I currently only have a Macbook Pro from 2007. Since it has been a few years since buying a new computer I am looking into what my next Mac machine will be. My Macbook Pro does all of the day to day tasks that I am needing out of computer (except Mac OS X and Flash Player do not play YouTube as well as Windows – arg!!)

Since I have purchased a Samsung lnA550 40″ Television I have been watching my videos by hooking up my Macbook Pro to my HDTV. This has worked great but I want there to be a more permanent solution in place. My televsion is located in a Armoire so I have cable running out the front and down to my Macbook Pro. Needless to say, this looks a little messy.

Therefore my next Mac machine is going to be the newest Mac Mini. This is truly an impressive machine for its size. The following are the base specs of a Mac Mini:

• Mac OS X v10.5 Leopard
• iLife ’09
• Combined optical digital audio input/audio line in
• Combined optical digital audio output/headphone out
• Five USB 2.0 ports (up to 480 Mbps)
• Mini DisplayPort video out
• Mini-DVI video out – with adapter for DVI Cable
• AirPort Extreme (802.11n)
• Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR (Enhanced Data Rate)
• Gigabit Ethernet port
• One FireWire 800 port (up to 800 Mbps)
• NVIDIA GeForce 9400M graphics processor with 128MB or 256MB of DDR3 SDRAM shared with main memory

The following are the options I would choose when customizing the Mac Mini for final purchase:

• 2.26GHz Intel Core 2 Duo Processor – Running video can be quite processor intensive so I would opt for the best possible chip
• 4GB 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM – 2×2GB – I like to run lots of applications at the same time and some can be resource hogs – like editing video, using Photoshop, etc.
• 120GB Serial ATA Drive – this is a tough call, I would use an external hard drive interfaced with a Firewire 800 cable so I don’t think I would pay an extra $150 for 230 more gigabytes when the same amount could get me 1TB of external storage (what are your thoughts??) – I just realized that if you opt for the 320gb model the NVIDIA memory bumps up to 256mb maybe I would go with the 320gb version after all.

How Big is the Mac Mini

The dimensions of the Mac Mini are 6.5″ wide by 6.5″ deep and only 2″ tall! That should look nice with my Airport Extreme Base Station and Nintendo Wii. It will look even better to have all of these cables out of the way and have a permanent entertainment set up with a Mac.

Now I can just set my Torrent downloads of television shows up in the morning and they should all be ready to watch when I get home from work. I can also have my iTunes library and video and other media library stored on an external hard drive and I can access them from a home network on my Macbook Pro laptop if I want.

I currently have my external hard drive attached to my Airport Extreme Base Station via usb. This allows me to keep my iTunes on a remote hard drive and play them on my Macbook Pro on my network however this does not work very well for video. Being able to have a Firewire 800 connection straight to my Mac Mini will allow for volumes of video to be watched without having to download it to the hard drive first.

I will also move my iPhoto library and iMovie events to this computer so I should be able to free up a ton of space on my Macbook Pro.

Let me know what your ideal set up is and if you have any suggestions for mine!

If you have a fast internet connection you can download episodes in under 10 minutes from some sites and others take about an hour. Downloading files beats the hell out of streaming any day of the week. You don’t need to worry about a bad connection interrupting your programming.

Anyways, without further ado, here are my top five sites for getting quality tv torrent files to watch on my HDTV.

1. EZTV

EZTV is a great website specifically designed for downloading television shows. The interface is easy to use and the torrents are laid out by their air date which makes it really nice to find the show you are looking for. If you are like me you think about television in terms of what night what show is on then EZTV is great.

EZTV seems to be made up of three different groups of uploaders going by the names EZTV, VTV, and MVGroup. These three uploaders all provide high quality content that download fast – especially VTV. The only downside is that there are only three uploaders but as long as they are all providing everything you need, it’s not a problem.

One thing that has been a problem with EZTV is that it can go down for extended periods of time. At the time of writing this article EZTV was down for the past several days. This has made it more necessary to look elsewhere for my TV show torrents.

PROS:

• Easy to use interface
• Logical search results and easy to find what you are looking for
• Always high quality torrents
• Usually really fast download speeds
• Site is specifically devoted to Television Show Torrents

CONS:

• Site can go down for extended periods of time
• Choice of torrents is usually limited to one option from one uploader (not really a problem because the tv show torrents are always top quality

2. XTVi

UPDATE: NO LONGER WORKING
XTVi does a good job of providing tv show torrents and has a listing of torrents uploaded by different users than EZTV. This is good for when EZTV goes down and you need to find a tv show torrent from a different site. XTVi provides all of the torrents you could possibly be looking for especially if the show recently aired.

