Hi,

I think you should connect the Beoport to the Mac mini, not to the iMac any longer.

In that way, with LinkPlayer, you can control it using the PC key of the Beo remote, and control Plex, Eye TV, plus all the built in sources of LinkPlayer. The integration is better than using the PUC.

You also free the sound output socket on your imac, so you can hear you iMac sound through its own speakers.

P.

Thanks Phil,

I'd forgotten, stupidly, that the beoport would need to be connected to the computer running Linkplayer - will need to look into possibility of hanging it off the back of the BV7!

Dylan

Firstly MY thanks for your post - I had never thought of connecting the MacMini the way you have planned - one reason I had been leaning towards an ATV was the ability to plug composite.

Now in answer to the questions ....

dylan wrote:

1) Will it work! - in particular the cabling between the BV7 and Mac Mini - has anyone done this particular setup and got pistures and sound distributed to link rooms?

I sincerely hope so ! I wish I could test without having to buy a MacMini, please let us know ....

2) Thoughts on EyeTV option

I use a Hybrid and love it, I use the aerial socket for SD/HD and analogue reception and its composite connection for my ATV recordings (or back capture of family movies)

3) Will I need to spilt the aerial to go the BV7 as well as the MacMini for any reason?

I recommend you do - I do this because it removes a dependency on the EyeTV and/or Apple always being available

Also in my set-up I split the aerial and feed one path to the BV directly for quality, and the other path to the B&O RF Amplifier

Are you planning to use the B&O RF Amplifier ? I found that it required two connections to the BV for reasons that I don't understand

4) Thoughts on the storage options - Drobo seems good?

I have only seen hood reports on it - a bit pricey for me at this stage

I use USB attached Maxtors and I am not happy with the way their disk spin-up and spin-down slows the Apple - basically they are very quiet and quiesce when not being used, but if I then do a save to the Apple's hard drive the OS activates the USB drives just in case they are the target of the save operation and so the whole system freezes for a few seconds

Same thing happens when PLEX starts - it is seeking the video libraries and everything freezes while the USB drives spin-up

I am thinking of going for Firewire interfaces next time round

5) Will probably need to upgrade my wireless router but can the latest cope with HD?

Mine is old (802.11g) and it copes fine with the Apple accessing content from Windows machines around the house, although to be honest I am never sure at any particular time whether it is coming via a LAN path or a WAN path

6) Do I need a high spec mac mini to cope with HD?

I would always favour speed and memory if I can afford it

Sooner or later something will slow the system down and it is always helpful to have power in reserve

Thanks for your thoughts Elephant.

I am currently using a RF amplifier coming out of my BV3 with no problems. I can't quite recall its connections and is in the roof space so difficult to check easily. Glad to hear you are pleased with the Hybrid - my only worry about it is that it is only a single tuner (and hence wondering about the Diversity) but guess I could use it to record and the native BV7 tuner to watch something else.

Still hoping to hear from someone who has tried the MacMini to BV7 connections that I've illustrated and managed to get masterlinked Video in a link room - I'd rather not buy a MacMini and it not work!

Dylan

Some time ago I had a similiar setup. Mac mini connected via HDMI (DVI - HDMI), composite, spdif, analog L-R and PUC (apple remote) to Beovision 7-40 MKIII, masterlinked to a BV6-22 and a BC6-26. For picture I used a HDMI splitter 1-4 (Gefen) and a HDMI-composite scaler (Gefen). For audio there was an optical-coax converter (Oehlbach) and a Philips surround headphone amp, which provided a digital loopthrough for the main system (PCM, DD5.1, DTS) and analog stereo for the linkrooms. Installation was a bit tricky, but after a while everything worked fine. I also installed a master/slave mains box, to disconnect converters, scalers, splitters, HDs... automatically from the mains, when the mini was in sleep mode.

Your setup uses a VGA-composite scaler, which means, the mac must be able to distribute DVI (digital) and VGA (analog) simultaneously. I doubt that it will work....(?)

