1. It’s small.

The Mac Mini lives up to it’s name. It’s compact and it’s form factor integrates easily with most home theater setups. If you think that having a mini tower sitting on the floor next to your entertainment stand is 733t then there is a reasonable chance you’re not a huge fan of OS X anyway.

2. It’s not ugly.

Let’s face it… Apple has some kick <bleep> designs and the Mini shows it. It’s clean lines and understated brushed metal finish look very much at home parked underneath your fancy new flat panel set. This is in sharp contrast to almost every other PC maker’s beige/black/silver box offerings.

3. It’s quiet.

Listen… Do you hear that? Nope, me nether – I don’t hear a peep out of my Mini in my home theater rack. Compare it to my Xbox 360’s “this is what a small turbine engine sounds like” noise level the Mini is a godsend.

4. It’s not really cheaper.

Admittedly the Psystar box seems like a good deal at $399. Now add $155 for OS X, $50 for Firewire and $90 for wireless networking… Maybe not such a hot deal after all. (To it’s credit the Psystar does have the Mini beat in the Memory and disk areas though.) Oh, and by the way you can’t use Software Update on the Psystar box – how much is that worth to you?

5. It’s a Mac

You don’t have to drink the kool-aid to recognize that there is just something about a Mac that makes it different. It’s not just the software, the hardware, the design or the innovation… It’s a Mac!

In summary I can’t say that I would give the Psystar a second look as a home theater PC. In fact as a FrankenMac builder I can also say I really wouldn’t consider a Psystar for any use at all.

Matt Brinkhoff

Both products work similarly, and perform a simple function. The Iogear 4 Port Switch includes a single button on the front for cycling through input sources. You can also change ports with the included remote control; it allows you to choose inputs directly (by pressing the input number) or by using Up and Down buttons. Blue lights across the face of the box indicate which port is currently active. It’s not easy to distinguish, say, light 2 from light 3 at a glance in a dark room, but at least your TV’s picture provides a hint.

XtremeMac’s Xtreme HD is unique in that it’s the same size, shape, and overall design as an Apple TV, so you can stack the latter on top of the former for a neater AV cabinet. Easy-to-read lighted numbers on the front of the box indicate the active input. Like the Iogear switch, the Xtreme HD includes a remote control with numbered buttons for each port; on the other hand, it doesn’t provide Up/Down buttons. It too includes a button on the front (labeled “Source”) for switching input sources.

With many HD sets having at most 2 HDMI inputs more is always better. Both of the switches in the review are over $100 though… Too bad they didn’t include some of the nifty cheap switches at Monoprice.

Matt Brinkhoff

• High quality software upscaling is now supported. You can specify preferences in Video -> Player as to when the scaling is enabled and what scaling algorithm is used. This makes a huge difference when viewing SD content. It takes quite a bit of processing power, but the good news is that decoding SD content doesn’t.
• Monitor blanking is now supported. When selecting a full-screen mode, you have the option of telling XBMC to blank the other monitors. The preference is in Appearance -> Screen. I suspect
• The built-in web server now works. Among other things, it serves as an alternate remote control for those of you using a laptop as an expensive remote. Make sure to set a port above 1024.
• You can now store your own skins in the Library/Application Support/XBMC/skin directory, to avoid having to move aside and reinstall skins every time you upgrade.

More information (including a more detailed list of new features and bug fixes) is available on their site. Download the latest release here!

Matt Brinkhoff

MacGeekBlog is reporting that they have a new version of their ATV4Mac software that solves compatibility issues with version 2.0.1 of the AppleTV “Take Two” software. ATV4Mac is an application that lets you run the AppleTV software on your Mac – providing you aren’t one of the few early adopters who have made the leap to Leopard already. (Yes, it currently only runs on 10.48 or greater.) PowerPC users need not apply – this is an Intel only app.

I’m guessing Apple probably isn’t exactly behind the project so the download link will may only be available for a short time. If you miss it and you’re dying to try it out you’ll probably have to acquire the software via IRC or BitTorrent.

The software works by replacing your Front Row application. From the looks of things it’s still a bit rough around the edges so I’d count this as an extreme YMMV.

Matt Brinkhoff

According to this new information we received, the Mac mini will see a dramatic change in its form factor, with a design that is ‘less than half the size’ of the current offering. The mini will also see modest speed increases, with significantly larger storage.

This seems a bit excessively rumour-y to me but hey, they have “reliable sources” so there must be something to it right? At least some of the peeps over at the MacRumours forums seem to think so. I’ve been inside my Mini(s) a few too many times to recount and I’m not sure they could shrink the thing that much without taking something out that differentiates the Mini from the AppleTV (like oh, I dunno – the optical drive maybe???)

Matt Brinkhoff

MacCuff mini features a rugged steel frame with a refined platinum finish and durable plastic coating to prevent scratching. With VESA mounting screw locations, you can easily install your Mac mini to VESA compatible LCD displays to create a sleek and minimal workspace.

Or to help eliminate desktop cable clutter, attach your Mac mini under a desk or shelf using the provided drill template and screws.

The price is right at $49.99 so if you are looking for a cool Mini-bracket the MCM might be the one for you.

Matt Brinkhoff

For the first time in nearly a year, however, people familiar with the matter tell AppleInsider there’s new life in the Mac mini department, where a small team of engineers have recently been tasked with gutting the diminutive desktop and applying fresh internals.

Hey obviously this is good news all around but I can’t help but wonder if this is all Apple has in store for the mini or is this just a taste of what’s to come? Who knows, maybe the something along the lines of a max-mini?

B.Greenway

First about that 0.1.2 update, it includes better dual-core support allowing for much smother 1080p playback with MPEG4 sources and various other bug fixes. Head on over to XBMC on OS X for more on the project.

The Apple themed skin for XMBC on OS X can be found here. From the screen shots it really looks like the artist did a great job on the skins, be sure and let us know how they look once installed. Oh and if you’re having trouble installing the skins on your freshly update XBMC on OS X; this post in the Xbox Media Center forums should help.

B.Greenway

Just a quick update for you codec freaks today, Perian (The Swiss Army Knife for QuickTime, not to be confused with the St. Bernard for Windows Media Player) released version 1.1 of their handy dandy little video codec application last week, some of the improvements and or additions to Perian 1.1 included:

• Major performance improvements
• TrueAudio, MP1, and DTS audio support
• Slice-based multithreaded decoding for MPEG-1/2/H.264
• Apple H.264 now handles AVCHD/interlaced video
• Compatibility fixes for QuickTime 7.4 and Leopard
• Objective-C GC compatibility
• Fixed a crash in Toast
• Better subtitle rendering
• Subtitles play during MKV loading
• Snow support
• Miscellaneous bug fixes

Excellent news on the performance improvements and DTS support as well as AVCHD/interlaced video, sounds like a nice addition to the arsenal, swing on by and check it out.

B.Greenway

If and I do stress if Apple decides the put the mini out to pasture; that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. I firmly believe the mini fills rung on Apple’s product ladder that isn’t likely to disappear even if the mini proper does. Perhaps the mini could be combined with the A/V centric AppleTV transforming it into a TV Plus or maybe even a completely different, slightly more powerful SKU altogether. Who knows, but I would be surprised if Apple abandoned the $599 to $799 market altogether, we’ll see.

B.Greenway