The downside of XTVi from a practical standpoint is that the site is not laid out well making it a little more difficult to find what you are looking for. They have a feature that lists all of the episodes that have aired for a particular show however it is confusing because the episode listed does not mean that there is a torrent available. There is a button that says “view all torrents for this show” which is the button you want to hit to view all of the torrents listed for the particular show you are interested in. The list returned does not occur in any sort of time order so you need to know the number of the episode you are looking for.

The downside of XTVi from an aesthetic standpoint is that it is an ugly site that is obviously trying to receive income from adsense and whatever other income stream they can. Obviously advertising is the bulk of how to make money with websites but I find that the layout does not incorporate advertising in a pleasing way. Some of the advertising is intrusive to what you are trying to accomplish.

PROS:

• Great for finding TV Show Torrents
• Site is specifically devoted to Television Show Torrents
• Fast Download Speeds
• Great alternative to EZTV for when it goes down

CONS:

• Site is ugly
• Can be challenging to find what you are looking for or know if you have found what you are looking for
• Advertising can be intrusive in places

3. Mininova

UPDATE: NO LONGER WORKING (for what you’re looking for)
Mininova brings a huge list of all kinds of torrent files from across the web. It is made up of many different users who upload torrents to the site. This can be very good for variety but can also be very bad for finding the right torrents. EZTV, and VTV are users on Mininova and you can usually find all of their television show torrents on the Mininova site. You have to search for the specific show you want and then sort the list by Seeders so you know that other people trust it.

Mininova can be a great site for all sorts of torrent files. Some legal some not, to each their own I suppose. The problem with Mininova is the sheer amount of Torrent files that are returned for a search. As long as you know how to sort the torrent search results and choose the proper torrent file you should be fine.

Torrent sites like Mininova are also a problem because of the advertising they have. Mininova is nothing too offensive but the advertising usually asks you if you are interested in young women in your area. Nothing pornographic but not all that tasteful nonetheless.

PROS:

• Lots of choice of Torrents
• More than just Television show torrents

CONS:

• Need to know how to sort search results to get the best possible content
• Advertising isn’t all that tasteful

4. The Pirate Bay

The Pirate Bay is structured in the same way as Mininova. If you can’t find what you are looking for on Mininova you may be able to find it at the Pirate Bay. On the reverse side, if you can’t find what you’re looking for at the Pirate Bay you may be able to find on Mininova.

The same sorting practices apply with The Pirate Bay and you should also read the comments. Comments can tell you a lot about whether or not a particular torrent file is worth downloading. The trick is to read through and know when someone is a newbie and complaining because they don’t know what they’re doing or if there is actually something wrong with the file.

You should look out for viruses if you’re using Windows. That’s why downloading torrents with a Mac is the better option. Both Mininova and the Pirate Bay have a “Thanks” feature that allows users to thank the uploader for the torrent file. If there are relatively many people thanking the uploader you can trust the torrent file and download it.

The advertising on the Pirate Bay is a little more offensive than Mininova but nothing pornographic.

PROS

• Lots of choice of Torrents
• More than just Television show torrents

CONS:

• Need to know how to sort search results to get the best possible content
• Advertising isn’t all that tasteful

5. Kick Ass Torrents

Kick Ass Torrents is structured in the same way as Mininova and the Pirate Bay meaning you have access to wide range of torrent files. This can give you access to ebooks, movies, software, etc but the source and legitimacy of downloading these files is questionable. Because there are so many files, finding the TV Torrent file you are looking for can be a little more difficult.

The search feature is good and when you are looking for TV Show torrents you usually want to sort the list by the date that the file was uploaded starting with the most recent. Look down the list and look for a decent numbers of seeders then download the file accordingly.

The thing I like about Kick Ass Torrents is the nice design of the site. It uses nice colors and typography and I cannot find any advertising on the site!

PROS

• Lots of choice of Torrents
• More than just Television show torrents
• Nice clean design

CONS:

• Need to know how to sort search results to get the best possible content

Hopefully you have found this list useful. If your goal is solely Television shows then I would highly recommend EZTV. If you are looking for other torrent files then I would suggest any of the last three on this list: Mininova, Pirate Bay, and Kick Ass Torrents. It doesn’t really matter where you look first, but if you can’t find what you’re looking for check the other one.

