My Control4 Build w/ Mac Pro Integration

[pharmdsmith]

What's it going to take for this thread to get a second page? My finger is tired of the scrolling down.

[pharmdsmith]

Sheesh...... Go figure.

[akg4y]

I have my mac mini running HDMI via an DVI-->HDMI adapter. Its an older mini though, I think the new ones have a mini displayport instead of DVI, can you use this:

http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=102&cp_id=10246&cs_id=1024603&p_id=5995&seq=1&format=2

[rayk32]

Apple does some funny things with their video ports. The one below is also available from Monoprice and was tested and proven to work. Maybe they have the same specs.

http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2009/03/mini-displayport-to-hdmi-adapter-available-hdcp-compliant.ars

[well_armed]

There are a couple of use a macmini for home theatre forums out there. Try that slant. I think there is actually an all in one cable- but I don't know how it works. Be careful. Apparently not all surround receivers handle HDMI from a macmini (therefore macpro) very well...

Alternatively get yourself an aftermarket HDMI PCI express card for the macpro.

It's a liitle dissapointing that Apple seems to be so anti HDMI. Oh but They know best for us all when it comes to interfaces...

All the aftermarket HDMI cards that I have found (for the Mac Pro) do not carry 5.1 audio (only stereo). Got a link?

[well_armed]

Apple does some funny things with their video ports. The one below is also available from Monoprice and was tested and proven to work. Maybe they have the same specs.

http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2009/03/mini-displayport-to-hdmi-adapter-available-hdcp-compliant.ars

And where does the audio travel?

I am not asking for a DVI-->HDMI adapter. Those are a dime a dozen...I want HDMI with full 5.1 carried on the cable.

[akg4y]

http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/05/kanex-mini-displayport-adapter-will-bring-your-mac-mini-to-hdmi/

[well_armed]

http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/05/kanex-mini-displayport-adapter-will-bring-your-mac-mini-to-hdmi/

This is for a Mac Pro which does not have the Apple Mini-Jack

http://www.apple.com/macpro/specs.html

I have analog stereo via 3.5mm line level input/output and digital TOSLINK ports.

This is the only thing I have found to be anything that might work...but it only has SPDIF and not TOSLINK as the digital INPUT

http://www.amazon.com/SIIG-CE-HM0031-S1-Dvi-Audio-HDmi/dp/B0015DTUIY

[3fingerbrown]

Can't you just use a DVI-HDMI cable run from your Mac Pro straight to your stereo reciever:

http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Micro%20Accessories/HDM120001M/

And for the audio, you connect an optical audio cable from your Mac Pro to your reciever.

From the apple website:

Optical digital audio in/out port: Connect to decks, receivers, digital instruments, and 5.1 surround-sound speaker systems using standard Toslink cables or fiber-optic cables with a 3.5 mm plastic or nylon optical plug. You can transfer stereo or encoded 5.1 audio using the S/PDIF (Sony/Philips Digital Interface) protocol and Toslink cables.

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2837

You will need to program your reciever to get audio from the optical input when it is using that HDMI input.

[well_armed]

No.

My pioneer will not do that, already tried. It supposedly says it can, but it has a hard time doing it....

[akg4y]

What if you convert the optical to digital coax?

[akg4y]

I think you could also use these in combination with the thing I linked to above:

Out from computer:

http://www.amazon.com/Optical-Female-Digital-Toslink-Adaptor/dp/B000I97H68

To receiver:

http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/05/kanex-mini-displayport-adapter-will-bring-your-mac-mini-to-hdmi/

[well_armed]

I am half tempted to ditch the Apple guys.

I updated the firmware on my Matrox MXO and now the signal is broken.

Who wants to help me build a PC version that will do what I want!

I need two video cards on the build, one going to the Key Digital Composite Switch, and one going to the HDMI input on the receiver. Can this be done?

THis way I have HDMI and 5.1 going to the family room, 2.1 going to the rest of the speakers throught the B&K amp. If I want to watch the media PC on a different monitor than the family room, I just switch to Media PC input 2 on the control4 GUI and it switches me to the key digitial source and stereo output (which is fine because I only have 2 channel going to everything besides the family room).

[GoGo Delicious]

I posted this on the AVS forums and I thought some of you might be interested in it.

I do want to say that the company I do own is a Crestron and Kaleidescape dealer. I did the following just to see 1, if my idea would work and 2, to develop and test a Crestron module that will control Apple systems via IP.

Ok here is what I did. A little on the extreme side. I decided to build a "Kaleidescape" type system using mostly open source software and Apple hardware. This setup consists of various Apple Xserve G4's, G5's and Intel Xserve's along with Apple Xserve Raids. Most of the Xserve's have been updated with a DVI video Card and all are running on a gigabit network with LACP and jumbo frames enabled.

Software - Software used for this projects is as follows.

iTunes

Handbrake

MySQL

Apache

PHP

RUBY

Pearl

Automator

AppleScript

The very 2 bottom servers are the ones that are used to rip the CD or DVD and import the data. All servers are running off the RAID and all data is stored on the Xserve Raids. The top server is used to import CD's and the bottom is used to import DVD's

I will just give a VERY BRIEF overview how the system works. I will not go into detail on how the code is written, modules, etc.

