I’m all about having the least amount of anything between me and whatever content I’m going to watch. When it comes to apps, I love only dealing with a couple of programs on my Mini and this minimalism is reflected in my hardware too.

The place it’s most obvious is my sound set-up. A few years ago, I got fed up running six different sets of speaker wire out of my Yamaha receiver. So I trader in my true 5.1 set-up for the excellent Yamaha YSP-800 soundbar. While it’s not the same as having speakers mounted behind you, it does a surprisingly decent job at throwing sound all over the room. And it’s one unit – including the built-in DTS/DD receiver. I just plugged it into my existing sub and was good to go.

But I’ll be honest – I miss that rear sound. I just do. And it’s been a few years, so I figured I could find something that looked as good as the YSP-800 but included true surround with rear speakers. Basically, I was looking for a soundbar with left, center, and right speakers that also had a built-in DTS/DD receiver (to skip adding a new component) and worked with rear speakers.

So I was ecstatic when I discovered Vizio VHT510 system. Not only did it hit all my requirements but it also connected to the rear speakers wirelessly. It was only a hair under $300, came with a sub, and had racked up some pretty decent reviews at Amazon.

So I confidently placed my order. When it showed up, I was impressed by the build quality – everything seemed tight. The remote has a bit of spongy action, but I’m universal remote guy so that wasn’t going to be a problem.

But the sound quality was.

I was monumentally disappointed by everything that it sent my way. Music was tinny and felt like it was being blasted all over the place – very little separation to my ears. That’s par for the course with soundbars to some extent, but this felt downright sloppy.

Movies/TV fared just as badly. On the subject of no separation, dialogue felt like it had been spread across all three front speakers. I’m used to dialogue mainly being isolated to the center speaker and that just wasn’t happening. And, no matter how I tweaked the settings, it never felt…solid.

My subwoofer test is always the opening rooftop race from “The Matrix”. When the agent slams onto the roof, my Klipsch sub rattles my ribcage. There was no noticeable sound effect (at all) with the Vizio. Even when I cranked up the sub to 10. Nada.

At that point, my wife (who’s no audio snob) started getting irritated. I was already there – a great price and spec list couldn’t compensate for poor audio quality.

I’m sorry it worked out this way – because there’s no higher-end alternative to try out. I plugged my YSP-800 back in and immediately appreciated its rich sound quality all over again.

A giant part of any HTPC set-up is the remote control. People’s choices in this area span every possible option. You have some folks that use the hardware that came with their respective components, regardless of how many remotes end up cluttering their coffee table. The advantage to this is obviously little to no set-up time. The downside? The word clutter should be a tip-off.

Which leads us to the other end of the spectrum: one remote controlling everything. The undisputed leader of this category is Logitech’s Harmony series of remotes. Using software, you can control pretty much anything with an IR port. For a while, I used a Harmony 880 but eventually tired of the complexity.

“Complexity”, you ask? Wouldn’t one remote be the simplest option? Yes and No. While I needed a one remote solution, the vast majority of buttons on the 880 were of no use to me. Like so many, I navigate TV nowadays through an in-app guide – meaning I didn’t need any of the numerical keys, for example. Look at the remote you’re using – that keypad takes up a giant amount of space, no? I only have one TV, one receiver, and a Mac Mini. That’s all I’m trying to control.

So I started looking for something minimal that would fit the bill. Ironically, the Apple Remote is almost perfect – I just needed something that would learn power and volume codes for my TV and receiver. Unfortunately, this isn’t possible with the Apple Remote so I actually began looking for a universal learning remote that I could physically mod the Apple Remote into. Which always felt like it wasn’t going to yield a satisfying end product.

Which is why I immediately fell in love with the remote I’m currently using: Acoustic Research’s ARi3G. Apparently designed with my specifically in mind, it had everything I wanted: learning capability, Apple Remote codes pre-programmed, and the ability to turn my TV and receiver off with one button. A bonus is the backlit buttons, which are really useful in the dark. And it’s footprint is minuscule compared to everything else out there.

This was the Holy Grail for me and I would have paid a lot of money. But the best part of this story? The cost. The remote sells at Amazon for $9.99.

Making it the perfect Mac HTPC Remote – at least for my HTPC.

While I long for the day when I can use my iPhone as my only phone line, I’ve lamented why this can’t happen in other posts on this site.

But I’m also done with regular telephone service. My local phone company wants $30+ each month for a landline and my cable provider (TWC) wants $45 month for their digital phone service. Neither number impresses me.

So I looked into VOIP – i.e. paying for a phone service that used my internet connection. After a lot of trial runs and mediocre results, I recently got it dialed in just right. And that’s what this post is all about.

I started by signing up with Google Voice. Their free service offers a single phone number in addition to mad goodies like transcribed voicemail, number filtering, and nicely-controlled forwarding.

But GV isn’t an actual VOIP service – for that I needed an actual VOIP provider. While I initially looked at Skype, they use proprietary hardware. So I ended up choosing SIPGate based on positive reviews across the internet. They issued my a local number that I immediately registered with GV as my main home number and then had all of the SIPGate traffic forwarded to my GV number.

This would be enough for people willing to use their computer as their phone line – SIPGate has a softphone that you can use with your speakers and computer mic.

