Mark Dalton

Back in May 2009 Don McAllister who runs and hosts ScreenCastsOnline did an episode on using the New Mac Min as a Media server. Now I have owned a Mac Mini (G5) for a while and have been using it as a basic media server, and when I say basic, I mean I have Snow Leopard installed, but only use it connected to my iTunes Library via FrontRow. Well, after buying a new Samsung Series 7 LED HD TV I moved my Series 6 up to the bedroom and had it wired into Sky via a Sky Multiroom subscription, but this got me thinking again about the Mac Mini as a Media Server, so I decided to revisit the original shows (SCO198, SCO201, SCO204) and see what I had missed.

I did a clean install of Snow Leopard on the Mac Mini and then a Software Update whilst watching SCO198, and then set about installing Sapphire. Now Sapphire for me doubles the usefulness of the Mac Mini straight away as it gives me full access to my ripped DVD library that lives on my Drobo. Sapphire simply provides another option within the FrontRow interface, aptly named Sapphire that connects you to your media. This media can be on the Mac Mini itself, although Don didn’t recommend that, or on an external or network attached drive. Now at present I have my DVD’s located on a Drobo connected to the network via a DroboShare. This is functional but three is some lag. Once I have things as I want them I will once again look at the storage element as I don’t really want external drives all over the place but if its flakey I know I won’t use it.

Following Don’s instructions the installation was simple and was completed in less than 30 minutes. Importing the meta data and choosing the correct artwork did take a while, but given how many DVD’s I have on the Drobo that was to be expected.

The second show (SCO201) moved things up a notch and introduced Plex. Plex was just as simple to install and configure using Don’s walkthrough, but right from the outset it was obvious that Plex was a lot more powerful than Sapphire and there are many more options to explore / play with. Obviously Don could only cover the essential ones in the show, but this was enough to get me up and running. Importing the meta data and selecting the Album Artwork were easy and I know it’s sad, but quite good fun, especially with the added ability to use Fan Art which is top quality I must say from what I have seen so far. The interface is not as intuitive as it could be and some of the menu options are simply not named correctly as they do not actually do what they say they do. However once installed and configured this is certainly a small price to pay for the experience the application provides, and with luck the developers will quickly correct. Plex hooks directly into iTunes an iPhoto to provide you access to your music and photos, and better still Plex also supports “Applications”, which easily allow you to connect up to other services such as the ScreenCastsOnline feed.

In SCO204 Don takes a look at ways to remotely control the Media Server, but I must say I am perfectly happy with the Apple supplied remote. I did purchase the Aluminium remote for use with the Apple TV in the lounge, and may at some point buy another for use with the Media Server. I did explore using the iPhone and use the Apple Remote application to control my iTune library on the Apple TV as I do like to skip tracks and move between albums, but with the Media Server it is more select movie, click play, fall asleep. Why complicate perfection!

Last week ended pretty much as it had begun, cold, wet, and very busy, but at least there wasn’t any snow. Friday arrived and I was quite looking forward to getting home and opening a few cold beers and enjoying a long lay in Saturday morning, but you what they say about the best laid plans. So I got home Friday night and went through the normal routine of grabbing a shower and starting dinner. I opened a beer which boy did taste good and then sat down in front of the TV with another cold brew to watch a movie. Now this is where I should have known better as food, beer, and sitting down after a week at work meant only one thing. Yes, you have got it, I fell asleep before even finishing the second can. I woke up just gone midnight feeling a little chilly with a sore neck and resigned myself to the fact that I had at least had the intention of getting rather drunk. Luckily my power nap didn’t affect my ability to sleep in Saturday morning, and I eventually forced myself to get up, showered, and dressed a little before 10:30.

Now I had booked my Sky+ HD & Sky Multiroom installation for Saturday afternoon, but after I had done a few chores it was too late to go out as I risked not being back in time to meet the engineer. Luckily he turned up and was done in quick time although I was left to run the Multiroom cable myself across the attic and down into the bedroom as he wasn’t allowed up there for health and safety reasons. I decided to leave this for Sunday and opting instead to tidy up all the cable”s behind the TV downstairs. I spent about an hour doing this, for it to look pretty much the same when I had finished, so I think I am going to need to invest in some proper cable management as it really is an eyesore. I think that will have to wait until next weekend. Saturday afternoon I got on with a few more chores and chilled out with the cold beer I had promised myself Friday night. I decided to be lazy and threw a pizza in the oven before taking up position on the sofa for the evening.

Sunday I was up bright and early and although I could have easily gone back to sleep I decided I needed to get on so set about sorting out my personal email and correspondence. Luckily this didn’t take long and I was able to get on with some the remaining chores. I was half way through these when I remembered I hadn’t dropped my brother-in-law”s birthday present down to him. After catching up with him, my sister, and the kids I came back ready to finish the Sky Multiroom setup in my bedroom. My sister had a newer menu system on her Sky+ HD box and said you needed to have both connected for it to sort itself out. After getting everything setup there was still no difference so I called Sky who talked me through forcing a firmware update. I followed the instructions they gave me but it made no difference, but by this point I had opened a beer and couldn’t be bothered as I still had access to the content via the old menu system. I spent the rest of the evening scanning the TV channels and generally playing with the new features before heading to bed.