Last resort is always to Google the name of what you are looking for then add the term Torrent at the end. You should come up with a good list of questionable sites and will likely end up visiting one with pornographic advertising and a bunch of pop-up windows that you will have to race to close. Good times. Good Luck. Happy Hunting.

If you use Front Row you may have found that it will only catalog video from your Movies folder. If you kept all of your movies in there this would be fine but for laptops or people who prefer to keep downloaded movies and television shows on an external hard drive Front Row is pointless.

So if you have your Macbook Pro hooked up to an HDTV and you want to sit back and use your Apple Remote and Front Row to browse your movies and television shows, you’re going to need a way of making sure those shows are accessible in Front Row. So here is a simple trick that will allow you to import a folder to be accessible in Front Row.

Step 1:
Navigate to your Movies folder.

Step 2:
Open a seperate window and navigate to the folder that contains the video that you want Front Row to access.

Step 3:
Create a shortcut (or alias in the world of apple) of the folder from Step 2.

Step 4:
Drag the Alias folder to your Movies Folder.

Step 5:
Begin using Front Row by using the keyboard shortcut “Command + Escape”. This will begin Front Row. Now navigate to Videos and then Movies and you should see the folder contents of the shortcut that you created earlier. All of your videos should now be accessible through Front Row even though they are being stored in a folder that is not actually located in your Movies folder.

Note: You must ensure that the content you have downloaded is able to be played by Front Row. Front Row uses Quicktime to render video so you must ensure that your video content will play in Quicktime for it to be able to play in Front Row.

There is an excellent free plugin for Quicktime that will allow it to play pretty much any video you throw at it just like VLC player. This plugin is called Perian and it will make Front Row a very versatile program that will allow you to enjoy your media library from afar while sitting back and watching video on your mac played through an HDTV.

Front Row is good for those looking for a simple interface that is more like a media center. It displays the titles in a way that you can read them from afar and is designed to work with the Apple Remote. There are also other media center applications out there that you should look into if you are looking for a different experience than the one Front Row provides.

But what if you want to take your movies or tv shows with you on your iPod? This is where adding videos to iTunes becomes necessary.

First things first. You need to get content. So you can download television shows for free on the internet and you can rip your dvd’s to your iTunes as well. Follow the links to learn how to do that.

How to import AVI into iTunes

Now depending on what you are wanting to add you will need to convert your video to an .mp4 file so that it can enter into your iTunes library.

When you download television shows they most usually come in an .avi file format. iTunes will not accept this format. The program you need to download to do the conversion is called iSquint. The developers for iSquint have discontinued work on this software however you can still find copies of it out there. It is free and very simple to use. You just have to drag a file into the window and check the settings you want. You can even check that you want it added to iTunes.

Below is a screenshot of the iSquint interface. You can almost tell exactly how to use it by looking at it. Just check the appropriate boxes and drag your file into the larger white area. Make sure you select your destination so you know where your files are once the conversion is complete.

iSquint works like a charm for converting .avi files to play iTunes. After the conversion is done, all you have to do is drag your newly converted file into iTunes (if you didn’t click the box for iSquint to do it for you) and iTunes will start importing it.

Add video to iTunes Library

Once you have completed adding your video to iTunes you need to put it onto your iPod or iPhone.

Take a look at the screenshot below. Note that we are looking at the movie section of iTunes. Also note there is a device listed which is my old school iPod nano with video screen.

To do this simply plug in your device and add the video like you would for a song. Your video will be kept in your movies folder in iTunes by default until you change the information to reflect that it is a tv show. Click on the Movies section and you will see your videos that you have imported. Click on the appropriate video and drag it to the iPod or iPhone icon along the left hand side listed under Devices.

You will then have your video added to your iPod or iPhone to take on the road with you. I personally like to have some workout videos on my iPod so that I can see proper exercise technique when I’m at the gym. It can be hard to remember all of the different exercises in P90X or the 10 minute trainer series.

So now you should be all set up to go with your portable device and some video content to keep you entertained on your commute or for even more practical applications like bringing presentations or tutorial videos with you to learn on your way to something.

It’s a lot of writing for a few simple steps:

1. Convert your AVI to MP4 using iSquint OR Rip your dvd using Handbrake
2. Add your MP4 to iTunes
3. Transfer to your device

Sometimes some software is just better on Windows because there isn’t a good alternative for Mac…yet. This is the case in this situation. There may be a better way that I have not found yet. If you know what that is leave a comment and I will update this page to show the best and cheapest way to burn .avi files to DVD.

