Is it possible to dedicate the HDMI video for movies

Hello,

I am trying to come up with a way to better make use of my Mac Mini so that it better functions as a movie player. Allow me to explain what I mean. Presently the primary display is on my desk and connected via thunderbolt while my telivision is accross the room and connected via HDMI via my home theatre system. When my receiver is set to take HDMI imput from my mac min, the TV then becomes the secondary desktop. What I woud like to do is to have more excplicit control over how HDMI video is controlled so that I can use software like VLC or even FrontRow to use the HDMI video as its display. In a perfect world, it would be great to have a mode of operation where the HDMI video is not treated like a secondary monitor, but as the exclusive output for video and audio. This way, instead of having to drag windows around between desktops and dealing with the fact that I have a two display desktop (something that makes other functions not work well, such as Screen Sharing). The goal is to make my Mac Mini a more "slick" entertainment center computer. Is there software available that woudl be able to accomplish this sort of thing?