Thursday, August 4, 2011
MMMC Software Downloads
The Mac Mini is still in the box. Once I break it out, the first step will be to upgrade it to OS X Lion. In the mean time, I am downloading several software packages and placing them in a Dropbox folder so I’ll have quick access once Dropbox is installed on the MMMC. Below is a screen shot of my selection so far with Boxee my planned main interface. Any other software recommendations?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Plex is a pretty good choice. We have that on our Mini MMC, and it works great most of the time. Integrates fairly well with a logitech remote.
ReplyDeleteStill, interested to see what you come up with. I'd change things up if I thought they'd work better.
@Brian. I chose Boxee initially because we are pretty heavy users of Netflix and most of the online reviews give is a thumbs up in this area. Thanks for the comments and keep ’em coming. I am especially intrigued by your Logitech Remote comment as I have a Harmony Remote.
ReplyDeleteI picked up the last new-in-box 2010 model at Best Buy :-) I too have not gotten it out of the box yet - heading out of town tomorrow, so it'll have to wait until I get back next week.
ReplyDeleteI too have a Dropbox folder going with software to install, some of it stuff I already use, and some with which I'll experiment for media center functionality. So far I have:
XBMC and Plex; only one will survive
VLC
Flip4Mac
Perian
iTiVo and the lame Mac version of TiVo desktop
Spotify
Handbrake
Transmission
Zattoo and Viscosity (European TV streaming software and the VPN software needed to watch it)
Good luck, I'll be following along! I'll share with you as I learn too. Seems like the challenge some people run into is the overscan issue on some HDTVs, so I feel like if I get past that things should go well.
@Colin I took ours Mac Mini of the box last night and began the setup. Long way to go and I also hope to get a blog post online today or tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the list! I’m using MPlayerX as opposed to VLC. I find it more "Mac" like and seems to play everything. I’ll be interested in your experiences with XBMC and Plex. You tackle that one and I’ll take Boxee. :-)
Handbrake is also an addition I’ll add to my list. As I mentioned, I hope not to do a lot of ripping of DVDs, but I can envision and instance or two where this will be handy. Transmission is also another good recommendation. I also want to give XTorrent another try along with Torrent Episode Downloader (TED). Many options, not enough time!
TED is pretty good. Spend some time getting your default settings in order. Plex has pretty good Netflix and Hulu support, though we don't stream much these days. I stream the Daily Show and Colbert pretty much daily and it works great (Plex has dedicated plugins for each of those shows). It works pretty well with the logitech... I haven't tried to get too fancy tho. I think there are some writeups online somewhere, but honestly, I have a MS thesis to write and haven't had time to mess with this much.
ReplyDeleteOn piece of software that's great for keeping things organized is Hazel. I love me some Hazel rules.
One thing that's annoying -- sometimes the Mini will 'forget' that audio is HDMI and will default to the internal speakers. Usually restarting Plex will fix it, but sometimes I have to get up and change it manually back to HDMI out. I'm still Snow Leopard BTW.