So you have learned how to watch tv shows on your mac computer for free but you are looking for a way to burn those .avi files to dvd so that they can play in standalone dvd player. You would think Mac would be all over this, but after countless hours of searching for a solution to this problem I must say that I have needed to use Windows and Convert X to DVD. This is by far the easiest way to accomplish burning .avi files to dvd that results in top quality playback.

If you are burning these files so that you can watch them in your own home on your HDTV, I would recommend you learn how to hook your mac up to an HDTV in order to save some money and wasted DVD’s. For the cost of one batch of blank DVD’s you can watch anything from your computer on your television.

I have tried using Toast and I have tried using many other video file conversion software but I have not yet figured out how to this on the Mac side of things. I will continue to search for a way and then post an update once I have. In the meantime we need to solve your problem of making dvd’s out of .avi files.

How to Make a DVD from an .avi File

You will first need to run Windows on your Mac. There are several different types of software to do this. Some are free and some are not. I personally use Parallels (not free) but there is also Boot Camp (free), VMWare Fusion (not free), and Q (free). These programs only work for Intel Macs.

Once you have one of these emulators installed you must then install a copy of Windows using this software. I have found you need Windows XP to have a minimum of 15gb of disk space to burn the dvd’s properly. (You can see how the cost is adding up but you may have an old copy of Windows lying around from your pre-Mac era of computing).

Now that you have Windows set up and running on your Mac you will need to install Convert X to DVD which is a Windows program. Install it and launch it.

Now drag the .avi files you want to burn into your Windows so that it gets copied into your Windows Operating System. Once that is done all you have to do is drag those files yet again into the white area of Convert X to DVD.

There are other options to use in Convert X to DVD in terms of adding subtitle channels (if your .avi file came with subtitles which is a separate file with an .srt file extension), or adding menu titles and the number of items to be displayed on the menu. Once this is done press convert and insert your recordable dvd into your disk drive. Wait a few hours and you will have a perfect version of the .avi file you downloaded ready to bring over to your buddy’s house to watch or to give to someone as a gift.

Once that is done you can close Windows and pretend like the whole thing never happened. Now go have a shower.

Don’t let primetime television schedules determine YOUR schedule! Once you learn how to watch tv on your mac computer you will never watch television the same way again.

Now there are lots of websites out there that offer streaming television shows, but I am a fan of a quality program that is not subject to poor bandwidth connections and choppy grainy low quality picture. That is why this tutorial will show you how to watch top quality television shows on your mac computer.

Here is what you will need to get started downloading television shows to your mac computer for FREE

First, you will need a Bit Torrent Client. These are programs that are free and are used to help you download large files. They work by taking pieces of the large files from many different peers and putting together a whole picture from many smaller parts.

The best torrent software for mac is Transmission. Transmission is fast, convenient, and looks good too. This is the only torrent application that displays real time download and upload information on a badge overtop the dock icon. This is pretty convenient as you can always keep a close eye on how fast your download is going.

Because Transmission sometimes doesn’t pick up all of the trackers you need a backup plan. I like to use Vuze when such a time arises. I rarely have to use this client but it works pretty well.

I would suggest downloading and installing Vuze first, then Transmission this way you will be able to make Transmission the default application for opening torrent files. You can always change this via other methods but this way is easiest for right now.

Once you have downloaded your Torrent Application you are ready to get started shopping for you favorite television shows online for FREE.

Right now my absolute favorite website for getting televisions shows on my computer is EZTV. You should bookmark this site right now as you will make this part of your morning routine in no time.

Once you visit EZTV you will see how simple is. EZTV lists the television shows by their air date. You can also type in the search field for your favorite program and it will display results for the entire season depending on if they are still available (which they almost always are).

Click on your television show of choice and it will download your torrent file which will automatically open Transmission. Transmission will present you with a menu that lists all of the files in the torrent. Usually it is just one file or sometimes several depending on the type of torrent file. You can uncheck any files that you don’t want to download and then click ok.

Your Torrent will take a little while to download depending on the speed of your internet connection and the amount of peers who are sharing the television show torrent. More popular shows will usually take less time to download. For example I like to download The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. It usually only takes 5 to 10 minutes to complete the download. This show is popular, is only 20 minutes long, and I have a fast internet connection.

Once your show is finished downloading you will need to watch it. Most of the tv shows downloaded come in .avi format. Quicktime should be able to play these files. I have downloaded the free Perian extension for Quicktime which allows it to play a ton of different file formats.

