MAC mini vs mediaBOX

[itehno]

MAC mini - 2.3 GHz I5, 2GB DDR3, Intel HD 3000 graphics, aluminum case, integrated power supply, Lion OS, price $  599.
On paper, it looks like better choice than any mediaBOX, what do you think? It would be excellent if somebody could share some real life experience with MAC. Also, It would be nice if somebody from Mediasignage could comment this solution.

[Dan]

We had the same idea until actually purchasing a handful of new Mac Mini's and rolling them out on a network. We had a number of major problems; so I would highly advise to stick with the mediaBOX or use a system of your own otherwise on the Windows platform. Save your money and don't make the same mistake we did.

[itehno]

Thank you for response and advise. I would appreciate if you can be more specific, what kind of problems did you have?

[admin]

1st the installation process is different...

The Mac install process for the SignagePlayer Desktop version is different.
Please follow this video tutorial, step by step: 

http://mediasignage.com/html/signage_video.html?videoNumber=Mac

and when an update is pushed , you will need to go thru that process everytime...

[itehno]

Thank you, I saw this tutorial. Different installation process should not be a problem, but manual update is clearly disadvantage:( Is there any other significant difference, what about stability and reliability in general?
 

[admin]

asides from updates and ext app component (live TV) being unavailable to Macs. stability and reliability is the same with a similarly spec'ed windows computer.

[Dan]

The areas we noticed the issues with mac are:

- every time an update was released, the player would go down because it's programmed to auto-update, but once the update is applied, it won't start back up because you have to manually install it again.

- Some of the features aren't supported such as remote reboot, power up/down, scheduling of restart, etc. This needs to be a manual process also.

- We also noticed it would restart playback quite a bit. Probably 20 times/day.

It works, but for some environments it's not ideal. It would depend on the application and what you are using the signage player for to decide if a mac is ok or not.

[itehno]

Thank you, I am convinced. This brings up one interesting point, system that is supposed to be multiplatform and platform independent, in reality works with full potential on Windows based PC only ....

[admin]

That is not accurate. We fully support macs as well. But, every system has it's pros and cons.
Windows is preferred for performance, linux for price and mac for... well for mac fanatics
We do intend on improving the one thing mac lack right now which is auto-update on major releases only and that's coming...

[itehno]

I like your platform, and I understand your position, but please, let's be realistic.

Adobe abandoned AIR for Linux (there will be no new AIR versions). Basically, what's done is done, some functions are not supported, and there is no room for performance improvements.
Linux is free, but hardware is not, hardware requirements for the same performance are already much higher on Linux.

You announced that your new Windows desktop player will fully support hardware acceleration, so cheap Intel Atom based, and similar AMD systems, should be enough. Further, because of low power consumption, it is easy to make such system with no moving parts (passive cooling and SSD). Any professional knows how big advantage this is.

If all of this happens (and you say it will), Windows system (with OS costs included) will be cheapest, and very reliable solution.

Regards
 

[admin]

Actually... we have some BIG surprises in 3.1 that we did not announce yet that will change all that
Good news coming in early Feb.

[conexia]

Any clue about what's coming, please?

[admin]

Follow us on twitter to get the latest updates and news 

[itehno]

I would bet on Android ....

[admin]

Check this post

http://script.mediasignage.com/forum/index.php/topic,1332.0.html