Mac mini vs a pc media center????

[ensyed]

I am considering jumping into the computer based home theater system. I have Sky HD and an ED Plasma and want to use the htpc to

- record stuff from Sky
- download and play stuff from the web. Possibly HD stuff in the future.

What is the cheapest and most user friendly way to do this? I dont want to build anything.
Mac mini or HTPC? Pros cons of each.

Thanks

[rob_finch]

Hi,

I'm no expert on HTPCs, but you'll find some good threads on here about pre-built systems that will have the cards to record video. No problem with HD material there either.

I've got a Mac Mini as my main computer on my LCD TV, it's great for HD material and I use it to show media streamed from a Linux PC in another room. You'd have to purchase some like the Elgato Eye TV in order to record from an external source.

I'm not sure how the prices compare, but suspect the PC route will be cheaper. The Mini is a fine bit of kit, is virtually silent and looks good. The HTPC will be more directly suited to your needs out of the box.

Good luck!

[ensyed]

Rob
Thank you that is very helpful. Does the mini have DVI or some sort of HD output to connect to the TV.
Also do you get HD material from Bittorrents or are there legal download sites as well? Thanks

[Jowl]

Mini has DVI as standard.

[rob_finch]

Originally Posted by ensyed

Rob
Thank you that is very helpful. Does the mini have DVI or some sort of HD output to connect to the TV.
Also do you get HD material from Bittorrents or are there legal download sites as well? Thanks

As Jowl says, DVI is standard. The mini also has optical audio out available.

There are legal downloads of HD material available, such as movie trailers, some TV shows from sources such as iTunes and Mariposa TV and a few other places. The BBC is planning to make shows available over BitTorrent, so this might extend to their BBC HD offerings as well. We can only hope! Some BBC HD material also turns up on newsgroups, so I think that would not technically be illegal if you are a UK TV licence holder.

[Wizzo]

Hi,

I'm thinking of getting one of these to replace my Snazio Net DVD player.

Will the mini play .ts & h264 formats. What software can you use for playback ?
Any good user info sites ?

Thanks

[rob_finch]

Originally Posted by Wizzo

Hi,

I'm thinking of getting one of these to replace my Snazio Net DVD player.

Will the mini play .ts & h264 formats. What software can you use for playback ?
Any good user info sites ?

Thanks

I play .ts h264 and mpeg2 files in VLC, although it's h264 decoder doesn't cope that well with the highest bit rates. Otherwise, it's a fantastic player that does me just fine.

Check out http://www.123macmini.com/ for a good user site.

[Wizzo]

Rob,

Thanks for the reply. What spec Mini are you using ?
The more I look into the mini the more it look's like an idea solution as my media player.

[rob_finch]

I bought a 1.66 Core Duo Yonah, which worked very well. I went a bit mad and put a 2.16 Core Duo Merom in it last year, although it is quicker and does help when playing the highest bit rate h264 files, it's not a necessary upgrade at all. The 1.83 Yonah that's now available would do you proud for most HD material.

[badbob]

The Mac Mini is expensive, you can buy a higher spec HTPC for similar money. But it'll be bigger and probably louder, it'll offer faster performance (can fit 7200rpm 3.5" instead) plus add more drives as you desire or upgrade graphics, sound etc.

[Wizzo]

rob_finch,

Thanks for you input Sorry some more questions..
Are you connected to a plasma ? Do you have any issues setting up the screen size ? (I understand you cant set-up custom sizes).
Are you running windows?

badbob,
Agree i'm also looking at building my own but like the size of mini.
"higher spec HTPC for similar money" any recommendations?

Thanks

[badbob]

Something along these lines (check HSF fits in that case) Might not look as pretty but bags more upgrade potential. Check memory is the right type, might also want to use a M-Audio Revo instead of the X-Fi for improved sound quality.

And that's the whole point of HTPC's you might want to add a TV tuner card. I guess one with several tuners will require a full size non SLI ATX board

AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 3800+ 2.00GHz (Socket AM2) - OEM£53.99
Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 Pro CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940/AM2) £13.99
Asus M2NPV-VM Micro ATX (Socket AM2) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard £49.99
Corsair 1GB DDR2 Value Select PC5300 Dual Channel Kit (2x512MB) £51.99
Pioneer DVR-111BK 16x16 DVD±RW Dual Layer ReWriter - (Black) OEM £18.99
Antec NSK2400 Desktop Case - 380W SmartPower PSU £51.99
Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Music 7.1 Soundcard - OEM £43.50
Western Digital Caviar SE16 500GB 5000AAKS SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM £79.99
Microsoft Windows XP Media Centre 2005 Remote Controller £19.99

Above prices exclude VAT.

Total : £464.56 in vat and £10 postage

[Wizzo]

badbob,

Thanks you input is much appreciated It look's good, what would your recommendations be for a HDMI out graphic card ?

[rob_finch]

Originally Posted by Wizzo

rob_finch,

Thanks for you input Sorry some more questions..
Are you connected to a plasma ? Do you have any issues setting up the screen size ? (I understand you cant set-up custom sizes).
Are you running windows?

badbob,
Agree i'm also looking at building my own but like the size of mini.
"higher spec HTPC for similar money" any recommendations?

Thanks

Hi Wizzo,

I run my Mini on a 32" LCD set to 1024x768 res. I love OSX, so no Windows for me at home. Tried changing the resolution with a custom app, but did not like the look of it, so reverted back.

Rob.

[badbob]

Originally Posted by Wizzo

badbob,

Thanks you input is much appreciated It look's good, what would your recommendations be for a HDMI out graphic card ?

You don't need a videocard with HDMI out. That motherboard has DVI out, just use a DVI-HDMI cable. It works perfectly, although you'll need to send audio from onboard or seperate soundcard to the amp and/or TV. I've used DVI from onboard 6150 to a Sharp XD1, works perfectly.

If you really need HDMI Gigabyte have a 7300GS passive PCI-E around £50. If it's for desktop/movies you don't need anything higher than 6150 or 7300GS anyway.