Edit: This post reviews the OLD Mac Minis. The NEW Mac Minis are discussed here: Mac Mini DVR: II and here: If you’ve just gotta have a Mac Mini DVR.
Small. Quiet. Cheap. Damn good-looking. The Mac Mini seems to cry out, pleading to be made into a Mac Mini HTPC.
But are the Mini’s good looks only case deep? Is she worthy to sit next to your TV, pumping out music, videos, and more? Let’s find out.
What are you working with?
Inside your Mac Mini’s case lurks a jumble of cramped components. You’re certainly not sticking in any TV tuners, video cards, or hard drives. So what do you have to work with?
- DVI out - you can connect your Mac Mini to your TV.
- A firewire port - great for connecting external hard drives (that 80gb hard drive wasn’t made for HTPC’ing).
- Four USB ports - you’ll use these to connect external tuner/audio cards
- Optical digital out - hook your Mini straight up to your receiver
- Plenty (1gb) of Ram
- Ability to boot Vista or XP to take advantage of DVR software
What you still need
TV Tuner
What DVR is complete without TV! You have a few options for getting TV into that sweet little case.
Update: Here are some cheaper, superior external tuner options for your Mac Mini DVR.
If you are Apple to the core (wink) and want to boot OSX, the Eye TV 250 may be your ticket. It comes with a break out box that includes all the necessary inputs. The Eye then hooks up to your Mini through USB. This hardware also comes with some DVR-ish software to let you schedule recordings etc. Runs $150 on Amazon.
If you’re willing to boot Windows, then you might want to run with the HVR-900, a USB tuner card from the masters at Hauppauge. The main disadvantage is the HVR-900 doesn’t do any encoding, so your CPU has to pick up the slack. Costs $80.
The ConectX break out box by Plextor is another Windows/Mac option. Like the Eye, it encodes video for you and provides the necessary inputs. It is also $150.
Note that all of these solutions connect only a single tuner. If you want to watch one channel and record another, you’ll need two of these USB devices.
More hard drive space
The Mini’s firewire/usb ports provide easy ways to hook up to some external storage space. Or hook up to your networked storage setup. Either way, you’re going to need to invest in a few hundred GB’s in addition to the Mini’s internal drive.
Lacie makes a line of Mac Mini themed hard drives. At $200 for 320 GB, they are on the pricey side.
A way to convert the audio/video outputs
Note that the Mac Mini’s audio and video outputs may not match up with your needs, but there are always adapters. The optical out uses a mini-plug, so you might need a cable like this.
And the DVI out may stump you if you need a more conventional s-video. But Apple has your back, with a nice little adapter.
Is it worth it?
Well, after the initial Mini purchase, you do have a fair amount of shopping left to do. And you are eternally by the case size (no Blu-ray upgrade for example). If you’re fine with spending a few hundred dollars on additional hardware, the Mini may serve as a nice, compact DVR option. With the ability to boot into Windows, a plethora of DVR software opens up as well. Worth looking into, especially for exisiting Mini owners.