Not all home theaters are created equal. Some people prefer to design the wall treatments, seating arrangements and lighting fixtures to perfection, and forget about the good stuff: the hardware. This can lead to a lovely looking home theater from afar, but a mess of cables, slapped-together devices and a jumble of electronic excess often adorn the area immediately surrounding the LCD flat panel TV. If you’ve found yourself at a loss when you try to organize and shrink down your home theater hardware, you might want to consider a Mac Mini Home Theater Personal Computer (HTPC).

The Mac Mini is a small, powerful and quiet device that will simplify your home theater with only a few cables and some easy-to-find software. It is sleek looking, so you don’t have to worry about it messing up the minimalist, modern vibe you’ve got going in your home entertainment center.

Depending on your personal tastes, you might want your Mac Mini to act as the central “brain” of your home theater. It can schedule events, control connected devices, record and play audio/video, download audio/video and much more. With support for 1080p video and surround sound, what more could you need?

Well, for one, you will likely need additional storage, especially if you are a download fiend. Before settling in with your Mac Mini, consider adding a storage unit to expand that hard drive space. You can even repurpose an older PC to become a file server, and use the Mac Mini to schedule large file downloads at night or while the home theater is empty, to save time and speed up your whole system. You’ll thank yourself later.

Another item on the “additions” checklist is some form of remote control. Because the Mac Mini is a PC, you can purchase a mouse and keyboard to easily navigate the media and PC aspects of your new setup. If you go this route, be sure to get a wireless mouse and keyboard, as there is nothing worse than having to get up in the middle of a movie to increase the volume, when you could do it right from your seat with wireless connections. And you must make sure that your Mac Mini is the Bluetooth model (as well as the wireless mouse and keyboard) for this to work. You can also purchase a remote control to work with the Mac Mini, but do your research first to find a compatible remote.

Now, the cables that you’ll need will depend on all of your devices: HDTV, sound system and the like. Using HDMI is often a good bet, so picking up some DVI to HDMI cables might not be a bad idea.

The software that comes with the Mac Mini is often enough for most of your media needs. In particular, you’ll probably be using a lot of the Front Row media software that is included with your Mac Mini. This is designed specifically for navigating media from your living room, so the features that it includes should make your life easier. For instance, you can download and watch TV and movies, listen to music, browse pictures, connect to remote networked computers and much more with Front Row.

If you have a Mac Mini, turning it into the central hub for your home theater will be a rewarding endeavor. You’ll free up space, reduce clutter and have a perfectly beautiful audio and visual experience to boot.

Lauren writes for the HD Envy blog. HD Envy produces a wide range of TV picture frame solutions for the modern home theater. With TV picture frame offerings ranging from traditional to modern, from leather upholstered to wood crafted, there is bound to be something that reflects your sense of style at HD Envy. By incorporating a TV picture frame into your home theater, you’ll experience a unique and beautiful infusion of style. And each TV picture frame is crafted using industry standards for easy installation and a long lifespan.