How powerful are the new Macminis? at DVinfo.net

Aric Mannion · February 4th, 2007, 03:50 PM

Can a new macmini play an HDV DVD that is not blue ray?
Can it smoothly play an uncompressed 5min HDV quicktime loop for a projection, daily?

Robert Ducon · February 6th, 2007, 04:26 PM

Uncompressed HDV?

HDV is compressed.

You're asking if a Mac Mini can play a 5 min 1920x1080 or so HDV video clip repeatedly? I'm personally not sure.. a Core Duo, I would think, could do it. It's a mere 25 mbits a second.

Best option is export a 5 min HDV .mov, burn to DVD, go to an Apple store, let them know what you're doing, offload the .mov file to the Mac Mini HD and see what happens.

The main bottleneck I'd see is the GPU, but that's what everyone would say, and it's not really *that* bad.

Good luck!

Aric Mannion · February 7th, 2007, 07:05 PM

So I went to the apple store and they didn't have a mini mac that had quicktime pro to test on (the HDV video on quicktime showed up as a white screen). They assured me I'd have no problem, so I bought it (and 1 gig ddram). Now I installed the latest Final cut, even an mpeg2 codec for quicktime. And the HDV file doesn't work on quicktime (shows a white screen.) BUT it works in Final cut!
So I am supposed to be installing my video in the museum of fine arts, boston now. But my HDV file works on EVERY computer accept the one that I need. I made an h.264 1920x1080 on high quality but it plays really choppy. Any experiences you guys have with this sort of thing would be really helpful, I'm just trying everything I can think of!
thanks

Noah Hayes · February 7th, 2007, 10:48 PM

how big/resolution is the monitor(s) you'll be playing this on? I have a core duo 1.63 Ghz mini that plays backs my h.264 FX1 footage just fine. What bitrate do you have your video set at. Remember that H.264 is a very efficient codec and you don't need a 25mbps file, like even 2.5mbps should look great.

Robert Ducon · February 15th, 2007, 10:16 PM

Aric,

I remember now that when you install FCP on a host computer, it installs the HDV codec into QT. The Mac Mini you tried it on didn't have FCP installed obviously :(

Sorry, I only remember that now.

H.264 is a heavy codec - if it's choppy, it means that the Mac Mini is showing weakness. It still might be able to handle the HDV (which is MPEG2) load.

Not sure how to figure this one out (other than installing FCP on the Mac Mini).

Good luck!

February 4th, 2007, 03:50 PM	#1
Aric Mannion Major Player Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Boston, Massachusetts Posts: 616	How powerful are the new Macminis? Can a new macmini play an HDV DVD that is not blue ray? Can it smoothly play an uncompressed 5min HDV quicktime loop for a projection, daily?

February 6th, 2007, 04:26 PM	#2
Robert Ducon Major Player Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Victoria BC Posts: 400	Uncompressed HDV? HDV is compressed. You're asking if a Mac Mini can play a 5 min 1920x1080 or so HDV video clip repeatedly? I'm personally not sure.. a Core Duo, I would think, could do it. It's a mere 25 mbits a second. Best option is export a 5 min HDV .mov, burn to DVD, go to an Apple store, let them know what you're doing, offload the .mov file to the Mac Mini HD and see what happens. The main bottleneck I'd see is the GPU, but that's what everyone would say, and it's not really that bad. Good luck! __________________ Mac + Canon HV20

February 15th, 2007, 10:16 PM	#5
Robert Ducon Major Player Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Victoria BC Posts: 400	Aric, I remember now that when you install FCP on a host computer, it installs the HDV codec into QT. The Mac Mini you tried it on didn't have FCP installed obviously :( Sorry, I only remember that now. H.264 is a heavy codec - if it's choppy, it means that the Mac Mini is showing weakness. It still might be able to handle the HDV (which is MPEG2) load. Not sure how to figure this one out (other than installing FCP on the Mac Mini). Good luck! __________________ Mac + Canon HV20

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February 7th, 2007, 07:05 PM	#3
Aric Mannion Major Player Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Boston, Massachusetts Posts: 616	So I went to the apple store and they didn't have a mini mac that had quicktime pro to test on (the HDV video on quicktime showed up as a white screen). They assured me I'd have no problem, so I bought it (and 1 gig ddram). Now I installed the latest Final cut, even an mpeg2 codec for quicktime. And the HDV file doesn't work on quicktime (shows a white screen.) BUT it works in Final cut! So I am supposed to be installing my video in the museum of fine arts, boston now. But my HDV file works on EVERY computer accept the one that I need. I made an h.264 1920x1080 on high quality but it plays really choppy. Any experiences you guys have with this sort of thing would be really helpful, I'm just trying everything I can think of! thanks

February 7th, 2007, 10:48 PM	#4
Noah Hayes Major Player Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Sterling, Virginia Posts: 226	how big/resolution is the monitor(s) you'll be playing this on? I have a core duo 1.63 Ghz mini that plays backs my h.264 FX1 footage just fine. What bitrate do you have your video set at. Remember that H.264 is a very efficient codec and you don't need a 25mbps file, like even 2.5mbps should look great.