Simultaneous audio over HDMI and line out optical
I currently use an AppleTV with HDMI to TV and optical digital to my older surround processor which does not accept HDMI.
AppleTV is useful in that it outputs audio simultaneously over all audio connections - I suspect new Mac Mini might only allow single audio output at a time.
Mac Pro 8x3.0GHz 14GB, Mac OS X (10.5.8), iPad, iPhones, otyer Macs, various non-Mac computers