DVD Import Steps.

When you insert a DVD there is a Automator/Apple script that will execute and do the following.

1) Look up DVD on Amazon.com and retrieve the Title, DVD information and DVD Cover Image and stores all that in the MySQL Database

2) Next the script calls Handbrake to start ripping the DVD, giving the DVD a file name based on the index key of the information above thats stored in MySQL and saving that file to a folder (all files, movies and music, are saved in the same folder).

Thats pretty much it.

To watch a DVD

All the other Xserves you see are the "movie/cd" players. One for every "Zone". They are a mix of G4, G5 and Intel Apple Xserve. These are connected to a AV switch. We have written a custom Crestron control script (We are also a Crestron Dealer) for our experiment that controls the players. To select a DVD to watch is like selecting a DVD from any other media server. Our UI is Flash based (Dynamic) and is always up and running. It's basically a web page (php) with Flash embedded . You use the arrow key to navigate up, down, left, right. Flash is pulling the data from the MySQL database displaying title, product description and cover image.

Thats pretty much how that works.

Issues - Currently there is no support for the following;

Blu-Ray

multi-channel audio*

SACD

*When playing a DVD directly from one of the Mac Pro's or Mac Mini's, which you do not see, we get multi-channel audio out on the TOSLINK port on the Mac Pro and the Digital Audio Out port on the Mac Mini.

As far as ripping a CD it's pretty much the same as above except the script calls in iTunes to do the ripping.

Now a few questions that I thought you might have.

Why did I do this?

Just to see if my idea would work.

Do you use it as a media server?

Sorta we use it in the office for Audio only not to watch DVD's. I actually use it more to test the Crestron module that we are working on than anything else. Think of it like a concept car. I got a lot of ideas out of it and solved a few issues as far as controlling a Apple system using Crestron.

Why so many servers?

We are an all Apple shop these were old server we had lying around, and I had the idea of trying to "Roll my own" media server. We have been working on this for over a year . .actually about 2 years.

Have you tried using Mac Minis?

We have and there are no issues. I will try to post a pic of the Mac Mini's later. I don't have one right now.

How's performance?

Well the tests we did were not scientific but we were able to run all the "movie players" Xserve and Mac Mini, about 20 servers all together, with out any issues. As far as audio goes we ran a total for about 40+ servers with out any issues.

What do you plan to do with it?

Pretty much nothing. I don't really plan on going any further with it. In fact I have already pulled 2 of the "movie/audio players" servers and repurposed them.

Did you do this by yourself?

No. I had 3 of my employees working on it along with myself, when we had the time. Thats why it took 2 years.

How come there are no images of the UI or Crestron TP?

I have applied for patent and copyright on the interface and all coding. Until that is granted I am keeping that portion under wraps. Hence why I did not go into programming details.

So that's it. I thought I would post something thats a little different.

[wappinghigh]

This is great. WOW what a setup! . I dream of setups like this (Sad I know) But I've got two questions..

1/ Cost? It's not a real comparison to a C4 system. More Savant.

2/ Aren't you trying to build a Crestron based platform to compete with Savant? Nothing beats Savant for mac based homeauto at this price point IMHO.

Sure, it doesn't have any where near the same grunt/storage/or funtionality as your superb set up, but I can pretty much do all you are doing with an iMac with time capsule running handbrake and streaming to some network player controlled via a 2 way IP C4 driver. All for less than $2,000 backend. And around $500 per front end zone (depending on network streamer)....

[GoGo Delicious]

1/ Cost? It's not a real comparison to a C4 system. More Savant.

The true cost I don't have a clue. All the Apple gear you see we bought new over the years starting with the G4 Xserve's, Xserve RAIDS (which have been discontinued), G5 Xserve's, Intel Xserve's plus Switches, Routers, etc. I would say the Xserve's averaged around $3,100.00 The Xserve RAIDS were $14,000.00 each I THINK. I don't remember.

2/ Aren't you trying to build a Crestron based platform to compete with Savant?

No, not at all. What I am doing is writing a 2 way ethernet driver to control OS X Based systems. Crestron has a 2 way driver to control Windows's system but not Apple systems, thus I am writing a driver.

You will be able to control all aspects of your Mac, OS X only, from the TP no need for a Keyboard or Mouse.

Hope that answers your questions. Anything else let me know.

[wappinghigh]

1/ Cost? It's not a real comparison to a C4 system. More Savant.

The true cost I don't have a clue. All the Apple gear you see we bought new over the years starting with the G4 Xserve's' date=' Xserve RAIDS (which have been discontinued), G5 Xserve's, Intel Xserve's plus Switches, Routers, etc. I would say the Xserve's averaged around $3,100.00 The Xserve RAIDS were $14,000.00 each I THINK. I don't remember.

2/ Aren't you trying to build a Crestron based platform to compete with Savant?

No, not at all. What I am doing is writing a 2 way ethernet driver to control OS X Based systems. Crestron has a 2 way driver to control Windows's system but not Apple systems, thus I am writing a driver.

