Building a mini DJ
The media capabilities of the Mac mini make it quite the party animal. This certainly isn’t the only way to rock the party with your mini, but it is the only way I’m going to detail for you here.
What you’ll need
- Your mini
- Wireless option of your choice (Bluetooth/Airport)
- Another Mac (a laptop preferred) or Bluetooth phone for wireless control
- Video projector, preferably with DVI input)
- Mini-jack to RCA cable
- Amp/mixer and speaker system
- USB mic
The projector and audio hardware are available at many rental stops. If you have any ties to a college campus, they are ideal places to rent projectors inexpensively.
If the rental guy fails to mention it, I should say that video burn-in is death to projectors, so you’ll want to have a screen saver going on your mini.
So, let’s put it together. It is a good general rule with audio equipment to start with all levels at zero. In order to get all the preamp equalization we can from iTunes, you’ll want to bring your iTunes and speaker-output levels to about 75% and adjust the mixer or amp accordingly.
I’m not going to get too deep on software here, but you’ll want to run a remote control solution. For Bluetooth control from your mobile phone, grab Salling Clicker ($19.95) or Romeo (Free). To modify the playlist, and iTunes, from another Mac get iHam on iRye (Free) or netTunes ($19.95). Each one of these are well documented, so I’ll leave you with those.
Now, to give you a voice we’ll use a USB mic. Utilities like LineIn can help mix your mic with the music. And, I don’t want to encourage too much of this, but this mic will open up the floor for some karaoke, provided you bring the music. Oh, and please don’t send me any tapes.
Put it all together and you’re rocking. And this is just the beginning. Don’t get bored – there are plenty of visuals out there, many of which are controllable live via keyboard shortcuts.
Peer-to-peer broadcasting over iChat AV
Bill Douthett (Digital Bill of Wizards
of Technology fame) and I are big fans of film director Kevin
Smith and his Jersey Trilogy. When news hit recently that Smith would be
appearing in a 3 episode story arc of “Degrassi:
The Next Generation”, I was stoked. But, Bill…not so much.
“WTF is ‘Degrassi’?”
Degrassi in its various forms is a curious Canadian television phenomenon that
was a favorite of Kevin Smith’s while he worked as a clerk at the Red Bank,
New Jersey Quik Stop he later made famous. He also made reference to Degrassi
in nearly every one of his films. You’d think a show given that kind of attention
would be more famous but it isn’t even all that big here in Canada, and even
less so in Fort Lauderdale, FL where Bill lives. It does broadcast there but
on the N and on a delay
of several weeks…and who wants to wait weeks to see Jay and Silent Bob battle
Canadian Ninjas? Not Bill, I can tell you that.
The solution involves iChat
AV, an ADS
Tech Pyro A/V Link analog to digital converter (from here on referred to
as “the Pyro”), two broadband connections (for the sender and the
receiver) and little else. I connected the video and right and left audio out
from my VCR to the video and right and left audio in on the Pyro. Next, I set
the Pyro to Analog Mode and stretched a Firewire cable from it to the Firewire
port on the Mac. I then simply logged into iChat AV and specified the Pyro as
both my”camera” and my “microphone” in the Video pane of
iChat’s Preferences and, bikkity-bam, I was broadcasting whatever played
on my VCR over iChat AV. If you attempt this yourself, you may also need to
set iChat’s Bandwidth Limit to about 200Kbps, so you don’t overrun the person
on the receiving end (never a bad idea when video chatting over DSL or other
bandwidth-limiting connections).
When
Monday night rolled around, I just emailed Bill in the morning to let him know
that at 8:30pm PST he should be on iChat awaiting an invition for a One-Way
Video Chat and that was that. When the show was about to air, I selected Bill’s
iChat screenname and sent the invitation via the Buddies menu. Once he accepted
he was able to watch the episode “virtually live.” There were a few
problems with the signal dropping off, but if the person on the sending end
of the rig keeps a close eye on the preview window, it is easy to see when trouble
occurs and simply re-invite the receiver.
