Mac Geekery

I mentioned previously that I’m using my Mac mini as a video on demand server in my entertainment system. Here’s how I did it.

First, Apple sells an additional video adapter for the mini that gives S-Video and Composite out. Between this and a minijack to stereo cable, I used this to hook my mini up to AV3 on my TV. That was the easy part. But how to play the videos and make selections remotely?

I toyed with writing a simple cocoa app to constantly read from a specified folder and provide an easy-to-read-on-TV menu, then use something like the Keyspan Express Remote to make selections. In truth, I may still do this. But for now, VLC will play virtually any video file you through at it and it includes an HTTP interface. Most of the work is done for us.

One of the only annoyances with VLC is that pref changes don’t often take hold until you restart the app. Put “http” in the box above, and you’ll also find a “full screen” option under video (chances are, you want this, too) and quit and restart VLC. Note that I didn’t choose HTTP to be the default interface – I still want to be able to VNC in so that I can click on the timeline to go to specific places in a movie.

In Safari, from another machine on your network, just go to http://<IP of mini>:8080/ and you can probably figure out what to do from there. I have all my media in /Volumes/Storage/Media and the input field will take folders. Just add your media folder, then click on it in the list, and it’ll autodiscover all files inside. You want to be careful to keep only real media files in there, though, because VLC is pretty indiscriminate and adds all files to the playlist.

All that’s left is to use my PowerBook, go to http://atlas.local:8080/ and click on the show I want to watch. Popcorn not included.