Lately I’ve been on a quest to rip my entire DVD library to my Mac mini in order to more effectively utilize the Front Row feature. It’s on borderline obsession but it keeps me entertained, because who doesn’t want all their entertainment in one place? Why would I use a Mac mini over an Apple TV, you ask? Well, I bought the mini before the Apple TV even existed - had it been around at the time, I probably would have saved the cash and picked up the ATV. There are advantages and disadvantages to each but the main disadvantage I see with the mini (as of 2/24/08) is that HD content is not available from iTunes (rent or own) for any machine except the ATV. An advantage is being able to use Remote Buddy to control the mini with my iPod Touch via AJAX interface and my Wiimote for 3D spacial cursor control. Here are the things I have hooked up to my entertainment center:

Samsung 32″ HDTV (circa late 2006)
Mac Mini (1.66 GHz core duo; 768MB RAM)
Lacie Rugged External drive (100GB; 7200rpm; triple interface)
Motorola DCH3416 HD DVR (Comcast)
Sony DVD player

I just wanted to share some things I’ve been doing and any progress I make down the road. I use Handbrake to rip my DVD’s to mp4 or m4v’s and share the movies out to all my other machines. The beautiful thing about being a hardware junkie is that I have 3 macs ripping movies almost constantly. This will necessitate the need for the Time Capsule (1TB) when it comes out but to free actual real estate (a 4-drawer cabinet full of movies) will be well worth it. More as it comes…

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