After the show was over, we found that this method also worked for broadcasting
VHS video cassettes and even DVDs. Granted, the video is heavily compressed,
but if you just want to get the idea across and share a movie with a friend
online, this is a pretty cool way to do it.
mini Home Theater – on the Cheap
If you had a dollar for every Mac mini home theater tutorial, you’d be able to pay for several of mine. Of the many good configurations out there, you can count on me to find the least expensive. What can I say, I’m cheap. And if you just paid $500 for your Mac, you probably are too.
So, today we’ll set up an econo-home entertainment center: mini cinema.
With the help of free software and a great deal on hardware from Amazon, we’re going to use your existing television and speakers to create a much improved sound experience. Even better, we’ll load your DVD collection on your mini for hassle free movie marathons.
The hardware
First up, the deal. This Philips USB 5.1 surround sound external audio solution has been spotted as low as $29 in the past. Right now Amazon is selling it for 60% off, at $39. Of course I can’t guarantee that it will be available for long.
What this thing gives you are optical and RCA outputs for front and rear speakers, an amplifier and a minijack headphones out and microphone input (something missing on the mini). There is conflicting documentation on Mac support. As of the time of publication, I have not been able to test the unit but it has seemed to work for others (see Amazon reviews).
Note: special thanks to a reader for the following info (from Philips support) on the Aurilium’s Mac OS Support:
The specifications for the PSC805 indicate limited functionality with a Mac OS, namely stereo sound only because the software is Windows compatible only. The device should be plug and play with the Mac as far as stereo is concerned, however.
If your’s works, drop me a line (brian AT macmerc DOT com). This isn’t the only solution to get high quality sound out of your Mac, though it is about $60 cheaper than other solutions with the Amazon discount.
Now, if you haven’t already, you’ll need to pipe your video into your TV. If you have a newer TV you might have a digital input allowing you to directly plug your mini in to your TV. If you’re not in that happy place, you’ll need this adapter to connect your mini via analog to your TV.
The Software
Okay, now for the fun. First, you’ll want to rip the best of your DVD collection to your Mac. Let’s hope you opted for the 80 GB hard drive. If not, you may want to invest in an external Firewire solution. The ripper of choice for the Mac is the free Mac the Ripper.
This excellent free utility lets you selectively rip components of your DVDs (even protected ones) to your hard drive for backup and quick-access convenience*. Expect anywhere from 4 to 12 GB per DVD.
So, what do you do with your new collection of ripped DVDs? Play them in Matinee. This media player allows you to play ripped DVDs through Apple’s DVD Player.
Enjoy the candy-smooth interface that includes library management tools for easy navigation between DVDs.
Now, wrapping it all up – we have video coming out your TV, an audio adapter granting you surround sound and some slick freeware running your cinema box. Thanks to careful planning and use of existing stuff, you can do this for as little as $39, and for hundreds less than most setups.
I can already smell popcorn.
* STEALING IS BAD. You should only rip DVDs you own.
mini Speed Backup
Don’t toss that old Mac or PC yet. Yes, I know you’d be hard pressed to fit a slice of processed cheese in the tiny case of the Mac mini, but expansion isn’t limited to the mini’s tiny interior.
In this tutorial, we’ll take advantage of the speed and power of Firewire to turn your mini in to a fast, powerful backup machine. And we’ll do it using hardware you didn’t even realize you had.
Hardware
For this tutorial you’ll need one of the following:
- If you have an old internal hard drive from your old Mac or PC, you’ll want to grab a Firewire hard drive enclosure, like MacAlly’s PHR-100AF 3.5 inch enclosure (MSRP is $69, but Amazon has it for $37 and free shipping)
- Don’t have an old drive? You have two options. Buy a drive on sale and get an enclosure or just get a Firewire drive like LaCie’s slick (and reasonably priced) Porsche 80 GB or 160 GB Firewire drive for $115 and $144 at Amazon (again, shipped free). I have the 80 and it’s great.
