Row and Perian though.

Hi Andrew.
Don't you think you have a duty of disclosure here?!