Intel Mac Mini replaces Linkplayer

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It’s amazing when a company is the first to innovate a product and is able to maintain a superior product in spite of multiple competitors who arrive able to presumably improve on the original idea. Tivo is an excellent example of this…their PVR software and hardware offerings are still the easiest and most respected on the market, despite companies with very deep pockets attempting to best them.

So it’s a high water mark I’m trying to meet putting together a Mac-based HDTV PVR. The mechanics (ATSC tuner, ability to record and playback HDTV, access to other media files, etc) have been available for some time and I had a decent first set-up with my Linkplayer/EyeTV 500 combo. But it was a clunky interface that offered little more than dependable HDTV playback (not a feature to be knocked) and access to networked media files. Playing back other video files (backed-up DVDs in particular) was impossibility for my technically-challenged mind and there was still a lot of hardware stacked under my TV.

So when I read that the new Dual Core Intel Mac Mini would play back HD content smoothly, I just picked one up. Although the price was (a lot) higher than the Linkplayer, Macs hold their value extremely well and I knew I could recoup most of the cost on Ebay if I wasn’t enthralled with the performance.

My Mini’s processor is a 1.66 GHz Intel Core Duo with 1GB of RAM. It is plugged into my Phillips 32â€? LCD HDTV via the Phillips HDMI slot with the help of a DVI-HDMI converter. The audio plugs into my Yamaha receiver via a miniplug-TOSLINK cable and passes Dolby Digital signals without trouble from EyeTV and Apple’s DVD Player. To repeat an oft-used phrase about Macs: It just works.

I still use my EyeTV 500 ATSC receiver to watch, time-shift, and record HDTV (and SD) signals that I receive at no cost with my OTA antennae. It plugs into the Mini via Firewire and has a 500GB External LaCie HD daisy-chained onto its other Firewire port. This offers my tons of storage space.

EyeTV 2.3 also offers a plethora of features that act as a very reasonable replacement for Tivo…I’m following up with a detailed review of both 2.3 and it’s controversial newer brother 2.3.1 that will expand on these advantages.

* 2/2007 Update: The Mini’s video didn’t originally fit exactly onto the Phillip’s screen…I detailed my fix in this subsequent post.