Either way, you’ll have an external companion to your mini that is almost as stylish as the mini itself.
Salvaging the Drive
Now, unless you opted for a new drive you’ll have some surgery to do. The regular warnings are applicable. I’m not responsible for damage, blah blah blah. That said, this is cake. If you’re de-braining a PC tower, you have six screws to get the case off, then you’ll find the old drive under the CD-ROM held in a bracket. If you’re digging in a Mac (like an old CRT iMac) you search may be harder, but again, you’ll find the drive under the optical drive. Unplug it (DON’T cut any wires) and stick it in your arm-pit (kidding).
Now, all you have to do is put the drive in the enclosure, plug in the ribbon and power cable and close it up. So, what do you do with this thing? This is where the fun begins.
Software
With a Firewire drive you can not only back up your system quickly, you can create bootable backups of your OS X install. Unlike USB 2.0, you can boot your Mac directly from your Firewire drive (hold down the Option key at startup) to recover from problems.
I use Carbon Copy Cloner, an excellent shareware application from Mike Bombich ($5). Super Duper from Shirt Pocket adds some extra features, with the same base functionality for $20. Either will work for out purposes.
As you can see, were going to back up our main system to a Firewire drive. This will give us a full backup that, in a pinch, we’ll be able to boot from. CCC will backup any of your mounted volumes, and can archive OS 9 and Windows installs. Even the drive icon gets backed up.
Now, if your Firewire drive is big enough to hold you backup and then some, you might consider partitioning it. An extra few gigabytes can become home to your iTunes music library or other media files and free up space on your boot disk.
With a bootable backup, you’re ready to live dangerously.
mini WebCam Secutiry System
The mini’s small footprint and low cost make it perfect for dedicated tasks. In this tutorial, we’ll set up a wireless surveillance system.
What you’ll need:
Hardware
- A wireless network camera like the Hawking Technology HNC320W (139.99 shipped free from Amazon) or another compatible camera
- AND Wireless Internet via 802.11 router or AirPort
- OR for wired webcamming, you can go with Apple’s iSight ($147.99) or a USB camera like Logitech’s QuickCam 4000 ($84.99)
Software
- Evological’s EvoCam (shareware $25)
Now we’ll put it all together. I selected the Hawking camera because it is a low-cost, full-featured camera, accessible and configurable via web browser. The camera itself supports 640×480 resolution and 20 fps. Unlike many other network cameras, this one uses a Java applet rather than ActiveX to load images, another perk to Mac users (Check out Hawkings line of wired and wireless network cameras here).
But, we will only rely on the web interface for configuration. You’ll need to attach the camera via network cable and get on the same subnet to configure the camera. Settings will differ between cameras, but you will have to set up the camera to access your wireless network and give it an IP.
Once you’ve used the web interface to verify that your camera is working, it’s time to install EvoCam. From within EvoCam, you can add the network camera using its IP address and compatible settings.
The Hawking works using the D-Link M-JPEG settings (this camera is not officially supported by Evological, but works due to the common M-JPEG format). EvoCam works using default camera settings, but I’d advise setting the frame rate manually via the web interface, as this can prevent disconnects.
Once up and running, you can use EvoCam to configure image and movie archiving, uploading (using FTP/SFTP) and web sharing. Most network cameras have their own built-in webserver, but you can also use EvoCam to view your webcam from the ‘net (provided you properly configure port mapping on your router). If you went the wired route, you can do the same through EvoCam.
