Mac Mini to the Media Center Rescue

In a previous post I discussed a recent downgrade of our Dish Network services to reduce overall household monthly costs. At the end of the post there is mention of my desire to purchase a Mac Mini to function as a media server and provide access to the world of quality online content that is available to replace the missing channels from our Dish Network subscription.

I am happy to announce that the delivery of that Mac Mini by FedEx. I chose the previous generation Mac Mini (see image). I did not purchase the new model as it does not include a SuperDrive (DVD/CD). We have a large collection of DVDs and while I could rip them on another machine and then transfer them, that’s a process that just sounds painful and time consuming. It is much faster to just pop in a DVD and enjoy. Besides, the primary use for this machine is to stream online content – all of it and not just the limited content available on the AppleTV and Roku devices.


I will soon begin converting this Mac Mini into a Mac Mini Media Center (MMMC) that can be “easily” used by anyone in the household. Can you actually make a MMMC into a family friendly device? That is what I hope to find out and I will document the process and my progress. As I make adjustments and discover new software, I’ll share those experiences as well.

To follow along, subscribe to Doc’s Tech Notes. There will be numerous posts as I create and tweak the MMMC and I have created the label “mmmc” so that the series of posts can be viewed on a single page. As you follow along, I do hope you will add your questions or your own ideas/experiences to help me create the ultimate family friendly MMMC. Hopefully, at the end, I will have a guide that anyone can follow to create their own easy to use MMMC. The ultimate goal for this project is to say “Hasta la vista, baby!” to all satellite and cable providers. I have a year. Let the games begin.