For audio you will need analog stereo sound from the mini. The RF modulator can`t distribute digital audio. That`s why I used the headphone amp -  provides digital (surround) and analog (stereo) sound simultaneously.

I switched from the mini to the Tvix 6500, because 1- the mac couldn`t handle HD movies (MKV) and 2- I hate the apple remote! The Tvix could handle nearly every video format and navigation via PUC was quite satisfying. Tvix also can send digital AND analog audio without any additional hardware. It was connected to my airport extreme via ethernet, where I connected my mac formatted hard discs. Now it was possible to watch an HD movie on the BV7 and/or in linkrooms, and watch ANOTHER HD movie simultaneously and wireless on a macbook / Mac mini using VLC.

Next step was to solve the Blu Ray problem. I didn`t want the Beo BD player, because it can`t handle HD audio formats (DTS HD master), has no network connection and is slow and expensive..... So I found  an LG BD player, that can decode HD audio, can play HD movies via USB and network, is able to distribute digital and analog picture AND audio simultaneously, can be controlled via PUC and has a very fast start up - you can even use the BV7s electronic curtain - AND it`s quite cheap.

So I think, I have found "my" media solution for movies, for music I`m using a BS5. The Tvix is sold, Mac mini is now installed in my home office and used as what it really is: a computer (a really nice one!) but sorry, not a media server...

Hope this helps.

Stefan

stefan wrote:

Your setup uses a VGA-composite scaler, which means, the mac must be able to distribute DVI (digital) and VGA (analog) simultaneously. I doubt that it will work....(?)

that is the one worry I also have ...

stefan wrote:

1- the mac couldn`t handle HD movies (MKV)

My early 2009 MacBook does handle MKV HDs just fine ...

stefan wrote:

The Tvix is sold

Really ? Did the LG replace the TVIX ?  The TVIX I have seen in the B&O stores seems to display a Windows explorer type of interface on the screens, nothing like a true media centre look-and-feel ... what are your thoughts on this?

dylan wrote:

my only worry about it is that it is only a single tuner

that's true and there have been the odd occasions where I have wanted to record TWO shows

Otherwise the dual viewing approach does work just fine

Thank you both.

As you can imagine Stefan, not what I wanted to hear but very useful information. I am still keen to pursue the MacMini as I like the integration and user interface that Linkplayer-Plex offers, however I will definitely not be purchasing one 'til I hear that someone has managed to get the simultaneous digital & analogue signals out of it. Looks like I need to also look at the other Media Centre options - I'd not heard of Tvix so shall start by investigating these. I currently have a Topfield PVR which works well except that I have constant frustrations with it failing to be able to access its external hard disc reliably (seems a common problem judging by their forum).

Thanks again

elephant wrote:

stefan wrote:

Your setup uses a VGA-composite scaler, which means, the mac must be able to distribute DVI (digital) and VGA (analog) simultaneously. I doubt that it will work....(?)

that is the one worry I also have ...

stefan wrote:

1- the mac couldn`t handle HD movies (MKV)

My early 2009 MacBook does handle MKV HDs just fine ...

stefan wrote:

The Tvix is sold

Really ? Did the LG replace the TVIX ?  The TVIX I have seen in the B&O stores seems to display a Windows explorer type of interface on the screens, nothing like a true media centre look-and-feel ... what are your thoughts on this?

I can confirm that a solution using a Gefen HDMI splitter and HDMi - composite scaler works. Maybe there is another interesting product:

CM-388 converts HDMI to video and audio and got a loopthrough. http://cpc.farnell.com/1/1/22722-converter-hdmi-video-audio-cm-388-cyp.html

But I have NOT tested this solution, So I can`t say whether it works...

My Macbook also handles MKV fine via VLC - even wireless streamed from my airport extreme station. But I tried to use it in the Front Row environment. Didn`t work....

I think the Tvix is a nice mediaplayer - just a BD drive is missing. I used Tvixie as user interface: http://www.tvixie.com/screenshots.php  - easy to use, looks good - reminds to Kaleidoscape interface...

Stefan