Now, depending on preference you can set up your webcam to broadcast your fishbowl or watch your stockpile of vintage Macintosh machines. Both the Hawking HNC320W and EvoCam support multiple cameras, so the setup is very scalable.
mini Cordless Chat and VoIP
Voice chat is nothing new. And by now, Bluetooth isn’t that new either. What is relatively new is Mac support for Bluetooth headsets. And now that these wireless headsets have reached affordable prices, things get interesting…
Cordless chatting isn’t just for phones. With a little-known support addition tucked in Bluetooth Upgrade 1.5 and a Bluetooth headset, we’re going to have you chatting with friends near and far from your couch, bed or bathroom via your Mac mini
In this installment of the Mini Media Mac, we’re going to do something you can do with pretty much any Mac running Panther or better. And since mini’s shipped with Panther, we can be sure this is supported on your tiny, hardworking new Mac.
Now, you’ll need:
- A Mac mini (or Mac running 10.3.9 or better)
- Bluetooth, either internal or via the D-Link USB dongle
- A Bluetooth wireless headset like the Logitech Mobile Freedom (Amazon, $42)
To be sure you have your Bluetooth up to date, you’ll need to install the Bluetooth Update 1.5. If you are using the D-Link adapter (the only one supported by Apple for headset use) you may need to update its firmware to 1.2 using the Firmware Update 1.2.
There’s really not much assembly required. The Logitech is easy to install, or ‘pair’ with your Mac. Once the headset has been paired, you can select it as the audio input source from your voice-chat program of choice. In fact, Bluetooth audio can also be used in any other programs on your Mac with audio input/output. Unfortunately, voice command is not supported.
With Bluetooth audio set up in your VoIP/Chat app of choice, you’re ready to dial and chat wirelessly. The Logitech has a 30 foot range and a 7 hour battery, so feel free to wander. While many chat apps will work, X-PRO (Vonage’s softphone), iChat AV and Skype have been reported to work with Bluetooth headsets on Macs.
By setting Bluetooth audio as an audio input in System Preferences, you’ll be able to overcome the mini’s lack of microphone. The system-wide audio settings allow you to record from the headset into programs like Garage Band and can even pipe your Mac’s audio back into the headset. The Logitech’s audio is clear and sounds good, but it is still mono. You can listen to iTunes, but you probably won’t want to.
The possibilities are wide open with your Bluetooth headset and Mac mini. Talk with friends, make phone calls and record and play back audio to and from your Mac. Oh, and you can use your headset with your Bluetooth mobile phone too.
Note: While all of the above functionality is supported by Apple and Logitech, there are many different system configurations and as Bluetooth headset support is new in the most recent release of software, functionality may vary.
mini PVR with EyeTV and ConvertX
No, this isn’t the first Mac mini – PVR tutorial, but new products and
software have made this more interesting than ever before. And, with the best options available, this will be the last Mac PVR tutorial you’ll need to read.
The Hardware
- Any Mac mini
- The Plextor ConvertX for Mac ($209.94 at Amazon)
- An analog video source
- Optional: href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0000513KE/macmerc-20/ref=nosim/" target="_blank">KeySpan IR Remote (on sale at Amazon, $35.99)
The Software
- Elgato’s EyeTV (included)
There are plenty of hardware options that will turn your mini into a PVR. I selected the ConvertX for its hardware encoding, which takes the processing load off your mini (the EyeTV Wonder does not hardware-encode incoming video, and is not recommended for use with the mini). It also has the widest array of hardware encoding options including MPEG 1, 2 and 4 and DivX.
What’s more, the ConvertX is the least expensive of the lot (excluding the EyeTV Wonder) that comes bundled with Elgato’s easy to use software. And while we’re on that subject it is worth mentioning that the EyeTV software that comes with the ConvertX interfaces with TitanTV – a free online programming guide. Using TitanTV you can cue recordings from the web with a right-click.
Getting back to the nuts and bolts, you’ll find that the ConvertX comes with everything you need, with the exception of a coaxial cable. The EyeTV software installs in seconds and requires no reboot. EyeTV scans your channels and sends you to TitanTV to register.
Encoding options are what set this configuration apart from other setups. With the ConvertX and EyeTV you can capture to VCD (MPEG-1), DVD (MPEG-2), QuickTime (MPEG-4) or DivX. Within each format there are options for longer play or higher quality, with DivX offering the best compression to quality ratio. EyeTV exports to about anything QuickTime can
handle and to all your favorite iApps for editing and burning. EyeTV also has a built-in editing interface that allows for quick deleting of commercials.
