GDJustin said:
No huge reason. I mostly just want as easy a solution as possible. Everything else in the home runs OSX, so I'd like the HTPC to run OSX too. I've never touched linux in my life and haven't used windows in over 4 years... so it would just be introducing a level of complexity that I'd like to avoid if I can.
Plus, as I mentioned, I have a Mac machine in mind.
I only raise the other two simply because I believe they might be better developed and supported compared to the OSX version. That said, I was also in the wrong frame of mind because I've had my eye set on GPU acceleration support but now remembering you're using a MBP, your hardware is likely good enough to support it all through the CPU without the need of GPU acceleration. I would definitely try it out on OSX like you already said you did to get a feel for it, but I wouldn't hold that as an example of how good XBMC really is becaus eit might not be on par. With Linux, they've got a disc that pretty much automates everything and while there is a little setup regardless of what platform you have, once its up and running, you really shouldn't think of it as a PC anymore and the OS shouldn't be noticeable.
This is great news. Although IDK what Samba or the other acronyms mean
Heh, no worries, here's a crash course =)
1) Samba, or sometimes referred to as SMB, is just a network file sharing protocol. It's a common way of sharing folders and files on different devices and OS's on a network. If you've ever done network file sharing between your Macs, it's quite likely you've used it.
2) UPnP stands for Universal Plug n Play which is another common way of devices talking to each other through a network.
3) DLNA stands for Digital Living Network Alliance and it's a protocol used by a lot of multimedia devices now for streaming media in your home network. PS3 and 360 uses DLNA to detect multimedia networked sources that use this protocol and allow you to access content from such devices.
Hm... no. I hadn't thought about that. I'm not even sure what audio-out options this MBP has.
If your Macbook only has headphone jacks and not optical out, that means you'll likely only be able to get stereo out. If it has a digital optical out, you can use that to get 5.1 audio output. You'll want some method of getting 5.1 out if your home theater setup has surround sound.
I would want to do HD, so wired is probably a better option. Re: heat - I'm not positive. It would probably be fine though? I play games on this MBP, watch DVD's, stream Hulu, etc., and it's warm but never red-line temp.
Well not knowing where you plan to put it and if you'll keep the screen closed, the heat could be a factor or it might not be. Just was trying to point out there are cooler and less power consuming solutions for cheap.
I'm curious - what makes this solution hacky or messy? From my perspective... I've already downloaded XBMC OSX. So if I were to go to Fry's and get the cabling I need for Audio and Video out... I would be pretty much done, wouldn't I?
I guess I'm just not sure what makes this more hacky or messy than any other option. Most people build or buy a standalone machine to use. I already *have* a machine I'd like to use. I'm not sure how it's diff. than peeps buying mac minis for this purpose.
Well I was just thinking form factor alone. Where do you plan to put it in your setup? How the cables are going to hang out from all different angles out of it? How the audio will work if at all for surround sound? How do you plan to control it from your TV?
Certainly if you don't want to spend any money, your solution will work. I was just pointing out that there are cleaner and cheap solutions that might be more optimal or ideal. The Mini at least has all its ports on the back, I believe has more ports to work with than the MBP, and has a nice form factor overall with the slot loading drive in the front that will fit nicely under your TV. Also, it just doesn't strike me as the most ideal situation to be using a laptop for a htpc setup since 1080p video can be processor intensive which would be constant compared to normal usage.
OSX is certainly possible, but given how little talk there is on using the OSX version on their forums with most of the talk centered on the Apple TV version, it just makes me question in what state the OSX version is. So I'm just raising questions you might consider or want to be aware of before investing money on cables and what other devices you might need to complete the setup on your MBP. Certainly you have the advantage of trying it out now, running it your MBP screen and seeing how well it works ahead of time before you drop any money into it.
Hope that helps somewhat, and knowing more details could certainly help too.
