Mac Mini Home Theater setup summary

I was scanning back through the blog and it seems a summary would be helpful - kinda put everything in one place. If you feel something isn't clear, or needs to be changed, just post a comment...

Hardware you'll need:
1. Mac mini - prefer 2009 version, 2.0 GHz with 2GB Ram ($650)
2. Harmony Remote - 550 ($50) or better
3. DVI->HDMI or the new mini Display Port to HDMI adapter
4. Toslink adapter if you're going to hook up to a digital 5.1 surround
5. A good network - either an N router and N wireless cards or a Netgear wall jack extenion

Software you'll need:
1. Torrent Client (I use Vuze, but you can do Transmission, XTorrent)
2. MacTheRipper
3. Plex
4. Aeon skin if you don't want the standard Plex Mainstream skin

Setup:
1. Connect the mini to the TV and audio system
2. Setup sharing with your main computer, or, if you're going to do everything on the mini there is no need.
3. On the computer that will store the Torrent files, download and install your torrent client (Vuze, etc.)
4. Go to TVRSS.net and get RSS subscriptions for the shows you want.
5. Add the rss feeds from tvrss.net to your torrent client.
6. Install MacTheRipper for DVDs
7. Make 2 directories in your shared folders - one called "Movies" and one "TV Shows"
8. All DVD rips should be saved to "Movies" and TV shows should be put in the TV Shows folder. TV shows need sub folders for the actual show name, then episodes go in those sub folders.
9. Install Plex
10. Follow the Plex wiki for setup -it is VERY good and solves many problems if you just follow the wiki and do it right the first time.
11. Install the Aeon skin if you like it better.
12. Set up the Harmony Remote

That's it.

This is all based on 2 computers with the mini sharing off of a main desktop/laptop. If you want to keep it all on the mini, then you don't need to any of the networking equipment, but you will need some external drives since the mini for $650 only has 120GB.

Of course, if you're not sure about it, or want to play around, just download and install everything on your current computer. Its all free and you can have plex running and playing in about 45 minutes. A DVD rip takes about 15 minutes, and a torrent download however long it takes.

The setup for me was actually very easy. I just like playing around and tweaking things to be just right, so that's where all my time goes into the project. Hopefully, I've covered most of the issues the average person might run into.