But lets not forget the options: on the install disc, Elgato has included the key-maps to control the software using Keyspan Digital Media Remote software. So, your presentation remote can double as your TV remote. And, if this weren’t enough, the ConvertX also sports RCA and S-Video analog inputs, so when you’re not recording TV, you can transfer video from older cameras and VCRs.
The performance of the unit was as-expected. You can set aside you concerns of over-taxing the mini. With hardware encoding you won’t notice any slow down watching or recording. In fact on my mini I watched a recorded clip with the incoming television window still open at full resolution without a hiccup.
With superior hardware encoding options, the ConvertX is a unique
combination of TV tuner, PVR and analog video encoder. And, shouldering the processing load for you Mac it is perfect for the mini. The EyeTV software guarantees that you’re not missing anything by picking a less expensive PVR.
Of course, you don’t have to take my word for it. Here’s a matrix of tthe PVR hardware options out there for Mac:
Encoding
Formats
Software
* This product has abysmal reviewer ratings
Please direct comments/corrections on the article to the author, brian AT macmerc DOT com.
mini Holiday Shopping Picks
Your Mac mini is coming up on its first birthday, and I’m confident that your Macintosh has been good all year long. So, whatever your excuse, now is a great time to pick up a gift for that special someone – or something. Below are a few of our favorite mini accessories.
 |
Make your mini Mighty! – Mighty Mouse from Apple If you grabbed an old mouse for your new mini, now is the time to make it up to your machine. Get mighty with multiple buttons and psycho-cool scrolling. |
 |
Be heard! Add an audio input to your mini – iMic from Griffin Technology You can’t use Skype or Garage Band until you get some hardware to get audio into your mini. This USB audio solution from Griffin Tech provides you with mini jack inputs for your aux out or microphone. |
 |
Mobile Music with AirPort Express – Airport Express from Apple If you don’t already have one, the AipPort Express can be a useful addition to your mini and your home network. Use to it stream iTunes across your network, using your mini as a wireless music server. |
 |
Keep your mini going through the storm – Uninterrupted Power Supply by Belkin Watch your back with a continuous power solution. Depending on what peripherals you use, this backup power solution can keep your mini going for hours during a blackout. |
 |
Go flat and save space – LCD Monitor by Samsung Reward your Mac and your eyes with a flat panel monitor like this Samsung. Using the DVI connector, the signal sent to the monitor is digital and sharp. |
 |
Clear stand has you covered – Acrylic phone stand Don’t laugh. A clear acrylic phone stand provides the mini with adequate breathing room and protection while providing you a place to store your keyboard. Remember, Apple doesn’t like you stacking things on top of your mini! |
 |
Squelch iMac jealousy, get a remote – Wireless Remote by Kensington The new iMac comes with a remote, but there’s no reason you mini shouldn’t. This palm-sized USB wireless remote will have you clicking from your couch. |
 |
Bulk up your storage space – External Firewire Drive for the mini by LaCie The mini is a little short on drive space. Rather than dragging it to your Apple Store or cracking it with a putty knife you can pick up a spacious external drive like this LaCie external drive made to fit under your mini. |
Don’t wait too long, the holidays are here and it would be a shame to have that stocking empty! For the team here at MacMerc, we wish you and your Mac the best for the season!
mini Land-line
Combining your mini with a USB Skype handset and Skype’s cheap call-out service can turn your mini into a virtual land-line with long distance calling rates no traditional phone company can beat. Forget paying a monthly fee. For about $4/month you can even buy a phone number for your Skype account and have people call you from land-line phones. And with more than 40 million members, you’ll be able to talk to tons of Skype users for free.
One word of warning: the phone service described here should not be considered a full replacement for your traditional phone line – as it does NOT support 911 emergency calling.
