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  • With Teeth

    • 4 out of 10
    • Nine Inch Nails
    • In the sprawling post-A&R rock and roll world, there are two camps: the Beatles and the Stones. The Beatles are the artists that like to explore, evolve, and change styles. The Stones are the artis

  • Chicago Transit Authority

    • 10 out of 10
    • Chicago
    • For those of you who don't know, Chicago didn't always suck, and everyone in the band didn't always play a keyboard. When the band started off they were pioneers of rock and jazz fusion, and guita

  • The Stooges

    • 8 out of 10
    • The Stooges
    • Another pillar of my musical foundations, The Stooges' first album is one those records whose influence far outweighed its popularity. Like The Velvet Underground & Nico, hordes of people wh

  • Suspended Animation

    • 8 out of 10
    • Fantomas
    • Mike Patton may well be one of the hardest working men in showbiz these days, and his latest with Fantômas underscores just about how far out he is willing to travel.

      Suspended Animation

  • Bowie at Beeb: Best of BBC Radio 68-72

    • 10 out of 10
    • David Bowie
    • The companion CD to a BBC television concert, BBC Radio Theatre has some of the best renditions of many of Bowie's best songs throughout his career. "I'm Afraid of Americans" is substantial

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Create a Home Theater System with a Mac mini

A Mac mini has the capability to become a capable home theater system. While it has a DVI connector, and it may seem easy in principle to connect it to a TV, selecting the right additional hardware and software tools can really make the difference. The details were published at HDTV Magazine.

A Home Theater PC (HTPC) with a Mac mini can be a minimalist affair. Connect the DVI out to a TV and play DVDs. Or it can be much more than that. For example, additional storage, some network hardware and some key software can turn a Mac Mini into a serious home theater system.

In the author's system, the Mac Mini was connected to a Samsung DLP HDTV, and the Mac Mini was put on a gigabit wired network with a gigabit switch. The external storage was connected via FireWire, and the 400 Mbps transfer rate was more than enough to support HD.

But the real payoff comes from selecting the right software tools for accessing and displaying the content. Remote Buddy allows the user to bypass a mouse and keyboard. DVDPedia was used to catalog and play DVDs. Additional software was used to convert movies into MPEG 4 format. And, of course, VLC, one of the best media playback applications for the Mac is a must.

"Where RemoteBuddy adds functionality DVDPedia adds style! This application turns the mini into a best of breed video server. The best way to describe DVDPedia is that it's a DVD cataloging application that can do so much more. One of the nicest things about DVDPedia is how easy it is to add information about your DVD titles," the author said.

The story confirms what we all know: modern products like the Mac mini have a lot of capability. However, when combined with other hardware and software, and when the recipe for success is outlined by someone who's been there and done it, the results can be amazing.

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