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Introduction

TV is changing quite quickly at the moment (early 2011). We're seeing the convergence of content from various sources including free to air, satelite, cable and internet content. There are a number of media center applications that have matured to provide sophisticated yet reliable and user friendly features that compete against the features offered by dedicated components such as Personal Video Recorders (PVRs), etc.

This article provides some insights into what it takes to set up a media center on an Apple Mac computer.

Requirements

We came up with a short list of requirements we wanted our media center to satisfy:

• Easy to use
• HD Tuners
• Watch and record simultanously
• Record two programs simultanously
• Watch Catch Up TV
• Wireless 802.11g/n
• Connect external hard drive (tolerating Mac formats)
• Energy efficient
• Short start up time
• Upgradable
• Cost effective

Most of these requirements are self explanatory. The wi-fi requirement is based on our TV not being co-located to our router or LAN connection point.

We analysed a number of consumer off the shelf systems and found none of them met all of these requirements. Our solution satisfies all of the requirements - except perhaps the cost effectiveness. We purchased our Mac Mini new, but you might be able to get a second hand bargain if your budget is tight.

Configuration

Hardware

We chose the Mac Mini (2.4GHz, 2GB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce 320M graphics) because it is a power efficient little server offering more than enough performance. It is also the cheapest Mac available.

Here is a diagram showing how we chose to configure our media center.

We purchased an Elgato Diversity to capture HD DVB-T TV broadcasts. Having a UHF/VHF outlet next to the TV connected to an external aerial allowed us to use the Diversity in Dual Mode providing two high definition channel feeds. This allows us to view two channels at once (for example picture in picture) and record one channel whilst watching another.

Software

We have three applications providing the media capabilities:

• Elgato Eye TV: This provides the capabilitity to receive broadcasts from the TV tuner hardware - in our case the Elgato Diversity. Of courcse, this includes recording capabilities, TV guide presentation, etc.
• Plex: Plex provides file system and internet media serving capabilities. Plex integrates with many systems and applications including iTunes and iPhoto. it has a plug-in architecture an open source framework allowing anyone to provide custom integrations. There are integrations for many Catch Up TV services.
• Apple DVD Player: A basic, yet quite capable DVD player.

Issues

Remote Control

Setting up the system was actually quite straight forward except for the remote control aspect. It is one thing to be able to control the system using a computer keyboard and mouse, but this will not pass the WAF (Wife Approval factor).

Our goal was to be able to control most of the system using a single remote control. We already had a Harmony 525 universal remote at our disposal so we decided to use it to simulate the Apple Remote. We used the Remote Buddy application to perform application switching and pass remote control commands to either Eye TV, Plex or DVD Player.

Signal Quality

We decided to split the UHF/VHF signal so that we could feed the TV independently. This resulted in a loss of signal quality, requiring us to use a splitter amplifier instead of just a regular splitter - another device consuming power.

Even with the splitter amplifier, the Diversity tuner does not pick up signals as well as the Sony TV's digital tuner.

We would consider swapping the Elgato Diversity for the HD HomeRun, except that the HD HomeRun needs cabled LAN access to the network which we don't have near the TV.

Sound Output

We have observed that after waking the Mac Mini, it sometimes isn't able to send the sound to the TV. To resolve this, we have to re-select the Sony TV option on the Mac's sound control panel.

Limitations

The system does just about anything a decent media center should deliver except for being able to play blue ray discs (this was not one of our requirements).

Summary

We were able to set up a very capable media center with relatively few components. It took a while, but the 10-foot user interface (remote control capabilities) is fairly simple to use.

We have had several issues that have tainted the overall experience. The media center we set up is high on features, but low on reliability and component integration.