The Hardware
- Mac mini (or any Mac with a USB port)
- A USB Skype Handset like Hawking Tech’s Net-Talk USB Phone or Ipevo’s Free-1. Prices range from $30-$75.
Contrary to what you may read, the Free-1 isn’t the only Mac-compatible Skype phone. For the purposes of this tutorial I went with the Net-Talk because it has a display on the unit that allow you to use it without interacting with your Mac.
The Software
- Skype
for OS X and a Skype Account.
Skype is a free download, and your account is free to open. To call out to regular phones you will need to purchase SkypeOut credit (in increments of $10) and to purchase a phone number by which land-line callers can reach you, you’ll need to buy SkypeIn at $12/3 months or $35/year.
Now, to put it all together – with Skype installed you are ready to install the Net-Phone’s drivers. Once you have granted the Net-Phone access to the Skype API (in Skype) you are ready to make calls from your handset. From the Net-Phone you can start Skype and make calls.
From the Net-Phone you can navigate between Skype’s tabs, your contacts list and recent calls. Using the navigational wheel you can also view and select contacts and recent numbers and start calls. The handset can be used for free Skype-to-Skype calls as well as calls out to external numbers. Incoming calls from Skype users or external numbers via SkypeIn ring on the handset and can be answered just as you would your old analog phone (you must be logged in to your Skype account on your Mac to receive calls).
We should note that Skype requires an audio input – which out of the box the mini lacks. The Net-Phone satisfies this requirement and also makes up for this lack by including input and output jacks for microphones and headsets right on the unit. In addition to interfacing directly with Skype, the Net-Phone is recognized by the OS as an audio input and output. This means that while the dial pad may work only with Skype, the handset can be used with audio chat applications like iChat AV.
Hardware buttons for volume and mute are quite useful too. The Net-Phone complements new Mac silver-on-white hardware and the back-lit display is very readable. The handset makes Skype’s cheap calling easy and accessible. And, thanks to the power of VoIP you can take your Skype account anywhere and call from any Internet connection.
Please direct comments/corrections on the article to the author, brian AT macmerc DOT com.
mini Survivor
Most houses are connected and powered through three connections: electrical, analog phone and cable. In many areas, power outages are the most common. What does this mean to you? Consider the following. If you are working on your computer during an outage you will lose unsaved data. If you connect to the internet via cable or DSL then you will lose your connection to the internet. This last part is critical if you use VoIP – without power you are without phone (even if your analog phone lines are working).
Okay, with the background laid, lets move on to the fun. We will set up our Mac mini’s to weather the storm and – as long as our cable internet or analog phone line is still live – preserve our connections even without power.
What you’ll need:
- Mac mini or Mac with USB
- A battery backup with USB control and Mac support (I used the Belkin 375VAUSB backup).
- Broadband modem (an optionally VoIP)
Battery back-ups are not new, but few of us have them in our homes. There is a good selection of sub-500VA backups. Without laying down a lot of cash, we can buy ourselves 15-20 minutes of run time for our Macs. If we want to gear up for a longer blackout, we can use our backup on only our broadband modem and VoIP adapter, keeping our phone line alive much longer.
Phone and cable lines tend to be more reliable in an emergency than power. If your local cable repeaters are supported by battery back-up (as they often are, especially in newer neighborhoods) then you can maintain you connection as long as your cable modem is powered. If you have VoIP and your connection is still working, you can bypass the busy circuit log-jam than tends to crash local phone switches.
By choosing a Mac supported battery backup, we have the option of controlling the unit from our Macs. Belkin units ship with Bulldog Plus software you can set up the device to automatically shut down your Mac, saving your data and preserving your backup power. You can also schedule battery testing and check the health of your battery.
Beyond the software setup and the plugging-in of your Mac and modem (and VoIp adapter if applicable) there’s really not anything else to do but wait for Mother Nature’s fury. While its not much for the instant gratification, you’ll thank yourself later.