I like Quicktime in that it is a slick interface that looks pretty good. It also has nice effects when resizing the window pane and other nice experience things that make you feel like you’re using fictional software in a movie. I’m not really sure why but I tend not to use Quicktime all that much for playing my video files.

My default program however is VLC Media Player which is a free media player that plays everything and anything. VLC looks pretty good on a mac, it’s butt ugly on Windows but does the trick and once you’re in full screen mode it doesn’t really matter anyway.

So in the morning before you head off to work do a quick check to see what shows you want to watch that night and have them download throughout the day. When you get home all you have to do is hook up your mac to your hdtv and start watching the shows like they were meant to be watched – without commercials! You can also just watch it on your regular screen but the hdtv option is a better experience.

In the past the method would be to burn avi files to a recordable dvd. Not only does this process take forever, it also doesn’t work that well if you don’t know how to do it properly. Another problem is that DVD-R’s cost money. Why on earth would you need copies of the vast majority of the shows or movies you download. I would say 90% of the movies I download and watch are not worth watching again, so why would I waste more time and money on them?

So download your shows and movies and watch them directly from your computer on your HDTV. If you like it you can then burn it, if you don’t you can delete it.

GATHER THE NECESSARY MATERIALS

• Video: DVI to HDMI Cable (length depending on your needs)
• Audio: 3.5mm to RCA Cable (length depending on your needs)

What cable to do you need to hook up a Macbook Pro to an HDTV?

My Macbook Pro has a DVI port on it. You can buy a cable that is called a DVI to HDMI. The DVI end (which looks a little wider than a standard PC Monitor Cable -VGA) hooks into the Mac. The HDMI end hooks into the television. A DVI to HDMI cable is your best video quality option for hooking your Mac up to an HDTV.

If you are looking for a good deal on these types of cables I would suggest the Apple Store – either online or in person (more options online). You can get a cable for about $20 which is cheaper than the other options available at Best Buy or other electronic stores.

You will also need an audio cable that goes from the speaker out on your Mac to the audio in on your television. This cable is called a Stereo 3.5mm to RCA Cable. You may already have one kicking around if you use it to connect your ipod to a larger speaker system.

How to Hook Up your Macbook Pro to an HDTV

Step 1: Turn it On
Turn on your HDTV and make sure that you select the proper source channel. There should be a source button on your remote where you can select the appropriate input. On my Samsung LNA550 the source menu reads HDMI/DVI which is the correct channel for the type of cable that we are using.

Step 2: Plug It In
Plug in the HDMI end of the cable into the appropriate section of your HDTV. This HDMI connection will be different than the others because it will also have the audio input next to it. While you are behind your television you should also plug in your audio cable. Neatly run the cables to where your Macbook Pro is kept. Plug the DVI end into the DVI out of your Macbook Pro. Plug the 3.5mm end of the audio cable into the headphone jack of the Macbook Pro.

Step 3: Set Up Your View
Your Macbook Pro should automatically detect the new display. If it does not you must force it to detect displays. To do this you must go to System Preferences -> Displays and then press the button that says “Detect Displays”. This should refresh the screens and both should be tied into the Macbook Pro.

Once both screens are active, you have a few different options.

• Mirroring: Both screens show the same thing
• Dual Monitor: This setup allows you to move different windows to whichever screen you choose. This can really expand your real estate. You can also choose which monitor will be primary through your Display Settings under System Preferences. Go to the tab marked Arrangement and you will see two blue windows or screens. One of the screens will have a white rectangle across the top. This represents the menu bar. Drag the rectangle to the screen that you want to be primary. (Note: When using full screen applications like Quick Time or VLC I make the primary monitor the HDTV otherwise when you enter full screen mode it will switch back to the Macbook Pro screen thus defeating the purpose.)

You should now be setup to enjoy your Macbook Pro through your HDTV. You just need to learn how to watch television shows on your mac computer for free. Now here are some things that will make this setup even more convenient.

GATHER THE UNNECESSARY MATERIALS

Wireless Keyboard and Mouse
If you are planning on sitting well back from your HDTV then you are going to want a way to interact with your computer from the comfort of your couch. There are many wireless keyboards and mice available. Obviously Apple makes some pretty slick wireless devices for your Mac. The choice is up to you – just make sure that the device will be able to offer the range you are needing.

Cooling Pad (if you are using a Macbook)
Running video on your Macbook Pro can make it warm up pretty quick. You can also start to hear the fan at this point. Laptop cooling pads are designed to be silent and keep the Macbook or Macbook Pro cool and quiet. You can also look for laptop cooling pads that offer extended functionality like memory card readers and extra usb ports.