Mac Mini HDMI & Uncompressed Audio

Dev Community Dev/API Corner
41


Does the MAC Mini's infra-red work OK under Ubuntu - I have a Harmony remote.
42


I have a Harmony 900 myself and it works great.

BUT, I use it with a cheap usb ir receiver from a mce remote (it says Philips underneath).

The only reason I use that is, that I already had the Lirc .conf files from another setup.

I'm sure the ir receiver in the Mini works fine with Lirc too, it did in the older Mac Mini models (there's a preset for it even).
43


Hi Martin

Can you help out with links on how you did your setup please? Would also like to know what edidting you did to .conf files.
44


I guess this is off-topic as it's not exactly Plex related, sorry for that... but here is some info for you andree:

1. Compile latest ALSA snapshot and: Edit "/etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base.conf" to include this line: enable_msi=0 probe_mask=0xffff,0xfff2 (see info here: [http://wiki.xbmc.org/index.php?title=HOW-TO_set_up_HDMI_audio_on_nVidia_GeForce_G210,_GT220,_or_GT240](http://wiki.xbmc.org/index.php?title=HOW-TO_set_up_HDMI_audio_on_nVidia_GeForce_G210,_GT220,_or_GT240))

2. Use asound.conf, HDA-intel.conf (and general guidelines) from this post: http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?t=74778

3. Unmute everything in alsamixer and use hw device 0.8 (in XBMC it's "plughw:0,8" as custom "passthrough device")

Good luck mate :)
45


Thank you very much Martin :)

I am sorry for the off-topic post! Tried to pm you first seemed like forever to wait for you reply. I have copied the links. So you might edit your post, we dont want to step on anyone toes. :rolleyes:

Thanks mate
46


So what you are saying is that you get 24hz automatic switching and bitstreaming HD audio without any "audio drifting issues" etc. So you have accomplished the holy grale then? If that is the case could you point to a setup guide or similar with more details on the setup. Does this work with "LIVE" version of XBMC?

This would be incredible... finally :)
47

Hi



Any news on this topic (Mac Mini + Bitstream)?



Regards,

Frank

48

I would love to hear more also, any updates on how Plex is handling things? This is the only thing really holding me back from upgrading my Mac mini.

49

I'm pretty sure the hardware limitation is still a hardware limitation. LPCM decode is still waiting on me to get a 2010 mini. That may or may not ever happen, it's a lot of coin when my 2009 one works fine.
50


Doesn't seem to be hardware that's the problem. Is the inference from the comment above that OSX is part of the problem? Ie: even if Plex was capable of bitstreaming these audio formats, OSX isn't?
51

No, it definitely is the hardware. Martin hasn't achieved what he thinks he's achieved. The GF104 chip in the GTX 460 is the first NVIDIA part to support HD bitstreaming. LPCM output is possible with the GT216 core used in the GT330M. There's no OS X support for bitstreaming HD because the only Mac card even theoretically capable of it is the not-available-yet Fermi Quadro 4000 (which has a DisplayPort connector anyway).
52

Really appreciate you taking the time to explain, thanks. Real shame though, took me long enough months back to realize why I wasn't getting high res audio via optical :rolleyes: i had hoped the new minis might do the job... I guess if Apple isn't supporting blu-ray they're not likely to be worrying much about related audio. <_<
53


Why does plex not support those features :( (@Ryan)

Greetz from Germany
54

It's a work in progress... you may see here: http://ryan.plexapp.com/?p=49
55

So OSX and the mini do support LPCM? If so what’s the problem?

56

this is to tokyovigilante:



if i buy you a 2010 MacMini so you can get the LPCM stream working in PLEX will you get this done? if so how long do you think it would take?

57

That's a very kind offer thankyou, but unfortunately due to a number of other personal and work commitments I've had to temporarily suspend work on Plex, till at least April. Hopefully some more progress on this and other issues toward mid-year.

-Ryan
58

So the new MacMinis have a option for a Radeon HD 6630M graphics card that supposedly does support output of TrueHD and DTS-MA over the HDMI port. Since we don’t have to worry about converting to LPCM, what would it take to get Plex to be able to output these audio streams? Is it a possibility or would it be too much work? Here is a link to a site that says the chipset can do it:



59

You beat me to the posting



“Furthermore, the HD 6600M series integrates a HD audio controller to transmit HD Audio (TrueHD or DTS Master Audio) over HDMI and DisplayPort (e.g. für Blu-Ray videos).”



So can we pretty please have some sort of idea if this will move up to the top of th list, that Plex will be able to pass the HD Audio tracks through, I am assuming that in the setting there will have to be additions to what we have now “DTS capable receiver”, we would see something like “HD Audio capable reciever” (dont know if it would need to be granular per format, but you will let us know I am sure).



My vote is HD audio asap, please, please, please.

60

Yes, I would LOVE this, too. I have been playing with Popcorn Hours and Dunes and even with a Flash interface for them, and even though they play the content well (in 98% of the files), the interface is no where near what Plex on the Mac is.



I just don’t know if it as simple as “enabling” or if there are some non-Plex drivers that are needed or if it is a lot of work on the Plex end.



Nate