I should have gotten a Windows computer instead of a Mac Pro

I have a residential client who uses Macs. It is a large house with day-to-day activities more akin to a small business than a traditional household. Besides the residents, there are two assistants and many visitors using the network and the computers. Two years ago they decided to build a new house. At about the same time it became necessary to install a file and backup server in the existing house. We selected a Mac Pro running OS X Server since it integrated well with the existing Macs. This has worked out well. The Mac Pro has been reliable and easy to manage.

We also had a goal of using the Mac Pro as a media server and media center PC in the new house. This has not been easy.

I have two major issues with which to contend. One has a solution. I am not certain that the second one can be solved.

Front Row (arrgh!)
Apple’s media center application, Front Row, will not recognize the very large iTunes library. I have tried several “fixes” without success. Interestingly, both Plex and XBMC, free multiplatform media center applications, work fine, seeing and playing the iTunes audio and video files.

Yesterday I reinstalled the operating system and applications in the hope that this will fix the problem. It takes many hours to do a major overhaul like this to any computer. The Mac Pro is not an exception.

Video Card Hell
Mac Pros are the top of Apple’s computer line. They are beautifully crafted, powerful workstations. They are expensive. And they have too few video card options. Unlike the Windows world where we have hundreds of choices, Apple provides two mid-level NVIDIA and ATI cards. And they overcharge by more than twice the comparable PC card price.

The Mac Pro is hooked to a NAD audio video receiver (AVR) via a DVI-HDMI video cable and a TOSlink optical audio cable. The AVR connects to a Pioneer plasma HDTV and a surround sound system.

The Mac Pro came with an ATI HD 2600 256MB video card. The card has dual DVI-I outputs. The Apple supplied video drivers have limited resolution choices. The highest resolution is a 1920×1080 (interlaced) which is equivalent to a 1080i HDTV signal. The NAD AVR and Pioneer are capable of 1080p.

The Apple resolutions do not scale correctly to the HDTV. The 1920×1080 (interlaced) setting creates a letter box  effect, a small black border around the picture (1st image below). I tried turning on the computer’s overscan feature, but this causes the computer screen to become too large for the HDTV and parts of the screen are cut off, including the Mac Menu bar (2nd image).

I can adjust the settings of the Pioneer HDTV to do a bit-by-bit resolution which is better than overscanning but not quite correct either. Furthermore, we have a single URC remote control for all the equipment that feeds the media room. It cannot be programmed to change the HDTV’s zoom settings. This is not a good solution. We would need to have the Pioneer remote handy. My clients would have be trained to click on using the various remotes to set up the equipment for cable TV and Blu-ray or the media server. We would end up with remote control clutter and user confusion. This not what we want.

There may be a video card that Apple sells that will fix this problem but after several hours of research I do not know. Apple sells an ATI HD 4870 512MB video card for $349. This is about twice what a comparable PC video card costs. The card has both DVI and mini-Display Port connectors. I cannot find out what resolutions it drives because Apple is parsimonious with specifications on their website. They must think, “Why would a user need to know this?” or “A user does not need to know this because we say so!”

I do not want to buy the card to experiment and find out that it does not work.

I have found some hacks on various websites for employing PC video cards in a Mac Pro but am wary of trying them because it might take an inordinate amount of time to get this configured, it it works at all.

Setting up a Windows computer as a media server and home theater PC (HTPC) is much easier. I should have bought one instead of the Mac Pro.