But I wanted phone service that replicated my former landline experience – i.e I wanted to use my normal phones. Luckily, this is extremely simple to set up. There are a number of devices that convert VOIP data into analog phone signals. I chose the Linksys SPA-1001 – it’s highly regarded and readily available for less $30. Set up was simple (I just plugged it into my router) and I plugged my cordless phone into the SPA-1001. A dial-tone was waiting for me when I picked it up.

Unfortunately, the phone quality wasn’t perfect. Echos and delays made the system irritating. After some research, I found the problem was likely my router. I’ve been using an Apple Airport Extreme for years and it’s been a rock solid router. But Apple has never allowed QOS filtering and that meant that there was no way to regulate how much bandwidth I could use with my phone. This is crucial for solid VOIP service. SO I reluctantly went looking for an alternative to my AEX.

The D-Link DIR-655 was the router I chose. After setting up it, there was a dramatic difference in call quality. The calls were clear and stable, with little to no delay. Ironically, I was able to sell my AEX on Ebay for MORE than the DIR-655′s list price on Amazon, so I ended up making money on the deal. And getting a better service.

The folks at Plex are getting ready to release a HUGE update to their media management app and, judging by the video above, this is gonna be a giant leap forward for those of us using the software to manage and playback our media libraries.

Check it out – and then (like me) begin obsessively checking every day to see if it’s been released yet!

But this was a tough hit to take because I split my time between the two programs: EyeTV for my live TV stuff and Plex for my movies and TV library. Combining the two has always been a dream but doesn’t seem to be in the cards based on El Gato’s total lack of interest in making EyeTV more of a media manager than it already is.

So I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was for Plex to integrate my EyeTV archive into its file structure…and how beautifully it played native EyeTV recordings.

Basically, you add your archive folder as a source under the Video submenu and…that’s it! Navigate into the folder and you can easily playback any of your EyeTV recordings.

Although it’s brutally simple, I’ve made a YouTube video documenting the addition – check it out below and post any questions you end up having.

Plugged into my 32″ HDTV, I use the Mini to:

* Watch, pause, rewind, and record live HDTV programming for free via EyeTV and my HD Homerun.

All controlled wirelessly via my iPhone and Remote Buddy
 
Imagine all of the bulky components you can avoid by consolidating down to just the Mini! Explore the site for extensive reviews of everything I used to create and maintain this system.

Plex – Amazing (and free) media manager/player that has no peer. Read my full review here.

EyeTV – The only real option for a Tivo-like experience on a Mac is thankfully well-tended by its developers at El Gato Systems. Use it to record & playback HD, digital, and/or analog programming (depending on your hardware).

Must-have features include time-shifting, scheduled recordings, integrated TV guide, snappy editing to remove commercials, robust exporting to devices like iPods and iPhones, and much, much more.

VLC – Hands down the finest standalone Mac video player – VLC’s versatility, price, and feature set make Quicktime look like a child’s toy by comparison. Support for almost every codec out there means you can play a DVD image (or actual disc) back-to-back with AVIs, TS streams, MKV HD files, and whatever else you may find in your archives.

As if that’s not enough, this badboy has been free for years.

Remote Buddy – Whatever you may be using to remotely control your Mac HTPC, Remote Buddy can enhance and refine the experience to EXACTLY how you want it to be. I started out using the Apple Remote, which RB allowed me to remap so it could browse and control every app I use. I then upgraded to an IR receiver from Keyspan and RB allowed me to do the same with a standard universal remote. Now I’m on my iPhone, using it as a beautiful universal remote to control my Mac from anywhere in the house via WiFi.

Extras like Applescript support only gild an app already worth every dollar (or Euro, in Remote Buddy’s case).

Visual Hub – There are tons of video converters out there, but I’ve found Visual Hub to be the most reliable and easiest to use. It’s speed smokes alternatives and presets for my iPhone and 720p screen are spot-on without any adjustments.

Unison – I like swapping video recordings, er, media files with friends around the world and Unison makes accessing these newsgroups easy as pie. Makes swapping BH9 episodes on worn videotapes during high school seem crazy-analog by comparison.

DisplayConfigX – If you’re lucky enough to have an HDTV that displays your Mac’s video perfectly out of the box, Congrats…you can jump to the next app.

For the rest of us, clipped edges and missing menu bars are an annoyance that DisplayConfigX can easily fix. I went without half my dock for six months before tweaking my 32″ Phillips to a perfect-1210×676 resolution. Now, it all fits like a glove. Not sexy at all, this app is nonetheless essential to get things the way they should be.

JollysFastVNC – I used Chicken of the VNC forever to remotely set-up my Mac Mini from my main iMac before heading in to watch a movie and/or TV show. Then someone recommended JollysFastVNC as a faster alternative and, I gotta say, I was surprised at how much more responsive it was. I’m not going back. VERY useful when tweaking with DisplayConfigX. Free just like CotVNC.

Front Row – If you’re looking for a fully-integrated, attractive media manager blessed by Apple, Front Row is really the only game in town. Add-ons like DVD Assist (see below) allow workarounds for frustrating Quicktime limitations.

DVD Assist – A gem I’ve been using for quite some time now, DVD Assist allows Front Row to launch DVD Images and TS files…something it couldn’t do until Tiger’s release (.ts files still aren’t supported). Highly recommended if you back up your DVDs and/or like watching HD material via Front Row.

Airfoil – Those of us with Aiport Expresses units can increase their abilities exponentially with Airfoil. It allows streaming of programs other than iTunes to AEX (VLC, in my case), to multiple AEX units, and more. It effectively allows a whole house to enjoy the audio from one computer!