You will be able to control all aspects of your Mac, OS X only, from the TP no need for a Keyboard or Mouse.

Hope that answers your questions. Anything else let me know.

..Any chance of writing a 2 way Control4 Driver for OSX :P:P (As much as I often forget...this is a C4 forum after all)

[well_armed]

Hey, quit hijacking!

Holy cow you put in a lot of time with that system. Are you still up and running bug free?

So I am going to build a $1.5K HTPC to see if it can do what I want. Now that I have gotten a taste of the glory, I want more!

Here is my build so far, and I am not going to lie it is mostly stolen off of AVSforum:

* CPU: Core i5 750 2.66GHz LGA1156, $196.

* CPU Cooler: Cooler Master (Geminii S) RR-CCH-PBU1-GP, $32, with Cooler Master RR-ACC-1156-GP LGA1156 Retention Bracket Set, $4 (necessary to attach the cooler to the LGA1156 socket).

* Motherboard: ASRock H55M Pro LGA1156 Intel H55 chipset microATX, $95.

* Memory: G.SKILL F3-12800CL9D-4GBNQ DDR3-1600 2 x 2GB Kit, $105.

* Graphics Card (ATI): HIS H575FN1GD iCooler IV Radeon HD 5750 GDDR5 1GB, $145.

* HDD: Western Digital WD6400AAKS 640GB SATA 3.0Gbps, $63.

* PSU: Corsair VX550W CMPSU-550VX 550W, $80. An alternative is Enermax ECO80+ 500W EES500AWT, $85.

* Case: Antec Fusion Remote Black microATX, with LCD/IR receiver/remote, $130.

* Total Cost: $850 for ATI, $851 for NVIDIA

* Hauppauge WinTV-HVR-2250 PCIe x1 Card (White Box or MC Kit), $114

* LG WH08LS20 Super Multi Blue BD & DVD Rewriter, $180.

Any thoughts?

I need to both send HDMI with 5.1 Audio to the pioneer reciever (which controls the family room main area), and a composite YpBr signal to the Key digital switch to have playback in all other zones in the house, and an analog audio output to the B&K amp for stereo to the rest of the house....

[well_armed]

The apple is not giving me what I need and is already becoming too expensive to scale with my operation (not too mention I am not getting the quality I need from the video card and driver support from Apple, suprise!)

Objectives:

-HTPC with access to my DAS media storage

-Record live tv from the cable box (my wife hogs the DVR)

-Control4 integration with XBMC driver

-1080p in my family room with 5.1 audio (currently 1080i with 2.1)

-1080i to the rest of the house using the video switch (with 2.0 audio going thru the B&K amp)

Basically do everything my mac cannot achieve, for a tenth of the price.....

[wappinghigh]

Funny. I'm just about to ditch Apple for the same reasons. And also looking for a Win7 HTPC. I'm, 100% with you man! Go for it!

Your build system should be fine. More than capable. Smaller nettops like what I'm considering Asrock ION 330 HT can do 1080p..but it's all to do with the power and capabilities of the graphics card.

Don't forget sound/fan noise as potiential issue.

Oh and if the system can run 2 monitors there are some pretty good Win7 touchscreens out there..perfect for a HTPC..

And check out this great "build a HTPC site": www.xpmediacentre.com.au

Take care AB

[akg4y]

Thats strange, Ive found Apple to be much better than PCs for all of this media streaming business... but I am using a NAS rather than trying to share from one Mac to another. I think the low profile mini and appleTV are fantastic... low power consumption, low noise, and if this broadcom crystalHD thing gets ironed out 1080p playback will be possible from the ATV. The refurb ATV was $150 and the card $21... for $171 not bad.

People seem happy with the AsRock as well though.

[ILoveC4]

Yeah, I am scratching my head trying to figure out why you would get a DAS instead of a NAS. With a NAS you aren't sharing from one computer to another, just all sharing from one place that is designed for sharing...

[well_armed]

Yeah, I am scratching my head trying to figure out why you would get a DAS instead of a NAS. With a NAS you aren't sharing from one computer to another, just all sharing from one place that is designed for sharing...

Mostly speed for playback over the wired/wireless network.

[well_armed]

Funny. I'm just about to ditch Apple for the same reasons. And also looking for a Win7 HTPC. I'm, 100% with you man! Go for it!

Your build system should be fine. More than capable. Smaller nettops like what I'm considering Asrock ION 330 HT can do 1080p..but it's all to do with the power and capabilities of the graphics card.

Don't forget sound/fan noise as potiential issue.

Oh and if the system can run 2 monitors there are some pretty good Win7 touchscreens out there..perfect for a HTPC..

And check out this great "build a HTPC site": www.xpmediacentre.com.au

Take care AB

Not too mention the lack of Blu-ray support (which seems to be one of the few 1080p sources around).

[ILoveC4]

Yeah' date=' I am scratching my head trying to figure out why you would get a DAS instead of a NAS. With a NAS you aren't sharing from one computer to another, just all sharing from one place that is designed for sharing...[/quote']

Mostly speed for playback over the wired/wireless network.

Are you suggesting that a DAS is faster than a NAS?