ecrabb
Forum Moderator
Joined: 13 Mar 2006
Posts: 15909
Location: Utah
TV/Projector: JVC RS40, Epson 5010
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| Posted: Mon Apr 14, 2014 4:09 pm Post subject: |
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You're talking about several different things and kind of mixing them together.
Yes, you can rip Blu-ray with a Mac mini. You'll need an external USB Blu-ray drive to read the disks, and software to rip the entire disc (or a part of it) to the hard drive.
If you want to burn Blu-ray, then you'll need an external USB Blu-ray burner, and some additional software.
The BD player you have probably isn't loading the HD versions of YouTube videos. The Mac mini will certainly do that.
You could also look at installing XBMC on the mini, which would give you a better experience using the mini from a couch; you can use the XBMC app, or another remote control app to control it, it runs full-screen, there are tons of plugins for all kinds of streaming sources like YouTube, vimeo, Crackle, etc.
The mini isn't the cheapest solution for an HTPC, but it's probably the most efficient, quietest, and smallest at that level of performance.
I haven't felt like dedicating a Mac to HTPC duty, but it's a great choice. I would if I felt like spending the money.
If you have questions, ask away. I'm far from an expert on HTPC, but I've been a Mac user since Sonny and Crocket were popular TV characters.
Cheers,
SC
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